00:00:00:03	
00:00:00:21	[soft music]
00:00:03:02	
00:00:05:14	[upbeat folksy music]
00:00:08:19	
00:00:19:02	- Hey, girls.
00:00:20:21	Hi, babies.
00:00:22:27	
00:00:23:27	Welcome to the farm.
00:00:25:08	Summertime is all about preserving the season,
00:00:27:15	and that's what I plan on doing today.
00:00:29:20	Cousin Cece's coming over and
00:00:31:10	we're gonna be making some jam.
00:00:33:01	
00:00:34:06	For the ingredients, I'm heading out
00:00:35:21	to Hilltop Community Farm to get some currants.
00:00:38:18	
00:00:40:02	And then it's off to Sacred Blossom Farm for some tea.
00:00:42:18	
00:00:43:25	And finally, I'll end up at Mary Dirty Face Farm
00:00:46:23	and see what's growing in their orchard.
00:00:48:22	
00:00:50:16	Gather with us  Around the Farm Table.
00:00:53:04	I'm your host, Inga Witscher.
00:00:54:29	
00:00:56:29	[upbeat folksy music]
00:01:00:16	
00:01:05:02	Good morning, girls!
00:01:06:15	I'm Inga, and I love everything about farming.
00:01:08:25	
00:01:11:08	Midwestern farms are a bounty of good food
00:01:13:20	made by good people.
00:01:15:14	I love being able to travel, to search out good ingredients.
00:01:19:07	Cooking is all about what's seasonal, what's fresh.
00:01:22:16	Every day can be filled with good food,
00:01:24:22	good friends, and a beautiful herd of cows.
00:01:27:19	Welcome to the farm!
00:01:28:27	
00:01:29:27	- Inga to cow: Good girl.
00:01:31:07	
00:01:34:24	- Announcer: Around the Farm Table
00:01:36:01	is funded in part by
00:01:37:15	Wisconsin Farmers Union: United to Grow Family Agriculture,
00:01:42:01	
00:01:42:29	Heartland Credit Union,
00:01:45:02	Focus Fund for Wisconsin Programming,
00:01:48:02	and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.
00:01:50:13	
00:01:54:25	- Summer is all about preserving the season.
00:01:57:28	We have such a short summer here in Wisconsin
00:01:59:23	that I like to do everything I can
00:02:01:13	to make sure that I can have those wonderful
00:02:03:12	flavors of summer during the wintertime.
00:02:05:18	Especially being a farmer, I'm constantly thinking
00:02:07:27	about collecting what we can
00:02:09:21	during the summer for the winter.
00:02:11:10	And elderflowers are one of those things
00:02:14:03	that I really loved getting in the summertime.
00:02:16:23	In late spring, early summer, you can find elderflowers
00:02:20:24	out in your pasture, alongside the road,
00:02:23:04	and there's these--
00:02:24:09	They're beautiful delicate flowers.
00:02:26:10	And when I pick them, I wanna pick them
00:02:28:12	after the dew's off, so later on in the morning,
00:02:31:12	maybe before lunchtime I'll pick all my elderflowers,
00:02:34:07	and then I'll just put them in my basket
00:02:36:20	and later on, I'm gonna turn them into a cordial.
00:02:39:03	A cordial is a beautiful syrupy, sugary,
00:02:42:15	elderflowery flavor that I can add
00:02:44:17	to sparkling water or top off on champagne.
00:02:47:29	If you've ever had St. Germain,
00:02:49:19	it's basically elderflower cordial.
00:02:52:01	So, remember to look out for the elderflowers
00:02:55:03	
00:02:56:28	and then also leave some of the elderflowers on the bush,
00:03:00:06	and then you'll be rewarded with elderberries later on.
00:03:03:12	Speaking of berries, I'm excited
00:03:05:09	to head down to Hilltop Community Farm
00:03:07:05	and visit with my friend Erin
00:03:08:17	to see what she's growing in her orchard.
00:03:10:27	Let's have a look.
00:03:11:26	
00:03:13:12	Just outside of La Valle
00:03:14:24	
00:03:17:02	sits Hilltop Community Farm,
00:03:18:18	
00:03:20:15	a small-scale, diversified farm
00:03:22:21	
00:03:24:12	growing wedding flowers, vegetables,
00:03:28:22	and some unique varieties of fruit.
00:03:30:17	
00:03:32:07	I first visited Hilltop seven years ago,
00:03:35:09	and I met Erin and her husband, Rob,
00:03:37:16	when they were first developing their orchard.
00:03:40:18	I was excited to come back and see how things have grown.
00:03:44:18	Hey, Erin! - Hey, Inga, welcome.
00:03:46:25	- Thank you, good to see you.
00:03:48:17	- Yeah, welcome to the potatoes.
