A Sense of Place

 "A sense of place results gradually and unconsciously from inhabiting a landscape over time, becoming familiar with its physical properties, accruing history within its confines" Kent Rydon

The recent debate over the possible addition of another hospital in Wisconsin Rapids struck a cord within me.  It actually struck a lot of cords in me and not solely because I am a proud employee of one of the few truly locally owned hospitals, Riverview (YEAH BLUE) but because this hospital would be built on the land where I grew up wild on the edge of town.  The helipad would be on top of my father's garden, the ER entrance would be where the old hives used to buzz with life and the tower would undoubtedly be above the dugout fort my older brother made and next to the tree with the old mattress beneath we used to jump on over and over despite our probably questionable tetanus immunization status.  I took a meaningful walk with my youngest daughter Aida Lynne, named after her grandmothers, and thought about my sense of place in this world.

one of my mother's amazing photographs

It all starts in the garden.  My family actually has 2 gardens.  Even having one is probably an anomaly for most.  The "front" garden was actually in the back yard and got larger and larger every year.  We picked potato bugs and beans until both were coming out of our ears (my dad wanted them smashed but I just couldn't so I put them in a bucket where 50% probably escaped).  We ate from the garden year round.  My mother canned in a hot kitchen and piled our plates high with zucchini pizza and fresh tomatoes whether we liked it or not.  As the 3 of us grew older and moved out, the garden didn't shrink...quite the contrary.  The front garden actually became larger and larger every year with more and more flowers and perennials.  The rhubarb, mint and horseradish patch is something to gawk at and the volunteer sunflowers return every year with gusto.  Many nights, children with flashlights harvested monster night crawlers from the compost pile and fished the nearby Wisconsin River. You can still hear my father on the local AM station offering free perennials to anyone who will stop by.

the path behind the front garden

The reason that the garden in the backyard is called the front garden is because there is another garden behind that one but you have to follow the path through the woods, cross a road and follow another path to get there-it is well worth the trip!  The wooded area before the road has been managed by my father as long as he has lived here.  You can see his wood pile and shed in the picture which now replace an old fort that was brought to out home when I was a young child.  It had 4 stilts with a room above you could climb a ladder to. I spent SO many days playing for hours in this area, pretending I was an indian and living off the land-that summer I caught Lyme's disease for the first time and suffered through summer on photophobic medication.  My two closest childhood friends played with me there.  We are a few of the last from the"see you at suppertime" generation and I think we turned out just fine.  Now the fort is gone and replaced by a shed which holds my father's many fine treasures and stuff he frequently cleans out of the garage or hides from my mother's sight :)

onto the other side



and then...the road

The path isn't long by any means, it is probably 100 feet or so but you feel as though you are in a different place until you look back and see the house there.  I always feel a slight rise in my heart rate when I come to this spot where the branches open up and the road is there. I am not sure if it is because of the cars that sometimes speed past (to get to or from the bar that is just a few hundred feet to the south) or that I never wanted people to see me coming out and going down the path on the other side.  The road is paved now and marks the boundary between city and country living though that line is now changing with the new hospital hoolabaloo.  

After scooting quickly across the road, you can duck into another path.  This one was made by our families feet over 40ish years and is covered by fallen needles and pine cones.  My dad once stumbled upon a pair of young lovers taking advantage of natures bedding :)  He was appalled to discover them using the "open zipper method" as young rushed lovers have sometimes used.  We all have stories of what we have stumbled upon here-Eric found pornographic magazines and marijuana, Katie and I found an old mattress (gross) that we played on for days before my mother found out.  She probably vomited a little in her mouth at the thought of her 2 innocent, young girls rolling around on a mattress with God only knows what kind of history.  Many deer were disturbed upon this path, and snakes and birds and insects.

looking for snakes

One of the BEST things to do out here is look for snakes.  My dad would place random objects along the path in the sunlight so snakes and other things could find a place to hang out-then we could find them.  Even this year we found many snake egg nests. Some of the boards are beginning to crumble and I am sure they won't be replaced.  This very well could be the last summer children explore this path.

Some pieces of the wood that are lying about are from an old farmhouse where Ms Preissler lived.  She was an old woman who lived alone.  She never married and grew to be almost 100 in the house built by her father.  That house has since been moved by the city to make way for the new HWY 54 that cuts right though the land you could walk through all the way from 20th street to 32nd where Midstate Technical College is now.   There was also a creek that ran through that area as well which is now another dried up memory.

