Author Archive
Watering the Christmas Tree with a Plastic Pipette and Other Christmas Adventures | By Ann Marie Craig
Author: Ann Marie Craig | Categories: Big Cedar Lake, Century Farmhouse Notes, Washington County No comments
December 29, 2019 – Big Cedar Lake, WI – Life in a vintage log cabin is never dull – especially at Christmas time. Life in this tiny log Farmhouse is never dull, and at Christmastime it can be downright entertaining. Take, for example, the mouse that was indeed stirring
Century Farmhouse Notes: A Neighborhood Parade Celebrates the 4th! | By Ann Marie Craig
July 4, 2019 – West Bend, WI – The sun is shining on the chairs lined up along Wagner Lane and Kenny Drive, and excitement thrums through the late morning air. Red, white, and blue are the predominant colors against the greens of trees and grass and the bright spots
Century Farmhouse Notes: Wrapped in Quilted Love | By Ann Marie Craig
Author: Ann Marie Craig | Categories: Big Cedar Lake, Century Farmhouse Notes, Washington County, West Bend No comments
May 12, 2018 – Big Cedar Lake, WI – It was another age; another time. Grandma Rosa lived in the house I now call home and created beautiful but useful things of fabrics that caught her eye and fabrics she had stashed – edges of mostly-worn cotton sheets,
Celebrating Catholic Schools Week | St. Frances Cabrini School – a Catholic lesson for life | By Ann Marie Craig
Jan. 31, 2018 – West Bend, WI – The wooden bead was just about the same size as the hole. Sister Suzanne Marie was hurrying us from the hallway to our second grade classroom after square dancing in the gym, and I needed to get my little cowgirl hat
Century Farmhouse Notes | St. Frances Cabrini School at 60: How can the years have passed so quickly? | By Ann Marie Craig
Nov. 3, 2017 – West Bend, WI – Her hair was a bit whiter than the last time I saw her and moving around seemed to be more difficult for her, but the memories were spilling over as we shared stories about sixth grade so many years
Century Farmhouse Notes: Everyone is Invited to Celebrate 60 years of education at St. Frances Cabrini School | By Ann Marie Craig
Oct. 23, 2017 – West Bend, WI – There is going to be a party in West Bend on Oct. 29 and it will include a trip down memory lane for former and present students, parents, teachers, and administrators of St. Frances Cabrini School. Sixty years of
Century Farmhouse Notes: A Neighborhood Parade Celebrates the 4th! | By Ann Marie Craig
July 4, 2017 – West Bend, WI – The sun is shining on the chairs lined up along Wagner Lane and Kenny Drive, and excitement thrums through the late morning air. Red, white, and blue are the predominant colors against the greens of trees and grass and the bright spots
Century Farmhouse Notes: Wild Mint & Maple Syrup Soap Tastes the Best: 16 Years of Farmers’ Market Fun | By Ann Marie Craig
Author: Ann Marie Craig | Categories: Business, Century Farmhouse Notes, Event, Washington County, West Bend No comments
June 17, 2017 – Big Cedar Lake, WI – The door slams behind me as I carry the last load of soap from the house to the waiting van. Geese honk overhead as the dawn light slowly creeps into the indigo sky, and the very slight chill in the
Century Farmhouse Notes: Lesson No. 1 – Always keep the doors closed when packing your van | By Ann Marie Craig
Author: Ann Marie Craig | Categories: Big Cedar Lake, Century Farmhouse Notes, Washington County No comments
June 2, 2017 – Big Cedar Lake, WI – The school bus that passed us was strapped to the flat bed of the tow truck that passed us as we hurtled along the 11 p.m. darkness of the Pennsylvania highway, and I was driving. Was I still awake or dreaming?
