Every Farm Tells a Story: A tale of Family Farm Values [Hardcover]

Jerold Apps (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 31, 2005

Before World War II, farmers had few of the conveniences that were common in cities. Many farmers continued to milk cows by hand, pump water with windmills or gasoline engines, light their way with kerosene lamps and lanterns, heat with woodstoves, and plant and harvest with horses. And many had no indoor plumbing. After war’s end in 1945, change on the farm came rapidly. Electricity replaced lamps, lanterns, and gasoline engines. New tractors replaced horses. Hay balers made loose hay a memory. Grain combines replaced threshing machines. Not only was farm work transformed from 1945 to 1955, but so was life on farms and in rural communities. Threshing, silo filling, and corn shredding bees, where farmers gathered to help each other, became memories. Card games and neighborly visits were replaced by television. Young people left the land because mechanization required less labor. Large farms crowded out family farms. "Every Farm Tells a Story" is a first-person account of a small Wisconsin farm during and after World War II. This ""living history"" is a collection of true tales inspired by entries in Jerry Apps’s mother’s farm account books. The values recorded in the account books prompt recollections of his childhood and the traditional family farm values and ethics instilled in him by Ma and Pa. About the Author: A professor emeritus of agriculture at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, author Jerry Apps has written more than 35 books, many of them on rural history and country life. Recent titles include "When Chores Were Done" and "Humor from the Country." His writing has earned awards from the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Library Association, and Barnes and Noble Booksellers, among others.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Washington State Grange News, October 2005 (circ.: 30,500)

“Every Farm Tells a Story by Jerry Apps is destined to become the book everyone points to when they want to extol the virtues of rural living. The book is fun to read, personal and warm.”

The Bookwatch and KLSN, on-air book review commentary, June 2005

“Readers receive a fine blend of business savvy, history and humor lending to light, easy reading.”

From the Publisher

Jerry Apps was born and raised on a Wisconsin farm in the days before electricity, central heating, or indoor plumbing. He is a former county extension agent and University of Wisconsin agriculture professor. He is the author of several other farm nostalgia and Wisconsin regional titles.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Voyageur Press (March 31, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0896585107
• ISBN-13: 978-0896585102
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,265,925 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An inviting chronicle of changes in farming over the decades, June 5, 2005

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Every Farm Tells a Story: A tale of Family Farm Values (Hardcover)

Farm values and management can offer many lessons, especially when told through humor, as Jerry Apps demonstrates in Every Farm Tells A Story; A Tale Of Family Farm Values. Tucked into an inviting chronicle of changes in farming over the decades and resulting changes in values and methods, readers receive a fine blend of business savvy, history, and humor lending to light, easy reading.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful nostalgic romp, a letter to my cousins., May 18, 2005

By 

Steven Fortney "Novelist-Poet" (Stoughton, WI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Every Farm Tells a Story: A tale of Family Farm Values (Hardcover)

I have just come across a book you all should read: it is called EVERY FARM TELLS A STORY, A TALE OF FAMILY FARM VALUES, by JERRY APPS. it is published by Voyageur Press and is a wonderful story about growing up on a farm near Wild Rose Wisconsin in Washara County in the north central part of the state. As most of you know, Cousin Tom Larson and I spent a number of summers on the Bergum farm north of Wheeler in Dunn County; and almost everything that Jerry Apps describes in the book is something we did with Uncle Nelmer (who Tom and I still consider the greatest man in the world) and Aunt Selma (our second mother) and Kon and Stanley on that farm: threshing, making wood, cultivating, feeding chickens, stripping cows; old fashioned crank telephones, freeshows, feed mills--everything. The book is illustrated with period advertisments. This is a brilliant nostalgic journey. It's a neat
companion to my own The Reunion. But all of you should take a trip in EVERY FARM. this is a story that speaks to those of us who have had anything to do with farm life. it's a wonderful book for all my cousins and for all of us.

Steven Fortney
Author of The Reunion.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent! Great for anyone that grew up on a farm., July 22, 2005

By 

Ginger E. France "gingfrance" (Bettendorf, IA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Every Farm Tells a Story: A tale of Family Farm Values (Hardcover)

I really injoyed this book, laughed out loud several times. I really enjoyed all the old farm ads also. Great picture of how farming used to be.