Jerry Apps's Blog, page 31

The White Cedar Teaching Award

Ruth and I have just returned from The Clearing Folk School near Ellison Bay, Door County where, at their annual awards picnic, I was honored to receive the Clearing’s 2016 White Cedar Teaching Award.  I have taught life story writing there for 27 years, with another workshop scheduled for October 28 (see below for details).  I was truly surprised and pleased to receive the award.
The award presentation included this information about why the teaching award was named after the white cedar tree:
The white cedar, or arborvitae, which means tree of life, is a remarkable tree.  At the Clearing, and along the entire span of the Niagara Escarpment—over 600 miles—white cedar grows on and in what appears to be solid limestone, gaining a toehold where it can, harvesting moisture when it can, defying the laws of both gravity and gardening.  It does so into great age, often several hundred years, occasionally over a thousand years.  The white cedars that grow along the Niagara Escarpment, including those at the Clearing, are the oldest trees in eastern North America—a remarkable feat considering the challenging environment in which they grow.
The White Cedar Award is given to those Clearing instructors who have been devoted to teaching, devoted to their students and devoted to the Clearing for many years.  Just as the white cedar represents the best of the Clearing’s natural landscape, those instructors who receive the White Cedar Award represent the best of the Clearing’s human and cultural Landscape.
I’ve found The Clearing Folk School one of the finest places I’ve known as a place to teach and to learn.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS:  When you think you are getting old, think of the age of many white cedars.
Workshop: Writing From Your Life:  Offered at The Clearing, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on October 28.  Call 920-854-4088 to learn more and to register.
Upcoming Events:

September 15, Midwest Master Gardeners, Chula Vista Resort, Wisconsin Dells.  Dinner Speaker, Whisper and Shadows.
September 18, 1-5, Markesan Heritage Days, Markesan, WI. Speaking at 2:00 p.m.  Books will be available.
September 20, Albertson Memorial Library, Albany, WI.  7:00 p.m. Barns of Wisconsin.
September 21, Stonefield Village, Casville, WI. 11:00 a.m. Telling Your Story: Why important and how to do it.
September 29, Whitewater Library, 6:00 p.m. Roshara Journal.
October 2, Mystery to Me Book Store, Madison. 2:00 p.m. Roshara Journal.

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 novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. and Wisconsin Agriculture: A History.Jerry’s newest books, Roshara Journal (with photos by Steve Apps) and Telling Your Story—a guide book for those who want to write their stories—are also available.Contact the library for prices and special package deals.Patterson Memorial Library500 Division StreetWild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835

