Every Farm Tells a Story: A Tale of Family Values

by Jerry Apps

Overview

Jerry Apps details the virtues and hardships of rural living. 

“Do your chores without complaining. Show up on time. Do every job well. Always try to do better. Never stop learning. Next year will be better. Care for others, especially those who have less than you. Accept those who are different from you. Love the land.”

In this paperback edition of a beloved Jerry Apps classic, the rural historian captures the heart and soul of life in rural America. Inspired by his mother’s farm account books—in which she meticulously recorded every farm purchase—Jerry chronicles life on a small farm during and after World War II. Featuring a new introduction exclusive to this 2nd edition, Every Farm Tells a Story reminds us that, while our family farms are shrinking in number, the values learned there remain deeply woven in our cultural heritage. 
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780870208638
Publisher:	Wisconsin Historical Society
Publication date:	02/06/2018
Edition description:	2
Pages:	160
Sales rank:	452,304
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	3 Months to 18 Years

About the Author

A professor emeritus of agriculture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Jerry Apps has written more than forty fiction, nonfiction, and children’s books, many of them on rural history and country life. His work has won awards from the American Library Association, the Wisconsin Library Association, the Wisconsin Historical Society, and the Council for Wisconsin Writers, and he has created four documentaries about farm life and country living with Wisconsin Public Television. Jerry and his wife, Ruth, divide their time between their home in Madison and their farm, Roshara, near Wild Rose, Wisconsin.
 

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction to the New Edition xi

Preface: The Account Books xiii

1 Family Farm Values 1

2 One Hundred Sixty Acres of Stones and Hills 9

3 The Neighborhood 14

4 War 20

5 Winter 28

6 At Home 33

7 Running Water 38

8 Hoeing 42

9 Town Night 45

10 Funny Papers 50

11 Milking Machine 53

12 The War Ends 57

13 New Barn 61

14 Electricity Arrives 66

15 County Agent 74

16 School Picnic 79

17 Making Hay 84

18 Ma's Projects 88

19 Ma's Illness 98

20 Pickle Patch 104

21 Threshing 108

22 Fire 117

23 Silo Filling 122

24 Shredding Corn 129

25 Windstorm 132

26 New Neighbor 140

27 A Farm Remembers 147