In a Pickle: A Family Farm Story

Jerry Apps

Terrace Books, May 13, 2008 - Business & Economics - 256 pages

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

Contents

• Pickle Patch: 3
• Birthday Party: 13
• Pickle Factory: 22
• First Cukes: 32
• Grist Mill: 37
• Pickle Factory Crew: 42
• Isaac and Jake: 48
• Migrant Pickers: 54
• Unloading: 64
• Long Days: 69
• Pickle Days: 75
• Cucumbers Keep Coming: 90
• School Closing: 97
• Salt Bin: 105
• George Roberts: 113
• Ames County Fair: 119
• Disaster: 130
• Love among the Pickle Vats: 141
• Missing Workers: 147
• Breaking News: 157
• Auction: 163
• Jake Stewart: 171
• Closing Down: 178
• What Next?: 185
• The Family Farm: 190
• Decision Time: 199
• Another Mystery: 205
• Remembering Jake: 212
• Funeral: 217
• H H Harlow: 224
• Mystery Solved: 228
• Barn Dance: 235
• Authors Note: 246

About the author

Jerry Apps, born and raised on a Wisconsin farm, is professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the author of more than fifteen books, many of them on rural history and country life. His nonfiction books include Every Farm Tells a Story, Country Wisdom, When Chores Were Done, Humor from the Country, Country Ways and Country Days, One-Room Country Schools, Cheese, Breweries of Wisconsin,and Ringlingville USA. He is also the author of the historical novel The Travels of Increase Joseph. He received the 2007 Major Achievement Award from the Council for Wisconsin Writers.

Bibliographic information

• Title: In a Pickle: A Family Farm Story
• Author: Jerry Apps
• Edition: revised
• Publisher: Terrace Books, 2008
• ISBN: 0299223043, 9780299223045
• Length: 256 pages
• Subjects: Business & Economics / Industries / Agribusiness; Fiction / General; Fiction / Historical / General; Fiction / LGBTQ+ / Gay; History / United States / State & Local / Midwest (IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD, WI)