Wisconsin Country Schools

Once a country schoolhouse, now a private residence
Barron County, WI
Photo taken last week.

Yes, the house above was originally built as a school. If I had been close enough to get a photo of the west side, you would see the bank of tall windows.

"In 1919, there were 190,000 one-room schools scattered all around the American countryside. Today, fewer than 400 remain.  These schools, the mainstay of the Wisconsin public elementary school system, had their origins in the Land Ordinance of 1785 where land was set aside to fund education. It said that section 16 in every township in every county be set aside to raise money for the use of schools. The land could sell for no less than $1.25 an acre. Sales commenced May 1, 1850, raising the first money for public education. In the town of Mitchell, section 16 is still known as the school section and remains in much the same state as 1850." - From www.sheboyganpress.com

Joliet School
Now part of the Barron County Historical Society Museum

 Earl, WI Public School, 1924
Now an antique shop

 Sunny Valley School
Originally located in the town of Wheaton,
Later moved to Irvine Park, Chippewa Falls
as a museum

Wisconsin's country schools were built on one acre of land and were located every couple miles. That meant that most kids walked to school, rain or shine, winter or winter. (Winter takes up most of the year up here). 

 I think this former schoolhouse
is located somewhere west of Bloomer, WI

 Woodside School in Barron County,
Now completely gone from the landscape.
I attended this fabulous school in grades 1 and 2
And I'm not responsible for the broken window.
I don't remember learning a thing except that the chocolate goiter tablets were delicious
and most of the other kids would give theirs to me!

About walking to school, uphill both ways: There was one large Catholic family in our school district who did occasionally transport their kids to school in their wood panel station wagon. I remember the dad once asked if I wanted a lift home from school. Of course I said no because they were Catholic. I don't ever remember my parents saying anything negative about that family, so it must have been the kids in the school (figures, doesn't it!) with their strange tales who gave me a fear of Catholic adults. That poor family, undeserving of ridicule and suspicion!  I think they were the only Catholic family in our school. And I'm pretty sure we were the only Baptist family. (Most of the others were Lutheran and Methodist. There was one Communist.) Fortunately I was young enough that the tall tales didn't really affect my relationship with the Catholic family's first and second graders, but imagine...!!!  Besides, what stupid kid would turn down a perfectly good ride in order to walk home in the cold and snow with older brothers who ran on ahead! And why were we so trusting of Lutherans?? (just kidding). :-)

Thank you for your patience and mercy, dear Lord. Help us to remember that your family is made of ALL whose trust is in You. Possibly even Baptists.

District No. 5
Somewhere west of Arland, WI
This is also currently a residence.

 This schoolhouse-turned-residence
is located in Dunn County, WI
Look at all that GREEN!

 Actually, this water cooler with a spigot was a modern contraption.
My school had a bucket and dipper.
We got all our communicable childhood diseases taken care of in just a couple years.

 Inside the Joliet School, pictured above
Most of the country schools were set up like this:
Chalkboards all along one wall
Stove at the back or front
Photos of Washington and Lincoln on either side of the flag
(No, neither was President at the time I attended)
Windows all along another wall
Cloakroom

Of course there was no school cafeteria in those days and we carried our lunches to school in our Roy Rogers metal lunch boxes. I remember a common lunch packed for me was a couple hard boiled eggs, a tomato, itty bitty Morton S&P, and surely there must have been some good old carb in there, but I don't remember it. Maybe my brothers stole it from my lunchbox. Very Likely.

Cute grandkid doing his schoolwork
at my old-fashioned country school desk
in our home library

I think that desk came out of the Earl School when they had their auction years ago.
I also got an amazing deal of a set of world history pull-down maps.

Some Wisconsin kids still attend country schools
(this one in my neighborhood)


***

'Wisconsin Amish'
Set of four photo greeting cards and envelopes
Blank inside for your own message

Check them out!

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Natural Vegan Soap



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Bloomingdale Road East or Bloomingdale Road?

For any who were expecting to see The Hodgepodge today, Joyce, The Hodgepodge creator, had to be out of town, but will be back with the Hodgepodge again next week.  I know I'm not alone in appreciating the dedication and work she goes to each week to give us something to write about. Thank you, Joyce.

