Susan Apps-Bodilly
Old Farm Country Cooikbook

Susan Apps-Bod­il­ly
co-writ­ten with Jer­ry Apps
Wis­con­sin His­tor­i­cal Soci­ety Press
First pub­lished in 2017
320 pages
ISBN 978–0870208300

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paperback 

Wis­con­sin His­tor­i­cal Society

Mys­tery to Me (Madi­son, WI)

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(local book­sellers)

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barnes & noble

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Old Farm Country Cookbook

Recipes, Menus, and Memories

Return to an era when all food was local and farm­ing was a fam­i­ly-run affair 

When Jer­ry Apps was grow­ing up on a Wis­con­sin farm in the 1930s and 1940s, times were tough. Yet most folks liv­ing on farms had plen­ty to eat. Prepar­ing food from scratch was just the way things were done, and peo­ple knew what was in their food and where it came from. Deli­cious meals were at the cen­ter of every fam­i­ly and social affair, whether it be a thresh­ing-day din­ner with all the neigh­bors, the end-of-school-year pic­nic, or just a hearty sup­per after chores were done. As Jer­ry writes, “For me food will always be asso­ci­at­ed with times of good eat­ing, sto­ry­telling, laugh­ter, and good-heart­ed fun.”

Inspired by the dish­es made by his moth­er, Eleanor, and fea­tur­ing recipes found in her well-worn recipe box, Jer­ry and his daugh­ter, Susan, take us on a culi­nary tour of life on the farm dur­ing the Depres­sion and World War II. Sea­soned with per­son­al sto­ries, menus, and fam­i­ly pho­tos, Old Farm Coun­try Cook­book recalls a time when elec­tric­i­ty had not yet found its way to the farm, when mak­ing sauer­kraut was a fam­i­ly endeav­or, and when home­made ice cream tast­ed bet­ter than any­thing you could buy at the store.

Behind the Book

If you are look­ing for sto­ries about farm life in the 1930’s and 1940’s, as well as recipes from the days of cook­ing on a wood stove — this book is for you! I worked on this project with my Dad, Jer­ry Apps.

The sto­ries describe grow­ing up on a farm, eat­ing sauer­kraut, straw­ber­ry sand­wich­es, and oth­er tales of work and play in his farm com­mu­ni­ty. I took my Grand­moth­er Eleanor’s white recipe box and trans­lat­ed her recipes for today’s kitchen.

one of the recipes from Old Farm Coun­try Cook­book by Susan Apps-Bod­il­ly and Jer­ry Apps,
pub­lished by Wis­con­sin His­tor­i­cal Soci­ety Press. Copy­right © 2017. All rights reserved.

Honors and Recognition

  • Mid­west Inde­pen­dent Pub­lish­ers Asso­ci­a­tion Mid­west Book Awards Winner

Reviews and Recommendations

“A delight­ful trip down mem­o­ry lane, Old Farm Coun­try Cook­book trans­ports read­ers to an era when the food was local and farm­ing was a fam­i­ly-run affair. Filled with for­got­ten recipes and thought­ful anec­dotes, it’s sure to leave read­ers with an appetite for head­cheese and an appre­ci­a­tion for indoor plumb­ing.” (Inga Witsch­er, fourth-gen­er­a­tion dairy farmer and host of Around the Farm Table)

“This mem­oir-cook­book is a warm-heart­ed yet real­is­tic study of food and farm life in days gone by, a time when the noon meal was called ‘din­ner’ and fam­i­lies left the back door unlocked for the ice man … Susan’s fam­i­ly recipes – canned chick­en, fresh peas in milk sauce, wild blue­ber­ry cob­bler – chan­nel beloved fla­vors and bygone tech­niques. From ring bologna and whisky slings to feed-sack aprons and green-stained fin­gers of cucum­ber pick­ers, Old Farm Coun­try Cook­book is a lit­er­ary way-back machine that vivid­ly, lov­ing­ly, and deli­cious­ly details the food cul­ture of a younger time.” (Terese Allen, Coau­thor of The Fla­vor of Wis­con­sin and coau­thor of the Culi­nary His­to­ry Enthu­si­asts of Wis­con­sin)

““An inter­est­ing, edu­ca­tion­al, use­ful and com­fort­ing book. Thank You Jer­ry and Susan for your gift of recall and your writ­ing tal­ents pro­duc­ing books that keep the pre­cious past alive for those who were there and those who won­der.” (Barb Stein­horst, The Lar­ry Meiller Show web­site, Wis­con­sin Pub­lic Radio)