On a Wisconsin Family Farm flings the barn doors wide open to a cast of characters that built America's Dairyland. A maternal maverick, Anna Satorie, went against cultural-norms and became the sole owner of her family's homestead in 1905. The next year, Anna married John Burich, and the couple went about building a thrifty family farm. Pioneer life was fraught with trials and tribulations as polio and tuberculosis claimed loved ones and the fabricated death of a bootlegging brother turned gangsters away from the farm. Neighbors pitched in as members of the immigrant class aided one another to construct farmsteads and support one another through unsanctioned bank loans, daring dynamite work and barn raisings. Leasing work aside, this community also threw parties met by the rooster's early-dawn crow. Corey Geiger, international agricultural journalist, pairs his rural roots and lively storytelling talents to capture six generations of local tales. Book jacket.

After his mother, Anna, was killed by a train, Elmer Pritzl was thrown into adulthood at the tender age of sixteen. A clever and crafty fellow, Elmer quickly found work at the local foundry. Promoted to foreman by age eighteen, he began supervising men d

From the mid-1830s through the 1850s, more than a half million people settled in Wisconsin. While traveling in ships and wagons, establishing homes, and forming new communities, these men, women, and children recorded their experiences in letters, diaries, and newspaper articles. In their own words, they revealed their fears, joys, frustrations, and hopes for life in this new place. The Making of Pioneer Wisconsin provides a unique and intimate glimpse into the lives of these early settlers, as they describe what it felt like to be a teenager in a wagon heading west or an isolated young wife living far from her friends and family. Woven together with context provided by historian Michael E. Stevens, these first-person accounts form a fascinating narrative that deepens our ability to understand and empathize with Wisconsin’s early pioneers.

An overview -- Beginnings -- Wisconsin cheese making, 1840-1880 -- Wheat to cheese -- The cheese factory -- Rapid expansion, 1880-1920 -- The University of Wisconsin and dairying -- Caring for the dairy cow -- How cheese is made -- Wisconsin's historic cheeses -- Wisconsin's historic cheeses II -- Historic cheese factories inside and out -- Life in a cheese factory -- Growing up in a cheese factory -- Cheesemakers -- Major changes, 1920-1960 -- More changes, 1920-1960 -- Transition, 1960-1998 -- New directions, 1998-2018 -- Cheese graders and inspectors -- Cheese buyers, processors, and distributors -- Specialty cheeses -- Wisconsin's five largest cheese companies -- Selected cheese factory histories -- Specialized cheese factories -- Supporting organizations: cheesemakers -- Supporting organizations: dairy farm producers -- Celebrating and promoting cheese -- The funny side of cheese -- Green County, Wisconsin: a case study in change -- Final thoughts -- Appendix I: Cheese factory tours -- Appendix II: Cheese factory museums.

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.

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.

When his father retires early, young Fred is forced to leave the ice cream shops, elevated trains, and bustling streets of suburban Chicago and move to a small farm in southwest Wisconsin. It is the beginning of a new life filled with fun and adventure. There is a snake den under the back porch and the kitchen floor is covered with dead insects. There are snapping turtles to catch and farm animals to play with. But there is also work to be done. The old farmhouse has to be completely rebuilt. Dad's vision of being a gentleman farmer involves having his two sons help with milking the cows, taking care of the chickens, fixing fences, and shoveling snow off the driveway in addition to attending school. And the Wisconsin summers are hot and humid, the winters long and bitterly cold. This is the story of how one family of four manages the transition from Chicago to rural Wisconsin in the late 1950s to 1960s. The story unfolds in a series of vignettes seen through Fred's eyes, which describe how they renovate the old farmhouse, get an inactive dairy farm up and running, learn how to plant and harvest crops, overcome hardships, and adapt to the personalities and customs of a traditional farming community. The experiences will leave a permanent impression on Fred. Listening to the colorful characters in Richland Center and Yuba, exploring the farm on horseback, rounding up stray cows and sheep, cooling off at the swimming hole on the Pine River, catching fireflies, and stargazing on clear summer nights-these are memories that will last a lifetime. Dr. Fred G. Baker is a hydrologist, historian, and author living in Colorado. He is the author of The Life and Times of Con James Baker and The Light from a Thousand Campfires (with Hannah Pavlik).