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