Century Farmhouse Notes: Great-Grandma Anna’s Hermits – a muffin recipe | By Ann Marie Craig
Author: Ann Marie Craig | Categories: Big Cedar Lake, Century Farmhouse Notes, Washington County No comments
May 24, 2017 – Big Cedar Lake, WI – My sister Carol sent what we think is one of our oldest family recipes to the Milwaukee Journal. Let us introduce you to my great-grandmother, and her Hermits muffins recipe. Try them, they are wonderful! When she was making
Korean War Army vet Robert Schotzko of West Bend will be on the May 21 Honor Flight | By Ann Marie Craig
May 15, 2017 – West Bend, WI – As he sat at his kitchen table, Robert Schotzko of West Bend thumbed through the yellowed and well-worn War Department Technical Manual TM10-412, a leftover from WWII, but useful even today. It is one of Robert’s prized possessions and one that
Century Farmhouse Notes: Ready to get some soap?? By Ann Marie Craig
Author: Ann Marie Craig | Categories: Big Cedar Lake, Business, Century Farmhouse Notes, Washington County, West Bend No comments
May 9, 2017 – Big Cedar Lake, WI – Normally in May at the Farmhouse, I am getting soaps ready, planting early vegetables and herbs, and scoping out which flowers from my mother’s gardens will be ready to snitch in the dark of the early morning to decorate our
Century Farmhouse Notes: My View from the Trolley – A Little Bling is a Very Good Thing. By Ann Marie Craig
Author: Ann Marie Craig | Categories: Business, Century Farmhouse Notes, Washington County, West Bend No comments
April 28, 2017 – West Bend, WI – When there is chocolate on the trolley, you know it will be a good ride. Add a little bling and it will be a very good thing. The Diva Group’s Spring Bling on Thursday, April 27 featured a
Century Farmhouse Notes: Springtime on the Farm means Warm Fuzzy Peeps. By Ann Marie Craig
Author: Ann Marie Craig | Categories: Big Cedar Lake, Century Farmhouse Notes, Washington County No comments
April 26, 2017 – Big Cedar Lake, WI – Five year old Lillian carefully cradled the tiny fuzzball as Grandma placed one of the farm’s newest residents into her youngest grandchild’s hands. Flocks of chickens have been a mainstay at this Wisconsin Century Farm since it was
Marine Vet Russ McCrimmon of West Bend will be on April 8 Honor Flight. By Ann Marie Craig
April 3, 2017 – West Bend, WI – A sobering scene was unfolding at the beach when his ship docked after the trans-Pacific journey to Korea in 1950. With minimal ceremony, but with discretion and respect, fallen U.S. soldiers were being evacuated for burial onto a neighboring vessel. Russ
Century Farmhouse Notes: How to care for that stash of Century Farmhouse soaps. By Ann Marie Craig
Author: Ann Marie Craig | Categories: Big Cedar Lake, Business, Century Farmhouse Notes, Washington County, West Bend No comments
March 20, 2017 – West Bend, WI – Century Farmhouse Notes: How to care for that stash of Century Farmhouse soaps In which you will get strict instructions about making your stash of Century Farmhouse soaps last and last and last…. You heard that Century Farmhouse was no longer
Century Farmhouse Notes: Looking toward the future also means seeing where we’ve been: the gift of friendship. By Ann Marie Craig
March 12, 2017 – Big Cedar Lake, WI – Looking toward the future also means seeing where we’ve been: the gift of friendship. In which I meet an old friend and look backward just a little as I look ahead. The little black-and-white photo with the old-fashioned dated white
Century Farmhouse notes: Celebrating Catholic Schools Week. St. Frances Cabrini School – a Catholic lesson for life. By Ann Marie Craig
Jan. 29, 2017 – West Bend, WI – The wooden bead was just about the same size as the hole. Sister Suzanne Marie was hurrying us from the hallway to our second grade classroom after square dancing in the gym, and I needed to get my little cowgirl hat
Farmhouse Notes: Remembering Decorah School and Mrs. Norstrant By Ann Marie Craig
Jan. 22, 2017 – West Bend, WI – One of the perks of substitute teaching is getting to poke my nose into nooks and crannies in the schools which I visit for a day or two each week. Nosey-poking into a familiar room a few weeks ago gave me
Farmhouse Notes: From the linen closet By Ann Marie Craig
Jan. 10, 2017 – Town of West Bend, WI – When was the last time you cleaned out your linen closet? Somewhere in your linen closet, as in mine, I’ll bet you have items that were bestowed upon you through inheritance. There is probably at least one thing that
Farmhouse notes: In which a tiny, uninvited guest inspires thoughts of home and family.
Jan. 6, 2017 – Big Cedar Lake, WI – In broad daylight it danced across my kitchen floor – not once, but twice in the space of five minutes. It reminded me of our first days in this house which had been lived in only sporadically for more than
Advertise with Washington County Insider? Because it works By Ann Marie Craig
Dec. 30, 2016 – West Bend, WI – I wondered for months whether advertising on WashingtonCountyInsider.com would be effective. Within a few days of placing the first ad, people who walked in our doors for the first time, mentioned it. They asked, “where is that soap dish I saw