How much do you know about the original "Country Cooking" cookbook? It doesn't seem right to publish a second family cookbook without paying homage to the first. "Country Cooking" was the brainchild of Garneta Bauerle who is the wife of Irvin Bauerle, grandson of Wilhelm (William) Bauerle.

Garneta started her project out of an interest in geneology. In the late 1970's, while researching the family tree, she sent letters to Bauerle relatives and asked for a reply with family information and a favorite family recipe. Through this process she received more names of reletives to contact and her project took off. Recipes came pouring in from sixteen states and from Germany. Upon collecting over 500 recipes, Garneta decided to compile a family cookbook. She thought family members would love to have a copy and maybe even give one as a gift to a friend.

The cookbook has a fabulous variety of home cooking recipes and also contains some family photos and a listing of serveral hundred family members. It even has some recipes that were sent from Germany and garneta had to request assistance in having them translated into English! Bauerle family members can treasure the notes written in many recipes such as "served at Kelly's 50th Wedding Buffet" or "the way Mother Anna Bauerle made it". Another interesting fact about the cookbook is the artwork on the cover. The name "Bauerle" on the mailbox was copied from a letter Harmann Bauerle sent to William Bauerle in 1893 from Germany. Word spread about the cookbook and several Nebraska newspapers and regional magazines did feature stories on the Bauerle family cookbook.

The first printing was in December 1977 and 480 copies were published. But, that wasn't the last set of copies to be printed. Letters requesting the cookbook trickled in for about five years and other printings were ordered. Then, one day in1983 Garneta reports "the sky fell and it 'twas a real fiasco".

Family Circle magazine, a national women's magazine, heard about the cookbook and decided to publish a story about Garneta and her book. The April 1983 edition of the magazine featured a photo of Garneta, the fascinating story of how the cookbook came into being, and much to Garneta's suprise, her address for those who wanted to order a copy of the cookbook. She thought the magazine was simply doing a feature story. Irvin and Garneta's mailbox was bombarded with orders for the cookbook (way more orders than she had books in stock!) One day alone she received 305 requests in her mailbox!

So, she placed an order for another 5,000 copies of Country Cooking. Friends and family set up shop in her home and helped process the orders, track the money, and package the books for the large mailings. Even the truck driver who delivered the cookbooks to Champion bought a copy.

In 1992, Country Cooking had its 7th and last printing with the total copies printed and sold right around 10,000 copies. Just think of how Bauerle family recipes have been served at dinner tables all across the country!