I recently finished reading In a Pickle by Jerry Apps, arguably Wisconsin’s most well-known living author. My wife picked it up for me at Goodwill, and since I wasn’t feeling well, I was looking for something light and easy. In a Pickle definitely delivered on that front, but it also offered so much more.

This isn’t the first time I’ve encountered Apps’ work. My wife previously gifted me My First Tractor – Stories of Farmers and Their First Love, which I thoroughly enjoyed. That book, with its foreword by Jerry Apps, led me to expect a simple, nostalgic story with In a Pickle. And while it certainly had that element, it also surprised me with an intriguing narrative and a touch of grit.

In a Pickle tells the story of Andy Meyer, who runs a small pickle plant in a rural Wisconsin town. But I believe Apps’ true purpose goes beyond a simple tale about pickles. He masterfully paints a picture of the changing landscape of farming in the 1950s. The book explores the struggles of small family farms against the rising tide of larger, more industrialized operations.

This is what makes the story so significant. Apps documents a pivotal era – a time when small tractors were becoming more common, yet horses still played a role in farm work. He vividly describes the days when milk was stored in cans and cooled in tanks with flowing well water. He captures the essence of a time before many of us were born.

One of the poignant events in the story is the closing of the one-room schoolhouse. This resonated deeply with me, as my own father attended one, and my aunts and uncles were among the last students to learn within its walls. Apps’ narrative brought those stories to life.

He beautifully recreates the fabric of small-town Wisconsin life, from the Pickle Parade to kids earning extra cash working in the cucumber fields. Is the story ultimately more than just charming? Perhaps not. But I’m incredibly grateful to have read it, and I’m thankful that these pieces of Wisconsin history have been preserved. While the story is fictional, it’s rooted in the very real history of the state, making In a Pickle a valuable and enjoyable read.