Labor Day Garden Grades

            With schools starting for the fall term, it seemed appropriate to assign some grades to my vegetable garden on this Labor Day Weekend.  Different from the last couple of summers, we’ve had lots of rain and plenty of heat and sunshine.  But similar to past summers, some things did well and some didn’t do well at all.  Here are the grades:
Tomatoes: “A+” Wow.  What a tomato crop this season and they are not finished yet.  I’ve loosely kept track.  We’ve picked at least three  to four bushels so far this summer.  In recent weeks, late blight took out a few of the plants, but those remaining kept chugging along.  Lots of tomato soup, tomato juice, and salsa already on the cellar shelves.
Potatoes: “A+”  Good potato year; they like lots of rain.  We’ve dug about six bushels.
Green beans: “A”  We continue to pick them.  Wonderfully tasty.
Early sweet corn: “D”  Small ears, not many of them. Poor crop.
Late sweet corn: “A”  I planted it on the Fourth of July, after I harvested the peas.  It came along quickly, and yesterday we ate some of the first of this late crop.  Some of it blew half way over from one of our frequent rain storms, but it straightened out and did well.
Early Peas: “B”  Average crop, but oh so good eaten fresh.
Carrots: “F”  Poor crop this year.  Must try something different next year. Different variety.? New approach to planting?
Peppers: “F-“  Nothing.  Not one green pepper, not even a little scraggly one.  Need a different variety?
Onions: “C”  Good crop but nothing to brag about.
Cabbage: “A”  Excellent crop.  Lots of good coleslaw.  Even a batch of sauerkraut that Natasha is brewing.
Swiss chard: “A”  Still harvesting it.  Doing great.  Beautiful plants.
Leaf Lettuce: “A”  Finally harvested the last of it.
Broccoli: “A”  Even with the hot weather it hasn’t given up.
Cucumbers: “A”  I Picked several cukes again yesterday.  I grow the long, slicer types.  Not the stubby pickling varieties.
Squash and Pumpkins:  “Incomplete.”  They are still growing and look to be an average or maybe a little above average crop.
Zucchini:  “No grade.”  I’ve been heard to say that if you can’t grow zucchini you’d best turn to basket weaving.  Every week another armful of zucchini.  Ruth makes loaf after loaf of zucchini, which she freezes.  She also makes some really tasty zucchini muffins with raisins.
Sunflowers: “A”  Ten feet tall with huge  heads.  I have a long row alongside the south end of the garden.  They add a splash of yellow to the garden.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Oh, the mysteries and joys of vegetable gardening.
Workshop: Writing From Your Life:  Offered at The Clearing, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on October 28.  Call 920-854-4088 to learn more and to register.
Upcoming Events:
September 8, 7:00 p.m.  McMillan Memorial Library, Wisconsin Rapids. Workshop on memoir writing. Participants should have a copy of TELLING YOUR STORY as it will be used in the workshop. Book will be available for sale the evening of the workshop.
September 15, Midwest Master Gardeners, Chula Vista Resort, Wisconsin Dells.  Dinner Speaker, Whisper and Shadows.
September 18, 1-5, Markesan Heritage Days, Markesan, WI. Speaking at 2:00 p.m.  Books will be available.
September 20, Albertson Memorial Library, Albany, WI.  7:00 p.m. Barns of Wisconsin.
September 21, Stonefield Village, Casville, WI. 11:00 a.m. Telling Your Story: Why it's important and how to do it.
September 29, Whitewater Library, 6:00 p.m. Roshara Journal.
October 2, Mystery to Me Book Store, Madison. 2:00 p.m. Roshara Journal.

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 novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. and Wisconsin Agriculture: A History.Jerry’s newest books, Roshara Journal (with photos by Steve Apps) and Telling Your Story—a guide book for those who want to write their stories—are also available.Contact the library for prices and special package deals.Patterson Memorial Library500 Division StreetWild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835

Harriet the Horrible

Never have I seen such aggressiveness.  Such a willingness to take over and be in charge.  Such a show-off attitude.
Before I go further, I must say that I’m talking about a zucchini plant that grows in my garden.  I call her Harriet the Horrible.  This is not an ordinary zucchini plant.  I’ve grown zucchini for thirty years, maybe more.  I’ve heard a litany of zucchini stories—I’ve got several of my own.  These stories are all about the fruit of the zucchini—don’t leave your car unlocked during zucchini season or you’ll find a pile of them on the backseat—stories like that.
I’m not talking about what Harriet the Horrible produces.  I would say she is average in that respect.  I’m talking about Harriet herself.  On the one hand, she is absolutely beautiful.  She is six feet wide, four feet tall, and her leaves are more than twenty inches wide.  Never have I grown such a specimen as Harriet.
On the other hand, it’s her personality that is in question, that is if you’ll allow me to say a zucchini plant has a personality.  She has completely crowded out a cluster of carrots.  She has killed several onion plants.   She has put fear and trepidation into four tomato plants that are scraggly and pitiful.  She has frightened the pole beans as they climb ever farther up their poles, trying to escape the wrath of Harriet.
This is only August.  What more damage can Harriet the Horrible do before frost comes and does her in?  She is clearly on the prowl, holding her leaves high, and proudly doing what I have not seen a zucchini plant do.
THE OLD TIMER ASKS:  Do you have a Harriet the Horrible in your garden?
Workshop: Writing From Your Life:  Offered at The Clearing, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on October 28.  Call 920-854-4088 to learn more and to register.
Upcoming Events:
August 29, 7:00 p.m. Wisconsin Public TV. The Land With Jerry Apps
August 30, 7:00 p.m. Milwaukee Public TV. Live appearance. The Land With Jerry Apps
September 8, 7:00 p.m.  McMillan Memorial Library, Wisconsin Rapids. Workshop on memoir writing. Participants should have a copy of TELLING YOUR STORY as it will be used in the workshop. Book will be available for sale the evening of the workshop.
September 15, Midwest Master Gardeners, Chula Vista Resort, Wisconsin Dells.  Dinner Speaker, Whisper and Shadows.
September 18, 1-5, Markesan Heritage Days, Markesan, WI.
September 24, Stonefield Village, Cassville.  11:00 a.m. How to tell your story.
October 5-7, Heartland Forum, Minneapolis (Book sellers convention)

