Wisconsin Farm Lore: Kicking Cows, Giant Pumpkins and Other Tales from the Back Forty

by Martin Hintz

It's well nigh impossible to break into Wisconsin's history without picking up some respectable dirt in the way of farm lore, country wisdom and undisputed records of agricultural prowess. And when it comes to the Badger State, few people are as familiar with the soil of its stories as Martin Hintz. In his company, tramp across cranberry bogs, study centuries of beer and cheese pairings and give an affectionate thump to a 1, 810.5-pound pumpkin. Discover variety beyond crops and livestock and share in the dedication that planted victory gardens during World War II and the unadulterated joy of sliding down a straw pile in threshing season.

Genres: History

160 pages, Paperback

First published June 20, 2012

Reviews

[Sherri]

This was an interesting collection of random facts. Didn't seem very well organized and cumbersome having to relate to the sources in the back of the book.

[Erica]

Wisconsin Farm Lore was full of fun facts and snippets about Wisconsin’s agricultural history.

Overall this was a light, quick and easy read. I enjoyed learning more about the history of farming in Wisconsin.

However, I did notice an inaccuracy page 103. The first name of Governor Doyle is wrong. It’s Jim. Not John. I just hope there weren’t any other inaccuracies.

[Bruce Whitmore]

Not a literary masterpiece, but an easy reading book of short/little articles about a myriad of subjects of agriculture in Wisconsin. Could be a coffee table book.

[Jon]

This book reads like the author dropped their research notecards, picked them up at random, and sent that to the editor to publish.

[Jerry Barnes]

Informational

[Logan]

A very poorly put together book full of excerpts and random facts.

Although I enjoyed the randomness at the beginning of the book, but it was not sustainable. The author splits their random excerpts from letters and stories into different subsections about crops, cattle, and people. Many of the stories were fun and interesting, but ended up mixing together a lot throughout the book. It made the whole book confusing and hard to read.

The author gives little to no transition or flow to their writing. Almost everything they say in the book has little to no value. The book would have been much better without them saying anything at all. Just a bunch of compiled excerpt’s in certain categories would have done the trick.

Many other Wisconsin historical books do better than this one. Pick something else.