00:03:49:25	- It's been years since I've,
00:03:51:05	it's been almost seven years since I've been here.
00:03:53:00	- Oh, welcome back.
00:03:54:10	- It looks even more beautiful than the last time.
00:03:56:11	Can we take a little tour, just so I can see
00:03:58:19	how things have grown up?
00:03:59:21	- I'd love to show you around, yeah.
00:04:01:17	[gentle folksy music]
00:04:03:03	
00:04:04:20	Yeah, so we are like, right outside of La Valle, Wisconsin,
00:04:08:14	and it's right on the eastern edge of the Driftless Region,
00:04:11:09	so about the last glaciation missed this area.
00:04:14:07	- Uh-huh.
00:04:15:12	- So, you have a lot more rolling hills,
00:04:17:12	a lot more rivers instead of lakes, and the soils are older.
00:04:21:02	It's pretty cool, as you continue north
00:04:22:15	up back toward your place, you'll drop down
00:04:24:05	into old Glacial Lake Wisconsin lakebeds.
00:04:26:27	So, it's really-- we love it here,
00:04:29:08	but old soil, sloping lands.
00:04:31:10	We have about
00:04:32:18	just under 60 acres, and so you're looking
00:04:34:21	right back here at prairie, so, native prairie.
00:04:38:14	- Wow.
00:04:39:19	- About 24 acres, and we used to rent this out
00:04:41:27	to a neighbor and it was a corn/soy rotation,
00:04:44:23	and you know, we just heard about the conservation
00:04:47:11	reserve program, and it just kinda made sense
00:04:49:08	to transition that to prairie habitat
00:04:51:16	because of just, slope and I think especially
00:04:54:05	now with more intense and frequent rains,
00:04:56:15	the more we can keep the soil covered continuously,
00:05:00:11	I think the better off we are, especially on sloping lands,
00:05:02:24	and so perennials have been a really good fit for us.
00:05:05:26	I think it's been really fun to just
00:05:08:09	try to experiment with what works well for us,
00:05:10:04	what we have time and energy for,
00:05:12:09	and also what works well for the landscape.
00:05:14:13	
00:05:15:17	[gentle folksy music]
00:05:17:03	
00:05:18:26	- After seeing the beauty of the restored prairie,
00:05:21:20	Erin took me down to her orchard
00:05:23:15	to show me how she's growing her fruit in guilds.
00:05:26:28	A guild is a way to create a mini-ecosystem of plants
00:05:31:03	that are known to grow well together.
00:05:33:00	
00:05:34:00	So, Erin, is this one of your famous guilds?
00:05:35:25	Is that what you call them?
00:05:37:01	- Yes, we call them guilds.
00:05:38:08	So, a plant guild is sort of finding plants
00:05:40:09	that grow well together in combination,
00:05:42:21	and they create networks of mutual support.
00:05:44:27	So, you look around here and it's not really linear.
00:05:47:28	We, you think you have your kind of overstory,
00:05:50:24	which is this apple tree, so it's providing
00:05:53:02	a little shade, if you've got a cool spot,
00:05:54:27	currants like a little shade and wet,
00:05:56:12	so then you kind of think about in layers and function.
00:05:58:23	- Well, it looks like if you're out in a forest,
00:06:01:01	this is what it looks like
00:06:02:15	when walking through the trees,
00:06:04:10	all these different plants growing together.
00:06:06:06	- Yes, thank you for reminding me of that.
00:06:08:01	Sometimes I take for granted 'cause I'm just
00:06:09:23	living and breathing currants right now,
00:06:11:12	but it really is, we're just, we get this inspiration
00:06:13:28	from the structure and function of a forest,
00:06:16:07	and we just translate that
00:06:17:12	into growing perennials and fruit.
00:06:18:26	
00:06:21:11	- Inga: Can we go taste some of these currants?
00:06:23:13	- Erin: Yes, oh, my gosh!
00:06:25:12	
00:06:26:17	- Oh wow, pretty!
00:06:28:01	- Yeah, and they just draw you right in, right.
00:06:30:10	- Inga: They do.
00:06:31:18	- Erin: How red can you get? [laughing]
00:06:33:19	- Inga: Yeah.
00:06:34:24	- Erin: Let's try to find, do you see one
00:06:36:25	that's nice and red almost consistently?
00:06:38:02	- Inga: I think here.
00:06:39:07	- Yeah, help yourself.
00:06:40:12	
00:06:42:09	So, what do you think, how would you describe that?
00:06:44:18	
00:06:45:23	- It's a little tart, but it's delicious.
00:06:48:14	It's nice, it's light.
00:06:49:27	
00:06:50:27	What's your favorite way to preserve these?
00:06:52:10	I'm thinking about making
00:06:53:15	like a nice little jam or something.
00:06:55:00	I'm preserving the season.