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 novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. and Wisconsin Agriculture: A History.Jerry’s newest books, Roshara Journal (with photos by Steve Apps) and Telling Your Story—a guide book for those who want to write their stories—are also available.Contact the library for prices and special package deals.Patterson Memorial Library500 Division StreetWild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835

Waupaca Art Fair

Last Saturday I attended Waupaca’s Arts on the Square, and what a fine event it was.  There was music, dance, and paintings; woodcarving, blacksmithing and quilting demonstrations, poetry readings and lots of food.
Colorful tents on either side and in back of the public library in downtown Waupaca sheltered people from the predicted rain, which never came, but hundreds of people did. I was privileged to be one of the presenters.  I talked about storytelling, how to do it, and why it was important for everyone to write their stories. 
On a table just beyond where I was talking, poet Paul Wiegel conducted a hands-on workshop with manual typewriters.  Paul collects these now antique machines and invited the young people in the audience to try typing on one. He provided the paper.
In an age of computers, smart phones and other electronic devices, typing on a manual typewriter (no electricity or batteries required) proved more than a little challenging for some of these young people.  A beginning problem—how do you put paper in the machine?
One of the featured typewriters was an upright L.C. Smith.  It was big brute of a machine that I remember fondly from my days of taking a typewriting class at Wild Rose High School many years ago.  Except for me, the class was all girls, who had long, slender fingers compared to my short, stubby ones.  But I soon discovered that I had an advantage over the girls in the class.  I was milking cows by hand in those days, and had strong fingers, a considerable asset when typing on a manual typewriter.  I came to really like typing, and as my readers know, I’ve never gotten over it.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: You never know what you’ll learn at an art fair.
Workshop: Writing From Your Life:  Offered at The Clearing, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on October 28.  Call 920-854-4088 to learn more and to register.
Upcoming Events:
August 22, 7:00 p.m., Twin Cities Public TV. Live appearance.  The Land With Jerry Apps
August 29, 7:00 p.m. Wisconsin Public TV. The Land With Jerry Apps
August 30, 7:00 p.m. Milwaukee Public TV. Live appearance. The Land With Jerry Apps
September 8, 7:00 p.m.  McMillan Memorial Library, Wisconsin Rapids. Workshop on memoir writing. Participants should have a copy of TELLING YOUR STORY as it will be used in the workshop. Book will be available for sale the evening of the workshop.
September 15, Midwest Master Gardeners, Chula Vista Resort, Wisconsin Dells.  Dinner Speaker, Whisper and Shadows.
September 18, 1-5, Markesan Heritage Days, Markesan, WI.

