Peggy Prilaman Marxen grew up next to Badger Creek, near the town of Meteor in northwestern Wisconsin’s Sawyer County, surrounded by a close-knit family, yet geographically isolated from the rest of the state. Her family supplemented their subsistence herd of dairy cows by hunting, fishing, selling timber off their farm and making maple syrup. Her home, just like those of her neighbors, lacked indoor plumbing, electricity, and a telephone. As a child, Peggy attended a one-room schoolhouse and walked biked or sledded three miles to school and back regardless of the weather. She and her family witnessed changes to rural Wisconsin that altered their lives, including new farming techniques, school consolidation, construction of roads and technology.
Peggy has written a book entitled, The Farm on Badger Creek, recalling her memories of a childhood in the far north of Wisconsin which has since disappeared. Her book will be for sale at the conclusion of her lecture.