 This section of land used to be large enough for my father and brother to hunt deer.  My sister never wanted anything to do with hunting.  I believed killing animals was a crime. There was a while during high school where I was a subscriber to the magazine Animals Agenda.  I would read the newest edition and cry in my closet...then sneak back to my father's tree stand and pee beneath it so that the deer would stay far, far away.  My mother would hem and haw about "how are you going to get enough protein" when I decided I would become a vegetarian.  I learned early on that if I didn't hunt, I would be left out of a lot of adventures my dad and brother went on so I took Hunter's Safety class and dropped out much to my father's dismay-he is still an instructor.  I even tried to go with my them to track a blood trail behind the house only to secretly cry the entire time and then faked an injury just so I could go home.  I just wasn't cut out for it so I stuck to fishing and got my fill of those types of adventures that way, but could never watch my dad clean them, all flopping and bloody on the kitchen table.

  I am not sure when it was that my father decided to open up this spot  and plant a garden.  It was quite large and a real challenge to water.  My dad would sometimes fill up his truck with containers and a few times we even ran a hose across the road which I am sure is not legal but you have to do what you have to do.  

The back garden

 I talked to my dad a few times about building a rainwater capturing system but he never really jumped at the brilliance of my idea...now I know what he already knew: the days for this garden were numbered.  He didn't plant it this year.  Somehow last years' leeks survived the winter,  and of course there is an incredible horseradish patch that is thriving well.  The rhubarb was all transplanted to our garden this year -and my dad caught a fish to plant under each one which is just about right.

bee site

 My dad was taught by my grandpa Leonard on how to tend bees.  As long as I remember, we had bees right in our backyard.  I was pretty amazed at how my father could take care of them.  My fall recollections are warmed with the the smell of honey cooking down in the kitchen.  There wasn't much more satisfying then peeling back the layer of wax on top and seeing a pot full of warm, golden honey beneath.  Even the dead bees didn't stop you from dipping a finger right in there.  After a while, my dad developed an allergy to honey bees so they were moved to this location near the back garden.  It wasn't far from the tree stand but that didn't matter because with the addition of HWY 54, my dad found other places to hunt. Soon, the bees just didn't happen anymore.  We rekindled the bee operation a couple years back and put some boxes on our farm but they still haven't survived a winter there.  My brother bought land in Dane county that suits bees that live year after year.  It seems to be a haven from colony collapse disorder and the bees are vicious but the honey is to die for.

oooh Marty, my young crush

My love

So it appears that this land has formed me in ways through my youth upon it.  I feel sad when I see the changes that have come, and are inevitable because change is such a normal part of everything.  I am a farmer, wife, mother, nurse now.  Not too far removed from the wildlife biologist/veterinarian or National Geographic photographer I thought I'd be.     I married a man who is the spitting image of Marty Stouffer who I had a really weird crush on as a young girl.   Themes from my childhood resurface in ways I couldn't have made up on my own.  As I watch my 3 young ones grow up, creating their own sense of place on our farm, I can't help but wonder how that will shape their future and those around them.  Maybe someday one of them will feel a sentiment looking at the footprint of our farm with a tear of change.

Fall has fallen

this reminded me of a bridal bouquet

  Today we picked and packed box 9...I went to bed feeling a sense of relief that comes this time of year for seasonal farmers but I woke with a feeling of bitter-sweetness that goes right along with it.  We only have 1 more box left (this sentence can end with varying punctuation--!, . , :) and even :(

This is a cycle that we have become more and more in tuned with as we get more and more involved with the farming life. A few short months ago we bit into the first lettuce of the year and jumped for joy at the first tomato.

the beauty of nature never ceases to amaze

The carrots are back again!  I think this year has been superb for them, even in the dog days of summer which I don't think we really even experienced this year...There will be more carrots in the last box too.  Today we harvested only half of 2 raised beds and there will be another rainbow of them in 2 weeks.

SHITAKES!!!  Box 9 celebrity

  These mushroom logs are a combination of ones that we inoculated ourselves and others that were given to me by a patient/friend who was growing too "mature" to take care of.  I thought of him today when I was plucking these beauties.