00:06:56:08	I'm trying to get all my canning and everything done
00:06:58:19	in such a short time.
00:07:00:09	- Well, like, so we like just making a jam.
00:07:02:22	We've also really gotten into doing some juicing,
00:07:05:04	especially the black currants.
00:07:06:18	They're kinda more like a blueberry habit
00:07:08:24	where they're, instead of being
00:07:10:06	on these grape-like clusters, it's called a string,
00:07:12:28	they'll be just kinda separate.
00:07:14:08	Black currants, especially, you wanna go
00:07:16:20	for ones that are fully black all the way around.
00:07:18:27	And how would you describe that to me? [laughing]
00:07:20:27	- This one is, it's so earthy almost.
00:07:24:16	- Erin: They're like little black pearls.
00:07:25:28	And how can you not wanna eat little black pearls? [laughing]
00:07:27:29	- Inga: It's just so much fun.
00:07:29:14	I love that passion you have and the excitement.
00:07:31:09	- I think I'm part plant sometimes.
00:07:32:28	[both laughing]
00:07:34:18	
00:07:35:18	- I was hoping I could get some currants from you today
00:07:38:00	if you've got some available.
00:07:39:05	- Oh yeah, we've got a few in the cooler
00:07:41:06	we can show you, show you around what happens
00:07:43:04	after we pick these and wash them
00:07:44:16	and when they're ready to go out.
00:07:45:28	- All right.
00:07:47:03	I really like the black ones.
00:07:48:09	They're delicious. - Mm-hmm.
00:07:50:09	[gentle folksy music]
00:07:53:09	
00:07:55:15	- So, I'm just gonna grab a few currants from the cooler,
00:07:58:14	we can sample some of the tastes from the orchard.
00:08:00:19	
00:08:02:16	[gentle folksy music]
00:08:06:04	
00:08:14:05	So, this is my favorite part of the farm,
00:08:16:18	because I get to eat it.
00:08:17:24	[both laughing]
00:08:19:09	And so I have right here is black and white currant fool,
00:08:22:19	where I just kind of cook the currants down,
00:08:25:09	I added some honey from our bees
00:08:26:21	- Oh!
00:08:27:26	- for the sweetness.
00:08:29:05	- Can I help myself to a little?
00:08:30:23	- Oh my gosh, please do.
00:08:31:28	I brought some bowls out for you.
00:08:33:11	We do have some fresh mint, and this is
00:08:35:13	my favorite way to enjoy.
00:08:37:18	- This recipe is so easy, and I think that's what
00:08:40:27	is good for people to know is that,
00:08:42:17	when you're cooking with really great ingredients,
00:08:44:18	you don't need to do a whole lot to them,
00:08:46:19	and things don't have to be complicated.
00:08:48:21	Simple is good.
00:08:49:26	- That's true.
00:08:51:01	Want a little mint on yours?
00:08:52:07	- Yes, please.
00:08:53:12	
00:08:54:12	- What do you think?
00:08:55:23	- I think they're so great.
00:08:57:17	[Erin chuckling]
00:08:58:22	
00:08:59:22	Well I'm gonna follow up here with Erin
00:09:01:12	on a little bit of tasting,
00:09:02:18	and then I'll see you on down the road.
00:09:04:15	
00:09:06:14	[upbeat folksy music]
00:09:09:19	
00:09:17:20	Next, I travel to a small farm outside of Mondovi
00:09:21:11	to meet with Tony.
00:09:22:18	
00:09:23:27	Tony is growing fields of flowers and herbs
00:09:27:15	that he then cuts,
00:09:29:03	
00:09:30:17	dries,
00:09:31:22	
00:09:33:19	and packages into his signature line of herbal teas.
00:09:38:07	So, Tony, tell me a little bit about your farm,
00:09:40:08	what's your purpose here?
00:09:42:17	- So, my passion is farming for health.
00:09:44:25	For my health, the health of the planet,
00:09:46:24	and the health of the people that consume my product.
00:09:50:00	There are few things more healthy for people than herbs,
00:09:53:13	and then because they're not these over-domesticated
00:09:55:19	plants that don't need so much fertility,
00:09:57:18	you can grow them in a more ecologically sustainable way.
00:10:00:26	
00:10:03:09	- I don't think when people think
00:10:05:02	when they're brewing their cup of tea in the morning,
00:10:07:26	I don't think they could ever think
00:10:09:15	that it was coming from a place like this,
00:10:11:12	that it's this beautiful, almost wild place
00:10:15:15	with a huge array of all these herbs.
00:10:17:25	- Thank you.
00:10:19:00	
00:10:20:23	I believe to be successful at everything,
00:10:22:10	you always have to be learning,
00:10:23:20	and the steeper the learning curve, the more you learn,
00:10:25:24	the better you're doing.
