Jerry Apps's Blog, page 25

A Sacred Day

Next Saturday is opening day for the 2017 deer gun season. A sacred day for many Wisconsinites. A day when people know better than to schedule a wedding, a wedding reception, or even a funeral. Unless they don’t want anybody to show up.

I have not missed a gun deer season since I first began deer hunting in 1946, after I had turned twelve. That is 71 years ago, if my forever challenged math is correct.

Much about deer hunting has changed over these many years. But much has remained the same. Families continue to get together for this annual event, sometimes three generations—grandfather, father, son & daughter. For me, the gathering of family is more important than the hunt, although I still enjoy sitting in the woods on a quiet, often chilly morning, and enjoying the sights and smells of fall. If a buck deer wanders by, that’s a special treat. But I don’t need to see a deer to enjoy the day.

As far as the hunt itself, I prefer just sitting on a stool in the woods. I’ve never used a tree stand, or sit in one of these fancy little huts elevated on stilts with a heater inside, a radio, and for some even TV as I have seen dishes on some stands.

The photo is my brother’s deer stand, nothing fancy, but quite comfortable he tells me. I’m trying to remember the last time he shot a deer from his stand.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: There is much more to deer hunting, than hunting deer.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Thursday, Nov. 16. 1:00 p.m. Berlin Library. Old Farm Country Cookbook.

Tuesday, November 28, Aldo Leopold Nature Center, Madison. Never Curse the Rain.

Saturday, December 2, (10:00 to 2:00) Dregni’s, Westby. Old Farm Country Cookbook, Susie and Jerry.

Thursday, Dec. 7, 6:00 p.m. Waupaca Historical Society, Christmas on the Farm

Saturday, Dec. 9 McFarlane’s, Prairie du Sac. Old Farm Country Cookbook. Jerry and Susie

Sunday, Dec. 17 –Readers Realm Bookstore, Montello 1 p.m. Old Farm Country Cookbook. Jerry and Susie

Purchase Jerry’s DVDS and his Books from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fundraiser for them):
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.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835

Barn Lantern

Those of my generation, especially those who grew up on farms before electricity arrived, will immediately recognize this barn lantern. We all had them, lamps in the house and lanterns outdoors.

On a cold winter morning, after dressing in front of the dining room wood burner, I would pull on my old Mackinaw winter coat, slip on my wool cap with the fur ear laps, and find my barn lantern, one just like this one, standing at its place near the wood box in the kitchen. I would take a match from the match box on the wall near the kitchen stove, lift the lantern’s glass globe, strike the match, and touch the flame to the lantern’s wick. Then I was on my way to the barn, where Pa had gone a few minutes earlier.

The lantern cast long shadows on the snow scape, as I briskly walked along the narrow path we had shoveled in the snow. Once arriving at the barn, I hung my lantern on the nail behind the cows. Pa had hung his lantern on a nail at the other end of the barn.

Grabbing up my three-legged milk stool and a milk pail, I cozied up to a cow and began milking. Except for the sound of fresh milk zinging against the bottom of the milk pail, and the occasiaonal rattle of a cow’s stanchion, it was quiet in the barn. The light from the two lanterns gave us just enough light to see what we were doing.

The soft, yellow light cast by the lanterns added to this quiet, peaceful time.

THE OLD TIMER ASKS? Is it possible to have too much light?

COMING EVENTS:


Saturday, Nov. 11, Second Saturday, 9:00 a.m. Plymouth Art Center, The Land. Viewing of PBS show with discussion and additional stories.

Thursday, Nov. 16. 1:00 p.m. Berlin Library. Old Farm Country Cookbook.

Tuesday, November 28, Aldo Leopold Nature Center, Madison. Never Curse the Rain.

Saturday, December 2, (10:00 to 2:00) Dregni’s, Westby. Old Farm Country Cookbook, Susie and Jerry.

Thursday, Dec. 7, 6:00 p.m. Waupaca Historical Society, Christmas on the Farm

Saturday, Dec. 9 McFarlane’s, Prairie du Sac. Old Farm Country Cookbook. Jerry and Susie

Sunday, Dec. 17 –Readers Realm Bookstore, Montello 1 p.m. Old Farm Country Cookbook. Jerry and Susie

Purchase Jerry’s DVDS and his Books from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fundraiser for them):
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.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835

Edgerton Sterling North Book Festival

A cold northwest wind scattered a few raindrops here and there as Sue and I traveled to Edgerton for their annual book festival. It was the 12th one—I was privileged to be part of their first one as well.

