Jerry Apps's Blog, page 23

Nissen and Tomato Plants

No matter how blustery, how deep the snow, or how cold it was, my mother always planted tomato seeds on St. Patrick’s Day. “It’s a day to celebrate green,” she said.

Now, many years later, I continue to plant tomato seeds, not always on St. Patrick’s Day, but close to it. This year was no exception. Now a few weeks later, my little tomato plants are green and growing—even though the temperature seems to avoid climbing above 40 degrees and piles of the recent snow remain.

Three families eat fresh vegetables from our Roshara garden, and tomatoes are everyone’s favorite. My wife’s specialty is tomato soup—she makes many jars of it, which we enjoy all winter. She also makes “just the best” tomato juice. My daughter, Sue, and daughter-in-law, Natasha, make salsa. And everyone enjoys the taste of fresh tomatoes, just picked from the garden.

Always a sucker for pretty tomato pictures in the seed catalogs, I always try one or more new varieties. This year I am trying Atlas Hybrid, Bloody Butcher, and Steakhouse. Of course, I also grow several “never fail” varieties, Wisconsin 55, Early Girl and Burpee’s Big Boy.

A little Norwegian Nissen stands guard over my still tiny tomato plants. It’s hard to believe that these little plants will stand four feet and taller by mid-July. That is if winter decides to hand it up one of these days.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: When you are doing nothing, how do you know when you are finished?

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: My writing class at The Clearing in Door County is scheduled: Friday, July 27, 9-4. Call 920-854-4088 to register.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Friday, April 13, 7:00 p.m. Fine Arts Center, Adams-Friendship High School. One-Room Country Schools.

Sunday, April 15, 6:30 p.m. Lebanon Historical Society, Fire House Community Room. One-Room Country Schools.

Wednesday, April 25, 6:00 p.m. Book Launch at Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose. New book: Once a Professor

Wednesday, May 2, 10:00 a.m. Book Launch at Oakwood West, Madison. New book: Once a Professor.

Tuesday, May 15, 11:30 a.m. Black Hawk Country Club, SAIL Group. Once a Professor

Saturday, May 19, 10:00-2:00 Dregne’s Westby, Book signing.

Thursday, May 31, 7:00 Middleton Public Library. Book Launch for Cold As Thunder (New novel)

Purchase Jerry’s singed DVDs and signed 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 newest Public TV show, One-Room Country School is now available. It’s based on his book, One-Room Country Schools (also available).

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, and the newest one, One-Room School

The library has several of Jerry’s signed books for sale including Jerry’s newest nonfiction books, 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 latest 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.

What Happened to Spring?

I listened to the Friday evening weather forecast on my weather radio. Hoping to hear about warmer temperatures and sunshine Saturday. Saturday was set as a workday at Roshara. Clean up around the buildings. Do some raking. Take the straw away from the septic system. Check the bluebird houses. Cut a few black locust fence posts. That sort of thing.

I couldn’t believe the forecast. I listened to it twice. “Saturday, snow, heavy at times. Up to three inches, more to the north. High wind warning. Up to 45 miles per hour.”

I checked at midnight. Not a sign of snow. Bare ground at Roshara. Only a few piles of tired and retreating snow remaining. Saturday still looked promising. Weather forecast really meant someplace other than the Town of Rose, Waushara County. I hoped.

Up at 5;30 A.M., My usual time to crawl out of bed. No snow. No rain. Weather report obviously wrong.

Six A.M. I’m eating breakfast. I glanced out the window. What? It’s snowing. Snowing hard, big wet flakes. Within a half hour, the ground is covered, and the wind is coming up. Alas, winter has returned. How can this be? It’s the end of March. Time for spring work.

As I write this in late morning on Saturday, the snow continues to fall. As much as I hate to admit it, it’s a beautiful snow. It clings to the tree branches, gathers on top of the birdhouses—and keeps me inside, sitting by my wood stove,

What am I learning from all this? First off, never trust old man winter. If he wants a late fling in early spring, so be it. Secondly, something I learned a long time ago from my father when a late snowstorm prevented spring work. I had asked, “What do we do about the snow?” His answer, “Let it snow.”

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: There’s a time for winter, and a time for spring. Occasionally both happen at the same time.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: My writing class at The Clearing in Door County is scheduled: Friday, July 27, 9-4. Call 920-854-4088 to register.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Friday, April 13, 7:00 p.m. Fine Arts Center, Adams-Friendship High School. One-Room Country Schools.

