Friday, August 26, 2022

An Afternoon at the Fair. Susan Apps-Bodilly Photo.



I am not doing much traveling these days.  But my daughter Sue and I did manage to attend the Waushara County Fair on a recent Saturday.  I was there for an afternoon of signing my new book, SEE YOU ON THE MIDWAY: A HISTORY OF WISCONSIN FAIRS.

A huge crowd attended the fair on this sunny Saturday.  As one fair goer who stopped by my signing table said, “So many people on the Midway you could hardly walk.”

Everyone stopping by my signing table, where a 4-H Leader and 4-H members from the Pine River 4-H club were helping me, had a story to tell.  Of course, I had few to share myself as I first attended this fair with my dad when I was four years old.  Dad had shown cattle at this fair back in the 1920s and he had many stories to share.  As a 4-H member, I showed calves at this fair for ten years.

The story swapping was interrupted every few minutes, by the air shattering roar of souped-up riding lawn mowers in a lawn mower pulling contest.  No such thing when I was a kid.  I chatted with a fair director who stopped by to chat, and he said that events like this one, a demolition derby, tractor pulling contest and such bring the younger generation to the fair.

I talked at length with another fair director about the role of fairs these days and whether they had a future.  We both agreed that fairs are an important way of telling the story of agriculture and country life to our urban friends, at a time when the number of farmers is small and declining.

Walking through the dairy barn, with well-groomed calves and cows all standing in a row, I spotted a little Jersey calf.  A little girl, I’d guess maybe two years old, was petting the calf and she was smiling from ear to ear.  The calf seemed to be smiling, too.  What a wonderful way to begin telling the story of farming and farm life.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: The fair is a great way to bring city and country together.

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS

See my book, SEE YOU ON THE MIDWAY: A HISTORY OF WISCONSIN FAIRS from your local bookstore, or buy online from the Wisconsin Historical Society bookstore, https://shop.wisconsinhistory.org/books, bookshop.org, or purchase from the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose—a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering, or contact the librarian: barnard@wildroselibrary.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984.
www.wildroselibrary.org

If you live in the western part of the state, stop at Ruth’s home town, Westby, visit Dregne’s.  and look at their great selection of my books. Order a book from them by calling 1-877-634-4414. They will be happy to help you.  If you live in northcentral Wisconsin, stop at the Janke bookstore in Wausau (phone 715-845-9648).  They also have a large selection of my books. 

 

  

Friday, August 19, 2022

Sunflowers Add Beauty Steve Apps Photo.

 


My father loved vegetable gardening.  He was gardening just a few weeks before he passed away in 1993, at the age of 93.  I learned a lot about vegetable gardening from him, as well as from my mother.  One thing I learned from my dad, “Always grow something pretty in your garden.”  By that he meant, grow some flowers along with all the vegetables.

During the several weeks that my mother was in a nursing home, almost every day dad picked a flower from his vegetable garden to take to her.  This time of the year it was usually a big red dahlia, which brought back memories as well as a little beauty into her remaining months.

For the past several years, the flower of choice at Roshara’s garden has been sunflowers.  I like them, my son, Steve and daughter-in-law, Natasha, the primary garden operators these days like them as well.  They require little care—some hoeing to keep away the weeds when the sunflowers are little.

Being curious about things, the other day I asked myself, “Where did sunflowers originate?”  They are native to America.  The early ones were discovered in what is now Arizona and New Mexico.  Native Americans grew them as a food source, crushing the seeds into flour for bread.  They also knew how to extract the oil from the sunflower seeds, which they used for cooking.

Different cultures symbolize sunflowers in different ways—long life, vitality, good luck, a happy flower.  Some people firmly believe that having sunflowers around the house can help relieve stress, anxiety, and depression.

 The birds harvest our sunflower seeds as soon as they are ripe, we get what is left over.  For more than half the summer, sunflowers add a touch of beauty to our vegetable garden.  When I see them, I am reminded of my father and his words to always add a little beauty to your garden.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS:  We all need a little beauty in our lives—planting sunflowers is one way.

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS

See my book GARDEN WISDOM, for tips on vegetable gardening.  Buy it at your local bookstore, or buy online from the Wisconsin Historical Society bookstore, https://shop.wisconsinhistory.org/books, bookshop.org, or purchase from the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose—a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering, or contact the librarian: barnard@wildroselibrary.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984.
www.wildroselibrary.org

If you live in the western part of the state, stop at Ruth’s home town, Westby, visit Dregne’s.  and look at their great selection of my books. Order a book from them by calling 1-877-634-4414. They will be happy to help you.  If you live in northcentral Wisconsin, stop at the Janke bookstore in Wausau (phone 715-845-9648).  They have a large selection of my books. 

