Weather Wise

When I was a kid, there was no such thing as a TV weather report with radar images showing one exactly where a storm was located, and even suggesting how much rain or snow could be expected. Truth be known, there was no television in our neck of the woods until the early 1950s.

So how did we predict the weather? Farmers live by the weather, especially during the harvesting season, but also to a considerable extent throughout the year. For instance, you didn’t cut down 20 acres of alfalfa, if it rained the following day.

Pa was good at weather forecasting. He depended on two things, cloud formations and wind direction. We had a weather vane on top of our barn. First thing in the morning, Pa looked for the wind direction. If the wind was in the east, and the sky was red as blood, rain was on the way. The old saying, “Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning” had much truth connected to it.

If the wind came from the west or the southwest, and there were but a few fluffy clouds floating along, we were in store for some clear weather. If it happened to be one of those rare days when we left farm work behind and went fishing, Pa would say, “Wind in the west fish bite best.” For a south wind, he would say, “Wind from the south blows the worm right in the fish’s mouth.”

Pa was generally right about what kind of weather was on the way. He used his weather wisdom his whole life.


THE OLD TIMER SAYS: In the olden days, weather forecasting was an art. I suspect it still is.

UPCOMING EVENTS:


November 10: 9:30-11:30, Plymouth Art Center, Second Saturday. ONE ROOM SCHOOL.

November 13, 6:00 p.m. Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose. Central Wisconsin launch of SIMPLE THINGS, LESSONS FROM THE FAMILY FARM.

Purchase Jerry’s signed DVDs and books from the Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fundraiser for them):
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
Phone: 920-622-3835
DVDs: His latest Public TV show, One-Room Country School is now available. It’s based on his book, One-Room Country Schools (also available). 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,)
Never Curse the Rain, (based on his book with the same title)
The library has several of Jerry’s signed books for sale including Jerry’s newest nonfiction books, Once a Professor, Every Farm Tells a Story, Living a County Year (reprints), One-Room Country Schools, Never Curse the Rain and Old Farm Country Cookbook, and his novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. Also Wisconsin Agriculture: A History, Roshara Journal (with photos by Steve Apps) and Telling Your Story—a guidebook for those who want to write their own stories.
Contact the library for prices and special package deals.