When Horses Pulled the Plow: Life of a Wisconsin Farm Boy, 1910-1929

Wisconsin Land and Life

By: Olaf F. Larson

Narrated by: Neil Reeves

In 1910, when Olaf F. Larson was born to tenant livestock and tobacco farmers in Rock County, Wisconsin, the original barn still stood on the property. It was filled with artifacts of an earlier time - an ox yoke, a grain cradle, a scythe used to cut hay by hand. But Larson came of age in a brave new world of modern inventions - tractors, trucks, combines, airplanes - that would change farming and rural life forever.

When Horses Pulled the Plow is Larson's account of that rural life in the early 20th century. He weaves invaluable historical details - including descriptions of farm equipment, crops, and livestock - with wry tales about his family, neighbors, and the one-room schoolhouse he attended, revealing the texture of everyday life in the rural Midwest almost a century ago. This memoir, written by Larson in his ninth decade, provides a wealth of details recalled from an earlier era and an illuminating listen for anyone with their own memories of growing up on a farm.

The book is published by the University of Wisconsin Press.

©2011 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System (P)2016 Redwood Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"The experience of life on a family farm is becoming distant today, but has been remarkably preserved in Olaf Larson's memory." (Robert J. Gough, University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire, author of Farming the Cutover)

"Larson's memory is excellent, his description is detailed - and throughout the book his love of farming is constantly being expressed." ( Agri-View)