Sunday, April 15, 6:30 p.m. Lebanon Historical Society, Fire House Community Room. One-Room Country Schools.

Wednesday, April 25, 6:00 p.m. Book Launch at Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose. New book: Once a Professor

Wednesday, May 2, 10:00 a.m. Book Launch at Oakwood West, Madison. New book: Once a Professor.

Tuesday, May 15, 11:30 a.m. Black Hawk Country Club, SAIL Group. Once a Professor

Saturday, May 19, 10:00-2:00 Dregne’s Westby, Book signing.

Thursday, May 31, 7:00 Middleton Public Library. Book Launch for Cold As Thunder (New novel)

Purchase Jerry’s singed DVDs and signed 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 newest Public TV show, One-Room Country School is now available. It’s based on his book, One-Room Country Schools (also available).

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, and the newest one, One-Room School

The library has several of Jerry’s signed books for sale including Jerry’s newest nonfiction books, 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 latest 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.

Home Place

So where did you grow up? A question I often hear as people read my books and watch my Public TV shows. The photo, taken in the 1960s, is the farmstead of the home farm located west of Wild Rose, in Waushara County.

The farm included 160 acres, 20 of which was wooded. Most of the rest of the farm was tillable. But it was hilly, stony and sandy. We never had enough rain. We had more than enough stones.

These farm buildings included a red barn, with a wood-stave silo and a big white house. In winter we closed off all but two rooms, the ones with woodstoves.The little white building between the house and the barn was the pumphouse, which also served as the milk house because it is where we cooled the milk cans after morning and evening milking.

To the west was the chicken house and immediately to the south a combination machine shed and granary. Then the corn crib, the kind where cob corn was stored.

Another machine shed stood next to the white pine windbreak, and a bit further to the south was the brooder house where my mother tended the baby chicks until they were old enough for the chicken house. The photo was taken in August, note the big straw stack just to the west of the barn.

Not to be forgotten, the white board fence that separated the barnyard from what we farmers called the dooryard. My folks were proud of these farm buildings, although there was nothing fancy about any of them.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: You can tell a lot about farmers by looking at their buildings.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: My writing class at The Clearing in Door County is scheduled: Friday, July 27, 9-4. Call 920-854-4088 to register.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Friday, April 13, 7:00 p.m. Fine Arts Center, Adams-Friendship High School. One-Room Country Schools.

Sunday, April 15, 6:30 p.m. Lebanon Historical Society, Fire House Community Room. One-Room Country Schools.

Wednesday, April 25, 6:00 p.m. Book Launch at Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose. New book: Once a Professor

Wednesday, May 2, 10:00 a.m. Book Launch at Oakwood West, Madison. New book: Once a Professor.

Tuesday, May 15, 11:30 a.m. Black Hawk Country Club, SAIL Group. Once a Professor

Saturday, May 19, 10:00-2:00 Dregne’s Westby, Book signing.

Thursday, May 31, 7:00 Middleton Public Library. Book Launch for Cold As Thunder (New novel)

Purchase Jerry’s singed DVDs and signed 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 newest Public TV show, One-Room Country School is now available. It’s based on his book, One-Room Country Schools (also available).

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, and the newest one, One-Room School

The library has several of Jerry’s signed books for sale including Jerry’s newest nonfiction books, 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 latest 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.

Signs of Spring

The sun is up, the sky is blue, the wind is down, and so is the temperature—it is 19 degrees as I write this. “Where is spring?” someone asked me the other day.

Snow covers much of Roshara’s woodlands. It also remains around the buildings. But it is a tired snow, a stiff, dense, not so beautiful, grainy snow. Snow that disappears a bit more with each sunny day.

Aside from the reminders of winter, cold morning temps and snow, the signs of spring are here. The robins are back. So are the sandhill cranes. The sun is high, and each day we have a few more minutes of daylight. A friend said he’d seen a bluebird. I saw a flock of high-flying geese winging north—geese that winter farther South and are not returning. Not to be confused with those tough, local geese that stay.

A sure sign of spring is my woodpile. Last November it stood four feet high, this morning but a few sticks remain.

I’ve seen the coming of a good many springs. No two are alike. Some are early, some are late, and some seem to last only a few days before they morph into summer. One year I planted my early spring crops in the garden by this time. Today, the garden remains snow covered, and the ground is frozen.

But spring is just around the corner, a bit shy to face up to old man winter with his bluster and might. But she will do it, as she always has. We just need a little patience.

