A Wisconsin Town and Country Christmas: Traditions, Memories, & Irresistible Recipes!
What was Christmas like when western Wisconsin was still largely covered with pine forests, and towns like Menomonie had only a few hundred souls? When a few hardy farmers were clearing the cutover land stump by stump, acre by acre, a little at a time. When there was no electricity, little money, few places to buy goods. Before Wisconsin was a dairy state, when each farm had only a few cows and raised wheat and oats and barley. When lumber barons built mansions in town and entertained such high society as was to be found on the frontier.

A Wisconsin Town and Country Christmas explores Christmas traditions brought by early settlers to the area from the old country--Slovaks, Scandinavians, Irish, English, Swiss, Germans--through interviews with their descendants still living on farms, in the towns, in old cheese factories. Beautifully illustrated with 19th century etchings and lithographs, together with specially commissioned drawings of local Wisconsin farms in the snow, this little book evokes Christmases past and present and may even inspire you to try the cornucopia of recipes collected from those interviewed.

As James Eggert notes in his foreword to this 30th anniversary edition, "To me, it's a classic book to be read today, tomorrow, or ten or twenty years from now while being aware that much of the cultural ecology and practices of the different groups may well have been lost or forgotten--if they had not been written down here." Enjoy!
"1129314757"
A Wisconsin Town and Country Christmas: Traditions, Memories, & Irresistible Recipes!
What was Christmas like when western Wisconsin was still largely covered with pine forests, and towns like Menomonie had only a few hundred souls? When a few hardy farmers were clearing the cutover land stump by stump, acre by acre, a little at a time. When there was no electricity, little money, few places to buy goods. Before Wisconsin was a dairy state, when each farm had only a few cows and raised wheat and oats and barley. When lumber barons built mansions in town and entertained such high society as was to be found on the frontier.

A Wisconsin Town and Country Christmas explores Christmas traditions brought by early settlers to the area from the old country--Slovaks, Scandinavians, Irish, English, Swiss, Germans--through interviews with their descendants still living on farms, in the towns, in old cheese factories. Beautifully illustrated with 19th century etchings and lithographs, together with specially commissioned drawings of local Wisconsin farms in the snow, this little book evokes Christmases past and present and may even inspire you to try the cornucopia of recipes collected from those interviewed.

As James Eggert notes in his foreword to this 30th anniversary edition, "To me, it's a classic book to be read today, tomorrow, or ten or twenty years from now while being aware that much of the cultural ecology and practices of the different groups may well have been lost or forgotten--if they had not been written down here." Enjoy!
9.95 In Stock
A Wisconsin Town and Country Christmas: Traditions, Memories, & Irresistible Recipes!

A Wisconsin Town and Country Christmas: Traditions, Memories, & Irresistible Recipes!

A Wisconsin Town and Country Christmas: Traditions, Memories, & Irresistible Recipes!

A Wisconsin Town and Country Christmas: Traditions, Memories, & Irresistible Recipes!

Paperback(30th Anniversary Edition)

$9.95 
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Overview

What was Christmas like when western Wisconsin was still largely covered with pine forests, and towns like Menomonie had only a few hundred souls? When a few hardy farmers were clearing the cutover land stump by stump, acre by acre, a little at a time. When there was no electricity, little money, few places to buy goods. Before Wisconsin was a dairy state, when each farm had only a few cows and raised wheat and oats and barley. When lumber barons built mansions in town and entertained such high society as was to be found on the frontier.

A Wisconsin Town and Country Christmas explores Christmas traditions brought by early settlers to the area from the old country--Slovaks, Scandinavians, Irish, English, Swiss, Germans--through interviews with their descendants still living on farms, in the towns, in old cheese factories. Beautifully illustrated with 19th century etchings and lithographs, together with specially commissioned drawings of local Wisconsin farms in the snow, this little book evokes Christmases past and present and may even inspire you to try the cornucopia of recipes collected from those interviewed.

As James Eggert notes in his foreword to this 30th anniversary edition, "To me, it's a classic book to be read today, tomorrow, or ten or twenty years from now while being aware that much of the cultural ecology and practices of the different groups may well have been lost or forgotten--if they had not been written down here." Enjoy!

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780945309031
Publisher: Hedgerow Press
Publication date: 08/14/2018
Edition description: 30th Anniversary Edition
Pages: 102
Product dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.24(d)

About the Author

Born in Monmouth, Illinois (same as wild west gunfighter Wyatt Earp), and raised in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, Larry attended Georgetown University in the early '60s, spending a junior year at the University of Madrid, and graduating with a degree in Foreign Service. He received an MA in History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, writing his thesis on Madrid in the 16th century. After two years in the VISTA program in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a year teaching English in Madrid, and a few years in Denver and Madison, he relocated to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he worked for the State Planning Office as a newsletter and book editor and writer, then as lead archivist for the Louisiana State Archives. Back in Wisconsin he researched and wrote A Wisconsin Town and Country Christmas and was university archivist at UW-Eau Claire for ten years before moving to California in the summer of 2000 to seek fame and fortune as a technical writer. He and his significant others Lingling and Ouwen live in the San Francisco Bay area, travel to China whenever possible, and work on a variety of book projects.

Renee Howarton grew up in the Texas Hill Country north of San Antonio, receiving degrees in fashion merchandising from Texas State University and Texas Woman's University (Ph.D.). After teaching at LSU in Baton Rouge, Renee moved to Wisconsin to teach in the Retail Merchandising and Management program at the University of Wisconsin-Stout in Menomonie where she has taught over 30 different courses. In 2010 Renee was named director of the Nakatani Teaching and Learning Center at UW-Stout. She and colleagues are preparing a new book for publication on Universal Design for Learning. Her extracurricular activities include designing the layout and artwork for A Wisconsin Town and Country Christmas and operating her own restaurant and gift shop in Menomonie. She lives with her husband Bill in Menomonie with a backyard overlooking Lake Menomin, and visits with grandkids every chance she gets.
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