In a Pickle: A Family Farm Story

by Jerry Apps

The year is 1955. Andy Meyer, a young farmer, manages the pickle factory in Link Lake, a rural town where the farms are small, the conversation is meandering, and the feeling is distinctly Midwestern. Workers sort, weigh, and dump cucumbers into huge vats where the pickles cure, providing a livelihood to local farmers. But the H. H. Harlow Pickle Company has appeared in town, using heavy-handed tactics to force family farmers to either farm the Harlow way or lose their biggest customer—and, possibly, their land. Andy, himself the owner of a half-acre pickle patch, works part-time for the Harlow Company, a conflict that places him between the family farm and the big corporation. As he sees how Harlow begins to change the rural community and the lives of its people, Andy must make personal, ethical, and life-changing decisions.

 

Best Books for General Audiences, selected by the American Association of School Librarians, and Outstanding Book, selected by the Public Library Association
   

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published June 18, 2007

About the author

Jerold W. Apps, born and raised on a Wisconsin farm, is Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the author of more than 30 books, many of them on rural history and country life. His nonfiction books include: Living a Country Year, Every Farm Tells a Story, When Chores Were Done, Humor from the Country, Country Ways and Country Days, One-Room Schools, Cheese, Breweries of Wisconsin, Ringlingville USA (History of Ringling Brothers circus), Old Farm: A History, Barns of Wisconsin, Horse Drawn Days: A Century of Farming With Horses, and Campfires and Loon Calls. His children's books include: Stormy, Eat Rutabagas, Tents, Tigers and the Ringling Brothers, and Casper Jaggi: Master Swiss Cheese Maker. He has an audio book, The Back Porch and Other Stories. Jerry has published four novels, The Travels of Increase Joseph, In a Pickle: A Family Farm Story, Blue Shadows Farm and Cranberry Red. Jerry is a former publications editor for UW-Extension, an acquisitions editor for the McGraw-Hill Book Company, and editor of a national professional journal.

Jerry has won awards for his writing from the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Library Association (the 2007 Notable Authors Award), American Library Association, Foreword Magazine, Midwest Independent Publishers Association, Robert E. Gard Foundation, The Wisconsin Council for Writers (the 2007 Major Achievement Award), Upper Midwest Booksellers, and Barnes and Noble Bookstores, among others. In 2010 he received the Distinguished Service Award from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. Check www.jerryapps.com for more information.

Reviews

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story. Jerry Apps writes his fiction, it appears, same way he write his non-fiction . Matter of fact and lots of details. I like it.

[jimtown · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book comes highly rated and yet it's going to be hard for me to switch gears from the drama of Fall on your Knees to this mild farm story. I had found a book of sketches of Wisconsin Mills by Jerry Apps and had been trying to get his Barns book. I just reordered it because it's out of print. I didn't realize at the time I was looking at those two books that Apps also wrote stories. I don't know if they can be called fiction or not yet.

On first glance he appears to write the type of things that were in Country Magazine and others by Reiman Publishing. As I kept reading the story developed more fully and though mild, it held my interest. Young Andy has been managing the pickle sorter in town for four years as a summer job. New problems arise as HH Harlow Pickle Factory sends in a new guy to oversee all their operations. Andy has his hands full this fourth and final summer for the towns pickle sorter. His employees are acting up. Blackie Antonelli and Quarter Mile Sweet have been circling one another like dogs. The 'Mexican' migrant workers brought along a guy that has an attitude too. Is the Pastor doing more than just counciling the newly divorced bookkeeper?

As if that weren't enough, Andy's dad wants to keep running the farm the old way but his oldest friend and neighbor thinks he's all wrong. Will their differences ruin Andy and Amy's chance at happiness? The story is of small towns, farming and in its time it tells of the plight of the family farm. Along the way Apps throws in a little bit of romance, a dash of mystery and even the possibility of a murder. What will the church women say?

Pleasant and enjoyable, this is the kind of book you'd like to read on a blanket under the shade tree!

[Dave Gourdoux · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jerry Apps tells the deceptively simple story about deceptively simple people and a way of life that is vanishing right before their eyes. Simply and straight forwardly told, for those of us who remember rural Wisconsin as it was, it's nothing short of heartbreaking in the images of the lost places and people Apps conjures. "In a Pickle" is both a a celebration of and a eulogy to the small Wisconsin farm.and the people who lived, worked, and loved on the land.