The full title: “Sterling North Book & Film Festival.” Edgerton is of course the hometown for internationally famous children’s book writer, Sterling North. Most of us remember reading his best-selling book, Rascal (published in 1963), at one time or other.

The theme of this year’s festival was “Every Root a Story: Narratives Anchored in Wisconsin Culture.” The theme fit very well with our new book, Old Farm Country Cookbook: Recipes, Menus, and Memories, which Sue and I co-authored.

Together we shared stories and recipe ideas that had their roots in my mother’s little white wooden recipe box. Recipes designed for folks who didn’t yet have electricity or indoor plumbing, and cooked and baked with a wood-burning cook stove.

On a this fall’s day with temps hanging not much above freezing, it was a good time to talk about books, share stories, and meet lots of interesting folks.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Learned this week that Old Farm Country Cookbook hit the Midwest Independent Booksellers “Bestseller List.”

COMING EVENTS:

Sunday, Nov. 5, 1:30 p.m. Mequon Nature Preserve, Mequon, WI. Never Curse the Rain.

Saturday, Nov. 11, Second Saturday, 9:00 a.m. Plymouth Art Center, The Land. Viewing of PBS show with discussion and additional stories.

Thursday, Nov. 16. 1:00 p.m. Berlin Library. Old Farm Country Cookbook.

Tuesday, November 28, Aldo Leopold Nature Center, Madison. Never Curse the Rain.

Saturday, December 2, (10:00 to 2:00) Dregni’s, Westby. Old Farm Country Cookbook, Susie and Jerry.

Thursday, Dec. 7, 6:00 p.m. Waupaca Historical Society, Christmas on the Farm

Saturday, Dec. 9 McFarlane’s, Prairie du Sac. Old Farm Country Cookbook. Jerry and Susie

Sunday, Dec. 17 –Readers Realm Bookstore, Montello 1 p.m. Old Farm Country Cookbook. Jerry and Susie

Purchase Jerry’s DVDS and his Books from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fundraiser for them):
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.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835






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A Tale of Two Trees

These two trees, different as different can be, stand 100 feet from each other in front of my cabin at Roshara. They are both tall and they each have a story to tell, but that’s about it for similarities. One is a balsam fir, the other an ornamental maple.

The Balsam fir’s story begins at Pine Point Resort on Lake Georgia east of Rhinelander. In 1972, when I was teaching writing at the School of the Arts in Rhinelander, we rented a little cabin at the Resort, and Ruth and our three little kids enjoyed the resort while I was teaching. Susan, then ten years old, found several little trees growing back of our cabin. They apparently had self-seeded. Sue asked the resort owner what kind of trees these were, and he replied, “Balsam Fir.” Sue asked if she could have one of the little trees, they were probably six inches tall at the time. “Sure,” the resort owner, answered.

I helped Sue dig up the little tree and wrap the roots in some wet newspaper. We hauled the little tree back to Madison, where we planted it in our backyard. A couple years later, we transplanted the tree, now about a foot tall at Roshara—it is the only Balsam Fir among the thousands of trees that grow at my farm. Now some 45 years later this little fir has grown into a tall, graceful, beautiful tree.

On my 60th birthday, my three kids surprised me with a beautiful maple tree, which was about ten feet tall when they planted it. It grew rapidly. But alas, in about its third year at Roshara a buck deer, anxious to polish its horns, found the maple and stripped off a huge hunk of bark, nearly killing it.

But it lived, and now it puts on quite the show each fall with its brilliant crimson leaves. Not to go too far with this analogy, but as different as these two trees are and as close as they are together, they appear to be getting along just fine. A model for some of the rest of us?

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: We can learn much from trees—if we’d take time to do so.

COMING EVENTS;

Oct. 25 at Cambridge Public Library – Never Curse the Rain – 12:30 pm
Saturday, October 28, at Edgerton Book Festival 9 a.m.Old Farm Country Cookbook. Jerry and Susie.

Sunday, October 29, 2:00 p.m. at Reed School, Neillsville. Old Farm Country Cookbook. Jerry and Susie..

Sunday, Nov. 5, 1:30 p.m. Mequon Nature Preserve, Mequon, WI. Never Curse the Rain.

Saturday, Nov. 11, Second Saturday, 9:00 a.m. Plymouth Art Center, The Land
Thursday, Nov. 16. 1:00 p.m. Berlin Library. Old Farm Country Cook Book.