Last week, Mr. C. and I went to the SW part of Wisconsin to settle some family business. I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but we were taking care of a cousin's estate. It looks like everything we can do is now done, but it doesn't mean that we won't be visiting that area again. And even though I consider myself a pretty good navigator, I  managed to get us going around in circles because of the winding roads with ambiguous names (and just possibly because I'm not as good a navigator as I'd thought). I hadn't realized that Bloomingdale Road East was actually a different road than Bloomingdale Road. How can that be. And not only that, but when there's an intersection (crossroads) on a main highway, I would expect that a turn to the east would be the same road name (just a different direction) as a turn to the west. But no. That would make it just too easy.

Summertime arrived in NW Wisconsin almost overnight. We tend to do that, often going from a cold and wet spring to warm and wonderful summer, although I have come to expect more out of May than we got this year. This year it has lost its position as 'favorite month,' being replaced by June, which has been just lovely so far. And it's green. Very green.

 Smooth transfer of power
Hauling ethanol (probably)
near Sparta, WI

What you are reading is the result of what one does when one has nothing to say. I noticed when I logged into Blogger this morning, that I have written over 2200 blog posts, the majority of which were published, but some of which were not, to spare us both embarrassment. Twenty-two hundred! That's from January or February of 2010. It's hard to believe that I've had SO MUCH of nothing to say.

Because Wisconsinites tend to cram everything fun into the summer months (with good reason), I will most likely continue to post only on Hodgepodge Wednesdays, and some weekends. Most of the family fun events occur in the summertime, naturally, and I keep remarkably busy tending to the kitties, porch sitting, reading, picture taking, garden mulching and watering, and walk taking.  It's a tough life. As a friend once said when asked what she does all day, 'I don't know, but it takes me all day to do it. '

I had thought that these farmers were planting potatoes,

but when I zoom in, I see that they are planting 

plant starters. Tobacco? Cabbage? I'm not sure.

I just realized that every paragraph I've written today sounds like a beginning paragraph. I think I need a nap. I'm not complaining that the Tommy & Smokey gym opens at 4:30 AM, (after all, the birds are up and singing!) with wild galloping, chasing, crashing through our bedroom. I know. I could close the door. I've heard that somewhere before.

Chillin' in the screen room
Tommy and Smokey
Getting recharged for their next gym session


***

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New! Photo Greeting Cards

Photo Greeting Card Sets
Wisconsin Amish (pictured above)
Wisconsin Barns
Wisconsin Farm Animals
North Yorkshire
England Favorites
Sacred Spaces England

My photos, professionally printed.



...and more! Check out all my handcrafted vegan soaps

and photo greeting cards
at
 
HomemadeSoapNSuch


and at


Our ETSY Shop

Join me on Instagram: @cranberrymorning

Until next time,

Hodgepodging The End of May

The Neighbor's Barn

on Sunday, May 28

(taken with my crummy cell phone)

Join Joyce and the Gang

for

She writes the questions;

we write the answers.

Plug them into your own blog

and join in!

Thank you, Joyce, for all of your work

and dedication to this weekly Hodgepodge!

1. What makes you feel accomplished? Explain.

I'm not even sure what you're meaning by that. I don't think I've ever felt 'accomplished.' As a great man once said, 'There's always room for improvement.' Maybe a feeling of being accomplished is more suited to the generation after mine.  I am not from the 'self esteem' generation. In my generation, doing what you had to do was simply what was expected, nothing extraordinary.

Drive-by pic of a farm north of Bloomer, WI

2. If you had your own talk show, who would your first three guests be? Tell us why.

I would invite Diana from The Nana Diana and 'Katie' from Preppy Empty Nester and Debby from Debbys Favorite Things - because I think it would be a blast. :-) And the next week I'd choose three other bloggers that I've enjoyed getting to know over the past years! And I'd probably also have Tommy & Smokey in attendance to keep order. I can see things getting out of hand FAST with that crew!  LOL

Tommy & Smokey

Eager to take charge

3. Do you have a great burger recipe? What's in it? What do you like on a hamburger and where is your favorite spot to order one out?

I rarely eat burgers, and never with a bun, so I guess I'd say that I'd want mine grilled with lots of lighter fluid flavor in it and also I'd have a skillet of onions fried in butter to put on the top. Maybe some coarse, dark mustard too. That sounds good to me.

Giving me the evil eye

4. What's the biggest anxiety producing thing you do on a regular basis?

I probably shouldn't have joined the Hodgepodge today, because my answers are all pretty lame, but actually I tend not to do things that produce anxiety. Why would I? Although I'll admit that it does produce temporary anxiety when Etsy changes something and makes it more complicated than it has to be.