00:10:26:29	So, many times people do stuff for so many years
00:10:29:00	and they kinda, they reach their peak,
00:10:30:12	but I just wanna keep that learning curve really steep.
00:10:32:13	One of my main projects this year
00:10:34:11	to learn about is this cornflower.
00:10:36:19	It's always out of stock, it almost comes
00:10:38:25	entirely from Bulgaria, and it's like $36 a pound.
00:10:41:26	- Pretty.
00:10:43:01	- Always out of stock.
00:10:44:06	So, I'm trying to learn how to grow this
00:10:46:01	on like a 20, 30, 50-acre scale.
00:10:49:02	- Inga: And you'll use this for tea, the flower?
00:10:51:26	- Tony DiMaggio: Correct, yeah. - Oh, okay.
00:10:54:03	- And they're beautiful.
00:10:55:08	- They're gorgeous.
00:10:56:13	- And they smell nice.
00:10:57:18	- You know what I've done with those?
00:10:59:06	Sometimes, I learned from a friend of mine,
00:11:00:26	she takes them off and uses them as confetti
00:11:02:20	on cupcakes and things, and they're just beautiful.
00:11:04:08	- Absolutely.
00:11:05:13	
00:11:06:13	- Inga: There's a lot of different things
00:11:08:01	happening in this field, what's going on here?
00:11:09:23	- So, I'm trying to grow the most potent herbs possible.
00:11:12:22	- Okay.
00:11:13:27	- I realized long ago, I can't compete
00:11:16:06	with the mass-produced herbs where they're coming in
00:11:18:14	with huge tractors and mowing everything like hay.
00:11:20:24	- Right.
00:11:22:02	- What I can do is produce the absolute highest quality
00:11:24:06	on a small scale.
00:11:25:11	- Ooh, that's delicious.
00:11:26:16	
00:11:27:18	- I believe that growing the plants mixed together
00:11:29:22	makes for a much more potent herbal medicine.
00:11:32:19	And what I do is I plant my plants in these rows,
00:11:35:01	but every time there's a miss, I'll fill it in.
00:11:37:06	
00:11:38:02	That's a nasturtium.
00:11:39:18	This is a wildflower.
00:11:41:00	California poppy.
00:11:42:24	Garden sage.
00:11:44:15	Hyssop.
00:11:45:22	And this was all just planted this year.
00:11:47:23	- Really, wow?
00:11:49:24	- Right, isn't it off to a great start?
00:11:51:19	- Yeah, what did you have to do to the soil
00:11:53:25	to get it to be this brilliant?
00:11:55:25	- So, for me, number one enemy is quack grass.
00:12:00:14	- Same.
00:12:01:19	You and everyone else.
00:12:02:24	- You cut the herbs and they grow back,
00:12:04:19	but you cut the grass and it grows back really a lot faster.
00:12:07:07	And if I have a relatively weed-free field,
00:12:08:27	I can harvest very quickly.
00:12:10:01	I can harvest as efficiently as
00:12:11:24	
00:12:12:24	$100,000 harvesting equipment.
00:12:14:23	
00:12:23:02	- When is the right time to be picking herbs for tea?
00:12:26:07	- Ooh, depends who you ask.
00:12:28:01	What I go off of, especially being on a small scale,
00:12:31:10	is I smell the plants.
00:12:32:19	All the time I'll go okay, this plant,
00:12:34:12	it looks like it's in the right stage of growth,
00:12:36:25	let's go out and we'll smell it.
00:12:38:09	And I'll say, "Oh yes, that's a hundred percent."
00:12:40:07	or I'll smell it, and I'll go,
00:12:41:22	"That's not quite a hundred percent."
00:12:43:06	And by being on a small scale like this,
00:12:45:01	I can actually go, "This section of the field's ready to go,
00:12:47:15	that section of the field's not."
00:12:49:02	and if you've got a bunch of people working for you
00:12:52:04	or big equipment, you can't do it,
00:12:53:18	it's only when the person cutting really knows
00:12:55:20	what they're looking for you can do that.
00:12:57:12	- I love this scale of agriculture.
00:12:59:07	This is, I just love that connection
00:13:01:12	that folks like, I'm kinda the same scale
00:13:04:11	that we have with having that control over your product.
00:13:07:10	- Absolutely.
00:13:08:15	You know, to be a successful entrepreneur,
00:13:10:14	it doesn't matter if you're a farmer
00:13:11:27	or you have your own electrical business
00:13:13:17	or you have a restaurant;
00:13:16:05	you need to be able to do a lot of different things.
00:13:19:08	
00:13:20:08	And why I chose this is because I love working with plants.
00:13:23:12	It's endlessly interesting.
00:13:25:13	I've learned so much in my 10 years of doing this,
00:13:29:15	
00:13:30:17	but give me another 20, 30 years,
00:13:32:09	and then I'll probably feel like I start to know.