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 novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. and Wisconsin Agriculture: A History.Jerry’s newest books, Roshara Journal (with photos by Steve Apps) and Telling Your Story—a guide book for those who want to write their stories—are also available.Contact the library for prices and special package deals.Patterson Memorial Library500 Division StreetWild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835

The Clearing

Ruth and I have just returned from Door County, where I taught a writing workshop at The Clearing, located on the bluffs above the waters of Green Bay, just north of Ellison Bay.  This is my 26th year teaching at The Clearing, which was founded in 1935 by Jens Jensen, a Danish-born landscape architect.  Jensen was 75 years old at the time, and had recently retired from his Chicago business.
Jensen believed that everyone should have an opportunity to have direct experience with nature, have an opportunity to express themselves creatively, and realize the importance of “thoughtful study and contemplation.”
I have taught week-long, and currently teach day-long workshops on what I call “Writing From Your Life,” a focus on one’s personal stories.  This year, 32 students met on Friday to plumb their memories, write their stories, and share them with each other.  There was laughter, lots of laughter, and yes, some tears, as people wrote and shared.  It was an invigorating and productive day.  And such wonderful stories.
We used my new book, TELLING YOUR STORY (Fulcrum Press) as a guide for the work.
For those who would like a similar experience, I will be teaching a similar workshop at The Clearing on Friday, October 28.

The Old Timer Says: It’s never too late to tell your Story..
Writing From Your Life:  Writing From Your Life Workshop. Offered at The Clearing, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on October 28.  Call 920-854-4088 to learn more and to register.
Upcoming Events:
August 20, 10:30-11:30 am.  Waupaca Annual Arts on the Square.  Story telling.
August 22, 7:00 p.m., Twin Cities Public TV. Live appearance.  The Land With Jerry Apps
August 29, 7:00 p.m. Wisconsin Public TV. The Land With Jerry Apps
August 30, 7:00 p.m. Milwaukee Public TV. Live appearance. The Land With Jerry Apps
September 8, 7:00 p.m.  McMillan Memorial Library, Wisconsin Rapids. Workshop on memoir writing. Participants should have a copy of TELLING YOUR STORY as it will be used in the workshop. Book will be available for sale the evening of the workshop.
September 15, Midwest Master Gardeners, Chula Vista Resort, Wisconsin Dells.  Dinner Speaker, Whisper and Shadows.
September 18, 1-5, Markesan Heritage Days, Markesan, WI.

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 novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. and Wisconsin Agriculture: A History.Jerry’s newest books, Roshara Journal (with photos by Steve Apps) and Telling Your Story—a guide book for those who want to write their stories—are also available.Contact the library for prices and special package deals.Patterson Memorial Library500 Division StreetWild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835

Battles With Black Locust Trees

In an effort to stop water erosion on hilly land, such as I have on my farm, John Coombes planted black locust trees in the early 1940s. By nature black locust trees have an extensive root system, they tolerate dry, sandy soil and require no attention once planted. 
Coombes, who owned this farm before us, was likely pleased that the locust trees stopped further development of a huge gully that had formed not far south of his buildings..
But the locust trees did not remain content in the gully, and soon spread over several acres, growing tall and flourishing.  The trees, although now becoming a menace, did have their good points.  I cut and used them for fence posts—they resist rotting as well as red cedar.  I have some that have been in the ground for more than 30 years and they are still standing upright.  And the mature trees, because they are in the pea family, have beautiful, long, sweet smelling flowers that attract bees.  Locust honey is special.
But enough about their good points.  If left alone, much of my farm would now be overgrown with black locust trees had we not declared war on them several years ago, a fight that continues to this day.  We have cut them, sprayed them, and girdled them.  And it seems, for each tree we remove, five more replace it.
Last Saturday Steve and I, with shovel, logging chain and ATV, staged yet another black locust battle.  We pulled several out by their roots, and what a root system they have.  One tree, no more than four feet tall had a root that snaked through the ground for fifteen feet.  Steve pulled, and pulled some more, until the thin, tough snaky root was exposed.  At the end of it was another locust tree.
And in another three acre field, where we thought we had killed every last locust tree, we discovered dozens, hundreds, who knows how many tiny little locust trees that must have just emerged from the ground from latent seeds.  So the fight goes one.  We win a battle here and there, but the black locusts are still winning the war.
The Old Timer was recently asked: If you are doing nothing, how do you know when you’re done?
Writing From Your Life:  A second Clearing Writing Class is scheduled for Friday, October 28.  Call 920-854-4088 to Register.
Upcoming Events:
August 9, 6:30 p.m. Winnebago County Historical Society.  Oshkosh Library.  History of Wisconsin Agriculture.
August 12, 9-4, Writing Workshop, The Clearing, Door County. (Filled)
August 20, 10:30-11:30 am.  Waupaca Annual Arts on the Square.  Story telling.
August 22, 7:00 p.m., Twin Cities Public TV. Live appearance.  The Land With Jerry Apps
August 29, 7:00 p.m. Wisconsin Public TV. The Land With Jerry Apps
August 30, 7:00 p.m. Milwaukee Public TV. Live appearance. The Land With Jerry Apps
September 8, 7:00 p.m.  McMillan Memorial Library, Wisconsin Rapids. Workshop on memoir writing. Participants should have a copy of TELLING YOUR STORY as it will be used in the workshop. Book will be available for sale the evening of the workshop.

