Halloween at the Country School. Jerry Apps Photo.

 

Frost covered the country road, as my little brothers and I walked the mile to our one-room country school.  We made the walk every day during the school year, no matter if it was ten below zero, raining hard, or just a pleasant cool day like this one in late October.  It was a special day.  It was Halloween.    Halloween meant a party at school that afternoon, starting around 2:00 p.m. and going on until the end of the school day.  The mothers helped the teacher with the party, and it was always fun—if a bit scary for the younger students.

It was hard for me to concentrate on my studies that day, because all I could think about was the party to come, and what fun activities the teacher had planned. The first mothers began arriving at 1:30. One of them carried a big wash tub, the kind we used for taking a bath on Saturday night in front of the kitchen woodstove.  I knew what the tub was for.  Every year we bobbed for apples.  This meant the tub was filled with water and a bunch of shiny red apples were dumped in to float on the top.  To get an apple, you had to stick your open month on one of the floating apples and chase it to the bottom of the tub, immersing your entire head in the water.  Sort of fun if you didn’t mind getting a wet head.

When two o’clock finally rolled around, the party officially started.  My fellow students and I stayed out of the way as the various party activities were set up.  Then it all began.  The apple bobbing, attempting to retrieve an apple that hung on a long string—almost impossible to do as the apples would swing wildly. Blindfolded, we would take turns as the teacher explained feeling grapes in a bowl of water (ghosts’ eyeballs), smelling vinegar (a witch’s brew) and feeling cooked noodles in a bowl (a witch’s brain).

After the “fun” activities, we all enjoyed Kool-Aid and cookies and shared with each other how much fun or scared we had been.  There was no “Trick or Treat” in the evening.  Only tricks that some of the young men in the community took part in—such as tipping over outhouses and harnessing a neighbor’s cows with horse harnesses.

Walking home that afternoon, I thought about when we would have our next party at school, and which cookies I liked best.  They were wonderful, fun breaks from reading, ‘riting, and ‘rithmetic.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: The Halloween party was a memorable break in the fall routine at the one-room country school.

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS

  Buy 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. 

 

 

Memories of Preparing For Winter Jerry Apps Photo .

 

With the turning of the leaves and shorter days, my childhood memories on the farm come flooding back.  In those days it seemed that almost everything we did was in preparation for the winter that never failed to come with its frigid temperatures, deep snow, and cloudy, dreary days.

By late October, the oat bin was full, as was the corncrib and the silo.  The hayloft was piled high with hay, the straw stack stood tall outside the barn.  We piled straw around the foundation of our farm house.  “Keeps the cold out of the house,” Pa said. 

We spent several days in the oak woodlot north of the house, cutting dead oaks with ax and crosscut saw.  Making wood, it was called. We heated the house with two woodstoves, heated the pumphouse with a stove, and kept another stove going in the potato cellar to keep our potato crop from freezing before they were sold. The cellar under the house was filled with garden vegetables: potatoes, rutabagas, onions, carrots, and several shelves of canned fruits and vegetables that Ma had worked so hard on preparing during the hot days of July and August. A huge crock of sauerkraut stood in the pantry.

Usually, in late October, a cold rain began in the morning and continued all day.  Pa would say, by late afternoon on such a day, “Looks like we should keep the cows in the barn tonight.”  This meant carrying in forkful after forkful of straw so the cows in their stanchions would have a comfortable place to spend the night.   Now I knew winter was close at hand, as the cows had been outside from late April, coming in the barn only for morning and evening milking.

The last reminder that winter was just around the corner was when we dusted off the woodburning stove that spent winters in the dining room and summers in the woodshed.  With the help of several neighbors, we hauled the Round Oak heater, which was about five feet high into its winter place in the house.  With the stove and its stovepipes in place, Pa opened the stove’s door, tossed in some rumpled-up paper, a few sticks of wood, and lit the fire.  “By golly, she’s workin,” Pa said as a smile spread across his face.

We were ready for winter.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: When I was a kid, preparation for winter consumed much of our time spent on the farm.

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS

  Buy 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. 

 

 

Let's Hear It For Onions Steve Apps Photo

This was a good year for onions at Roshara.  Much better than last year.  I have many memories of onions as a kid. I will never forget the first county fair I attended, which was in 1938 when I was but a little shaver. I remember so well the sights—cattle judging, the Midway.  The sounds—the music coming from the Merry Go-Round, the roosters crowing in the poultry building, the ducks quacking.   And the smell of onions frying in the food tents—or how I liked it and will never forget that smell.

Looking at this year’s onion crop, I realized that I knew little about onions and their heritage. And why they continue to be popular in the diets of many.  As a kid I took onions for granted.  I knew my mother grew them in our big farm garden.  But they were no near as popular as tomatoes, potatoes, and sweetcorn—at least I never heard anybody in the family waiting for the first onions to be pulled.

