Jerry Apps's Blog, page 9

Perfect Christmas Tree

 

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

If you live in the western part of the state, stop at Ruth’s home town, Westby and visit Dregne’s. Say hello to Jana and Dave, and look at their great selection of my books, including my new ones, or order a book by calling them at 1-877-634-4414. They will be happy to help you.

 

 

 

Deer Season: Opening Day

 

Opening Day.  Photo by Jerry Apps

 

It’s opening day of deer season, and I, with a new handwarmer, some beef jerky in my pocket and my 30-30 Winchester lever-action deer rifle, I sit at the ready. The temperature is 17 degrees.  Thankfully there is no wind.  Not a whisper of wind.  The sky is clear.  I am ready.

 

I am sitting at the edge of a little field, where just a week ago I spotted a big deer leaping across where I am sitting.  Couldn’t tell if it was a buck.  Coming out of the pine plantation to the north and following a deer trail. Would I see a repeat?  I am ready.

 

Nothing.  Quiet.  An abundance of quiet, which I rather enjoy.  The sun is creeping over the trees to the east, warming my back.  My back needs warming.  

And then I see movement out of the corner of my eye.  It’s a squirrel, running, stopping to look at me, running some more.  Looking at me again.  And then it disappears.  Nothing else happening.  Surrounded by quiet.

 

Then I see it, a chick-a-dee.  It flies by and lands on a tree limb to my right.  Calling its name over and over again, “Chick-a-dee-dee,  Chick-a-dee-dee.”  Breaking the silence. Welcoming the morning.

 

I’m enjoying the solitude and the quiet.  No phone ringing.  No computer demanding my attention.  But where are the deer?  Are they on a different deer trail this morning?  Or are they hunkering down in some sunny place, enjoying the quiet of a frosty late-November morning?

 

At noon my son, Steve asks, “what did you see?”  My report, “one squirrel and one chick-a-dee.”  He smiles.

 

 

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Sometimes solitude and quiet is enough reason for deer hunting.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS:

 

Tune in PBS Wisconsin on Thursday, December 3, 7:00 p.m. for a showing of “Farm Story With Jerry Apps.”

 

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS:

To Purchase my newest books, When the White Pine Was King,  and The Old Timer Says: A Writing Journal, go to your local bookstore, order online from bookshop.org, or from the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose—a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.
www.wildroselibrary.org

If you live in the western part of the state, stop at Ruth’s home town, Westby and visit Dregne’s. Say hello to Jana and Dave, and look at their great selection of my books, including my news  ones, or order a book by calling them at 1-877-634-4414. They will be happy to help you.

 

 

Annual Deer Season

 

Son, Steve’s buck, 2017.  Photo by Jerry Apps

That mid-November morning in 1946 was dark and cold.  I was up at five and hurried out to the barn with my barn lantern to help with morning milking and chores.   I had turned 12 in July, old enough to buy a deer hunting license and go deer hunting with my dad and our neighbor, Bill Miller.

After a quick breakfast, we loaded our hunting gear in the 1936 Plymouth, picked up Bill and drove about three-quarters of an hour to where Dad and Bill had hunted for many years.  To a place near the Roche A Cri River in Adams County.

Arriving just as the sun was creeping over the horizon, Pa asked me to walk along the banks of the Roche A Cri, driving any deer that might be there.  He said that he and Bill would be waiting about a mile farther on downriver, at a place where the river ran through an open area.  A place where they could bag a deer.

 I had dad’s double-barrel twelve-gauge shotgun, that weighed a ton and had barrels half as long as I was tall.  They said to wait for 15 minutes so they’d have time to get in place.  After a time, I started my walk along the river.  The sun was warm on my back and the gun got heavier with each step.  I stopped, leaned the gun against a tree, and watched the river.  I finally made it to where Pa and Bill waited and wondered what had happened to me.  “Where are the deer?” Pa asked.  I had no answer.

Now, so many years later, I am once more looking forward to the annual deer hunt.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: For many Wisconsin families, deer hunting is a revered family tradition.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Tune in PBS Wisconsin on Thursday, December 3, 7:00 p.m. for a showing of “Farm Story With Jerry Apps.”

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS:

To Purchase my newest books, When the White Pine Was King,  and The Old Timer Says: A Writing Journal, go to your local bookstore, order online from bookshop.org, or from the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose—a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.
www.wildroselibrary.org

If you live in the western part of the state, stop at Ruth’s home town, Westby and visit Dregne’s. Say hello to Jana and Dave, and look at their great selection of my books or order a book by calling them at 1-877-634-4414. They will be happy to help you.