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 novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. and Wisconsin Agriculture: A History.Jerry’s newest books, Roshara Journal (with photos by Steve Apps) and Telling Your Story—a guide book for those who want to write their stories—are also available.Contact the library for prices and special package deals.Patterson Memorial Library500 Division StreetWild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835

Garden Report: August 1, 2016

August 1-Garden Report
            The rains came regularly along with lots of sunshine and warm, some might complain too warm temperatures—and my garden has thrived.  All and all, one of my best gardens in many years.  Here is an accounting of where we are in mid-season:
            The potato crop still remains the winner in the competition among its fellow vegetables.  On Saturday we dug the red potatoes, about a bushel from a row and a half.  Beautiful, big, blemish free potatoes.  More than we’ve harvested in recent years.
            Second place has to go to the tomatoes.  I have tomato plants five feet tall and still growing.  Natasha picked a pan full of ripe ones.  A little blight is showing up, but so far scarcely visible.  Main crop a week or two away.
            Third place to the green beans.  Three times harvested, beautiful, blemish free, and oh, so good with a gentle steaming, and then a goodly amount of butter and a dash of pepper and salt.
            Other blue ribbon producers, Leaf lettuce—we’ve cut five times, and it’s still coming back. Swiss chard, a first time vegetable for me.  It grows tall, red stemmed, and three times harvested.  Same for the broccoli, huge early heads, now smaller, but lots of them.  Also three times harvested.
            Cucumbers, twice harvested, they like the heat, doing well.  Zucchini—just four hills and wow, found a few if properly dried and preserved would serve as baseball bats.
            Sweet corn, a week or ten days away from harvest time.  Late sweet corn planted after peas harvested is now knee high and doing well.
            Squash, pumpkins and gourds, all growing wildly.  Vines everywhere, sneaking under the garden fence, invading the sweet corn patch, crowding out any weed that might consider growing in their midst.  So thick that I can’t see if we’ll have a crop to harvest.
            Now for the “less than expected” crops. First place loser: green peppers.  They are a miserable failure.  Not one pepper and the pathetic looking little plants, just sit there, seeming out of place and miserable.
            I harvested the onions on Saturday, red and white ones.  They had tipped over and quit growing, so time to harvest.  Red onions, average size, not close to “brag eligible.”  White ones, small, too small.  Should have planted yellow ones.
The recent weather has been perfect for our sandy loam soil, which needs lots of water.  Fingers crossed that good garden weather will continue.
THE OLDER TIMER SAYS:Some garden years are good, some less so, but all are wonderful.
Writing From Your L ife:  A second Clearing Writing Class is scheduled for Friday, October 28.  Call 920-854-4088 to Register.
Upcoming Events:
August 9, 6:30 p.m. Winnebago County Historical Society.  Oshkosh Library.  History of Wisconsin Agriculture.
August 12, 9-4, Writing Workshop, The Clearing, Door County. (Filled)
August 20, 10:30-11:30 am.  Waupaca Annual Arts on the Square.  Story telling.
August 22, 7:00 p.m., Twin Cities Public TV. Live appearance.  The Land With Jerry Apps
August 29, 7:00 p.m. Wisconsin Public TV. The Land With Jerry Apps
August 30, 7:00 p.m. Milwaukee Public TV. Channel 10.  Live appearance. The Land With Jerry Apps
September 8, 7:00 p.m.  McMillan Memorial Library, Wisconsin Rapids. Workshop on memoir writing. Participants should have a copy of TELLING YOUR STORY. Book will be available for sale the evening of the workshop.

