New Holstein, Wisconsin

When I was born, my family lived in a small rural town by the name of New Holstein, Wisconsin. New Holstein is located in the East Central part of the state, directly south of Green Bay. If I’m not mistaken, the population of New Holstein at that time was probably somewhere around 1500.

Mom and Dad owned a small home on the Main Street of the town. My father was a teacher at the local high school and my mother was, well, a mother. I have no recollection of this home except for what I am told by my older siblings.

The first home I recollect is the 80-acre farm our family moved to when I was about a year old. The farm was located a mile Southwest of New Holstein.

Being an agriculture teacher and having a large family, owning a farm was a good way for my dad to supplement his income. Each summer we would always have this huge garden where we grew just about everything under the sun. Every vegetable imaginable, along with berries and many varieties of flowers.

As far as animals, we had a cow, a horse, a bunch of chickens and dogs and cats. The primary animal we raised were pigs, lots of them.

My dad would grow these pigs until they were several months old and then would have them hauled off to the local butcher where they were slaughtered and sold for their meat. He took raising pigs quite seriously. We actually had birthing stalls for the sows so they would be able to safely give birth without accidentally rolling over and killing one of the piglets.

As a kid, I didn’t really appreciate the values one learns growing up on a farm. Although I had many good times and have many fond memories of family events while living on the farm, it was not a place I particularly cared for because of all the work. Every day of the year there was work to do and our parents made sure that it got done.

I particularly remember lying on the front lawn on any given summer night gazing at the stars. There were too many to count. It was always so peaceful. Because I was young, I didn’t appreciate where I was and what I had at the time. Kids can be like that.