Tuesday, November 28, Aldo Leopold Nature Center, Madison. Never Curse the Rain.

Saturday, December 2, (10:00 to 2:00) Dregni’s, Westby. Old Farm Country Cookbook, Susie and Jerry.

Thursday, Dec. 7, 6:00 p.m. Waupaca Historical Society, Christmas on the Farm

Saturday, Dec. 9 McFarlane’s, Prairie du Sac. Old Farm Country Cookbook. Jerry and Susie

Sunday, Dec. 17 –Readers Realm Bookstore, Montello 1 p.m. Old Farm Country Cookbook. Jerry and Susie

Purchase Jerry’s DVDS and his Books from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fundraiser for them):
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.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835

Fox Valley Book Festival

They named her Nina. She is a pelican. A big tall pelican. She is the Neenah public library pelican. A library with a mascot. My daughter, Sue, and I met Nina yesterday. Cool.

Sue and I attended the Fox Valley Book Festival, where I spoke at eleven o’clock to a room full of folks who were learning about my book “Never Curse the Rain,” as raindrops pounded against the library windows. Never to let a little rain—a lot of rain—slow me down, I motored on with my talk, all the while wondering what was going on in the minds of my listeners. Some of whom I’m sure were at least saying “darn the rain.” A step toward cursing, but only a baby step.

This was the tenth year for the Fox Valley Festival that went on from October 9 through October 15. Their theme, “Connecting writers and readers.” The festival featured 50 authors and 65 events offered at 13 venues throughout the Fox River Valley. As the festival’s catalog stated, “the festival features readings to hear words come alive, to learn about the writing process, and discussions to engage both readers and writers.”

I was more than pleased to be a part of their program.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: It’s my readers that keep me writing.

COMING EVENTS:

Oct. 18 Water Conservation Presentation, Portage, 6:30 p.m. Knights of Columbus Hall, 918 Silver Lake Drive, Portage
.
Oct. 25 at Cambridge Public Library – Never Curse the Rain – 12:30 pm

Saturday, October 28, at Edgerton Book Festival 9 a.m.Old Farm Country Cookbook. Jerry and Susie.

Sunday, October 29, 2:00 p.m. at Reed School, Neillsville. Old Farm Country Cookbook. Jerry and Susie.

Sunday, Nov. 5, 1:30 p.m. Mequon Nature Preserve, Mequon, WI. Never Curse the Rain.

Saturday, Nov. 11, Second Saturday, 9:00 a.m. Plymouth Art Center, The Land

Thursday, Nov. 16. 1:00 p.m. Berlin Library. Old Farm Country Cook Book.

Tuesday, November 28, Aldo Leopold Nature Center, Madison. Never Curse the Rain

Saturday, December 2, Dregni’s, Westby. Old Farm Country Cookbook, Susie and Jerry.

Thursday, Dec. 7, 6:00 p.m. Waupaca Historical Society, Christmas on the Farm

Saturday, Dec. 9 McFarlane’s, Prairie du Sac. Old Farm Country Cookbook. Jerry and Susie

Sunday, Dec. 17 –Readers Realm Bookstore, Montello 1 p.m. Old Farm Country Cookbook. Jerry and Susie.

Purchase Jerry’s DVDS and his Books from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fundraiser for them):
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.

Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835

Remembering One-Room Country Schools

Nearly every one-room country school in Wisconsin had closed by the mid-1960s. But the memories and stories from these little schools remain. Last Thursday evening, I had the opportunity to speak at the McMillan Library to a wonderful group of former one-room school students, a couple of teachers and several others interested in what these little country schools were like.

Stories of those days when one teacher and all eight grades learned together in one room were never ending. There was something special about these little schools, Wisconsin boasted more than 6,000 of them at one time.

My wife, Ruth, and I attended a one-room school for eight years. Her school was near Westby in Western Wisconsin, mine was west of Wild Rose. When I begin first grade (these schools had no kindergarten) my school had no electricity, was heated with a wood stove, and had no indoor plumbing. Electricity finally arrived, but the outdoor toilets and woodstove remained until the school closed in 1955.

Beyond the curriculum, and the education provided to several generations of farm kids, the country schools gave rural communities an identity. Not only did the school provide a formal educational opportunity for the community’s kids, it was the social center. The school provided a place for birthday parties, anniversaries, and of course offered the annual Christmas program that everyone in the community attended, whether they had kids in the program or not.