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 novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. and Wisconsin Agriculture: A History.Jerry’s newest books, Roshara Journal (with photos by Steve Apps) and Telling Your Story—a guide book for those who want to write their stories—are also available.Contact the library for prices and special package deals.Patterson Memorial Library500 Division StreetWild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835

Time For a Nap

People have forgotten the importance of a nap.  The power of resting.  The need to rejuvenate. It’s hurry to do this and hurry to do that.  Every day, every week, all year long.  No time for resting, no time to nap.  Keep moving, keep doing. Even nature knows better.  The trees, and the grasses and the wildflowers, and many creatures that live in the wild take long winter naps.  And what do we humans do, we keep on trudging along, come high water or deep snow, temps in the 90s or those below zero.  Although resting is in our DNA—most of us know enough to get a good night’s sleep—we don’t know enough to rest during the day.
Why is this?  Is it a fear that if we rest, somebody will out do us?  Does our competitive nature overshadow our need to slow down once in a while—or even stop “doing” on occasion and do nothing?
Or is it because those of us who grew up when times were tough in this country learned at an early age that we must work, work, work—or we wouldn’t have anything to eat, or a decent roof over heads?  Or is it something else?
I’m thinking about all this as I listen to thunder booming and see raindrops skidding down my office window on this restful afternoon.
The Old Timer Says:  It’s time for a nap.
Writing From Your L ife:  A second Clearing Writing Class is scheduled for Friday, October 28.  Call 920-854-4088 to Register.
Upcoming Events:
August 9, 6:30 p.m. Winnebago County Historical Society.  Oshkosh Library.  History of Wisconsin Agriculture
August 12, 9-4, Writing Workshop, The Clearing, Door County. (Filled)
August 20, 10:30-11:30 am.  Waupaca Annual Arts on the Square.  Story telling
August 22, 7:00 p.m., Twin Cities Public TV. Live appearance.  The Land With Jerry Apps
August 30, 7:00 p.m. Milwaukee Public TV. Live appearance. The Land With Jerry Apps
September 8, 7:00 p.m.  McMillan Memorial Library, Wisconsin Rapids. Workshop on memoir writing. Participants should have a copy of TELLING YOUR STORY. Books will be available for sale the evening of the workshop.
Materials at the Patterson Memorial Library
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 novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. and Wisconsin Agriculture: A History.Jerry’s newest books, Roshara Journal (with photos by Steve Apps) and Telling Your Story—a guide book for those who want to write their stories—are also available.Contact the library for prices and special package deals.Patterson Memorial Library500 Division StreetWild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835

Heat Lightning

In mid-summer, during a time when we desperately needed rain on our dry, droughty farm, we’d be driving home from Wild Rose where Ma did her weekly grocery shopping, and we’d see the occasional streak of  lightning far off to the west.  “Heat lightning,” Pa called it.  “Looks like it might rain but it never does.”
Now, many years later, I’m sitting on the back porch at the farm—city folks would call it a deck—watching the western sky.  Hoping for rain as it is becoming dry and the grass and the garden could sure benefit from a good shower.
 I hear a grumbling sound, and I assume it’s an airliner winging high overhead, on its way to the Twin Cities.  But then I hear it again, a growling, rumbling sound and I know it’s thunder.  I see a flash of lightning, and I keep watching, keep hoping that a shower is on its way.            The thunder booms louder, the lightning flashes brighter.  I move my truck from under the big maple where I park it, in case there is wind in the storm and a limb comes crashing down.
 Then an even brighter flash of lightning and an even louder thunder boom—and the first drops of rain began falling, splattering into the dust.  I decide to move into the cabin and watch out the window, hoping for at least a half inch of rain with no wind, no hail, and no close lightning strikes.
But then, almost mysteriously, the thunder stops, and the lightning ceases, and there are no more rain drops.  As Pa would have said, “Not enough rain to settle the dust.”
 Heat lightning?  But what about the thunder?  Heat thunder? 
            The Old Timer Says:  Don’t be fooled by heat lightning.
Special Announcement: July 19, 11:00 a.m., Farm Technology Days, Snudden Farms, Lake Geneva, Walworth County. Memories From a Farm Boy.

