A Growing Season

Season One - Jake's Burr Oak Farm 

My first season growing veggies kicked my ass in so many ways. Many challenges and lessons learned along the way have informed a large list of what I will do differently next season.

Yes, there will be a next season! While I was fed ample doses of humble pie, my time in the gardens also filled me with gratitude, inspiration, aspiration and, most importantly, balance and re-connection to the land (a major driver for starting the CSA).

I look forward to once again nurturing the Brewer's Garden with it's sustainably grown hops, herbs and flowers for Dave's BrewFarm, and the Market Garden filled with beautiful healthy vegetables and fruit for CSA members.

Challenges were many, including a spring that began with an unanticipated pounding of 14+" of snow the first week of May, which fell atop a water-soaked and mostly frozen field.  And, we ended the summer in a drought.


During the growing season I fought nemeses such as squash beetles, rabbits, deer, a bug which I have yet to identify, and other critters that were less than cordial to my growing plants. Best "win" of the season...I tested a theory I was told about by my Permaculture Design instructor. He said, "Feed your enemies in the garden - create a deer and rabbit garden at the edge of your commercial garden.  They will feed there and be satisfied." This strategy seemed to work for me, as the rabbits fed on lettuce and green beans grown in the rabbit garden and not on any other produce.















Biggest lesson learned? I harken back to my experiences living in the wilderness while leading canoeing and backpacking trips. It was the environment that drove our actions and reactions. We managed ourselves based on extreme fluctuations in weather, water, natural landscape, and the other inhabitants of that land.

Yep, that pretty much sums up this past season too.  Biggest lesson - Be resilient and adaptable.

At the beginning of the season, my knowledge, skills, and physical endurance were lacking.





While formal studies in sustainable farming and creating a farm business plan were important to this venture, just doing it - gaining experience growing veggies and managing the farm, was exactly what I needed to navigate my new path. 

And, while my physical endurance was low at first, I was quite buff and feeling bad-ass by August. Who needs a gym membership when you work on a farm?




Season Five - Dave's BrewFarm

Dave's BrewFarm is poised for a small expansion. We're moving the taproom out of the brewery space and into a new building that will be erected by spring 2014. Yikes...here we go again, another build during fall and winter months. Always makes for exciting and brisk days working on the Farm!

In August a handful of volunteers, to whom we are greatly indebted, helped us take down a barn four miles down the road that was built 100 years ago.  The original builder, Gustav Zillmer, and his family have lived on the farmstead for four generations.

Currently Gus's great granddaughter, Roxy, and her husband Paul Wakeen, their son Joey, and Roxy's mom, Donna (Gus's granddaughter) live on the farm. They all worked long hours to help us realize our vision of creating a Taproom using the reclaimed timber and barn boards. We are so very grateful for all they've done.

We are proud to reclaim this majestic barn for our new Taproom and excited to see the beautiful wood live on. And, we look forward to the big party we'll have to celebrate the new "GZ's Century Taproom" in the spring!

Wild Child

“I stood on the rocky shoreline in awe of the beauty and immenseness of Lac LaRonge.  It was raining and the temp. was 40 F when we arrived on its shore in late May 2002. Nine of us women traveled 3 days by bus to get there. This place, LaRonge, Saskatchewan, Canada, would be our trailhead.  From here, we paddled canoes filled with over 500+ pounds of food, tents, and gear across expansive lakes, rivers (the kind that are slow and meandering and others that offered class-4 and 5 whitewater), and tributaries that would take us across the beautiful taiga and arctic tundra. The enormity of the water was humbling.  Our journey would take 55 days.

As we paddled north into the tundra, the conifer trees that were so plentiful became shorter and then non-existent.   However, while the tundra at first glance appears stark and desolate, it is abundant with vibrant life.  The ecology was astounding.  I just had to slow down and notice (this would be one of many lessons along the way). The archipelagos were teaming with small flowers and low-growing brush, grasses, off-the-chart gorgeous mosses and lichen, and my all-time favorite – Cloud Berries. Also, there were times when we’d be paddling along side the land and it was teaming with thousands of caribou that were making an annual migration. 

