Old Farm by Jerry Apps

Old Farm by Jerry Apps

One of the Midwest's best-loved authors tells the story of his land, from the last great glacier that dug out its valleys and formed its hills, to his own family's 40 year relationship with the beloved farm they call Roshara. In this quiet but epic tale, Apps describes the Native Americans who lived on the land for hundreds of years, tapping the maple trees and fishing the streams and lakes, as well as the first white settlers who tilled its sandy acres, plowing the native grasses that grew taller than their teams of oxen. For all their work, the farm proved tough to tame. Hardscrabble farming methods and hard luck often brought failure.From land that provided only a marginal living for its early owners, this place we call Roshara has provided much for my family and me, writes Apps. He and his wife and their children have cared for the farm not so much to make a living as to enhance their lives. Apps chronicles the family's efforts always earnest, if sometimes ill-advised to restore an old granary into living space, develop a productive vegetable garden, manage the woodlots, reestablish a prairie, and enjoy nature's sounds and silences. Breathtakingly beautiful color photographs by Apps's son, Steve (a professional photographer), highlight the ever-changing beauty of the land in every season and hint at the spiritual gifts that are the true bounty this family reaps from Roshara.Central to Apps' work is his belief that the land is something to cherish and revere. Like Aldo Leopold before him, Apps sounds an inspirational call to readers to preserve wild and rural places, leaving them in better condition than we found them for future generations.

Jerry Apps has worked as a rural historian and environmental writer for more than forty years. For ten years, he wrote a weekly column on nature appreciation for several central Wisconsin newspapers. He has published several books on nature and environmental topics including: The Land Still Lives (Wisconsin House, 1970); Cabin in the Country (Argus, 1973); The Travels of Increase Joseph (University of Wisconsin Press, 2010); Old Farm: A History (Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2008); Campfires and Loon Calls (Fulcrum Press, 2011), Garden Wisdom (Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2012), The Quiet Season (Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2013), and Whispers and Shadows (Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2015).

In 2012, Wisconsin Public Television produced an hour-long documentary, Jerry Apps: A Farm Story, which included many Apps beliefs and values about nature and the environment. In 2013 WPT produced A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps (An hour-long documentary, which won an Emmy Award), and in 2015, WPT produced The Land with Jerry Apps, which will air in December 2015. The first two documentaries were purchased by PBS and aired across the country.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780870204067
ISBN 10	0870204068
Title	Old Farm
Author	Jerry Apps
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Wisconsin Historical Society Press
Year published	2008-10-01
Number of pages	240
Prizes	Winner of Midwest Book Award (MIPA) (Nature) 2008, Runner-up for IndieFab awards (Environment) 2008, Commended for Independent Publisher Book Awards (Great Lakes Nonfiction) 2009, Short-listed for Midwest Book Award (MIPA) (Regional Book) 2008
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.