 

 

Friday, August 12, 2022

PICKLE PATCHES Steve Apps Photo

 


In the 1940s and 1950s, just about every farmer in our western Waushara County neighborhood had a pickle patch.  Some were as small as a quarter acre; others were as large as an acre or more.   You could tell the size of farm family by noting the size of their pickle patch, as picking pickles was an entire family project, including all of the kids.

Our city cousins wished to correct our language when they visited the farm and we told them about our pickle patch.  They tried to show their superior knowledge as they said, “These are not pickle patches.  They are cucumber patches.  A cucumber does not become a pickle until it is processed.”

            We continued to call them pickle patches.  From mid-July until early September, if the rains came and warm weather continued, we picked cucumbers two or three times a week.  We picked them in five-gallon buckets and when a bucket was filled, we dumped pickles into a gunny sack. In the evening,  after the milking was done and the cows let out to pasture, we loaded the sacks of pickles into the back of our old 1936 Plymouth and we were off to the pickle factory in Wild Rose.  The H. J. Heinz pickle factory, more correctly called a cucumber salting station, was located across the railroad sidetrack from the E. L. Knoke sawmill.

            Arriving at the pickle factory, we dumped our sacks of pickles into a big green machine that sorted our pickles into five different sizes.  Number ones were the little ones, sometimes called gherkins, and number fives were the big, wrist-size lunkers.   Payment was based on size.  Number ones paid the most money.  Number fives the least.  We waited until the sorter finished, and each size weighed.  After waiting few more minutes, we received a check for our pickles.  The pickle patch provided much needed money for our family.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS; A check in hand at day’s end helped us forget a sore back from several hours of pickle picking.

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS

See my book, IN A PICKLE, for information about pickle growing.  Buy it at your local bookstore, or buy online from the Wisconsin Historical Society bookstore, https://shop.wisconsinhistory.org/books, bookshop.org, or purchase from the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose—a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering, or contact the librarian: barnard@wildroselibrary.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984.
www.wildroselibrary.org

If you live in the western part of the state, stop at Ruth’s home town, Westby, visit Dregne’s.  and look at their great selection of my books. Order a book from them by calling 1-877-634-4414. They will be happy to help you.  If you live in northcentral Wisconsin, stop at the Janke bookstore in Wausau (phone 715-845-9648).  They have a large selection of my books. 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday, August 05, 2022

Monarch Butterflies in Trouble Photo by Susan Apps Bodilly

 

I have enjoyed watching monarch butterflies flitting about our prairie every year since we began restoring these several acres to prairie grasses, wildflowers


, and a considerable patch of milkweeds.  We began the prairie restoration project in the late 1960s.  Little did I know that the lowly milkweed would become one of the important plants that we have growing there.

I was dismayed to hear, back in July, that the monarch butterfly is now listed as endangered. Its numbers are declining to a point that if the trend continues the monarch will go the way of the passenger pigeon—we will see them no more.

The monarchs we see in Wisconsin migrate each year from their summer home in the north to their winter home in Mexico.  Along its journey north of several thousand miles, it breeds multiple generations of its offspring.  The monarch is the only butterfly to fly south before winter, and return north the following spring like many species of birds.

Why are their numbers decreasing to the point that the beautiful orange and black butterfly has found itself listed as endangered?  A major reason is the disappearance of milkweeds.  In the caterpillar phase, monarchs eat only the leaves of milkweeds.  Milkweeds are disappearing due to droughts, and herbicides used to control weeds in agricultural crops. According to researchers, climate change is also affecting the butterfly’s normal reproduction, and migration.

When I first heard that monarchs had been listed as endangered, my daughter and I made a tour of our prairie.  We counted more than a dozen monarchs flitting about our large patches of milkweed.  But not as many as I have seen in other years.  The monarch is endangered.  It’s time to take some action.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Plant a milkweed.  Save a monarch butterfly.

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS

See my book, OLD FARM: A HISTORY, for information about our prairie restoration.  By it  at your local bookstore, or buy online from the Wisconsin Historical Society bookstore, https://shop.wisconsinhistory.org/books, bookshop.org, or purchase from the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose—a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering, or contact the librarian: barnard@wildroselibrary.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984.
www.wildroselibrary.org

If you live in the western part of the state, stop at Ruth’s home town, Westby, visit Dregne’s.  and look at their great selection of my books. Order a book from them by calling 1-877-634-4414. They will be happy to help you.  If you live in northcentral Wisconsin, stop at the Janke bookstore in Wausau (phone 715-845-9648).  They have a large selection of my books.