When these little schools closed, and the kids were bused to the consolidated school in a nearby village or city, something may have been gained in academic opportunity for the rural kids, but much was lost in rural communities as well.

For those interested in learning more about these little schools, read my daughter, Sue’s book, One Room Schools: Stories from the Days of 1 Room, 1 Teacher, 8 Grades. Or read my book: One Room Country Schools, History and Recollections.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Those of us who attended one-room country schools had a special education.

COMING EVENTS:


Oct. 14 at Neenah Public Library (Fox Cities Book Festival)– Never Curse the Rain– 11 a.m. .

Oct. 18 Water Conservation Presentation, Portage, 6:30 p.m. Knights of Columbus Hall, 918 Silver Lake Drive, Portage.

Oct. 25 at Cambridge Public Library – Never Curse the Rain – 12:30 pm

Saturday, October 28, at Edgerton Book Festival 9 a.m.Old Farm Country Cookbook. Jerry and Susie..

Sunday, October 29, 2:00 p.m. at Reed School, Neillsville. Old Farm Country Cookbook. Jerry and Susie..

Sunday, Nov. 5, 1:30 p.m. Mequon Nature Preserve, Mequon, WI. Never Curse the Rain.

Saturday, Nov. 11, Second Saturday, 9:00 a.m. Plymouth Art Center, The Land

Thursday, Nov. 16. 1:00 p.m. Berlin Library. Old Farm Country Cook Book.

Tuesday, November 28, Aldo Leopold Nature Center, Madison. Never Curse the Rain.

Saturday, December 2, Dregni’s, Westby. Old Farm Country Cookbook, Susie and Jerry.

Thursday, Dec. 7, 6:00 p.m. Waupaca Historical Society, Christmas on the Farm

Saturday, Dec. 9 McFarlane’s, Prairie du Sac. Old Farm Country Cookbook. Jerry and Susie

Sunday, Dec. 17 –Readers Realm Bookstore, Montello 1 p.m. Old Farm Country Cookbook. Jerry and Susie

Purchase Jerry’s DVDS and his Books from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fundraiser for them):

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.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835

Record Rains at Roshara

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It has been the rainiest summer at Roshara in many a moon. To be specific, from late June until last week, my rain gauge recorded 28 ¾ inches.

On the plus side, the prairie that I am restoring never looked so vibrant with wild flowers and grasses remaining green and growing throughout the summer.

The understory of little oaks and maples in my woodlot are thriving.

The pines that we have planted every year for many years are showing substantially more growth than when rain was less plentiful.

Our ponds are the highest in a decade, now crawling up the banks to swallow the birch and aspen that have each year grown without getting their feet wet.

On the negative side. Three times I replanted the sweet corn in my garden. My green bean crop was a total failure. Green beans apparently don’t enjoy being underwater, which they were when a small pond appeared on one end of the garden. Both the tomatoes and the potatoes succumbed to blight before they were in full production. So about half a normal crop for each.

But, as my dad always said, and what I titled both a TV show as well as a new book: Never Curse the Rain. I haven’t done any cursing, but a little complaining seemed in order.

THE OLD TIMER ASKS: Do deep snows in winter follow a summer of record rainfall?

COMING EVENTS:

Oct. 5 at Wisconsin Rapids McMillan Library 7 p.m. (One-Room Schools).

Oct. 14 at Neenah Public Library – Never Curse the Rain & Garden Book– 11 a.m. .

Oct. 18 at Water Conservation Presentation, Portage, 6:30 p.m. Place to be announced.

Oct. 25 at Cambridge Public Library – Never Curse the Rain – 12:30 pm

Saturday, October 28, at Edgerton Book Festival 9 a.m.Old Farm Country Cookbook. Jerry and Susie..

Sunday, October 29, 2:00 p.m. at Reed School, Neillsville. Old Farm Country Cookbook. Jerry and Susie..

Sunday, Nov. 5, 1:30 p.m. Mequon Nature Preserve, Mequon, WI. Never Curse the Rain.

Saturday, Nov. 11, Second Saturday, 9:00 a.m. Plymouth Art Center, The Land

Thursday, Nov. 16. 1:00 p.m. Berlin Library. Old Farm Country Cook Book.

Tuesday, November 28, Aldo Leopold Nature Center, Madison. Never Curse the Rain.

Saturday, December 2, Dregni’s, Westby. Old Farm Country Cookbook, Susie and Jerry.