We like to slice these thin and dehydrate and use throughout the winter in our homemade chicken noodle soup

Packing boxes, washing carrots and catching the sun's energy!

  We are hoping to see you are our farm party this Saturday October 4th starting at 4pm.  We will press apples, have a potluck dinner, maybe hear some fine acoustic tunes and enjoy gathering.  You can tour the new solar panels and see the house under construction.  Weather calls for some chilliness and given the status of our interior, please be prepared to hang outdoors.    Please also bring any farm boxes you may have at home.  Box 10 will come accompanied with a jack-o-lantern and maybe even some colored corn decorations made here on the farm!

Careful what you wish for...

SAVE THE DATE:  Saturday October 4th FARM SHINDIG starting at 4pm potluck, cider pressing and outdoor movie (weather permitting).  Rain or shine event.  Bring a tent if you want to crash or reserve the RV or cabin :) 

This is dear Judith.  She is a hardworking farm share member and has been with us for 3 seasons.  She always comes prepared and with something exciting to share for lunch.  We love her stories and grand adventures.
Here she is with box 8 celebrity "celeriac"

So, it turns out that all of our prayers, rain dances and wishes for rain from 2013 and 2012 have culminated to the incredible downfall of 2014. It is hard to complain about something you have given so much effort into desiring for so long but alas, there is too much of a good thing sometimes. The ducks sure are happy though :)  The potatoes have suffered a bit  but there is plenty still growing and doing well.  The chickens will be processed in about 6 weeks so start cleaning out those freezers!

We have found ourselves well into the days of comfort foods.  In face, I even had chill for lunch, LUNCH!  It must be fall.  Celeriac soup (CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO ENLARGE THE RECIPE) is a favorite around here.  You can really make a soup of this sort out of any root veggie and add more varieties if you like.  Another good one is potato leek, or carrot pumpkin. 

We are SO excited about the solar project that has sprung up on our farm.  It will provide all the electricity needs for our farm and our home.  We believe in going green and now we have taken another giant leap forward in the right direction.  YOU can feel even better about the produce you eat from our farm because there will be less fossil fuels spent in their production!

worth the wait

Box 7:  cantaloupe, fennel, dill, cilantro, basil, zucchini, sungold cherry tomatoes, variety of heirloom tomatoes, variety of sweet and hot peppers, red and white onions, garlic

     The leaves around us are starting to turn...at first I thought "those trees look stressed" but now I am out of denial and am well ready for the coming fall.  It is only 18 days away really.  So we have been getting rain and then more rain and them more...well, you get the picture.  There actually is such a thing as too much because if the roots of our plants are sitting in water it impedes air passage and root rot.  We are trying not to fret too much about it but we take our turns in the worrying department.

Happy Farmers

So for the most part we look like this (see above) but obviously life on the farm is not always sunshine and I think that sometimes society paints this picture of living the farm life as hippyville and ease.  Yeah, I do rock the tie-dye from 1997 on box days sometimes and when you find little surprises like the pepper below, you may feel a little "blissed out" until you loose your boots in the muck, a few chickens drown in the most recent downpour and your guinea pigs escape their outdoor cage and make for the wilderness.

What a surprise when making box day lunch, this pepper was so happy it was smiling :)

Solar system is going in next week!  We just got the call today that they are breaking ground next week.  We are very excited to move in this direction because we really believe in being green in as many ways as possible and going solar has been on our list basically since birth :)

um, yeah....actually there is such a thing as too much rain.  I Nearly dislocated a hip picking tomatoes and almost lost my boots too!

Box 6

collard greens, white onions, basil, bean mix, cilantro, zucchini, bell peppers,
hungarian wax peppers, fennel, celery and dill 

The past 2 weeks since our fifth box have been really wet.  We are by no means complaining as many of the farms in the central Wisconsin area are very dry.  We are again, thankful, that our soil has a high clay content that adds to it's fertile properties and also hangs onto water longer than sandy soil does.  We have yet to spend hours moving hoses. The days have turned into feeling a bit like fall and are starting to get shorter and cooler...which means the tomatoes are going to be coming a bit later, like September.