00:13:34:29	- Isn't that fun, having your own farm,
00:13:36:17	you get to experiment?
00:13:37:22	- It's a never-ending learning process.
00:13:39:12	
00:13:40:17	[gentle folksy music]
00:13:42:03	
00:13:43:23	- It's so neat to see everything that's being put
00:13:46:07	into the tea growing like this instead of just
00:13:48:06	looking at it, even though it's so beautiful
00:13:50:10	in the canister, but seeing it living and alive
00:13:53:00	out here, it's really neat.
00:13:54:21	
00:13:56:17	- Tony: I really love this.
00:13:58:02	There's nothing in the whole world I like more
00:14:00:08	than walking around and looking at my fields.
00:14:03:00	So, I thought, "Heck, why not make a job out of this?"
00:14:05:22	
00:14:07:04	- Inga: After a colorful tour of these fragrant fields,
00:14:10:07	
00:14:11:26	Tony showed me how he hand-harvests
00:14:14:06	one of his prize crops.
00:14:15:27	A potent herb called tulsi, also known as holy basil.
00:14:20:27	
00:14:22:11	- This is a perfect example, this tulsi is prime right now.
00:14:25:04	The petals are starting to fall and the bees
00:14:27:21	are covering the plant, and if you smell this right now,
00:14:31:15	that's the really the thing you're looking for.
00:14:34:00	- Oh, wow. - You can see the petals.
00:14:35:24	You can see this and that,
00:14:37:26	but that's intense, right? - It's really intense.
00:14:40:06	It almost has like a cinnamon to it or something.
00:14:42:07	- It reminds me of bubble gum. - I can see that too, yeah.
00:14:45:03	
00:14:48:15	And you're putting in this part into the teas.
00:14:51:16	- Yeah so you know, when you think of normal basil,
00:14:54:13	you think oh, it's flowering, it's starting to go bad.
00:14:56:15	And that threw me off with this plant
00:14:58:19	the first couple years, I didn't really understand
00:15:01:02	that this, the flower that is the best part,
00:15:03:23	that is the medicine, that is the form of this plant.
00:15:06:21	- This has been such an amazing experience, Tony.
00:15:09:21	Thank you so much for showing me around.
00:15:11:17	I hope I get to come back again and see your progress.
00:15:14:05	- Any time.
00:15:15:10	- Well, I'm gonna grab some tea from Tony,
00:15:17:08	and I'll see you guys on down the road.
00:15:19:03	
00:15:20:03	[gentle folksy music]
00:15:22:13	
00:15:25:10	Next, in Menomonie, I met with Rachel,
00:15:28:24	another Wisconsin fruit grower.
00:15:31:05	Rachel is bringing berries and currants to life
00:15:34:03	in her organic orchard.
00:15:35:21	
00:15:36:24	Hello, Rachel!
00:15:38:11	- Hi, Inga.
00:15:39:16	- Nice to see you.
00:15:40:21	- Likewise.
00:15:42:01	- It feels like I'm walking into the French countryside.
00:15:44:00	- Oh, wow.
00:15:45:05	- It's just beautiful.
00:15:46:10	- Thank you, thank you, we really like this spot.
00:15:48:11	- How long have you guys been here for?
00:15:50:06	- We bought this land in 2008.
00:15:51:21	we started planting our orchard in 2009.
00:15:53:05	But at the time, we were living in Minneapolis,
00:15:55:09	and we had about a five-year transition,
00:15:57:00	so we moved here full time in 2014.
00:15:59:18	- Inga: Wow, it must be lovely
00:16:01:03	just to spend your time out here.
00:16:02:19	- Rachel: It is, yeah.
00:16:04:14	- Inga: So, how did you pick this spot?
00:16:06:18	- Well, we knew that when we got started,
00:16:08:17	we would keep living in Minneapolis
00:16:10:16	where we both had day jobs for a few years,
00:16:13:00	and we found that farmland in Wisconsin was a lot cheaper,
00:16:16:06	much lower price per acre--
00:16:17:11	- I like to think it's a lot better, too.
00:16:19:11	- Oh, of course, yeah, but we also were able to find
00:16:21:23	a lot more interesting parcel, so we were,
00:16:23:11	you know a lot of the places we looked at
00:16:25:12	in Minnesota were flat, cornfields, and here
00:16:26:27	we have rolling hills, we have some woods.
00:16:28:18	- Do you need the rolling hills for the fruit?
00:16:30:19	- You know, the different slopes that we have
00:16:32:25	here on our property really does
00:16:34:07	help us with certain things, the kind of eastern
00:16:37:09	and northern slopes are great for some of our more
00:16:39:11	sensitive crops because they keep some of the trees
00:16:42:07	from breaking dormancy too early in the spring,
00:16:46:11	and having the really, the nice thing about the slopes
00:16:49:08	is that the air drains, and so in terms of like, moisture
00:16:52:24	and cold pockets, they don't really sit on the orchard
00:16:55:25	in the same way that they might in a flat place
00:16:58:01	or if we were in kind of a lower depression.