Thursday, Dec. 7, 6:00 p.m. Waupaca Historical Society, Christmas on the Farm

Saturday, Dec. 9 McFarlane’s, Prairie du Sac. Old Farm Country Cookbook. Jerry and Susie

Sunday, Dec. 17 –Readers Realm Bookstore, Montello 1 p.m. Old Farm Country Cookbook. Jerry and Susie

Purchase Jerry’s DVDS and his Books from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fundraiser for them):

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.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835

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We Visit Stonefield

On the hottest day of the year, 92 degrees in Madison, daughter Sue and I drove to Stonefield, located a mile from Cassville, in southwestern Wisconsin. It was our annual visit to this Wisconsin Historical Society site. On this day they were holding their annual Great River Road Festival, featuring broom making, butter churning, blacksmithing and sorghum making. People watched from pressing the sweet sorghum stalks to extract the juice, to cooking down the juice to make the delicious brown sweetener.

Stonefield features a typical 1900 rural village with a one-room school, cheese factory, train depot, law office, country store, tavern and much more. Separated from the village by a beautiful covered bridge spanning a creek, people can visit an early 1900 farmstead complete with farmhouse, barn, windmill, out buildings plus some chickens and sheep.

What better place for Sue and me to talk about and sign our new book, OLD FARM COUNTRY COOKBOOK. We had a good crowd. Good questions. It was good day.


THE OLD TIMER SAYS: A little hot weather never bothers a farmer much. When the temp crawls above 90, he remembers the winter days when it was 20 below zero.

COMING EVENTS:


Friday, September 29, 5:00 p.m. at Farm City Dinner, Platteville. Old Farm Country Cook Book. Jerry and Susie

Oct. 5 at Wisconsin Rapids McMillan Library 7 p.m. (One-Room Schools).

Oct. 14 at Neenah Public Library – Never Curse the Rain & Garden Book– 11 a.m. .

Oct. 18 at Water Conservation Presentation, Portage, 6:30 p.m. Place to be announced.

Oct. 25 at Cambridge Public Library – Never Curse the Rain – 12:30 pm

Saturday, October 28, at Edgerton Book Festival 9 a.m.Old Farm Country Cookbook. Jerry and Susie..

Sunday, October 29, 2:00 p.m. at Reed School, Neillsville. Old Farm Country Cookbook. Jerry and Susie..

Sunday, Nov. 5, 1:30 p.m. Mequon Nature Preserve, Mequon, WI. Never Curse the Rain.

Saturday, Nov. 11, Second Saturday, 9:00 a.m. Plymouth Art Center, The Land

Thursday, Nov. 16. 1:00 p.m. Berlin Library. Old Farm Country Cook Book.

Tuesday, November 28, Aldo Leopold Nature Center, Madison. Never Curse the Rain.

Saturday, December 2, Dregni’s, Westby. Old Farm Country Cookbook, Susie and Jerry.

Thursday, Dec. 7, 6:00 p.m. Waupaca Historical Society, Christmas on the Farm

Saturday, Dec. 9 McFarlane’s, Prairie du Sac. Old Farm Country Cookbook. Jerry and Susie

Sunday, Dec. 17 –Readers Realm Bookstore, Montello 1 p.m. Old Farm Country Cookbook. Jerry and Susie

Purchase Jerry’s DVDS and his Books from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fundraiser for them):

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 h is 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.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835

Prairie Restoration

What is now the prairie on our farm was a cornfield at one time. That was nearly 50 years ago. Over the years I have simply watched and waited to see what would happen to this once cornfield. It has been quite amazing. A little history.

Thomas Stewart, a Civil War veteran from New York State, homesteaded our farm in 1867. He broke the land with oxen. At the time it was mixture of oak trees and open ground—which was mostly big blue stem grass. The land was stony, hilly, and sandy. Far from ideal farm land. But homestead land was essentially free, 160 acres for someone willing to “prove up,” meaning putting up some buildings and farming the land.

Stewart sold the place and a succession of farmers continued to work these sandy acres. They sometimes harvested a decent crop if the rains came at the right time, but mostly the crops were poor and making a living was tough.

My goal is to try to return this old cornfield into a prairie of wildflowers and native grasses. It takes patience but so far, outside of some mowing and keeping out the rogue trees and brush, I have done little to speed up the restoration. I have too many nearby pine trees for burning.

It has been a joy, over these 50 years, to see how much Mother Nature can do to restore itself to what at one time it had been.


THE OLD TIMER SAYS: We are all so much in a hurry. Mother Nature is not.