celery

Many of our crops are doing so well this year and celery is by far the celebrity so far.  Today's harvesting was barely a drop in the bucket of what is in the field coming in future boxes.  This is also a household staple for our family.  It is right up there with peanut butter and raisins :)

purple cauliflower

Every year Arlo browses through the seed catalogs and picks a few favorites out to try new.  This year, purple cauliflower made the cut.  The crop is "slow" compared to standard store bought varieties but also hasn't come to maturity at the same rate to there hasn't been enough ready at once to add to the boxes but we are sure enjoying eating it, a lot!  Our worker share Judith says she feels colorful on the inside when she eats colorful veggies and we feel that paints a great picture of eating fresh foods.

family helper share

We have lots of help on the farm and are always open to having you come out and experience what goes into the boxes and see how your food is growing.  I especially love to see my children growing up on the farm where doing things like washing veggies is a fun thing to do.  Aida takes a lot of pride in her work and is quite serious about her chores and 99% of the times offers to help in a joyful manner.

zucchini flower and baby zucchini below

We heavily rely on pollinators on the farm.  You do to, you absolutely NEED them in order to have food on your table 3 times a day 365 days a year.  We are happy to see many bees, butterflies, birds, moths, wasps, hornets etc...that help our plants blossom into deliciousness.  Be kind to your pollinators please, they do work we can't duplicate.

Hump day!

Well, I suppose today's blog title serves 2 purposes:  we always box on Wednesdays but this is box 5, which means we are at the peak of the hump, and next box will mean we are half way through this growing season.


"Green provider", "yellow wax" and "royal burgundy" more to pick an hour after you finally finish all the rows....

 

Our area in central Wisconsin has been hit twice with heavy hail.  Many people lost their gardens, are getting new roofs as we speak (golden handshake) and are driving around cars with golf ball dents...this happened 7 years ago as well but we were so lucky this time in that our farm didn't have a single piece of hail just only heavenly rain that the field needed very much.  Too bad I was on call for a birth and spent the night in Rapids with our new car...you can imagine how that story ends :) 

white onions freshly picked

 

We have received a few more nice showers here at VG since the hail storms too which means we aren't lugging around hoses and buckets at all except to the raised beds which is expected.  They dry out more quickly then the field and are filled with compost which is great, however, doesn't have the clay content we do in the field.  Reminder:  please tell me not to complain about wet springs.
Usually garlic doesn't like clay.  It also doesn't much like sand but we seem to have created a variety that loves VG soil and does really well without needing any intervention (except planting, weeding and harvesting).   The meat birds are here too!  They moved in about a week ago and we send many thanks to our friends Nami Moon Farms for including us in their most recent order.  They will be ready in about 11 weeks.
Happy hump day and enjoy August!  

VG garlic

 

Box 4 out the door

Box 4: Beets with greens, green beans (VG and Malek in Nekoosa), carrots, rainbow chard, basil, cucumber, zucchini, VG garlic, sage and blueberries (Malek in Nekoosa)

  This box brings us just shy of half way through the central WI growing season...WHAT????  How can it be that after just 2 more boxes we are back to school?  Each box gets heavier and heavier and you can start to see some of the ol' standbys coming to play.  More beets and carrots but a dash of zucchini and cucumber reminds you of the taste of summer.  We picked our blueberries this year at Malek's farm in Nekoosa.  Our traditional Trachte's farm in Pittsville lost a substantial amount of their plants to the harsh winter but we hope to highlight their farm later this season as they catch up.  FYI Malek's has you-pick blueberries (2$/lb) and raspberries (3$/lb) for the next couple of weeks yet and also have potatoes.  They aren't organic so make sure to wash carefully just prior to eating.  

Judith and Craig sorting through the first picked garlic this year.  There is plenty more that is going to be cured and put into the late season boxes for winter storage.

  We seem to have moved on from our aerial predators the bald eagle(s) to a land predator that has proven much more deadly-raccoon.  This guy or family of guys has taken down at least a dozen of our precious hens which has made us step up our game on electrical fencing and live trapping.  It makes it interesting to find a balance between free range and totally out in the open to predation but we are finding our happy medium and will be raising some new gals to join the bunch soon.  Wisconsin Rapids just passed action to allow back yard hens in town which is GREAT but we encourage you all to do your research on pens and yards that will keep your birds safe and healthy.

Aida is quite the helper "pick one, eat one" is her motto and boy does she stick to it!