THE Old TIMER SAYS: March on the farm builds character and challenges optimism.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: My writing class at The Clearing in Door County is scheduled: Friday, July 27, 9-4. Call 920-854-4088 to register.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Friday, April 13, 7:00 p.m. Fine Arts Center, Adams-Friendship High School. One-Room Country Schools.

Sunday, April 15, 6:30 p.m. Lebanon Historical Society, Fire House Community Room. One-Room Country Schools.

Purchase Jerry’s DVDs and his 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

The library now has signed copies of Jerry’s DVDs: His newest Public TV show, One-Room Country School is now available. It’s based on his book, One-Room Country Schools (also available).

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, and the newest one, One-Room School

The library has several of Jerry’s signed books for sale including Jerry’s newest nonfiction books, Every Farm Tells a Story, Living a County Year, One-Room Country Schools, Never Curse the Rain and Old Farm Country Cookbook, and his latest 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.

Bluebirds and Spring

One of our springtime treats at Roshara is seeing the return of the bluebirds. By late March and early April, they are usually back, not long after the winter snows have melted and before the prairie grass has greened up.

We built a bluebird trail about forty years ago, as a way to encourage bluebirds but also as a way to define the boundary between my property and my brother’s. The trail stretches for nearly a quarter mile along the southern border on my farm.

My son-in-law, Paul Bodilly, is the chief birdhouse maintainer and builder of replacement houses. We’ve discovered having a metal roof on our bluebird houses increases their life about twice. But we still have many with wooden roofs. Some other basics of bluebird houses: the hole should be 1 ½ inches to prevent larger birds from using the house and to help keep predators such as raccoons away. The entrance hole should be about six to ten inches from the house’s floor. Bluebird houses should be placed about 100 yards apart.

Don’t be alarmed if a pair of tree swallows takes up residence in your bluebird house. At Roshara, we have about as many tree swallows as we have bluebirds.

Violating the rule to place bluebird houses away from buildings, we have a house next to our vegetable garden. We have had a bluebird family there every year for the past ten years. What a joy to work in the garden and watch a pair of bluebirds go in and out of the house as we work.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: A bluebird has the blue sky on its back and the orange sun on its breast. Its arrival confirms that spring has arrived.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Saturday, March 17, 9:30-2:00. McFarlene’s Store in Sauk City. Every Farm Tells a Story.

Friday, April 13, 7:00 p.m. Fine Arts Center, Adams-Friendship High School. One-Room Country Schools.

Sunday, April 15, 6:30 p.m. Lebanon Historical Society, Fire House Community Room. One-Room Country Schools.

Purchase Jerry’s DVDs and his 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

The library now 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,) and Never Curse the Rain, Jerry’s newest DVD based on his book with the same title.
Also available are several of Jerry’s signed books including Jerry’s newest nonfiction books, One-Room Country Schools, Never Curse the Rain and Old Farm Country Cookbook, and his latest novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. Also available are 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.

The Old Wood Stove Teakettle

A teakettle always sat on the wood-burning cook stove in our farm kitchen. Why? Nobody in the family drank tea. Not once in my years at home, well maybe once when a fussy Chicago visitor demanded the beverage, did I see anyone make tea using our teakettle.

With no indoor plumbing at the home farm, the teakettle, which never left its place on the cook stove, provided our sole source of hot water. Its uses were many. Thawing out a frozen pipe in the pump house. Removing the ice from a frozen pig trough. Providing hot water for what my father called a “whiskey sling” when someone in the family had a cold. [Directions for a whiskey sling: Start with a tall glass of hot water. Add a jigger of “medicinal” whiskey, and add a little honey to make the concoction go down more easily.]

The idea of the whiskey sling, which was taken just before bedtime, was to cause the sick person to sweat. “It’ll sweat that cold right out of you,” Pa would say.

It worked. I’m still here.

Today, at our Roshara Cabin, we cook with a wood-burning stove. And the teakettle (see photo) is always there. One difference. It has been a long time since I’ve partaken of a whiskey sling.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: I met a fellow the other day who talked nonstop and didn’t say a thing.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Tune in Public Television on Tuesday, March 6, 7:00 pm. to see my newest documentary, ONE ROOM SCHOOL.


Purchase Jerry’s DVDs and his 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
920-622-3835
The library now 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,) and Never Curse the Rain, Jerry’s newest DVD based on his book with the same title.