00:17:00:27	- Inga: So, what varieties of fruit are you growing here?
00:17:03:07	And like, I'm always surprised,
00:17:05:06	I'm not from Wisconsin, so I'm always surprised
00:17:07:03	that anything can grow here after the long winters
00:17:10:05	that we have, but what are you growing here?
00:17:13:11	- We've tried a lot of things, but our main crops
00:17:15:21	are apples, pears, and plums,
00:17:17:03	those are our tree fruit crops,
00:17:18:18	and then we grow a lot of berries.
00:17:20:07	We have a lot of currants, a lot of different kinds
00:17:22:19	of currants and gooseberries,
00:17:23:26	and we grow a lot of raspberries,
00:17:25:10	and have just started with blueberries as well.
00:17:27:20	
00:17:29:02	[gentle folksy music]
00:17:31:25	
00:17:33:05	- Inga: This is really a neat experience
00:17:34:24	to be able to be out here in the orchard,
00:17:36:24	and I would love to see some of the other things
00:17:39:06	that you've planted.
00:17:40:16	- Yeah, we can go down here and look at the raspberries.
00:17:42:23	They are ripe and ready to pick.
00:17:44:05	
00:17:45:21	- Do you have any tips when growing raspberries?
00:17:47:24	- Yeah, I have really found that one of the most important
00:17:50:15	things for us to have good quality fruit
00:17:52:22	is to pick every single day.
00:17:54:02	So, we pick seven days a week for about four to five weeks
00:17:56:19	during the summer.
00:17:57:24	- That's a lot of work.
00:17:59:01	- It is a lot of work.
00:18:00:15	It's a lot of picking.
00:18:01:20	And it's exhausting and I never want
00:18:04:03	to see a raspberry again at the end of July,
00:18:06:04	but it really helps us keep the fruit quality good.
00:18:08:19	We're dealing with a fruit fly pest called
00:18:11:08	spotted wing Drosophila that will get
00:18:13:04	right into the, get right into the ripe fruit,
00:18:16:17	so keeping ripe fruit off of the plants
00:18:18:29	has been really key to us to stay ahead of that pest
00:18:22:00	and to just be able to stay ahead
00:18:23:18	of any kind of weather problems, too.
00:18:25:06	- Well, they taste delicious.
00:18:26:11	- Thank you, I love them.
00:18:27:18	- Can we see some of the currants?
00:18:29:06	- Absolutely.
00:18:30:11	
00:18:31:17	[gentle folksy music]
00:18:35:04	
00:18:38:08	So, these are our currants, we have black currants here
00:18:40:16	and red currants, we also grow pink and white ones.
00:18:43:12	- Currants are really pretty.
00:18:44:17	- They're gorgeous.
00:18:45:22	- What do you think they taste like?
00:18:47:13	- The black currants, you know
00:18:49:06	I really like them, I like them a lot actually,
00:18:51:07	they're one of my favorite flavors,
00:18:52:25	and I actually think they're a lot sweeter
00:18:55:06	than red currants, but they also have this musky,
00:18:58:09	sort of earthy flavor--
00:18:59:14	- They do!
00:19:00:21	Yeah, that's how I was thinking
00:19:01:28	when I was talking with Erin.
00:19:03:05	
00:19:05:10	What are some of those things that keep you going?
00:19:07:15	I find some days, I'm so challenged
00:19:09:21	with just everything that's going on around me.
00:19:12:18	How do you stay inspired to do what you do?
00:19:15:14	- You know, one thing with growing perennials
00:19:18:15	is that we've put such a long-term investment
00:19:20:12	into establishing this orchard
00:19:22:19	that I think compared to growing annuals,
00:19:25:22	the joy we get in return is that much greater,
00:19:28:27	because we have spent so many years of our lives
00:19:32:02	getting this orchard to where it is
00:19:33:16	that there's just a lot deeper satisfaction
00:19:36:11	I think in seeing it all come to literal fruition.
00:19:39:19	And I also really love sharing all of these
00:19:42:17	different kinds of flavors of the currants,
00:19:44:18	and also of our apples, we grow lots of heirloom
00:19:47:01	and unusual apples, and being able to share these
00:19:49:25	with people who have only,
00:19:52:02	who only think about supermarket fruit,
00:19:54:20	it's really a revelation when they try some of these things.
00:19:56:27	And we get a lot of fun out of that,
00:19:58:28	so doing farmer's markets, we do tons of sampling.
00:20:00:23	- Seeing their faces light up as they taste
00:20:02:18	what a real apple is supposed to taste like in season.
00:20:05:00	- Exactly, yes.