So, I did a little checking and learned some interesting things.  There is some debate about where onions were first discovered.  Central Asia, Iran and West Pakistan were the likely places.  Wild onions were in early humans’ diets before farming as we know it started.  Onions have been cultivated for more than 5,000 years. One of the reasons for their popularity as a food was because they were less perishable than other foods, they were easily transported, and they would grow in a variety of soils and climates.

Onions, down through the ages, had many uses beyond food.  Early Romans believed onions helped restore vision, induced sleep, and cured toothaches.  In the Middle Ages in Europe, people believed onions prevented headaches and prevented hair loss.  The first Pilgrims arriving in America on the Mayflower, brought onions with them.  Onions became a popular commercial crop in New England.

Of course, onions remain popular today. The top five onion producing states are California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and New Mexico. Wisconsin ranks number 11 among the states in onion production.  I continue to enjoy the smell of onions frying.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Onions have remained a popular food item down through the ages.

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS

  Buy 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. 

 

 

Lost a Long-time Friend Jerry Apps Photo

  

LOST A LONG-TIME FRIEND         Jerry Apps photo.

I lost a long-time friend a few weeks ago—David  Kolka.  He was 85.  One of those “salt of the earth” persons as we used to call them when I was growing up on the farm. .  The Kolka farm was about a mile west of our farm, across the road from my Grandfather Bill Witt’s place.  Dave was a couple years younger than me.  He along with his brother Jim, six months younger than me, were the first kids my younger brothers and I got to know.  I’ve known the Kolka boys for more than 80 years, since we all were little guys and figuring out what having a friend was all about.

The Kolka boys, my brothers and I attended the Chain O’ Lake one-room country school.  We played softball together; we performed in Christmas programs together.  We helped each other with our school work.

When we got old enough, we hunted squirrels together on cool fall, Sunday afternoons.  We hunted deer together and went ice fishing together.  Dave and Jim were our best friends.

Dave was quiet, never said a lot, but when he said something, you’d best listen, because he usually had something to say. Society was—still is--filled with talkers.  But many of them have little to say.

In fall 1955, when I was waiting to go into the army, and my brother Donald was waiting to go to barber school, Dave, Jim, Don and I raked cranberries by hand in a cranberry marsh near Wisconsin Rapids.  It was a cold, wet, miserable, back-breaking job.  Did Dave Kolka complain—nope.  The rest of us did.  But not Dave.  He was one of the best cranberry rakers in the bog.

My two brothers and I, along with Dave’s brother, Jim, all left the farm.  Dave stayed on the farm where he had grown up, and farmed until he retired.  He was a supervisor for the Town of Rose, and for many years served on the Waushara County Board.  Dave is survived by Lois, his wife of 57 years, two daughters and a son, his brother Jim plus several grandchildren.

I will miss him.  He was a great guy.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: It’s hard to lose an old friend.

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS

  Buy 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. 

 

 

TELL ME A STORY Photo by Jerry Apps

 

Those who know me are well aware of my love for stories.  I grew up hearing them.  My dad was a first-rate storyteller, so were several of our farm neighbors.  Beyond the great meals, as the neighbors gathered for threshing, silo filling, corn shredding and wood sawing, were the stories.  Told after the meals.  Told during the breaks in work. Driving by a field of shocked oats triggers for me stories about threshing days.  Corn shocks remind me of corn shredding crews.

Stories are important, well beyond their entertainment value. Stories help us recall the past while opening a window to the future.  Stories tie us to our past and at the same time provide a platform for facing the future. By telling our stories, we are coming out from behind ourselves and letting other people know a little more about who we are.

The pictures formed in our minds when we hear a story are often far better than those we see in movies or on television.  As a kid, I listened to radio programs: The Lone Ranger, Terry and the Pirates, Captain Midnight, Jack Armstrong and others.  The stories tapped into my imagination. I lived the stories right along with the radio actors who were telling them.  I saw the pictures in my mind as clearly as if they were printed on paper.

A story is more than words.   A story can evoke feelings in people they have thought long forgotten, bringing tears and laughter, sometimes in the same paragraph.  Our stories make us different from one another yet tie us all together.

Storytelling can change us forever.  Our stories can help us discover meaning in our lives without defining or describing it. Stories ground us, give us pleasure, and provide a sense of purpose in our lives.  Stories help make us human.  When we forget our stories, we forget who we are.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Tell me a story.

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS

  Buy 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. 

