Every Farm Tells a Story

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A Tale of Family Farm Values

Jerry Apps

A beloved classic from Jerry Apps that captures the heart and soul of life in rural America in the mid-twentieth century.

176 pages, 5.5 x 8.5
Paperback: $15.95 | ISBN: 978-0-87020-863-8
Ebook: $12.99 | ISBN: 978-0-87020-864-5
Publication Date: 2/23/2018

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Front cover of Every Farm Tells a Story by Jerry Apps

Description

Before World War II, farmers had few of the conveniences that were common in cities. Many farmers milked cows by hand, pumped water with windmills or gasoline engines, lit their way with kerosene lamps and lanterns, heated their homes with woodstoves, and planted and harvested their crops with horses. After the war’s end in 1945, change came rapidly. Electricity, motorized tractors and combines, and other technology—not to mention indoor plumbing—transformed not only farm work, but also life on farms and in rural communities. In Every Farm Tells a Story, Jerry Apps shares a first-person account of life on a small Wisconsin farm during and after World War II.

In this beloved Apps classic, the rural historian captures the heart and soul of life in rural America, drawing from his own memories, those of friends and family, and his mother’s meticulous farm account books. Every Farm Tells a Story reminds us that, while our family farms are shrinking in number today, the values learned there remain deeply woven in our cultural heritage.

Author Bio

Celebrated storyteller and rural historian Jerry Apps was born and raised on a central Wisconsin farm. He was a former county extension agent and professor at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Apps authored more than fifty fiction, nonfiction, and children’s books, including The Quiet Season: Remembering Country Winters, When the White Pine Was King, Barns of Wisconsin, and Old Farm Country Cookbook, all published by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press.