Jerold W Apps

"This is the story of the logging era in Wisconsin, of lumberjacks and camp cooks, of log drives and log jams, of sawmills and lumber barons and the echo of the ax in the Northwoods as yet another white pine tree fell to the ground. Jerry also walks readers through the aftermath of the logging era, including efforts to farm the cutover, reforestation work, and the legacy of the state's lumber and wood products industry"--

When Jerry Apps was growing up on a Wisconsin farm in the 1930s and 1940s, times were tough. Yet most folks living on farms had plenty to eat. Preparing food from scratch was just the way things were done, and people knew what was in their food and where it came from. Delicious meals were at the center of every family and social affair, whether it be a threshing-day dinner with all the neighbors, the end-of-school-year picnic, or just a hearty supper...

"During Jerry Apps's childhood on the farm, he witnessed the second great revolution in farming-- the arrival of electric lines to rural areas, running water in barns, and new farm machines like tractors, balers, and combines. In Every Farm Tells a Story he traces that revolution by way of costs found in his mother's account books for everything from the family's first milking machine to the used telephone pole that supported their first electric...

"The year is 1955. Andy Meyer, a young farmer, manages the pickle factory in Link Lake, a rural town where the farms are small, the conversation is meandering, and the feeling is distinctly Midwestern. Workers sort, weigh, and dump cucumbers into huge vats where the pickles cure, providing a livelihood to local farmers. But the H.H. Harlow Pickle Company has appeared in town, using heavy-handed tactics to force family farmers to either farm the Harlow...

"Jerry Apps explores the history of county and state fairs in Wisconsin, from their earliest incarnations as livestock exhibitions to their later multitudes of exhibits and demonstrations, grandstand entertainment, games and rides, and competitions of all sorts. Drawing on his extensive research, interviews, and personal experience as a 4-H leader, county extension agent, county fair judge, and lifelong fairgoer, Apps takes readers back through 178...