Lonely Goose

 I’m sitting at my pond on this frosty spring morning.  The sun has been up for an hour or so.  All is quiet and nothing is moving.  A peaceful time.  A time for deep thinking or no thinking at all.

And then I hear it, coming from the south, the sound of geese flying.  But the sound is not right.  The usual call of geese flying this time of year is one of joy, at least it sounds that way to me.  The geese are returning from their winter haunts to the North, to start new families, see old friends (I think that’s what they do), and explore familiar territory.

The sound I hear is a sorrowful sound.  Soon I hear its source, one lone Canada goose, flying low and calling a sound I've not heard before.  The goose flies low over my pond, constantly calling.  Has this lone goose lost its mate (Canada geese mate for life) and is searching for it?  Is this lone goose, injured and not able to keep up with the rest of the flock, which has flown on without it?

Soon the lone goose disappears over the tree line to the north, and a bit later the sound disappears as well.  As quiet returns to my pond, I continue to think about this lone Canada goose, calling so plaintively, and I wonder about its fate, as I wonder about all who are lonely in this world.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: There is much to learn sitting quietly by a pond.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Tuesday, April 7, 6:30.  Heritage Hill Museum, Green Bay.  Garden Wisdom

Tuesday, April 14, 7:00 p.m.  Friends of Eau Claire Library. Eau Claire, WI. Stories from the land.

Sunday, April 19, 7:00 p.m.  Lebanon Historical Society, Lebanon Community center.  Stories from the land.

 Monday, April 20, Noon. Fox Valley Book Festival, UW-Fox Valley. Whispers and Shadows

Wednesday, April 22, 6:30 Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose. Mid-Wisconsin Launch of Whispers and Shadows. Fundraiser for the library.

Friday, April 24, 8:00 p.m. Ice Age Trail Org. Wis. Dells, Winter Green Resort.  Old Farm

Tuesday, April 28, 6:30 Black River Falls Library, Sky Line Golf Course. Stories from the land

Purchase Jerry’s DVDS and his Books from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fund raiser for them):

The library now has available signed copies of Jerry’s DVDs, Emmy Winner, A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps and Jerry Apps A Farm Story.

Also available are several of Jerry’s signed books including The Quiet Season (on which the DVD A Farm Winter is based), as well as Rural Wit and Wisdom and Old Farm, (which are related to the DVD Jerry Apps a Farm Story). Also available is Jerry’s new novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County.

Contact the library for prices and special package deals.

Patterson Memorial Library

500 Division Street

Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835

                       

                        

March 20

On this first day of spring, with the temperature at 50 degrees, a soft southwest blows warm.   With sunshine muted by a few cottony clouds, I start my morning hike.  My goal is to inspect my white pines, about a five acre stand,  to see how they wintered, and note other signs of the changing season.

The snow has all but disappeared, save for the tiniest pile left from plowing my driveway—only once did I plow this year, some kind of record.

As I leave the cabin, a robin, sitting in a maple tree in my frontyard greets me.  It’s the first one I’ve seen at Roshara this year.  I also see a chickadee, an old friend, who not like the robin, has stayed here all winter.

 As I hike along the trail toward the stand of white pines, I hear in the distance the clatter of sandhill cranes calling.  I saw one at the pond yesterday—which is still frozen—making an inspection tour for a nesting site.  We’ve had a pair of sandhills nesting at the pond each spring for more than 30 years.  And yesterday, I saw a flock of Canada geese, a small group of a dozen, flying low and honking loudly.  Locals I’m sure, also inspecting my ponds, as we’ve had at least one pair of geese nesting at Roshara each year for some time.

The white pines, the original windbreak row planted in a dogleg around a five acre field during the dust storm days of the Great Depression (1930s), stand straight and tall, most of them.  A few have succumbed to disease.  But not many.  These 80 year old white pines have provided the seeds for the five acres of pines that grow to their east, as the westerly winds have scattered the seeds.  One of the pines, a big one that died last summer, has been attacked by pileated woodpeckers that have chiseled several six-inch long holes in the tree—searching for food and leaving behind a pile of fresh woodchips.

 I sit on an old weathered bench at the edge of the pines, rest and  listen to the soft sound of the wind playing with the pine needles.  And I smell spring, not quite here as the calendar suggests, but not far away.  Maybe just over the horizon?

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Take time to look for spring—and maybe smell it, too.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Wednesday, March 25. Noon. Banquet speaker for Wisconsin Agriculturist Magazine, Farmer of the Year Award Program.  Oshkosh.  Farm Stories.

Tuesday, April 7, 6:30.  Heritage Hill Museum, Green Bay.  Garden Wisdom

Tuesday, April 14, 7:00 p.m.  Friends of Eau Claire Library. Eau Claire, WI. Stories from the land.

Sunday, April 19, 7:00 p.m.  Lebanon Historical Society, Lebanon Community center.  Stories from the land.

 Monday, April 20, Noon. Fox Valley Book Festival, UW-Fox Valley. Whispers and Shadows

Wednesday, April 22, 6:30 Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose. Mid-Wisconsin Launch of Whispers and Shadows. Fundraiser for the library.

