| October 2004
| |
| | ISBN 1-59113-592-3) is a collection of 20
|
| For Immediate Release...
| |
| | true stories that took place on her
|
| Give Me a Home Where the Dairy Cows Roam
| |
| | family's farm 40 years ago. Story titles
|
| COLFAX, WISCONSIN - Did you know that
| |
| | include "Taking the Bull by the Horns,"
|
| since 1969, the United States has lost 85
| |
| | "Spring Cleaning," "A Different Sort of
|
| percent of its dairy farms. And did you
| |
| | Cow," "Dad's Favorite Recipe," "Popsicle
|
| know that since 1969, Wisconsin has lost
| |
| | Blues," "On Top of the World," and
|
| nearly 70 percent of its dairy farms?
| |
| | "Better Butter."
|
| "I lived away from my hometown in west
| |
| | According to Midwest Book Review, Ralph's
|
| central Wisconsin for 15 years. When I
| |
| | first book, Christmas In Dairyland: True
|
| returned in the mid 1990s, I expected to
| |
| | Stories From A Wisconsin Farm "is a
|
| be living in a farming community again.
| |
| | heartwarming anthology of true anecdotes
|
| Instead, I discovered that many of the
| |
| | of rural life on a Wisconsin dairy farm.
|
| small family dairy farms like the one
| |
| | Even though Wisconsin is still known as
|
| where I grew up had disappeared" said
| |
| | America's Dairyland, life on a family
|
| LeAnn R. Ralph, author of the books
| |
| | homestead is fast being replaced by
|
| Christmas in Dairyland (True Stories from
| |
| | corporate agribusiness, and the memories
|
| a Wisconsin Farm) (August 2003) and Give
| |
| | treasured in Christmas In Dairyland are
|
| Me a Home Where the Dairy Cows Roam
| |
| | quickly becoming unique milestones of an
|
| (October 2004).
| |
| | era needing to be preserved in thought
|
| Figures from the Census of Agriculture
| |
| | and print for the sake of future
|
| and from the American Farm Bureau
| |
| | generations. Christmas In Dairyland is
|
| Federation indicate that in 1969 more
| |
| | simply wonderful reading and is a 'must'
|
| than a half a million dairy farms
| |
| | for all Wisconsin public library
|
| operated in the United States, but by the
| |
| | collections."
|
| year 2000, only 83,000 dairy farms
| |
| | Ralph earned a Bachelor of Arts in
|
| remained. And according to statistics
| |
| | English with a writing emphasis from the
|
| from the U.S. Census of Agriculture,
| |
| | University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and
|
| during the last three decades of the
| |
| | also earned a Master of Arts in Teaching
|
| twentieth century, Wisconsin went from
| |
| | from UW-Whitewater. She worked as a
|
| 66,000 dairy farms down to 20,000 dairy
| |
| | newspaper reporter for nine years and
|
| farms.
| |
| | also has taught English at a boys'
|
| "That's why I decided to write stories
| |
| | boarding school. She is the editor of the
|
| about growing up on a dairy farm. Our
| |
| | Wisconsin Regional Writer (the quarterly
|
| farm was home-steaded by my Norwegian
| |
| | publication of the Wisconsin Regional
|
| great-grandfather in the late 1800s, but
| |
| | Writers' Assoc.).
|
| small family farms are a thing of the
| |
| | Give Me a Home Where the Dairy Cows Roam
|
| past. They have pretty much disappeared
| |
| | and Christmas in Dairyland (True Stories
|
| from the landscape," Ralph said.
| |
| | from a Wisconsin Farm)are available
|
| "My dad milked 20 cows and knew all of
| |
| | through Barnes & Noble and For more
|
| them by name. Nowadays the trend is
| |
| | information or to order the books, visit
|
| toward corporate farms that milk hundreds
| |
| | or call LeAnn at (715) 962-3368.
|
| of cows," she said.
| |
| | Contact Information:
|
| Ralph's new book, Give Me a Home Where
| |
| | LeAnn R. Ralph; E6689 970th Ave.
|
| the Dairy Cows Roam (192 pages; $13.95;
| |
| |
|