Mr. Blue Eyes, getting the lawn ready for

Memorial Day weekend

5. This is the last Hodgepodge of May. Tell us about your summer plans.

Summer and fall are Mr. C.'s heavy workload months (in the contracting business) so we rarely have summer plans. We save all the fun for winter, where we huddle beside the fire and wait for spring to arrive. BUT, the first few weeks of my summer will be taken up with jury duty, which means you can't really go anywhere in case you're called in. But on the weekend I am going to go visit my sister who is in Minnesota after spending the winter in Florida. She lives in the lakes area around Minneapolis, and I've not been to their new place yet, so if it doesn't rain, it should be a great day. Also, we're spending a weekend in Door County (my first time ever!) with our daughter and son in law next month (looking forward to that!) And I'm hoping to get a few weekend trips to Duluth and to Copper Falls. And then there's the best summer weekend, my birthday weekend in August. AND I will be buying train tickets and Oyster cards for an upcoming fall trip to England. Other than that, summer will, I hope, involve seeing more of the family. Grandkids are allowed to bring their parents along and I promise to feed them.

I take it all back about rarely having summer plans.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

a.  I'm hoping to get to the Westby area again soon for another visit to my second favorite part of our state. 

Red Dot=Where We Live

Blue Dot=Westby

It's about a 3 hour drive...a 3 hour drive. 

Get out of my brain, Gilligan!

b.  Mr. C. just pointed out a couple of sign's that had unnecessary apostrophe's. It is a pet peeve that we share. So if I ever put them in blog post's, be sure to let me know.

Mr. Smarty Pants

Photo by John

Saving the best for last:

c.  At kindergarten last week, our grandson's teacher told the class that they were going to learn about putting an 's' at the end of a word to  make it plural - more than one.  Henry piped up, 'Oh, like bacteria and bacterium. Bacteria is plural and bacterium is singular.'

Uh, right.

That poor teacher. :-))

***

Also Linking to Eileen's Saturday's Critters

and Tom's Barn Collective

***

Father's Day is June 18

Check out my natural, handcrafted vegan soap!

Buy any 5 or more individual soaps, Get 1 FREE

In addition,

Check out this Father's Day Special
 In my Etsy Shop

 

Our Father's Day Special includes:

Clockwise, from upper left:

Country Gentleman

Highland Tweed

Patchouli Grapefruit

Morning Brew (Coffee)

Another Father's Day Idea:

New! Photo Greeting Cards

(with envelopes)

now in my Etsy Shop

(Professionally printed on premium heavy card stock)

Wisconsin Farm Animals set

Also available:

Wisconsin Barns

Wisconsin Amish Life

England Sacred Spaces

North Yorkshire

England Favorites

...and more! Check out all my handcrafted soaps 

at

 

HomemadeSoapNSuch

and at

Our ETSY Shop

Photo Greeting Cards currently available only on Etsy,

but coming soon to HomemadeSoapnSuch.com

Join me on Instagram: @cranberrymorning

Wildflowers On Fifth Avenue

 Mullein
Anti-inflammatory? Anti-viral?

Isn't it amazing the things that God has put on this earth not only for us to enjoy, but even to use as remedies to common ailments. (Should we be surprised?!) I'll let you do the Google research if you want. There's a lot of information out there on mullein, besides the fact that it grows all around here. Commonly known as 'velvet leaf.'

All of the photos in this post are from another walk along Fifth Avenue. I love this time of year!

Left: Stickseed and a wood violet
Middle: Mullein
Right: Trefoil - not only is the flower pretty, but the leaves
were copied on the sleeves of generals' uniforms from the Civil War. Trust me.

Seven years ago when Bridger came to the door covered in
Stickseed and Virginia Creeper. He was so scared.

Ferns and trilliums are everywhere!
And barbed wire, known in the South as bob wahr. ;-)
This is especially for Sandra.
By the way, be sure to see her Memorial Day header!

From left: Ferns, Lichen, Wild Geranium

Creeping Bellflower
I looked it up to make sure it was one word, and I found,
'creeping bellflower eradication.' What??!

Bottom left: Neighbor Bill's Barn
from Fifth Avenue
More Wood Violets

Have a wonderful week, everyone!

I'm linking this post to Maggie's Mosaic Monday.

***

NEW! In my Etsy shop:

See Friday's post for a full introduction

Shown is just one of six different sets of photo greeting cards.
Check them out!

