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

Lynch, Larry; Howarton, Renee

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0945309031 ISBN 13: 9780945309031

Publisher: Hedgerow Press, 2018

Synopsis

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!

About this title

About the Author

Larry Lynch was born in the same Illinois town as Wild West gunfighter Wyatt Earp (Monmouth), although a hundred years later. Growing up in the '60s in Wisconsin was followed by degrees in foreign service at Georgetown and Early Modern European history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has worked as a VISTA volunteer in Albuquerque, English teacher in Madrid, newsletter and book editor in various locations, archivist in Louisiana and Wisconsin (where he researched and wrote A Wisconsin Town and Country Christmas with then-wife Renee), and technical writer in California. Larry now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his significant others Lingling and Ouwen. They travel to China whenever possible and enjoy walks and bike rides in the urban and natural areas of California. 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.

Edition details

• Publisher: Hedgerow Press
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 0945309031
• ISBN 13: 9780945309031
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 102
• Illustrator: Bowlus Marcia