00:20:06:09	And so, having that kind of connection with our customers
00:20:08:18	also just makes it a lot more fulfilling.
00:20:10:06	- Rachel, this was so nice being able to come
00:20:12:07	and spend time with you here in your orchard.
00:20:14:01	- Thank you so much for coming.
00:20:15:14	- Just so wonderful.
00:20:16:20	Well, now that we've got all of our delicious fruit,
00:20:18:21	it's time for us to head back into the kitchen.
00:20:20:22	
00:20:22:02	[upbeat folksy music]
00:20:23:19	
00:20:26:25	- In unison: Hey, little lady!
00:20:28:09	- I'm so happy to have my cousin Cece
00:20:30:02	here with me in the kitchen.
00:20:31:15	She's kind of the canning queen, and every day is more fun
00:20:34:10	when you have your cousins with you, I think.
00:20:36:05	- That's right, it is.
00:20:37:15	- Inga: So, today we're gonna be making a red currant jam.
00:20:40:21	- Cece Campise: We'll make this jam, and I will
00:20:42:19	teach you as much as I know.
00:20:44:04	It's gonna be a pretty fun and easy way to start.
00:20:47:05	- Great, and it's a great way to preserve summer.
00:20:49:06	Again, I think when you're eating your homemade jams
00:20:51:15	in the middle of wintertime when, you know,
00:20:53:06	we're in the Midwest, it never stops snowing,
00:20:55:10	to get that little bit of summer.
00:20:57:01	So, what we already did is we de-stemmed all of the currents,
00:21:00:20	and that was really easy,
00:21:01:26	just taking them right off the stem,
00:21:03:09	and washed them, and we got our sugar ready.
00:21:06:13	We measured everything out twice before we started,
00:21:09:04	that's one thing that I have a problem with
00:21:10:29	is measuring anything out.
00:21:12:05	- It's always good to start with everything
00:21:15:00	pre-measured ahead of time so you're not,
00:21:16:21	when something's almost ready you're not trying
00:21:18:09	to scramble around and find something else.
00:21:19:24	So, we've got our pectin, our currants, our sugar,
00:21:23:20	and I always like to add a little bit of butter
00:21:26:03	more towards the end, 'cause it reduces all the foam
00:21:29:00	when you're making jam, so it's kinda nice.
00:21:30:20	- So, first thing I'm gonna put in the currants.
00:21:32:21	- Currants first, and then our pectin,
00:21:34:16	our powdered pectin, and we're gonna cook that down
00:21:36:26	until it gets to a full rolling boil,
00:21:39:19	so you wanna throw that in there, too.
00:21:41:19	- And I just, what does the pectin do?
00:21:43:20	- It just firms it up.
00:21:45:04	A lot of times it's in lemon seeds or apple seeds.
00:21:48:07	- It's natural, pectin is natural?
00:21:49:29	- Yeah, it firms up your jams really nicely so they set.
00:21:53:13	You know, you could also add to this
00:21:55:03	if you wanted to, a little lemon juice if you wanted to,
00:21:58:01	or lime juice--
00:21:59:06	- Or even other fruits, too.
00:22:00:16	- Or orange peel or you know,
00:22:02:09	anything you really want to.
00:22:03:20	You could put raspberries in it for sure.
00:22:05:14	It would be delicious.
00:22:06:24	Strawberries would be great too.
00:22:08:18	Any sort of red fruit like that, you know?
00:22:10:21	- Mm-hmm.
00:22:12:01	It's something, I don't think the younger generation
00:22:13:25	is canning as much as say, my grandmother canned everything,
00:22:16:27	my mother cans everything, but I think
00:22:19:07	it's a nice way to kind of reconnect with the food,
00:22:21:21	with the season, too. - Right.
00:22:23:09	- 'Cause it's a very seasonal thing.
00:22:24:23	- For sure, there's something really special
00:22:27:18	about eating it in the wintertime,
00:22:29:04	and there's something really nice
00:22:30:07	about giving it as a gift-- - I know!
00:22:32:25	- To friends, you know.
00:22:34:00	- Yeah, 'cause you're putting your heart into it.
00:22:35:25	- Right.
00:22:37:00	So, now this has come to a boil.
00:22:38:18	- Yeah it's a rolling boil, so now is time
00:22:40:29	that we add our sugar. - Okay.
00:22:42:13	- So, it doesn't take very long.
00:22:43:25	It's pretty quick.
00:22:45:05	
00:22:46:05	- Okay.
00:22:47:14	
00:22:48:14	- Lovely.
00:22:49:28	
00:22:51:15	That is gonna be super tasty.
00:22:53:08	
00:22:54:15	Okay, so now we got all the sugar in it,
00:22:57:10	we're just gonna cook it down quickly.