You will also still find handcrafted, vegan soap there!

Buy any 5 or more soaps, Get another FREE
 

'French Lilac & Lavender'
Natural Vegan Soap


...and more! Check out all my handcrafted soaps at
 
HomemadeSoapNSuch


and at


Our ETSY Shop

Join me on Instagram: @cranberrymorning

Photo Greeting Cards - The SUCH Has Arrived!! - And Anglophile Friday

When I opened my Etsy shop, HomemadeSoapnSuch, in 2012, there were several possibilities of what the 'such' would be to accompany my natural, handcrafted vegan soaps. I made many different trial products such as massage balm, lotions, etc. but none of them was exactly what I wanted.

Then it occurred to me that it didn't have to be a bath and body product, and there was no reason that I couldn't include what I really wanted to include, which was photography. Once I got on Instagram, it was evident to me that people are crazy about barns. Living in Wisconsin all of my life thus far, barns are simply part of the landscape. But I have taken a lot of photos of barns simply because I know that although there are as many if not more dairy cows in the state now, most of the small dairy farms are no longer operating. And once the barns are no longer heated by those beautiful bovine creatures, the foundations begin to crumble and soon the barns are falling down.

I decided to make a collection of photo greeting cards with Wisconsin Barns pictured on them. I wanted a card of exceptional quality, so I settled for nothing less. 

www.homemadesoapnsuch.etsy.com

It's pretty hard to stop with just Wisconsin Barns, so I decided to also create a set of four photo greeting cards with Wisconsin Farm Animals, pictured above. Of course I have more than four photos of farm animals, but these are really my favorites.

Each note card is professionally printed on premium matte heavy card stock and has a blank interior, comes with an envelope (always handy) and is enclosed in a cello sleeve, then all four in the set are wrapped with a cigar band label (pictured above). The back of each card has a mini photo of the photo on the front.

Besides Barron County, where I have lived most of my life (except for the year that I was riding motorcycle and shooting alligators in the Beni River in Bolivia), my favorite part of Wisconsin is the Driftless Area, southwestern Wisconsin. There is a huge Amish community there, and we happen to be friends with some of them. Although we also have an Amish community in our neighborhood in Barron County, Vernon County is where the larger community is and where the photos for my photo greeting cards were taken. So that's another set, as you can see: Wisconsin Amish.

www.homemadesoapnsuch.etsy.com

AND NOW we move to England (not literally):

In 2003 I traveled to England for the very first time, with my brave daughter who rented a car and took me touring the country for twelve fantastic days, from Bath to the Cotswolds, to North Yorkshire, to Cambridge, and back to London.  Personally, I think it's nearly impossible to visit England once, and I certainly wasn't going to attempt it. So I have ended up with thousands of photos from various trips to that enchanting land, but I created three sets of photo greeting cards with an England theme.

North Yorkshire:  Pictured above is the photo greeting card set from some of my favorite photos of Yorkshire. (I know I use the word 'favorite' too much, but really I can't think of anything else). It is a magical place, and although some people seem to think that sheep aren't extraordinary, Scottish Blackface sheep most definitely are, and I managed to get a few photos of those beautiful creatures (my favorite is included in the North Yorkshire set).

England Favorites:  Pictured above is the set of four, which includes the fabulous York Minster, a scene from the charming village of Kettlewell in North Yorkshire, High Street in Oxford, and St. Paul's at Night (London). 

Last, and definitely not least, the Sacred Spaces England set (pictured above): This was the most difficult of all to narrow down to just four. But included are two that I took in Canterbury Cathedral (to include the apse and the Becket Flame), York Minster, and the dark and beautiful Ely Cathedral.

All of these photo greeting card sets are now listed and described in full detail in my Etsy Shop.

www.homemadesoapnsuch.etsy.com

Of course, I still sell natural handcrafted vegan soaps too, don't forget. :-)

So be sure to check out my new photo greeting cards. I am thrilled with the finished product and I hope  you'll like them too.

***

Check out my natural, handcrafted vegan soap too!
Buy any 5 or more, Get 1 FREE
 

Amazing Men's Soap,
'Country Gentleman'

Perfect for Father's Day - coming soon!

Natural Vegan Soap


...and more! Check out all my handcrafted soaps at
 
HomemadeSoapNSuch


and at


Our ETSY Shop

Join me on Instagram: @cranberrymorning