Seventeen Inches of Rain in Three Weeks

Not unexpectedly I’ve been receiving more than a few comments based on my recent book, NEVER CURSE THE RAIN and the associated Public TV show with the same name.

Comments mostly from folks who have had more rain than they wanted. Comments from farm folk who see part of their cornfields under water. And not so friendly comments from people who have seen their roads and bridges washed away, and their basements flooded.

Southern and southwestern Wisconsin has been especially hammered with too much rain. Last Sunday, on our way to a family reunion near Westby, we saw some of the damage first hand. We saw the raging Wisconsin River, sneaking over its banks at Spring Green. We saw the angry Kickapoo River where it had flooded the Readstown Park. My nephew, Jim Olson, who farms west of Westby, saw all of his valley fences destroyed when flood waters washed through the valley on his farm.

Back in central Wisconsin at my farm, Roshara, we saw seventeen inches of rain in three weeks. For the first time in fifty years of gardening, I replanted my sweet corn twice. It washed out. Same for the snap beans. Replanted them. And mind you, we have sandy soil that can soak up a lot of rain.

On the positive side, the prairie land I’m restoring has never looked better, more wild flowers, more milkweeds (Monarch butterflies need them), and grass growing tall and thick. My long-time suffering ponds that had declined to mere shadows of what they had been in the early 1990s, have come back to a levels we haven’t known for ten years (See photo)

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Never too much rain on a sandy farm?

SPECIAL NOTICE: My newest book, “Old Farm Country Cook book” (with my daughter), Sue is now available.just off the presses.


UPCOMING EVENTS:

August 1, 6:30, Beloit Public Library, Showing of Never Curse the Rain, followed by interview with Jerry Apps (Skype).

August 5, 1:p.m., Rhinelander Public Library. Never Curse the Rain


Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, WI has available signed copies of Jerry's DVDs:

Emmy Winner, A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps (based on The Quiet Season book.)
Jerry Apps a Farm Story (based on Rural Wit and Wisdom and Old Farm books.)
The Land with Jerry Apps, (based on the book Whispers and Shadows.)

Also available are several of Jerry’s signed books including: Jerry’s newest nonfiction book, Never Curse the Rain, and his newest novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. Also available are Wisconsin Agriculture: A History, Never Curse the Rain, and Old Farm County Cookbook--all signed by author, plus the the book, Telling Your Story—a guide book for those who want to write their own stories.

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