In my last appearance on these pages, I introduced Country Today readers to my great-grandad, Dave Wood (1840-1927) and his 63 years of daily diaries in which he recounted the diphtheria epidemic of 1877, during which time the family lost two daughters and a hired girl. Two years later Dave …

I grew up in east central Minnesota in the small town of Almelund. My dad worked as a breeder for American Breeders Service. He always had dairy farming “in his blood” and liked dealing in the cattle business. Though he never owned his own dairy farm, he felt working on farms would instill g…

Editor’s note: This is part three of a three part series.

Editor’s note: This is part two of a three part series.

Editor’s note: This is part one of a three part series.

Sometimes I think a sign that says, “Warning: Farming May Be Hazardous to Your Health” should be posted at the entrance to every farmstead.

It was a rite of entering manhood when we got old enough to tend the blower on the threshing machine. The machine was usually set with the feeder into the wind for cleaner threshing. It was fairly clean on both sides of the separator, except standing on the platform to swing the blower left,…

Editor’s note: This is the second part of Jerry Rolefson’s reflections on harvest time. See last week’s The Country Today for the first part.

Ogdensburg

Hartland, Minn.

By Betty Lassa-Blauvelt

By Tom Emery

Hartland, Minn.

By Laurie Sordahl

Well, we wanted to see other seasons.

By Floyd Henschel

By Lucille Armstrong Anton

“Thank you.”

I’ve had an exceptionally interesting life over the boring existence of most other tables. If it were possible for me to talk, I could tell some attention-getting stories. But let it be known in history that my life as a table was formed from a huge white oak tree in northern Wisconsin.

By Al Batt

By John W. Swenson

It seems like part of my life has run parallel to the current happenings between the U.S. and North Korea.

Editor’s note: The Country Today reader Toni Lubich sent us this story along with the following note: “My grandfather, Walter E. Swenson, of Pierce County, recalled memories of his life, including his service in the Army. I am attaching that story. He passed away in 1986 at the age of 88. We…

Editor’s note: The Country Today reader Toni Lubich sent us this story along with the following note: “My grandfather, Walter E. Swenson, of Pierce County, recalled memories of his life, including his service in the Army. I am attaching that story. He passed away in 1986 at the age of 88. We…

By Ronald Jansen

By Charlotte Heikkinen

By Marv Kohlbeck

Eau Claire

I wrote the following embedded poem 30 years ago, although by then it was already 20 years in the making. This year marks the 50th anniversary of that Christmas in Vietnam, 1968, and, unfortunately, little has changed except the decades.

When I was a kid, the Christmas season began the Monday after Thanksgiving. With the Thanksgiving celebration now a memory and the deer season over, my brothers and I turned our thoughts to this special season. The Sears Christmas Catalog had arrived to tell us that Christmas was just around…

The smell of Swisher Sweets often complemented the aroma of the Christmas feast at Grandpa Reeson’s house during the holidays. Grandpa’s laughter was boisterous — almost childlike — and always accompanied by a slap on the knee. He wore his pride as the patriarch to the family on his face and…

My brother Richard jabbed a fork into his mashed potatoes. He knew what was coming.

Oh where, oh where have my fish balls gone?

It was the week following Thanksgiving, and it had snowed 6 inches, enough for sledding on the hill behind Chain O’ Lake School. I dragged my old sled from the storage place above the woodshed, ran some sandpaper along the rusty runners, and headed for school. I knew that during first recess…

He had more facial hair than the total amount of face fungus seen on a “Duck Dynasty” episode.