Friday, April 24, 8:00 p.m. Ice Age Trail Org. Wis. Dells, Winter Green Resort.  Old Farm

Tuesday, April 28, 6:30 Black River Falls Library, Sky Line Golf Course. Stories from the land

Purchase Jerry’s DVDS and his Books from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fund raiser for them):

The library now has available signed copies of Jerry’s DVDs, Emmy Winner, A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps and Jerry Apps A Farm Story.

Also available are several of Jerry’s signed books including The Quiet Season (on which the DVD A Farm Winter is based), as well as Rural Wit and Wisdom and Old Farm, (which are related to the DVD Jerry Apps a Farm Story). Also available is Jerry’s new novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County.

Contact the library for prices and special package deals.

Patterson Memorial Library

500 Division Street

Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835

First Days of Spring??

It was a week to remember.  A week to celebrate.  A week to say goodbye to winter and hello to spring.  A week ago we were in Wisconsin Rapids where I was speaking at the beautiful McMillan Library—and the temperature on Friday morning was below zero.  We stopped at the farm later that day—and it was clearly winter.  Although the sun was high and the sky was clear, the wind was cold.  A January wind.  A winter wind.

And now, a week later, a mere seven days later.  The sun is high the sky is clear—and the temperature yesterday, but a week from when we were in Wisconsin Rapids—was 68 degrees.

Last week we moped around, stared at the calendar and hoped for a change.  And our hoping paid off.  Change was here. Spring was here—at least it was for a week.  Kids are running around in shorts and laughing and riding their bikes.  People are smiling.

Those of us living in the Upper Midwest, with its snow and cold appreciate spring and warm weather.  But we are also realists.  We enjoy the warmth, but we also know that spring is a fickle season, and old man winter is a mean bugger with surely some surprises left

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: The seasons come and the seasons go—enjoy each one.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Sunday, March 22, 3:00-5:30 p.m. Schumacher Farm Volunteers Recognition. Waunakee Village Center.  Stories from the land.

Wednesday, March 25. Noon. Banquet speaker for Wisconsin Agriculturist Magazine Farmer of the Year Award Program.  Oshkosh.  Farm Stories.

Tuesday, April 7, 6:30.  Heritage Hill Museum, Green Bay.  Garden Wisdom

Tuesday, April 14, 7:00 p.m.  Friends of Eau Claire Library. Eau Claire, WI. Stories from the land.

Sunday, April 19, 7:00 p.m.  Lebanon Historical Society, Lebanon Community center.  Stories from the land.

 Monday, April 20, Noon. Fox Valley Book Festival, UW-Fox Valley. Whispers and Shadows

Wednesday, April 22, 6:30 Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose. Mid-Wisconsin Launch of Whispers and Shadows. Fundraiser for the library.

Friday, April 24, 8:00 p.m. Ice Age Trail Org. Wis. Dells, Winter Green Resort.  Old Farm

Tuesday, April 28, 6:30 Black River Falls Library, Sky Line Golf Course. Stories from the land

Purchase Jerry’s DVDS and his Books from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fund raiser for them):

The library now has available signed copies of Jerry’s DVDs, Emmy Winner, A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps and Jerry Apps A Farm Story.

Also available are several of Jerry’s signed books including The Quiet Season (on which the DVD A Farm Winter is based), as well as Rural Wit and Wisdom and Old Farm, (which are related to the DVD Jerry Apps a Farm Story). Also available is Jerry’s new novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County.

Contact the library for prices and special package deals.

Patterson Memorial Library

500 Division Street

Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835

Feelin' the Garden Urge

When I stuck my head outside this morning, can you believe it, it smelled like spring.  And what does one do when the smell of spring is in the air—well what I do is begin thinking about my vegetable gardens.  Yes, I have two of them.  A big one at my farm, where we grow vegetables for three families.  And a tiny, raised garden in my city backyard that is but three feet by eight feet.  You would be surprised what can be grown in that tiny space. 

My garden seeds arrived the other day, and this afternoon I’m sorting through them and visualizing what wonderful (don’t we always hope) vegetables each packet will produce.  I plant both heirloom as well as fancy new hybrids.  This year my heirloom seeds are Tenderpod bush beans, Acorn Table Queen squash, Connecticut Field pumpkins, Nantes Half Long carrots (they are the best), Detroit Dark Red beets and Large Bottle gourds.

Each year I try something new.  Last year it was Collards.  I’d never grown collards before, but they did well and Steve and Natasha enjoyed collard greens.  This year I am trying a Sweet Seedless Hybrid tomato.  I anticipated the seed packet would be empty when it arrived—after all the tomato is supposed to be seedless.  But the packet contained 10 seeds for which I paid $5.95.   That amounts to dang near sixty cents a seed.  I have yet to tell my wife. I’ll let you know later how these special tomatoes turn out.

 I've got two more “new” tomato varieties: Cloudy Day Hybrid (a variety for summers with limited sunshine), and Fourth of July Hybrid, which is supposed to have fruit ready for the table 49 days after transplanting—not 50 days, not 48 days, but 49 days.  I always plant Burpee’s Big Boy tomatoes, too—they've been a sure thing for me.