[L Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written and interesting. Some mild language. Worth the read.

[Kasey · Rating 2 out of 5]

After really enjoying Blue Shadows Farm, I was anxious to pick up a copy of this book. However, I was very disappointed. The storyline itself is interesting, but seems to be written for a young adult audience. Text is very simple and slow moving. The book also has a significant political/social theme in regards to the evil corporations destroying the family farm and the detriment of modern technology (bulk milk tanks, tractors, etc) on the ol' fashioned way of farming. I'm all for family farms, so it didn't bother me except it was so constant it was a bit over-bearing. Overall it was interesting to put myself in the shoes of a farmer in a small rural Wisconsin community facing the challenges of the industrialization of farming.

[Chi Dubinski · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s 1955 and Andy Meyer, a young farmer, is also the summer manager at the HH Harlow Pickle Company. This book is a love story, a family story, and a story of friendship. It captures a time when big agriculture is taking over farms, migrant workers are moving to the area, local schools are being consolidated, and sons and daughters are moving to the city. It is set in central Wisconsin—the Wautoma/Wild Rose area. It’s a gentle read, with lots of local interest, especially for those who grew up on a farm.
The author has written many books on rural history and country life. He received the 2007 major Achievement Award from the Council for Wisconsin Writers.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a semi-true novel about a small town and its farmers losing out to mega-corps with mass production tangled up with love, loss, and hope. Sounds good, no? I really wanted to like it, but it may have been better recieved as a collection of short stories in a more candid voice. It fell flat chapter after chapter - even with a missing preacher/adulterer mystery to drag you along. On the upside I learned a lot about old fashiond pickle farming...which is more interesting than I might have guessed.

[Jeff Rosendahl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amusing story about fictional small-town WI in the 1950's. The resident farmers grow cucumbers to supplement their incomes. A big conglomerate takes over the local pickle salting station and impacts their lives. Told from the standpoint of the manager of the local station. A bit preachy about the need to treat the earth with care but a great story. A quick read and interesting trivia about pickles :)

[Patti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jerry Apps zeroes in on the importance of the small family farm in the community and the farmers and their families. You will look at pickles differently after reading this book. I live in Wisconsin but never knew about the role small cucumber patches played in the life of the farm areas. Buy local, support the family farmers.

[Delafieldlib · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished Jerry Apps' book, Blue Shadows Farm, and had to grab another quickly! He has captured the essence of rural, turn-of-the-century Wisconsin farm life with such precision and loving detail. I wonder if his books inspired Michael Perry to write his excellent WI farm lifestyle books. Judy
pickle farming
early 1950's
farmer vs. big business
good character development

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an interesting view of farm life versus modern technology that takes place in the 1950s. The story was pretty interesting, but I thought the author tried to hard to add historical items that were sort of intersting.

[Erinn · Rating 2 out of 5]

old-time tale of the family pickle farms of the past and how big business changed the landscape of this country. Cute, simple, but full of heart (much like the small town it is set in, and perhaps many small towns of the past).

[Cynthia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A kind of cute, easy, light story about the cucumber farming industry in Wisconsin in the 1950's. It takes a couple odd turns/avenues tho that kind of had me kinking one eyebrow up in a 'what?!' attitude... I have to say that I did learn about this industry tho, and learning is a good thing!

[Cristine Eastin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some nonfiction books read like fiction, and that's a good thing. Read "Killing Lincoln" by Bill O'Reilly. Jerry Apps, "In a Pickle" is fiction that reads like nonfiction. That's not so good. However, it's clear Apps is passionate about farming. I hear he's much more well known for his nonfiction.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just a good, quick read.

[Cecelia]

I liked it but the writing isn't the greatest in the world and the stories are just that, multiple storires instead of a completly cohesive single narrative line.

[Tammy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd say more a 3.5. I liked this book in that it reminded me in many ways of growing up on the farm. I like reading about the "simpler" life - this book takes place in the 1950s.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story about growing up in Wisconsin on a family pickle farm. Perspective in change in agriculture.

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A simple story of farm life in the times that lead up to big business farming as opposed to the small family farm and how life changed in the transition.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The growing pains for farm families in the 1950s - told like a family story handed down.

[Claire Hessing · Rating 1 out of 5]

Shallow dialogue, no character development, predictable storyline.