Synopses & Reviews
Rounding out the story of the Dougan farmand#8217;s influence on the world and the worldand#8217;s influence on the farm is volume four. Grampa Dougan is honored as a Master Farmer, gives radio talks heard throughout the Midwest, and travels Wisconsin with a university professor, encouraging farm record-keeping. Grampa and Grama Dougan are the first couple with portraits in the University of Wisconsin Agricultural Hall of Fame.
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Ron Dougan develops new corn breeds and markets Dougan Hybrids in Wisconsin and neighboring states. On the livestock side, he joins the board of the Wisconsin Scientific Breeders Institute, which evolves to American Breeders Service (ABS), the largest artificial insemination company in the world. And in 1961 the farm hosts Wisconsin Farm Progress Days, where Jackie eats with the governor. For twenty-five years after World War II the family welcomes two Scandinavians a year in a farm exchange program, and continues close ties with Beloit College and the University of Wisconsin. Eventually Interstate 90 slices through the property, presaging the death of the farm.
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Readers will be entertained as well as educated by the lively, involved, inventive Dougan community, which always remembers Grampaand#8217;s motto painted on the farmand#8217;s silo: and#147;Life as well as a living.and#8221;
Review
“Jackie Jackson throws open the Round Barn doors at the Dougan family farm to tell us an American story. She gives us a rich history of farm life at the mercy of the forces of science and the market but grounded in rock-solid Wisconsin values.”—U.S. Senator Dick Durbin
Review
and#147;There is nothing so much at the root of American thought as the farm and the family. In
The Round Barn, Jackie Jackson honors both with her storytelling. Daddy Dougan is clearly someone we all wish we knew.and#8221;and#151;Jim Fleming, host of PRIand#8217;s and#147;To the Best of Our Knowledgeand#8221; and Wisconsin Public Radioand#8217;s and#147;Chapter A Day"
Review
and#147;This is a splendid and essentially American storyand#151;great history because it is both human stories and a wealth of narrative about the transformative changes in American farming itself. There has been nothing like it before and there will not be again.and#8221;and#151;John Knoepfle, winner of the Mark Twain Award for Distinguished Contributions to Midwestern Literature
Review
andldquo;Though artifacts from this era remain, we will lose our ability to understand and interpret them unless we preserve these sorts of complementary narrative accounts. The experience of life on a family farm is becoming distant today, but has been remarkably preserved in Olaf Larsonandrsquo;s memory.andrdquo;andmdash;Robert J. Gough, University of Wisconsinandndash;Eau Claire, author of Farming the Cutover
Review
andldquo;Larsonandrsquo;s memory is excellent, his description is detailedandmdash;and throughout the book his love of farming is constantly being expressed.andrdquo;andmdash;Agri-View
Synopsis
Volume Two of The Round Barn warmly and extensively narrates the history of the Dougan family farm and continues where the dairy tour ended in the first installment. The book broadens its focus to general farming, as author Jacqueline Dougan Jackson describes the start and development of hybrid seed corn and artificial breeding on her familys farm.
Synopsis
The final installment in a warmly amusing and historically detailed account of a Wisconsin farm family.
Synopsis
As he turns 100 years old, Olaf Larson looks back at his farm boyhood, weaving invaluable historical details of farming and rural life with wry tales about his family, neighbors, and one-room schoolhouse in the American Midwest.and#160;
Synopsis
In 1910, when Olaf F. Larson was born to tenant livestock and tobacco farmers in Rock County, Wisconsin, the original barn still stood on the property. It was filled with artifacts of an earlier timeandmdash;an ox yoke, a grain cradle, a scythe used to cut hay by hand. But Larson came of age in a brave new world of modern inventionsandmdash;tractors, trucks, combines, airplanesandmdash;that would change farming and rural life forever.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; When Horses Pulled the Plow is Larsonandrsquo;s account of that rural life in the early twentieth century. He weaves invaluable historical detailsandmdash;including descriptions of farm equipment, crops, and livestockandmdash;with wry tales about his family, neighbors, and the one-room schoolhouse he attended, revealing the texture of everyday life in the rural Midwest almost a century ago. This memoir, written by Larson in his ninth decade, provides a wealth of details recalled from an earlier era and an illuminating read for anyone with their own memories of growing up on a farm.and#160;
About the Author
Jacqueline Dougan Jackson is the author of fourteen books, including Stories from the Round Barn, More Stories from the Round Barn, and the first two volumes of The Round Barn, A Biography of an American Farm. She is a founding faculty member of Sangamon State University, now the University of Illinois Springfield, and her books have been featured on Wisconsin Public Radio.
Table of Contents
To the Readers of
The Round BarnAbout the NowAcknowledgmentsPrologue Book Four: The Big House1 Bertha Zimmerman2 Barefoot3 The Ghost of Bob4 I Love You, Grama5 Aeroplane6 Grampa’s Work Plans7 What Is a Farmer?8 Bounce9 Feeding Help on the Dairy Farm10 The Wedding11 Esther, Part 112 Dignity13 Ford14 Grampa Dresses15 Let There Be Light16 Sparrow Pot Pie17 Grampa’s Blue Memo18 Esther, Continued19 Aunt Lillian20 Quentin Bowen21 Grama’s Eventful Spring22 Ronald’s Courtship23 The Shower24 Hallelujah, I’m a Bum25 Same Old Cat26 Thanksgiving at the Big House27 Grama’s Depression28 Play Horsie29 The Phantom Lake Turtles30 Snakes31 La Maréchale32 Bedmates33 Big House Christmas34 Helne Burnette35 Pat and Ralph Anderson36 Esther, the Rest of the Story37 Grampa Bandages38 Ronald Part 1, France Is Set to Receive Me!39 Trever Grows Up40 Income Tax Book Five: Around the Farm1 Two Fingers2 The Colt3 Cornshock Tepees4 Alan Turnbull’s Master’s Thesis5 K P I P6 Ronald Part 2, I Am Marked with a Lucky Star7 Manure Spreader8 Back-Fence Walk9 Chuck Kellor10 Angle of Repose11 Fools’ Names12 Ronald Part 3, Why Not Farming?13 Thrashing14 Roads15 Stuart Peterson16 Chuck Hoag’s Master’s Thesis17 Sausage and Petunia18 You and Heredity19 Ronald Part 4, I Must Fall in Love With My Cows20 Farmer’s Diary, 194721 Brahms’ Lullaby22 Fernwood Scrimshaw23 Rock County Breeders24 The Sea of Galilee25 Corn26 Bat27 Beadleville28 Ronald Part 5, Knowing My Own Mind29 Howard Johnson30 Joe31 Dougan Hybrids32 P C33 Ronald Part 6, She Touches All My Interests34 Detasseling Corn35 Don King36 Barley Beards37 Suckers38 Kildeer39 Ronald Part 7, Practicalities40 Gary Wallace41 Well42 Three Moldy Cheers43 Ronald Part 8, Dad, I Am a Man44 I Wisht I Was a Little Rock45 God’s Footstool46 When My Country Calls47 Ice48 Erv Fonda49 Ronald Part 9, Plans and Pleadings50 Stanley Otis51 Haystack52 Ronald Cultivates53 Ronald Part 10, We Are Entirely Happy54 Art Raschke55 Assistant Pigman56 Sleep Little Baby57 Play58 Phil Johnson59 Grampa’s Glorious Day