 I’m trying a cucumber variety, Spacemaster, that’s supposed to grow seven inch cucumbers on vines the third the size of ordinary cuke vines. We’ll see.  This year I’m trying a new variety of peas called Easy Peasy—how could you not like peas with a name like that?  Besides I have 200 seeds in the packet for which I paid $4.95, which amounts to about two and half cents a seed. Compare that to my seedless tomatoes going for sixty cents a seed.

Of course I have all the other usual vegetables, sweet corn, winter squash, summer squash, radishes, lettuce, rutabagas and more.

 Keep the warm weather coming, I’m feelin’ the garden urge.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Thoughts of spring are thoughts of gardening.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Sunday, March 22, 3:00-5:30 p.m. Schumacher Farm Volunteers Recognition. Waunakee Village Center.  Stories from the land.

Wednesday, March 25. Noon. Banquet speaker for Wisconsin Agriculturist Magazine Farmer of the Year Award Program.  Oshkosh.  Farm Stories.

Tuesday, April 7, 6:30.  Heritage Hill Museum, Green Bay.  Garden Wisdom

Tuesday, April 14, 7:00 p.m.  Friends of Eau Claire Library. Eau Claire, WI. Stories from the land.

Sunday, April 19, 7:00 p.m.  Lebanon Historical Society, Lebanon Community center.  Stories from the land.

 Monday, April 20, Noon. Fox Valley Book Festival, UW-Fox Valley. Whispers and Shadows

Wednesday, April 22, 6:30 Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose. Mid-Wisconsin Launch of Whispers and Shadows. Fundraiser for the library.

Friday, April 24, 8:00 p.m. Ice Age Trail Org. Wis. Dells, Winter Green Resort.  Old Farm

Tuesday, April 28, 6:30 Black River Falls Library, Sky Line Golf Course. Stories from the land

Purchase Jerry’s DVDS and his Books from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fund raiser for them):

The library now has available signed copies of Jerry’s DVDs, Emmy Winner, A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps and Jerry Apps A Farm Story.

Also available are several of Jerry’s signed books including The Quiet Season (on which the DVD A Farm Winter is based), as well as Rural Wit and Wisdom and Old Farm, (which are related to the DVD Jerry Apps a Farm Story). Also available is Jerry’s new novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County.

Contact the library for prices and special package deals.

Patterson Memorial Library

500 Division Street

Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835

Sunshine and Deer

I’m working at my Roshara cabin on this cold,  minus-12 degree morning.  My wood stove keeps me warm, and a bright sun on this clear day encourages me to take a long walk—but I’m waiting until the temperature at least crawls up to zero.

  I glance up and spot two deer, a large one and a small one.  Mother and offspring?  Perhaps.  The smaller one is the braver of two. It walks to within six feet of my cabin, never bothering to look up at me watching through the window only a few feet away.  It nibbles at the dead grass I have uncovered when I plowed my driveway yesterday.  It lifts its head occasionally to look at my truck—only a half dozen feet from where it eats. Curious, but not afraid.

 The larger deer is more cautious.  She stands behind the big maple tree west of my cabin, peering around the tree’s trunk at her offspring, but not coming any closer.  She eventually finds her way into the tangle of black willow trees and underbrush that serve as a windbreak for my cabin.  There she browses on willow shoots, not chancing a possible danger in coming too close to the cabin and that mysterious gray truck.

I watch the deer for fifteen minutes or so.  They seem not to mind the cold, and apparently are encouraged to venture forth on this late winter, frigid morning in search of breakfast.  Perhaps it’s the clear blue sky and the bright sun that is encouraging.  A bright sun in a cloudless sky, especially this time of the year, encourages me.  This I know.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Sunshine is encouraging, no matter how cold it may be.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Thursday, March 5. 7:00 p.m. McMillan Memorial Library, Wisconsin Rapids.  Great Sand Fracas of Ames County and intro to my new book,  Whispers and Shadows.

Sunday, March 22, 3:00-5:30 p.m. Schumacher Farm Volunteers Recognition. Waunakee Village Center.  Stories from the land.

Wednesday, March 25. Noon. Banquet speaker for Wisconsin Agriculturist Magazine Farmer of the Year Award Program.  Oshkosh.  Farm Stories.

Tuesday, April 7, 6:30.  Heritage Hill Museum, Green Bay.  Garden Wisdom

Tuesday, April 14, 7:00 p.m.  Friends of Eau Claire Library. Eau Claire, WI. Stories from the land.

Sunday, April 19, 7:00 p.m.  Lebanon Historical Society, Lebanon Community center.  Stories from the land.

 Monday, April 20, Noon. Fox Valley Book Festival, UW-Fox Valley. Whispers and Shadows

Wednesday, April 22, 6:30 Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose.  Whispers and Shadows.

Friday, April 24, 8:00 p.m. Ice Age Trail Org. Wis. Dells, Winter Green Resort.  Old Farm

Tuesday, April 28, 6:30 Black River Falls Library, Sky Line Golf Course. Stories from the land