COMING EVENTS:

Monday, September 18 Old Farm Country Cook Book. Willy St Coop West, Madison. – 6 p.m. cooking with Susie.

Saturday, September 23, 11:00 a.m. at Stonefield Village, Cassville, WI. Old Farm Country Cookbook. Jerry and Susie

Friday, September 29, 5:00 p.m. at Farm City Dinner, Platteville. Old Farm Country Cook Book. Jerry and Susie

Oct. 5 at Wisconsin Rapids McMillan Library 7 p.m. (One-Room Schools).

Oct. 14 at Neenah Public Library – Never Curse the Rain & Garden Book– 11 a.m. .

Oct. 18 at Water Conservation Presentation, Portage, 6:30 p.m. Place to be announced.

Oct. 25 at Cambridge Public Library – Never Curse the Rain – 12:30 pm

Saturday, October 28, at Edgerton Book Festival 9 a.m.Old Farm Country Cookbook. Jerry and Susie..

Sunday, October 29, 2:00 p.m. at Reed School, Neillsville. Old Farm Country Cookbook. Jerry and Susie..

Sunday, Nov. 5, 1:30 p.m. Mequon Nature Preserve, Mequon, WI. Never Curse the Rain.

Saturday, Nov. 11, Second Saturday, 9:00 a.m. Plymouth Art Center, The Land

Thursday, Nov. 16. 1:00 p.m. Berlin Library. Old Farm Country Cook Book.

Tuesday, November 28, Aldo Leopold Nature Center, Madison. Never Curse the Rain.

Saturday, December 2, Dregni’s, Westby. Old Farm Country Cookbook, Susie and Jerry.

Thursday, Dec. 7, 6:00 p.m. Waupaca Historical Society, Christmas on the Farm

Saturday, Dec. 9 McFarlane’s, Prairie du Sac. Old Farm Country Cookbook. Jerry and Susie

Sunday, Dec. 17 –Readers Realm Bookstore, Montello 1 p.m. Old Farm Country Cookbook. Jerry and Susie

Purchase Jerry’s DVDS and his Books from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fundraiser for them):

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.)

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.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835

Grape Jelly

This will be short and sweet—pardon the pun. Remember the grapes I talked about last week. Well, they are now grape jelly. Forty-two jars to exact. And Ruth did it all.

For a recipe for making grape jelly, follow the directions on a fruit pectin box or turn to p.151 of Sue and my book, Old Farm County Cookbook.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Homemade grape jelly on toast. It’s so, so good.

COMING EVENTS:

Monday, September 18 Old Farm Country Cook Book. Willy St Coop West, Madison. – 6 p.m. cooking with Susie.

Saturday, September 23, 11:00 a.m. at Stonefield Village, Cassville, WI. Old Farm Country Cookbook. Jerry and Susie

Friday, September 29, 5:00 p.m. at Farm City Dinner, Platteville. Old Farm Country Cook Book. Jerry and Susie

Thursday, Oct. 5 at Wisconsin Rapids McMillan Library 7 p.m. (One-Room Schools).

Saturday, Oct. 14 at Neenah Public Library – Never Curse the Rain & Garden Book– 10 a.m. .

Wednesday, Oct. 18 at Water Conservation Presentation, Portage, 6:30 p.m. Place to be Announced.

Wednesday Oct. 25 at Cambridge Public Library – Never Curse the Rain – 12:30 pm WHSPRESS drives/sells JOHN

Saturday, October 28, at Edgerton Book Festival 9 a.m.Old Farm Country Cookbook. Jerry and Susie..

Sunday, October 29, 2:00 p.m. at Reed School, Neillsville. Old Farm Country Cookbook. Jerry and Susie..

Sunday, Nov. 5, 1:30 p.m. Mequon Nature Preserve, Mequon, WI. Never Curse the Rain.

Tuesday, November 28, Aldo Leopold Nature Center, Madison. Never Curse the Rain.

Saturday, December 2, Dregni’s, Westby. Old Farm Country Cookbook, Susie and Jerry.

Thursday, Dec. 7 Waupaca Historical Society, Christmas on the Farm

Saturday, Dec. 9 McFarlane’s, Prairie du Sac. Old Farm Country Cookbook. Jerry and Susie

Sunday, Dec. 17 –Readers Realm Bookstore, Montello 1 p.m. Old Farm Country Cookbook. Jerry and Susie

Purchase Jerry’s DVDS and his Books from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fundraiser for them):

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.)

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.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835