 

 

Potatoes, A Favorite Food Steve Apps Photo

It’s potato harvesting time.  Since 1967, when we began vegetable gardening at Roshara, potatoes have remained one of our main crops.  Maybe it’s because the words of my father remain in my head—a meal is not complete unless it includes potatoes.  Thus, as a kid, I remember fried potatoes for breakfast, boiled potatoes for dinner, and boiled potatoes for supper, at least six days of the week.  We often had pancakes for breakfast on Sunday, as a special treat, but back to potatoes for dinner and supper.  Another treat was baked potatoes, which we had when relatives came for dinner or supper, and especially if it was a holiday such as Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Potatoes have been an important food in the world for thousands of years.  The Inca Indians in Peru were believed to have cultivated potatoes around 9,000 B.C.  In 1536, the Spanish invaders in Peru discovered the taste of potatoes and took them back to Europe.  In 1589, Sr. Walter Raleigh is believed to have introduced potatoes to Ireland.   It wasn’t until the 1620s that potatoes made their way from Europe to the United States.  Irish immigrants to the U.S. also brought potatoes with them.  According to the USDA, in 2021 the top three states in potato production were Idaho, Washington and Wisconsin

Potatoes are a nutritious food; They are plant-based, cholesterol-free, sodium-free. fat-free, and gluten-free. The potato is about 80 percent water and 20 percent solids.  An eight-ounce baked or boiled potato contains only 100 calories. They also are an excellent source of fiber and they contain antioxidants that help to prevent diseases.

The potato became the first vegetable to be grown in space—the year was 1995. NASA and the University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers created the technology.  The goal was to provide a way of feeding astronauts on long space voyages, and perhaps feed future space colonies.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Listen to your dad.  Potatoes are good for you.

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS

  Buy 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.  

 

 

Many will remember this poem, “September,” written by Helen Hunt Jackson in 1892.  It was one of several poems we learned when I was a student in a one-room country school many years ago.  The first lines are:

            “The golden-rod is yellow;

            The corn is turning brown;

            The trees in apple orchards

            With fruit are bending down.”

The goldenrods great claim to fame—it announces the coming of autumn with the happiness of beautiful yellow flowers.

There are more than a hundred species of goldenrod, which is native to North America.  It will grow almost everywhere, but it seems to like infertile, sandy soil the best—the kind of soil we have at Roshara. It also likes lots of sunshine.  It can grow up to five feet tall, and this time of year, it has an abundance of beautiful yellow flowers.  We have solid patches of goldenrod in our prairie at Roshara.  Its flowers attract an assortment of bees, and butterflies, which help the pollination of the goldenrod.

Historically, goldenrods had many uses beyond reminding us that summer was about to leave.  Honey bees make tasty dark-colored honey from its nectar.  It has been used to heal wounds and to cure a variety of other health problems such as indigestion and diabetes. The dried flowers can be used to make tea.  A little-known fact, Thomas Edison used the milky juice of goldenrods to make tires for Henry Ford’s Model T Ford car.  Native Americans used goldenrod leaves for toothache and other health problems.

A prevalent myth—goldenrod flowers cause “hay fever” type allergies. 

Not so. Its pollen is a type that doesn’t fly through the air and attack our respiratory systems.  Ragweed is usually the culprit in autumn.  Ragweed pollen flies on the wind.

Enjoy the beauty of goldenrods, a time to recall the many memories of summer just passing and the beautiful autumn to come.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Goldenrods, nature’s paint brush at work once more.

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS

  Buy 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. 

 

 

What I Learned About Growing Zucchini Steve Apps Photo.

 

I don’t remember that my folks ever grew zucchini squash in their garden.  They grew lots of other squash—winter squash such as Hubbard and Acorn, but no summer squash, I’m sure the idea of summer squash made little sense to them.  They had lots of fresh summer vegetables from our big garden—lettuce, carrots, peas, green beans, and sweet corn.

When I first began gardening at Roshara in 1967, I decided to plant some Zucchini.  Several of my friends said I should, that zucchini was the new popular vegetable to grow. I planted a long row of zucchini, alongside a row of butternut winter squash. The first important thing I learned about growing zucchini—plant only two or three hills, not a long row.

The second thing I learned, pick the zucchini before it is four feet long, which is the length it grew in my Roshara garden.  Needless to say, with the long row, and the huge zucchinis crowding out the butternut squash, I had enough zucchini to feed the neighborhood.

The third thing I learned—check with your spouse about what to do with zucchini before you plant the seeds.  I didn’t and when Ruth asked what she should do with our bountiful harvest, I suggested removing the seeds and baking it.  That’s what we did with our winter squash.  That is not what you do with summer squash. You don’t prepare zucchini that way.

The fourth thing I learned; it is easy to grow zucchini.  A gardening friend said, “If you can’t grow zucchini, you’d best turn your efforts to doing something other than vegetable gardening.”

We continue to grow zucchini.  Ruth has a zucchini bread recipe that is just the best—the grandkids will eat it before they eat cookies.  We have three hills of zucchini in our garden—no more long rows.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Plant some zucchini.  You’ll be surprised at what happens.

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS

See my book, GARDEN WISDOM.  Buy 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. 

 

 

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. 

 

  

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. 

 

 

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. 

 

 

 

 

 

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.