by Jennifer Beckstrand | Mar 11, 2019 | Family, Farming&Gardening
| Written by Richard Gappmayer, Jennifer’s father, age 82 | Every farm needs a few horses, either to ride, pull the wagon and the cultivator, or to look at. My father had them for all three reasons as well as to talk about them with his neighbors. He had a real...
by Jennifer | Apr 9, 2018 | Family, Farming&Gardening
| By Richard Gappmayer, Jennifer’s dad | My father had about five acres of peach trees of several varieties. Each spring, before the blossoms came out, we would prune the peach trees. They had to be pruned quite heavily each spring or they would not produce big...
by Jennifer | Mar 12, 2018 | Family, Farming&Gardening
| By Alesha Thompson, Jennifer’s sister | On our mini farm in Wisconsin, we have lots of critters. Mostly our awesome tomcat, Pippin, takes care of them—mice, chipmunks, and even rabbits. But there is one critter that even Pippin can’t defeat. We know this...
by Jennifer | Nov 13, 2017 | Amish, Family, Farming&Gardening
By Richard Gappmayer, Jennifer’s father In the 1930s and 40s farm tractors were available but most of the small farmers could not afford one. Some farmers would cooperate in the purchase of one and then share it. Because of scarcity of motorized equipment many...
by Jennifer | Sep 11, 2017 | Family, Farming&Gardening
By Richard Gappmayer Years ago bales of hay were secured with wire. Yes, metal wire. One of my father’s cows became sick and would not eat, so he called the veterinarian. The vet thought that the cow might have been poisoned by fragments of this hay baler wire....