Writing From Your L ife:  A second Clearing Writing Class is scheduled for Friday, October 28.  Call 920-854-4088 to Register.
Upcoming Events:
August 9, 6:30 p.m. Winnebago County Historical Society.  Oshkosh Library.  History of Wisconsin Agriculture.
August 12, 9-4, Writing Workshop, The Clearing, Door County. (Filled)
August 20, 10:30-11:30 am.  Waupaca Annual Arts on the Square.  Story telling
August 22, 7:00 p.m., Twin Cities Public TV.  The Land With Jerry Apps
August 30, 7:00 p.m. Milwaukee Public TV. The Land With Jerry AppsPurchase Jerry’s DVDS and his Books from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fundraiser for them): 
September 8, 7:00 p.m.  McMillan Memorial Library, Wisconsin Rapids. Workshop on memoir writing. Participants should have a copy of TELLING YOUR STORY. Book will be available for sale the evening of the workshop.

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 novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. and Wisconsin Agriculture: A History.
Jerry’s newest books, Roshara Journal (with photos by Steve Apps) and Telling Your Story—a guide book for those who want to write their stories—are also available.Contact the library for prices and special package deals.Patterson Memorial Library500 Division StreetWild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835

Trails

            Trails have always intrigued me, from the days when I was a kid following a cow path a half-mile up the lane back of the barn, to today, when I follow the several trails  at my farm.  I recently wrote:
            When at my farm, I often follow my network of trails through the woods, along the flats and down the hills and around the many twists and turns.
            A trail is not for hurrying.  Despite how familiar the trail is to me now, there is always something new to see or hear as I wind my way along.  There are old friends: a deer bounding in front of me, the giant oak trees I dearly love, the views across the ponds, where I often spot a mallard or a wood duck or a family of Canada geese.
            As the seasons change, the views from the trails change, too, from the budding of the trees and the greening of the grass in spring to the rainbow of colors in fall to the naked maples in winter.
            Small side trails here and there lead to special views: a close-up look at the ponds; a trip to the prairie restoration.  Traveling my trails, which I regularly do, is one of the joys of my life. 
Excerpted from Whispers and Shadows: A Naturalist’s Memoir
The Old Timer Says:  Take time to travel a trail, and take your time when you do it.
ANNOUNCEMENT:  A second Clearing Writing Class is scheduled for Friday, October 28.  Call 920-854-4088 to Register.
Upcoming Events:
July 19, 11:00 a.m., Farm Technology Days, Snudden Farms, Lake Geneva, Walworth County. History of Wisconsin Agriculture.
August 9, 6:30 p.m. Winnebago County Historical Society.  Oshkosh Library.  History of Wisconsin Agriculture.
August 12, 9-4, Writing Workshop, The Clearing, Door County. (Filled)
August 20, 10:30-11:30 am.  Waupaca Annual Arts on the Square.  Story telling.
August 22, 7:00 p.m., Twin Cities Public TV.  The Land With Jerry Apps.
August 30, 7:00 p.m. Milwaukee Public TV. The Land With Jerry AppsPurchase 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 novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. and Wisconsin Agriculture: A History.
Jerry’s newest books, Roshara Journal (with photos by Steve Apps) and Telling Your Story—a guide book for those who want to write their stories—are also available.Contact the library for prices and special package deals.Patterson Memorial Library500 Division StreetWild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835