Also available are several of Jerry’s signed books including Jerry’s newest nonfiction books, Never Curse the Rain and Old Farm Country Cookbook, and his latest novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. Also available are 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.

Cardinals Whistling for Spring

Temperature, 27 degrees. Cloudy. No breeze. Quiet. I am on my early morning walk. Watching for icy spots. Thinking about spring. Trying to dismiss winter. After all, old man winter has had his chance. It’s time to welcome spring.

Then I hear it. A cardinal’s call to break the silence. Crisp and clean. A spring welcoming sound from this beautiful red bird that stays here all winter. Doesn’t wing south where it is warm.

Back from my walk, I did some checking on cardinals. Did you know (I didn’t) that the female cardinal’s song is more complex than the males? That a pair of male and female cardinals stay together year around? That female cardinals build the nest? That the female cardinal, during the incubation period of their eggs, stays on the nest while her mates brings her food? That cardinal eggs hatch in about 12 days?
That cardinals are not found in the deep woods but live along the edges.

Did you know that the cardinal is the state bird for seven states: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia?

Not only are cardinals one of the most beautiful birds that we can enjoy year around, they are also interesting—as are all living creatures.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Cardinals enjoy bird feeders, especially those offering sunflower seeds.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Premier Showing of JERRY APPS: ONE ROOM SCHOOL, Wednesday, February 28, 6:00 p.m. Wild Rose High School Auditorium. I will be there to answer questions.

Wisconsin Public TV stations, Tuesday, March 6, 7:00 p.m. JERRY APPS: ONE ROOM SCHOOL. I will be at the station, sharing more stories during the breaks.



UPCOMING EVENTS:

March 17, 9:30 to 2:00 p.m. McFarlane’s Sauk City.

Purchase Jerry’s DVDs and his 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
920-622-3835
The library now 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,) and Never Curse the Rain, Jerry’s newest DVD based on his book with the same title.

Also available are several of Jerry’s signed books including: Jerry’s newest nonfiction books, Never Curse the Rain and Old Farm Country Cookbook, and his latest novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. Also available are 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.



.

Remembering School Days

During these final days of February, I am thinking about the one-room country school that I attended for eight years. February was a special month at our school. We celebrated Valentine’s Day with a party where the parents were invited. We exchanged Valentines with each other—a large decorated box, with a slit on the top—sat on the teacher’s desk from the beginning of the month until the 14th when it was opened and the cute, mostly, little cards were exchanged.

Our teacher also made sure we knew about Abraham Lincoln’s birthday on February 12, and George Washington’s birthday on February 22. How could we forget, for these two presidents stared down on us from either side of the blackboard every day?

Besides these special events, February was a short month. Only 28 days most years. Before we could really get used to the month, March came roaring in—usually like a lion, but not always.

I have recently completed an hour-long Television documentary titled: Jerry Apps: One Room School. It will air on all Wisconsin Public TV stations on March 6, 7:00 p.m. To see the premiere of the show, travel to Wild Rose where it will be shown on the big screen at the Wild Rose High School. The date is Wednesday, February 28, starting at 6:00 p.m. I will chat a bit at both of these events.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Take time to reflect on your earlier education, you may have learned more than you thought.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Wednesday, Feb 28, 6:00 p.m. Wild Rose H.S. Auditorium, Premier showing of Jerry’s
new Public TV documentary on One-Room Country Schools.

Tuesday, March 6, 7:00 p.m. First state-wide airing on all Wisconsin Public TV stations of my hour-long documentary on One-Room Country Schools.

Purchase Jerry’s DVDs and his 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
920-622-3835
The library now 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,) and Never Curse the Rain, Jerry’s newest DVD based on his book with the same title.

Also available are several of Jerry’s signed books including: Jerry’s newest nonfiction books, Never Curse the Rain and Old Farm Country Cookbook, and his latest novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. Also available are 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.



.

Garden Seeds and Thinking Spring

It’s time to think spring. We’ve just gotten our most serious snowstorm of the season. And my garden seeds have arrived. Just as my mother did for all the years that she and my father lived on the family farm, she ordered garden seeds when the snow was deep and the temperature hung around zero and below for days on end.