00:22:59:29	So, you just bring it up to a boil for a minute
00:23:02:19	and then cut it off and we're gonna test it
00:23:04:23	with our frozen plates.
00:23:05:27	- When do we put the butter in?
00:23:07:15	- We can put it on right before we,
00:23:09:09	we could put it in now, it's fine, yeah, sure.
00:23:11:10	- And the butter just helps with?
00:23:12:23	- The foaming, so sometimes when you cook jam down
00:23:15:05	it starts to foam, and the butter doesn't make it foam,
00:23:17:17	and it makes it more of a clear jam, which I like.
00:23:20:09	- So, what we did is we put some plates in the freezer
00:23:22:27	so that they're nice and cold, and
00:23:24:12	now we're gonna test the jam.
00:23:26:02	And Cece's gonna teach me how to test it.
00:23:27:28	I never test mine, I always just pray.
00:23:29:19	- It's easy, it's really easy.
00:23:31:24	So, what we're testing for here is when we put
00:23:34:11	a dab of jam on the plate, if it runs down,
00:23:36:19	not ready, you have to keep going.
00:23:38:06	If you put it on and it doesn't move really easily,
00:23:41:12	then we're ready to go.
00:23:42:27	- I don't know if the plate's cold anymore.
00:23:44:21	It's so hot in here.
00:23:46:03	Okay, so-- - Tip it.
00:23:47:19	Tip it over.
00:23:49:19	So, it looks like it's just about ready to go.
00:23:52:06	We just have to bring it up to a boil and then
00:23:56:18	we're ready to go, I think within probably a minute or so.
00:23:59:16	- I wanted to put a little rosemary in.
00:24:01:14	- Throw it in now.
00:24:02:19	Throw it in right now.
00:24:04:03	- I think the herbs and the fruit go so well together.
00:24:06:15	- I do, too.
00:24:07:20	- And this'll just infuse it a little bit.
00:24:09:14	Okay, so now we've got it all boiled down,
00:24:11:10	now can I start filling the jars?
00:24:12:22	- Yeah, let's jam.
00:24:13:27	- Hot jam in hot jars, right?
00:24:15:09	- Mm-hmm.
00:24:16:14	- Hot jam in hot jars, and I'm leaving
00:24:18:28	a little bit of headspace.
00:24:20:11	- Yeah, just until the bottom of the green,
00:24:22:29	yeah that's usually a good measure.
00:24:24:22	
00:24:25:22	- Look at me going.
00:24:27:00	- And then once you're done, we will wipe off
00:24:30:06	the rims of those jars so we can ensure a proper seal.
00:24:34:16	
00:24:36:16	Okay, why don't you, let me tip this up
00:24:38:12	so you can get the last of that jam.
00:24:40:16	- Alrighty.
00:24:41:21	- And if you didn't want to can this,
00:24:43:16	you could just put it in your fridge for
00:24:45:11	I think up to three months it'd stay good.
00:24:47:06	- Oh yeah, for sure.
00:24:48:11	- But what we're gonna do now is
00:24:49:29	we're gonna wipe those rims off,
00:24:51:07	we're gonna put the lids on, and then we're gonna
00:24:53:08	process these in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.
00:24:55:09	So, let's get all this done, and then, Cece,
00:24:57:03	I have a little treat for you.
00:24:58:18	We're having a little farm spa day.
00:25:00:06	- Oh, how nice!
00:25:02:06	- We'll see you guys up there.
00:25:03:21	
00:25:05:16	After spending a summer day making jam,
00:25:08:19	treat yourself with a refreshing glass of iced herbal tea.
00:25:13:19	
00:25:15:02	Steep the tea in hot water.
00:25:17:04	
00:25:18:29	Then, serve over ice
00:25:20:20	
00:25:22:10	and garnish with a lemon slice.
00:25:24:16	
00:25:26:02	[gentle folksy music]
00:25:28:25	
00:25:30:29	Well, thank you for coming over
00:25:32:06	and doing a little canning with me.
00:25:33:18	- Of course.
00:25:34:23	I hope the next time that you spend a day canning,
00:25:36:29	you also remember to relax with your best friend.
00:25:38:28	And I hope you'll gather with us next time
00:25:41:10	- In unison: Around the Farm Table!
00:25:43:11	- I'm your host, Inga Witscher.
00:25:45:21	- It's about time, little lady.
00:25:47:13	
00:25:48:13	[gentle folksy music]
00:25:51:17	
00:26:26:22	- Announcer:  Around the Farm Table is funded
00:26:28:28	in part by Wisconsin Farmers Union:
00:26:31:24	United to Grow Family Agriculture,
00:26:34:00	
00:26:34:27	Heartland Credit Union,
00:26:37:00	Focus Fund for Wisconsin Programming,
00:26:40:00	and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.
00:26:42:12	
00:26:43:12	
00:26:44:12