I can't stop staring at rainbow chard.  It grows a tad slower then a traditional green variety but it is worth the wait.  The variety of color assures you that you are receiving a hefty dose of antioxidants with your greens and this past week the deer have left it alone so we can have some too :)

Rolling right along with box 3

garlic scape and basil pesto-we wait all year for the scapes to make one of our favorite delicacy recipes

     We are just past the nostalgic celebration of the 4th of July.  It seems our kids just won't quite make it late enough to catch the city fireworks but they are in their best  memory making behavior to do our own show on the farm just as the lightening bugs come out and the sun sets just over the forest to the west of our farm.  Do fireworks add nitrogen to the air for our plants as lightening does???  I don't know the answer to that question, but everything seems to be growing amazingly (even the weeds).

Laura weighing sweet peas

 We have spied a glorious bald eagle on our land as well recently...then we discovered a dead hen who seemed to have become a meal for this beautiful creature.  It is hard to see a hen go and you feel sad about the attack that happened however, it seems like ideal timing being the 4th and all and there is nothing quite so American as seeing a Bald Eagle freely take his meal.

Farmer Craig harvesting toddler carrots

 
Craig's leg is healing so nicely and even his duct tape bandages don't seem to be doing any harm so I am letting him be his own nurse for the time being, until the next crisis.  Caleb spent a week fishing in Canada and had a nice taste of their medical system (barbed hook through his thumb) and that entire ER visit in and out with numbing medication etc...was less than $200...you can't even walk into an ER in our country without paying at least double that.
We are having another amazingly perfect box day, the weather is warm with a cool, dry breeze that makes for easy work.  We are so happy to have dedicated box workers that come religiously to help on these days. Here are some pictures that show what we are up to today!

The sweetness of summer!

Happy solstice! Now we are officially in the season of summer and the days will get shorter...hummmmm.  Good thing there are strawberries on the tongue to make that thought a bit sweeter!
We love to feature produce in our boxes from other local farmers and Sunny Sky Farm has made an appearance multiple times in the past 4 years of boxing...but this box 2 appearance of organically grown strawberries takes the cake.  Mixing them with their rhubarb is almost magical!  

season 4 box 2: leeks, scallions, baby romaine (2 heads-one speckled and one green), garlic scapes, kohlrabi and rhubarb and strawberies from Sunny Sky Farm

As you may have heard, Craig had an accident while mowing the lawn last week and it laid him out completely.  Now, the infection is subsiding and he is hobbling around quite well but this meant that he had a surprise vacation from his usual 10 hour farming days.  We are SO thankful to our friends who came to help yesterday-The Haneys, the Goodreaus and Layne and Josh.  It reinforces our strong sense of place to bring friends to our land and work the soil together, not to mention the friendships that strengthen between us and our children (did I mention that we always eat SO well at our gatherings too?)

So in that spirit, we will be having another gathering this Sunday, the 29th of June starting at 3pm on the farm.  Bring your kids and your gloves.  We will spend some time in the field but then gather around another amazing meal (bring a dish) and laugh.  We hope you are LOVING your boxes so far, there is so much more growing and to come.  

The Ultimate Salad

We kicked off the 2014 season with what we call the "ultimate salad box".  The heads of romaine lettuce were harvested from the greenhouse.  Now the greenhouse will be planted with hot crops, likely peppers, that can withstand the daily above 100 degree temps in there.  We are so grateful for our "worker shares" Judith, Laurie and Desirae.  We have a lot of laughs and a great sit down lunch together on these days.
We are also thankful for Sunny Sky Farm, run by a long time farming friend of Craig's.  He has happily supplied us with rhubarb again this year to share with our members.  We expect that our rhubarb planting will be hearty enough next year to use our own but until then, we are happy to include his.
The season this year is right on track!  We had a long winter and a brief wet spring, but the soil is draining really well and the plants are all where they should be. Next box is planned for June 25th.

The catalogs are in, the catalogs are in!  Now is the time of year where seed orders are placed and seed trays are stacked in anticipation of the first planting.  Crazy you say?  It's hardly the middle of January you say?  Using our high tunnel, we are able to grow our own starts from seed while heating with locally sourced wood (downed trees that were cleaned up in multiple areas in central Wisconsin).  This is also the time of year we reach out to current and prospective members for the coming box season which starts in June.  See the sign-up information to the right of this post with further details and we look forward to hearing from you very soon!