Every Farm Tells a Story: A Tale of Family Farm Values by Jerry Apps

Every Farm Tells a Story:  A Tale of Family Farm Values by Jerry Apps is a 224-page hardcover published in 2005 by Voyageur Press.  The dust jacket and book are in very good condition. Book Summary Before World War II, farmers had few of the conveniences that were common in cities. Many farmers continue to milk cows by hand, pump water with windmills or gasoline engines, light their way with kerosene lamps and lanterns, heat wood stoves, and plant and harvest with horses. And then he had no indoor plumbing. After war's end in 1945, change on the farm came rapidly. Electricity replace lamps, lanterns, and gasoline engines. New tractors replace horses. Hay balers made loose hay a memory. Green combines replace threshing machines. Not only was farm work transformed from 1945 to 1955, but so was life on farms in rural communities. Threshing, solo filling, and corn shredding bees, where farmers gather 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 app's mother's farm account books. The values recorded in the account books prompts recollections of his childhood and the traditional family farm values and ethics instilled in him by Mom and Pop. ISBN:  0-89658-510-7