For those gardeners interested, my planting strategy, which I have followed for more than fifty years of gardening, I learned from my parents. Order seeds that you know will produce vegetables that do well with your soil type and climate. Always order a variety that is new, and you’ve not tried before. My Dad’s advice, plant something that’s pretty, and plant something that’s unusual

So, here are examples of vegetable varieties I plan to grow in my 2018 garden:

Varieties that have done well:

--Top Crop green beans
--Wisconsin 55 Tomato
--Burpee’s Big Boy Hybrid Tomato
--Early Girl Tomato
--Detroit Dark Red Beets
--Waltham Butternut Squash
--Cherry Belle Radish

What I’ve ordered but never tried:

--Bella Rosa Hybrid Tomato
--Atlas Hybrid Tomato
--Steakhouse Hybrid Tomato
--Bloody Butcher Tomato
--Nirvana Sweet Corn

What’s Pretty:

--Painted Mountain Ornamental Corn
--Fire Catcher Sunflower

What’s Unusual:

--Ornamental Luffa Squash
--Bird House Gourds
--Gremlin Gourds

Why do I grow seven different varieties of tomatoes? I am hoping that at least half of them will do well, resist disease and contribute to our need for several bushels of tomatoes for eating, and making salsa, and soup
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Spring is just around the corner. But where is that corner?


UPCOMING EVENTS:

Wednesday, Feb 28, 6:00 p.m. Wild Rose H.S. Auditorium, Premier showing of Jerry’s
new Public TV documentary on One-Room Country Schools.

Tuesday, March 6, 7:00 p.m. First state-wide airing on all Wisconsin Public TV stations of my hour-long documentary on One-Room Country Schools.

Purchase Jerry’s DVDS and his 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
920-622-3835
The library now 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,) and Never Curse the Rain, Jerry’s newest DVD based on his book with the same title.

Also available are several of Jerry’s signed books including: Jerry’s newest nonfiction books, Never Curse the Rain and Old Farm Country Cookbook, and his newest novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. Also available are 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.



.

Cold Weather Snow

I’m sitting at the kitchen table at Roshara. The outside temperature is 17 degrees, and it is snowing. A fine-flaked, but persistent snow. My dad would have called this a cold weather snow. We haven’t had much snow at Roshara this winter. I have yet to plow my driveway with my tractor, which has a frontend loader. A few inches fall, and then it warms above freezing and mostly melts. Then it snows a couple more inches and then it once more melts.

The kitchen woodstove is slowly bringing the kitchen temperature into the 60s, but it is comfortable in the cabin and to use a not much-used word these days, cozy.

The weather person predicts three to five inches. One characteristic of cold weather snow, it doesn’t accumulate very fast. So far it’s been snowing for about an hour, and my Aldo Leopold bench has but a white frosting coating.

I’ve always liked to watch falling snow. Something peaceful about it. Something nonpolitical about it—especially during these days of political rancor, when too many folks are yelling at too many other folks

THE OLD TIMER SAY: Watching the snow fall—you could do much worse.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:

I am conducting a two-hour writing workshop on February 17, 12:00 to 2:00 p.m. at the Wild Rose Library. It is free, and workshop participants will also receive a free copy of my book, TELLING YOUR STORY. The workshop will focus on telling stories about your early childhood education, whether in a one-room country school, or a village or city school. But you must register for the workshop. Click on this link to find registration information. Register Here for the Workshop. The workshop will be filmed by Wisconsin Public TV.

UPCOMING EVENTS:


Saturday, Feb 10, 2:15 p.m. Garden Expo, Alliant Center, Madison, with daughter Susan

Sunday, Feb. 11: 1:00 p.m. Garden Expo, Alliant Center, Madison, with daughter Susan

Saturday, Feb. 17, 12:00-2:00 p.m. Writing workshop at Wild Rose Library. See above for details. Registration required.

Wednesday, Feb 28, 6:00 p.m. Wild Rose H.S. Auditorium, Premier showing of Jerry’s
new Public TV documentary on One-Room Country Schools.

Tuesday, March 6, 7:00 p.m. First state-wide airing on all Wisconsin Public TV stations of my hour-long documentary on One-Room Country Schools.

Purchase Jerry’s DVDS and his 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
920-622-3835
The library now 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,) and Never Curse the Rain, Jerry’s newest DVD based on his book with the same title.
Also available are several of Jerry’s signed books including: Jerry’s newest nonfiction books, Never Curse the Rain and Old Farm Country Cookbook, and his newest novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. Also available are Wisconsin Agriculture: A History, Roshara Journal (with photos by Steve Apps) and Telling Your Story—a guide book for those who want to write their own stories.
Contact the library for prices and special package deals.



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