When we reached the Thlewiaza River inlet that would take us onto Hudson Bay, seals greeted and interacted with us.  This was an awesome moment and it was also anxiety producing because where there are seals, there are polar bears.  Paddle quickly ladies, I thought to myself.

Once on the Hudson Bay, it would take us 5 more days to reach our destination, Arviat, a small Inuit community.  The first couple days on the Bay were spent trying to figure out the tide schedule.   We paddled when the tide was in.  And, when the tide was out, we portaged all of our gear and canoes in order to keep moving; it was August and summer was fading.  At night we slept in makeshift “canoe tents” that sat atop large soft clumps of seaweed on the bottom of the Bay.  We knew when the tide came in because our canoes would start to float.  We’d pack up our sleeping gear, grab a snack, and paddle by moonlight.”

The summary above consists of excerpts taken from the diary I kept while co-leading this trip.  Every once in a while, when I need some extra courage, I re-read some of the passages written by a younger me.  I’m reminded that I already possess the strength and determination required to take on the challenges that are ahead.

I’ve always had a deep connection to nature. While it is not the Canadian wilderness, my love of the West Central WI countryside is no less profound. I enter the next stage of my life as a humble steward and student.  I have no idea how to get organic tomato seeds to germinate, what specific cover crops make the most sense for our small farm, or how to apply permaculture principles, like building Swales in order to conserve water.  But, I will.  I look forward to, once again, being challenged everyday by the complexity of nature.  

BrewWife

The Brewer's Garden at Dave's BrewFarm

A Brief History 

It was spring and I was finishing a semester as an Assistant Professor in the Business School at Wayne State College (Nebraska). I was looking forward to spending the summer in the Twin Cities, my home town.   I secured an efficiency apartment in St. Paul midway area and spent weekends with family and friends.

During one particular weekend in the cities, I met David Anderson (now my husband).  During a long conversation on his back porch, he described a large project he was embarking upon.  His dream was to build and operate a farmhouse craft brewery, which was based on a Belgium-inspired vision.  David had traveled to Belgium quite extensively.  I don't know if it was David's immeasurable passion, his entrepreneurial spirit, the excitement of building a business, or the fact that David was oh so cute...but it didn't take long before I found myself swept up in the fervor that was to become the BrewFarm.  I jumped in feet first on a journey David and I would take together as partners in business and in life.

The BrewFarm was underway the spring of 2008. David purchased 35 acres of beautiful rolling farmland in a quiet village in western Wisconsin called Wilson, about 30 minutes east of Hudson, WI.

In those early days our "dates" were not the traditional "go out to dinner and movie."  Instead, we spent long days working side by side on the property planting hop rhizomes and building the first hopyard.  The first hop variety planted was Fuggles. 

We researched different techniques and approaches to building a hop yard.  Eventually, we decided on T posts, PVC pipes and cables.

The hop trellises were built before anything else was erected on the property!  No well for water, no shelter...just hop bines.

Of course, it was blasted hot and dry that summer, so we made the trip from St. Paul Midway to Wilson every other day from May to August in order to water the hops.

In late August, we secured funding for the project after hearing bankers say "no" way too many times to count (sometimes with a trailing cackle).  David sold his house, I let my apartment go, and we moved to Wilson.

Early fall found us in a rented RV on the property.  Two adults and two dogs made for cozy living!  The RV was parked on a pretty steep hill, so David added wood planks under the tires as I yelled from inside the rig when it finally felt level.  Looking at this photo, I am amazed we didn't tip over!

We enjoyed awesome nights in front of a campfire and under bright stars.  Who needs TV when you've got this?























We broke ground on the building in September 2008.  Our quaint camping spot turned into a construction site.