 

 

First Snow

 

November Snow  Photo by Jerry Apps

It came quietly in the night, hidden by the darkness when most people were sleeping.  Like so many thousands of little pieces of cotton falling from the sky, this first substantial snowfall of the season turned a bleak and brown countryside into a world of white.

As strange as it may seem to some, as a kid, my brothers and I looked forward to the first snowfall.  Now we could search for skis somewhere stored in the woodshed, find our sleds stored there as well, and look for our ice skates for soon the ponds and lakes would freeze and we could once more ice skate.

That morning, we hurried along the mile to our country school, wearing our four-buckle boots for the first time.  Arriving there, we looked forward to the school outdoor games that could only be played when there was snow on the ground.  Fox and Geese was the popular one—a kind of tag game that we played on our snow-covered softball diamond.

And I must not overlook the snowball fights—all in good fun when we hurled snowballs at each other, sometimes in an organized fashion, us against them.  Or not organized, just random snowball throwing.

 Of course, there was a downside to snow on the ground once more.   Milk cows now spent both days and nights in the barn, which meant more chores to do, more straw to carry in for bedding, more manure to haul out each day.

The first snow marked the changing of the seasons, we all looked forward to it.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: When the seasons change on the farm, farm life changes as well.

 UPCOMING EVENTS:

Monday, November 16, 12 Noon. Launch of THE OLD TIMER SAYS: A WRITING JOURNAL.  A virtual event.  Click on the following for further information: https://www.facebook.com/events/1024707661275889/

 WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS:

To read more about winter, see my book: The Quiet Season (Wisconsin Historical Society Press).  To purchase a copy of The Quiet Season and The Old Timer Says: A Writing Journal, go to your local bookstore, order online from bookshop.org, or from the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose—a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.
www.wildroselibrary.org

If you live in the western part of the state, stop at Ruth’s home town, Westby and visit Dregne’s. Say hello to Jana and Dave, and look at their great selection of my books or order a book by calling them at 1-877-634-4414. They will be happy to help you.

Snowy Winter. Photo by Jerry Apps As we move ever close...

 

Snowy Winter.  Photo by Jerry Apps

As we move ever closer to winter, my memories return to my early life on the farm.  As I think back, nearly everything we did during the other three seasons of the year was to prepare for winter.  The crops we planted in spring—oats, corn, potatoes—we harvested in summer and fall, and stored them for the farm animals to eat in winter.

The hayloft in the barn was piled to the roof with hay that we had cut in late June and July, waiting for winter when it would help feed our small herd of hungry milk cows.

The huge garden that my mother managed, with vegetables of every kind, along with such fruits as strawberries and raspberries by late fall were lined up in jars on shelves in the cellar.  Waiting for winter.

The enormous woodpile just west of the house stood waiting for winter, when it would help warm our farmhouse.  In November, we piled straw around the outside of the house, as a way to keep out the winter drafts.

As I think back, I realize that winter, in large measure, defined who we were as people.  We learned the importance of planning for the future—winter, which always arrived, ready or not.  We didn’t despise winter as it did provide some time for winter activities such as skiing, sledding, and ice skating.  But the better we planned for it, the more we could enjoy what I have called “The quiet season.”

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: We who live in the north are largely defined by winter.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Monday, November 16, 12 Noon. Launch of THE OLD TIMER SAYS: A WRITING JOURNAL.  A virtual event.  Click on the following for further information: https://www.facebook.com/events/1024707661275889/

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS:

To read more about winter, see my book: The Quiet Season (Wisconsin Historical Society Press).  To purchase copies of The Quiet Season and The Old Timer Says: A Writing Journal, go to your local bookstore,  order online from bookshop.org, or from the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose—a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.
www.wildroselibrary.org

If you live in the western part of the state, stop at Ruth’s home town, Westby and visit Dregne’s. Say hello to Jana and Dave, and look at their great selection of my books or order a book by calling them at 1-877-634-4414. They will be happy to help you.

Snowy Winter. Photo by Jerry Apps As we move ...

 

Snowy Winter.  Photo by Jerry Apps

As we move ever closer to winter, my memories return to my early life on the farm.  As I think back, nearly everything we did during the other three seasons of the year was to prepare for winter.  The crops we planted in spring—oats, corn, potatoes—we harvested in summer and fall, and stored them for the farm animals to eat in winter.

The hayloft in the barn was piled to the roof with hay that we had cut in late June and July, waiting for winter when it would help feed our small herd of hungry milk cows.

The huge garden that my mother managed, with vegetables of every kind, along with such fruits as strawberries and raspberries by late fall were lined up in jars on shelves in the cellar.  Waiting for winter.

The enormous woodpile just west of the house stood waiting for winter, when it would help warm our farmhouse.  In November, we piled straw around the outside of the house, as a way to keep out the winter drafts.

