Between 1933 and 1942, the Civilian Conservation Corps, a popular New Deal relief program, was at work across America. During the Great Depression, young men lived in rustic CCC camps planting trees,
Since the Eagle Party took power in the United States, all schools and public utilities have been privatized, churches and libraries closed, and independent news media shut down. Drones buzz overhead
The Midwest in the 1930s, '40s, and '50s was a special place, where parents and children worked side by side to eke out a living from the land, and neighbors stuck by each other through good t
Growing up on the family farm, Jerry Apps learned from a young age that water was precious. The farm had no running water, a windmill pumped drinking water for the small herd of cattle, and Jerry and
Jerry Apps, renowned author and veteran storyteller, believes that storytelling is the key to maintaining our humanity, fostering connection, and preserving our common history. InTelling Your Story, h
A popular collection of memories and recollections from people who learned at and taught in one-room schools in Wisconsin, including former pupil Jerry Apps, the book’s author.
Limping through LifeA Farm Boy’s Polio MemoirJerry Apps“Families throughout the United States lived in fear of polio throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s, and now the disease had come to our farm
Inspired by actual events that took place in upstate New York and Wisconsin in the mid-nineteenth century."An enjoyable read that will stir the thoughts of even the most hard-hearted."---John Oncken,
In this new edition of his classic book, award-winning author Jerry Apps shares a unique perspective on the great barns of rural Wisconsin. Digging deep as both an enthusiast and a farmer, Ap
1840s, Plum Falls, New York: Dismissed from Harvard Divinity School for his liberal views, Increase Joseph Link arrives home with a heavy heart. He gives up his dream of becoming a minister to settle
In 1955, Andy Meyer, a young farmer and manager of the pickle factory in Link Lake, Wisconsin, and his fellow farmers are confronted by the arrival of the powerful H. H. Harlow Pickle Company, which u
In this collection of thoughtful essays, Jerry Apps reflects on the “simple things” that made up everyday life on the farm—an old cedar fencepost, Fanny the farm dog, the trusty tools used for farmwor
In these times of technological innovation and fast-paced electronic communication, we often take nature for grantedor even consider it a hindrance to our human endeavors. In Whispers and Shadows: A N
In the sixth novel in Jerry Apps’s ?Ames County series,” a proposed frac sand mine in the local community park divides small-town neighbors into factions.
The Quiet SeasonRemembering Country WintersJerry Apps “As I think back to the days of my childhood, the frost-covered windows in my bedroom,the frigid walks to the country school, the excitement of a
When journalist Josh Wittmore moves from the Illinois bureau of Farm Country News to the newspaper’s national office in Wisconsin, he encounters the biggest story of his young career—just as the paper
Before tractors or steam engines arrived on the farm, horses did all the heavy work. From spring plowing to the fall harvest, the mighty draft horse powered farms across the Midwest. Relied upon to
Jerry App’s farm stories open the barn door to understanding life in the country. “Even with the all the hard work, we had more time (perhaps we took more time) to enjoy what was all aroun
Farm boy professor shares a life of lessons. “I never wanted to be a professor,” writes Jerry Apps in the introduction to Once a Professor. Yet a series of unexpected events and unplanned experience
"During Jerry Apps's childhood on the farm, he witnessed the second great revolution in farming--the arrival of electric lines to rural areas, running water in barns, and new farm machines like tracto
Silas Starkweather, a Civil War veteran, is drawn to Wisconsin and homesteads 160 acres in Ames County, where he is known as the mysterious farmer forever digging holes. After years of hardship and to
