Synopses & Reviews
The majority of everyday duties that happen on the farm revolve around the season. Considering that all aspects of farms are deeply connected to the weather, it’s no surprise the occupations of stewards on the farm rely so much on the ever-changing seasons. This collection of essays highlights some of the many events that occur on the farm during the year.
The selections range from humorous to heartwarming and everything in between. Roger Welsch defines the sure and not-so-sure signs of spring, while Jerry Apps reminisces to the summer country dances held at his country schoolhouse when he was a child. Michael Perry is reminded of his past during a recent lambing season, and Ben Logan spins the kaleidoscope of memories and looks back upon Christmases past. Events such as farm auctions and baling hay are chronicled, along with well-established traditions that include deer hunting and harvest suppers.
Any amount of time spent on a farm is deeply ingrained upon one’s soul, no matter if it is a pleasant or not-so-pleasant experience. These stories, along with archival and contemporary color photographs, that revolve the four seasons on the farm will hopefully trigger your own memories of time spent in the country.
Review
Small Farm Today, July 1, 2006
“I recommend you read a little each night for a pleasant night’s sleep of memories.”
Synopsis
From the awakening of the land in the spring to trudging to the barn on a chilly winter night, life on a farm revolves around the seasons of the year. The rural music of this seasonal rhythm sounds through the pages of this volume.
Seasons on the Farm: A Celebration of Country Life Through the Year chronicles the many seasonal events on the farm. Michael Perry takes time during a recent lambing season to look back on his childhood, Roger Welsch uses his rural expertise to identify the signs of spring, Jerry Apps reminisces about country dances from his childhood, and Ben Logan remembers Christmases of the past.
Some funny, some poignant, these evocative essays offer memories of farm life and reflections on its seasonal unfolding, from tapping maple trees to collect sap in the spring through the back-breaking task of baling hay on a blistering summer day to harvest suppers in a two-room schoolhouse and bundling up to feed the animals on a cold winter day. The essays are illustrated with black-and-white historical photographs and crisp color images that conjure the life of a farm for readers who have known that world intimately or have only dreamed of it.
Synopsis
Writers including Michael Perry, Roger Welsch, Jerry Apps, and Ben Logan reflect on the seasons of rural life, from spring planting through hay baling to harvest suppers in two-room country schoolhouses.
About the Author
Jerry Apps is a professor emeritus of agriculture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Ben Logan grew up on a farm in the Coulee region of Wisconsin during the 1920s and 1930s. His memoir, The Land Remembers, has sold nearly a half million copies. He also wrote a novel, The Empty Meadow. He lives in Viroqua, Wisconsin.
Born and raised on the banks of the Brill River in northern Wisconsin, Lee Klancher (Austin, Texas) has been chronicling motorcycle and outdoor adventures big and small since the early 1990s. His favorite adventure articles have covered riding the treacherous 300-mile track that crosses the Bolivian portion of the Amazon jungle, scaring himself senseless on Slovenia's Mount Triglav, and crossing the northeast Australian Outback on Honda XRs. Lee's other interests include mountain biking, dive bars, racquetball, and college hockey. His writing and photography appear regularly in Men's Journal, Motorcyclist, and Motorcycle Escape.
Samantha Johnson has been raising rabbits since she was 11 years old. A freelance writer who is a certified horse judge and works on the family horse breeding farm, Samantha wrote the books The Field Guide to Rabbits and How To Raise Horses.
Philip Hasheider has combined his interests in agriculture, cattle, and history to write seven books, including his two most recent in this series, How to Raise Cattle and now How to Raise Pigs. He has written numerous articles for national and international dairy breed publications and was the recipient of the 2005 Book of Merit Award presented by the Wisconsin Historical Society and Wisconsin State Genealogical Society for The Ancestry and Descendants of Alpheus and Sally (Copeland) Bass. His diverse work has appeared in the Wisconsin Academy of Review, The Capital Times, Wisconsin State Journal, Sickle and Sheaf, Old Sauk Trails, Sauk Prairie Area Historical Society Newsletter, Sauk Prairie Eagle, and Holstein World. He currently farms near Sauk City, Wisconsin, with his wife and two children.
Michael Perry is a Wisconsin-based author who wrote Population 485: Meeting Your Neighbor One Siren at a Time. Roger Welsch is a well-known rural scholar whose latest book is about how to keep your sanity while living in the country. Jerrp Apps is a professor emeritus of agriculture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and writes about growing up on a farm. Ben Logan also writes about his childhood on a farm in the driftless area of Wisconsin.
Table of Contents
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1: Spring
-Signs of Spring by Roger Welsch
-Making Maple by Robert N. Pripps
-My Father’s Flock by Michael Perry
Chapter 2: Summer
-Learning How to Walk Through Life One Auction at a Time by Jessie Kay Bylander
-Frank, Pinky, and Harry by Jerry Apps
-The Church of Cold Beer, Wrestling, and Women of Questionable Virtue by Lee Klancher
Chapter 3: Autumn
-Scarecrows on the Farm: Images of a Rural Autumn by Samantha Johnson
-Harvesting What We Have Been Given by Philip Hasheider
-Harvest Suppers by Carolyn Lumsden
Chapter 4: Winter
-Feeding the Critters by Gwen Petersen
-Winter Tales by Bob Becker
-Christmas Kaleidoscope by Ben Logan