As I think back, I realize that winter, in large measure, defined who we were as people.  We learned the importance of planning for the future—winter, which always arrived, ready or not.  We didn’t despise winter as it did provide some time for winter activities such as skiing, sledding, and ice skating.  But the better we planned for it, the more we could enjoy what I have called “The quiet season.”

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: We who live in the north are largely defined by winter.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Monday, November 16, 12 Noon. Launch of THE OLD TIMER SAYS: A WRITING JOURNAL.  A virtual event.  Click on the following for further information: https://www.facebook.com/events/1024707661275889/

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS:

To read more about winter, see my book: The Quiet Season (Wisconsin Historical Society Press).  To purchase copies of The Quiet Season and The Old Timer Says: A Writing Journal, go to your local bookstore,  order online from bookshop.org, or from the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose—a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.
www.wildroselibrary.org

If you live in the western part of the state, stop at Ruth’s home town, Westby and visit Dregne’s. Say hello to Jana and Dave, and look at their great selection of my books or order a book by calling them at 1-877-634-4414. They will be happy to help you.

Splitting Wood

 

Son, Jeff, showing how to split wood.  Photo by Jerry Apps

When I was a kid, with the fall harvest about completed, the granary bins full, the silo filled, and the corn cribs bursting with cob corn, it was time to take up an annual fall task—making wood. 

  In our farmhouse, we had two wood-burning stoves—a kitchen cookstove, and a Round Oak Heater in the dining room.  Another stove in the pump house kept the pump and the milk cooling tank from freezing. A wood stove in the potato cellar kept our potato crop from freezing.

On a cool November Saturday, when the barn chores were done, my dad and I, and sometimes with my younger twin brothers. we were off to the woodlot near the house.  An ax and a crosscut saw were our only implements.  No fancy gasoline chain saws.

With our trusty team and bobsled, assuming snow on the ground, we hauled the cut branches and logs to a huge pile near our house, waiting for the day when we had a wood sawing bee where the neighbors helped us cut the logs into blocks.

 Our next task was splitting the blocks into woodstove size.  A task that required both brawn and brains.  Enough strength to wield a splitting mall, and enough brains to be able to read the wood, as Pa would say.  By that he meant, studying a block before swinging the mall, and deciding the direction of the wood grain, and detecting knots that would make the splitting more difficult. After several hours of splitting, we had a respectable woodpile.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS:  Learn to read a block of wood, the same skill applies when meeting a  person for the first time.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Book Bites, Wednesday, November 4, 7:00 PM.  Go to Wisconsin Historical Society Press Facebook for a live presentation. “When the White Pine Was King.”

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS AND DVDS.

My newest books are WHEN THE WHITE PINE WAS KING, CHEESE THE MAKING OF A WISCONSIN TRADITION (2nd Edition), and THE OLD TIMER SAYS:  A WRITING JOURNAL.

My books are available at your local bookstore, online from bookshop.org, or from the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose—a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.
www.wildroselibrary.org

If you live in the western part of the state, stop at Ruth’s home town, Westby and visit Dregne’s. 

The Old Maple Tree is Now a Memory

 

The clean-up crew, left to right-Steve, Sue, Paul. My brother Don in front. Photo by Jerry Apps/

In 1912, the Coombes family, who owned Roshara before us, built new farm buildings across the township road from where they were originally.  They planted a windbreak of black willow trees and at the north end of the windbreak, they planted a maple tree.

When we bought the farm in 1966, the maple tree was more than 50 years old, and a nice shade tree.  The tree had four trunks, each growing from ground level from the same root system.  As the years passed, one of the trunks grew considerably larger than the other three.  By 2020, this trunk was probably 30 inches in diameter and eighty or more feet tall.  But rather than grow straight up, each year it grew a bit more at an angle.

To make matters worse, it was leaning over one of my machine sheds.  My brother Darrel, each time he visited me at the farm said, “Jerry, that old maple is gonna fall on your shed.  And no telling how much damage it will do.”

Darrel was right.  It was only a matter of time—a stiff wind, an ice storm, and down it would go.  So, I hired Gabe’s, a tree company from Wild Rose to cut it down, all four trunks.

On a cool Saturday, my clean up crew hauled away the brush and began piling the blocks, which we will split for firewood.  It was a sad and happy day.  Sad, because my family spent many hours in the shade of that big old maple.  Happy—my machine shed is spared.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: A shade tree can be like an old friend.

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS AND DVDS.

My newest books are WHEN THE WHITE PINE WAS KING: A HISTORY OF LUMBERJACKS, LOG DRIVES, AND SAWDUST CITIES IN WISCONSIN. CHEESE THE MAKING OF A WISCONSIN TRADITION (2nd Edition), and THE OLD TIMER SAYS: A WRITING JOURNAL.