We were surrounded by very large machinery moving dirt and placing forms into the ground.

David was always giddy and excited when he was allowed to take the wheel behind some of the big machinery.

By October, it was getting cold so we let the RV go and rented a house in nearby Glenwood City.  We spent our days on site, David working side by side with the builders.

Most days, I would find a semi-quiet spot so I could work on deadlines from a consulting project and grading papers from a teaching gig at UW River Falls.  After a while, the sound of saws and hammering became white noise!

On a cold day in December, David and I worked inside the brewery space.  We worked 12 hours that day with ice picks and shovels.  We'd break up the icy ground, shovel it onto a tarp, and drag the tarp outside and dump the contents.  On a personal note, this was a tipping point for our relationship.  The physical and mental demands of the day made our bond grow stronger.  

That day, we had to dig into and remove about a foot of ice and permafrost from the ground because cement was arriving the next day so the builder could pour the floor.















David and I share a general life-philosophy that embraces conservation, sustainability and living simply. Since we were building from scratch, we had a great opportunity to take a sustainable approach.  The exterior of the residence (as well as interior space) was created from recycled barn board, timber and tin from two old barns (one from southern MN and the other from Pierce county WI).

While it was a large investment up front, in our minds the decision to use wind power to generate our electricity was financially responsible and provided an opportunity to practice stewardship for planet earth.

The wind generator tower was raised in January 2009.  We named it "Jake" (the brand is a Jacobs).






















We are grid inter-tied, which means that when we produce more electricity than we use, the energy goes onto the "grid" and we are paid at a retail rate.  When we don't make enough (summer winds tend to be slow / non-existent), we pull from the grid and we get charged as part of our regular monthly bill.

In the winter months we heat our home and the brewery using energy retained in the earth (from radioactive decay of minerals and solar energy absorbed at the surface), called Geothermal.

A heat pump is used to transfer energy between the ground and our building through a series of buried, high-density pipes called an earth loop.





In addition, we added a gray water recycle storage tank, which holds waste water from the brewery.  After being filtered, the water is released into a field rather than going into our septic system.






In the spring of 2009 we moved in to our new home, which sits atop our small craft brewery.

By fall, Dave's BrewFarm officially went into production.  David calls the brewery his "LaBrewatory" because he spends a lot of time creating beers that are unique and distinctive. That requires experimentation and imagination - which he has in spades.  He calls himself a janitor, but David is a brewmaster with a tremendous gift for creating thoughtful, well-balanced and tasty beers.  His cooking is quite delicious too ;-)

In summer of 2010 we expanded the hop yards, built raised beds, and added native plants and botanicals which would become the heart and soul of our Brewer's Garden.

Further, we partnered with a local Bee Keeper who added two honey bee hives on the property.



During the summer and fall months, David uses the fresh ingredients from the Brewer's Garden (and honey from the hives) to make tasty saisons, ales and lagers.



Spring of 2013 will see another exciting expansion of the Brewer's Garden as Horticulturalists Amanda Lawrence and Emilie Justen join me to build a CSA called, Jake's Burr Oak Farm.

The CSA will grow garlic, salad greens, vegetables, fruits, herbs and cut flowers.  All of which can be purchased as a monthly share or picked fresh and purchased on site at the Farm.

Monthly Shares
A portion of the purchase price from a monthly share will go toward the purchase of a share for a low-income family in our "Farm Fresh for Families" initiative.

Picked and Purchased on site
Home brewers!  Here's an opportunity to learn from David about making well-balanced beer using ingredients from the Brewer's Garden, such as Bee Balm, Basil, Red Clover, Sugar Snap Peas, Rose Hips, Hibiscus, etc.

Yes, that's right...you'll be able to purchase fresh produce AND create your favorite BrewFarm beers.

I'm looking forward to the 2013 season.  But for now, I will take solace in the winter months in order to reflect, research, plan and dream.

Cheers,

BrewWife