My books are available at your local bookstore, online from bookshop.org, or from the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose—a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.
www.wildroselibrary.org

If you live in the western part of the state, stop at Ruth’s home town, Westby and visit Dregne’s. Say hello to Jana and Dave, and look at their great selection of my books or order a book by calling them at 1-877-634-4414. They will be happy to help you.

 

Big Bluestem Has a Story to Tell

 

Big Bluestem grass at Roshara.  Photo by Jerry Apps

When the pioneers arrived in central and southwestern Wisconsin, many of them were greeted by vast acreages of Big Bluestem grass.  It would often grow over six feet tall and wave in the wind creating a sight similar to waves on the ocean.  Indeed, the first pioneers, who arrived in the Midwest with covered wagons pulled by teams of oxen, called their wagons prairie schooners, after the sailing vessels that plied the oceans.

Big Bluestem (Andropagon gerardii) is a native perennial grass.  It is leafy at its base, with a few leaves along its stem.  The seed heads form into three spikelets, which gives the grass its popular name, “turkey foot.”

When Thomas Stewart homesteaded my Roshara farm in 1867, he was greeted by Big Bluestem waving in the wind.  I have read stories of how he hired a neighbor, with a team of oxen and a huge breaking plow to turn under this tall growing grass, which had a root system nearly as deep as the grass grew above ground.

On steep hillsides that Stewart could not plow, the Big Bluestem continued to grow—to this day.  It is also slowly expanding in the prairie we are restoring at Roshara.  Because of its vast root system, it will grow on sandy soils, and also because of its deep roots, it is not much bothered by dry weather, something that is fairly common in our part of Waushara County.

As it grows in spring and summer, it has a blueish stem. In fall the stems turn a reddish brown.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Big Bluestem, a plant with a story to tell.

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS AND DVDS.

My newest books are WHEN THE WHITE PINE WAS KING: A HISTORY OF LUMBERJACKS, LOG DRIVES, AND SAWDUST CITIES IN WISCONSIN. CHEESE THE MAKING OF A WISCONSIN TRADITION (2nd Edition), and THE OLD TIMER SAYS: A WRITING JOURNAL.

My books are available at your local bookstore, online from bookshop.org, or from the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose—a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.
www.wildroselibrary.org

If you live in the western part of the state, stop at Ruth’s home town, Westby and visit Dregne’s. Say hello to Jana and look at their great selection of my books or order a book by calling them at 1-877-634-4414.

 

Putting the Garden to Bed

 

Steve sowing winter rye on the garden.  Photo by Jerry Apps

Putting our garden to bed is an annual event that we have followed for more than fifty years at Roshara.  It involves several steps, followed carefully each fall, usually in early October.

The first step is to remove the electric fence, with its skinny steel posts and two wires that surround the garden from the time of planting to autumn, when the garden season ends.  The electric wires, the first one about four feet above the ground, the second one about a foot off the ground successfully keep out the deer and wild turkeys.  But not the rabbits.  This year, for the first time ever, we had a problem with rabbits chewing on our broccoli and cabbage plants.  Somehow, they missed the beans.

Next, we remove all the vines from the pumpkins, squash, and gourds along with the tomato and potato vines.  These are taken a distance away from the garden, as they often contain diseases. especially blight.

These days, my son, Steve does most of this work. I mostly watch.  He cuts the sweet corn stalks into little pieces, which he leaves on the ground.  He also leaves the grass-mulching materials that surrounded the tomato, cabbage, and broccoli plants.  With the rototiller, he works the garden, burying the mulching material and corn stalks.

Finally, he sows winter rye over the entire garden, providing a cover crop for the winter. Once sowed, he works in the seeds with the rototiller. Next spring he’ll work the green rye into the soil, adding more organic material to our sandy Waushara County soil.

Another job finished for the season.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Weknow that fall is  here when the garden is put to bed.

COMING EVENTS:

Thursday, October 15, 11:00 a.m. (Virtual) Fox Cities Book Festival. When the White Pine was King.  Click on the following to sign up. https://foxcitiesbookfestival.org/authors/jerry-apps-2/

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS AND DVDS.

My newest books are WHEN THE WHITE PINE WAS KING: A HISTORY OF LUMBERJACKS, LOG DRIVES, AND SAWDUST CITIES IN WISCONSIN and CHEESE THE MAKING OF A WISCONSIN TRADITION (2nd Edition).

My books are available at your local bookstore, online from bookshop.org, or from the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose—a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.
www.wildroselibrary.org

If you live in the western part of the state, stop at Ruth’s home town, Westby and visit Dregne’s. Say hello to Jana and look at their great selection of my books or order a book by calling them at 1-877-634-4414.