00:59:40:00	
01:00:00:00	
01:00:01:00	[gentle music]
01:00:03:06	
01:00:05:20	[slow folksy music]
01:00:10:20	[sledgehammer knocking]
01:00:13:20	
01:00:20:01	[Inga exclaiming]
01:00:22:07	[silo crashing]
01:00:25:06	- Welcome to the farm.
01:00:26:16	It's been one heck of a winter, but now that spring is here,
01:00:29:04	we can start cleaning up.
01:00:30:07	
01:00:31:07	[upbeat folksy music]
01:00:34:21	
01:00:37:26	I've invited some friends over to help me with the cleanup
01:00:40:13	and I'm gonna be making them a delicious lunch.
01:00:43:03	For the ingredients,
01:00:44:09	I went to Hillview Urban Agriculture Center,
01:00:46:22	
01:00:47:22	and then I went off ramping in the woods
01:00:49:19	with my friend Bjorn.
01:00:50:23	
01:00:52:03	And finally, I stopped at Birdsong Ridge Farm.
01:00:55:18	Gather with us, Around the Farm Table.
01:00:58:02	I'm your host Inga Witscher.
01:00:59:22	
01:01:02:00	Good morning girls.
01:01:03:13	I'm Inga and I love everything about farming.
01:01:06:12	[upbeat folksy music]
01:01:08:12	Midwestern farms are a bounty of good food
01:01:10:26	made by good people.
01:01:12:19	I love being able to travel,
01:01:14:10	to search out good ingredients.
01:01:16:13	Cooking is all about what's seasonal, what's fresh.
01:01:19:21	Every day can be filled with good food,
01:01:21:29	good friends, and a beautiful herd of cows.
01:01:24:25	Welcome to the farm.
01:01:26:01	
01:01:27:01	- Inga to cow: Good girl.
01:01:28:09	
01:01:31:27	- Announcer: Around The Farm Table is funded in part by
01:01:35:12	Wisconsin Farmers Union: United to Grow Family Agriculture,
01:01:39:07	
01:01:40:07	Heartland Credit Union,
01:01:42:05	Focus Fund for Wisconsin Programming,
01:01:45:05	and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.
01:01:47:13	
01:01:51:10	[tractor engine roaring]
01:01:53:25	[upbeat folksy music]
01:01:56:10	
01:02:06:21	- Boy, we've had quite a few months here on the farm.
01:02:09:19	In November, I woke up to the barn engulfed in flames.
01:02:14:01	It was a few days before we were finishing
01:02:15:25	our construction of our new creamery.
01:02:18:07	So, it was a double blow.
01:02:19:25	Luckily, all the milk cows were outside in the pasture,
01:02:22:26	so we didn't lose any of them.
01:02:24:26	I'm grateful to the community that came out
01:02:27:02	to support us after our barn fire,
01:02:29:07	and I thought that our luck was turning,
01:02:32:11	but after all the big snows we had here
01:02:34:09	in January and February, our hay shed collapsed,
01:02:37:08	and then a few weeks later, our winter housing collapsed.
01:02:40:19	So, I guess things really do happen in threes.
01:02:43:06	I hope that our luck is changing.
01:02:44:24	We've lost a lot over the last few months,
01:02:46:25	but we didn't lose hope.
01:02:48:22	We are so hopeful that, now that it's spring,
01:02:51:15	we're gonna start rebuilding the farm,
01:02:53:07	rebuilding our creamery,
01:02:54:15	and everything is gonna be as good as new.
01:02:58:03	I'm gonna help my guys finish cleaning up here,
01:03:00:10	and then I'll head into the kitchen to make us some lunch.
01:03:02:24	Why don't you check out the farms I visited yesterday
01:03:04:26	to get our ingredients?
01:03:06:25	[gentle folksy music]
01:03:09:13	
01:03:11:01	I traveled to downtown La Crosse,
01:03:13:01	where Natalie is working
01:03:14:15	at Hillview Urban Agriculture Center,
01:03:17:06	growing fresh foods in the middle of the city.
01:03:19:29	
01:03:21:04	[rocks hitting metal]
01:03:22:12	In addition to the greenhouse,
01:03:24:13	Hillview is also making some special compost
01:03:27:01	with the help of some wriggly little friends.
01:03:29:20	
01:03:31:23	Hi, Natalie. - Hi.
01:03:32:28	- Nice to see you. - Nice to see you.
01:03:34:29	- Boy, spring has sprung in here.
01:03:36:18	- Ah, yes, we're very excited.
01:03:38:09	- Well, can I see a little bit around the greenhouse?
01:03:42:08	- It's just-- - Yeah, I'll show you around.
01:03:44:07	- I'm so excited for spring
01:03:45:13	and to be able to see living things.
01:03:47:01	- Yeah, if we go around here, I'll show you around.
01:03:49:09	
01:03:50:09	- So, what kinds of things do you have
01:03:52:04	going on in the greenhouse?
01:03:53:20	- So, we have lots of things going on,
01:03:55:21	but this is just one place where we
01:03:57:26	do all of our services for the community.
01:04:01:02	We also have cooking classes,
01:04:03:27	but here at the greenhouse,
01:04:05:10	we host lots of community members to come here
01:04:07:05	and learn how to grow plants and the foods,
01:04:10:18	so they can take it back home and then implement it
01:04:13:02	in their gardens, or even just their one pot of basil
01:04:16:01	that's not really doing so well.
01:04:17:16	- I got to learn from my grandparents and my parents.
01:04:19:23	They drug us out to the garden all the time.
01:04:21:24	I imagine folks in the city sometimes,
01:04:23:15	they didn't have that opportunity growing up.
01:04:25:05	Do you find that's a problem?
01:04:26:13	- I find that's a big problem in the cities.
01:04:28:21	A lot of people when they think of agriculture,
01:04:30:15	they think of the farm fields,
01:04:31:29	but they don't know that it can happen right in their cities
01:04:34:11	and even right in their homes and their backyards,
01:04:36:20	you know, when the people don't have bigger spaces to grow,
01:04:39:17	they think it's just not possible.
01:04:41:19	But even teaching kids or the next generation
01:04:44:04	or even yourself as an adult,
01:04:46:04	how to care for that one basil plant or that herb,
01:04:49:00	or just that one thing that you could
01:04:50:20	probably even grow in your house.
01:04:52:27	I think it's really important for people to still keep
01:04:54:28	the growing culture alive.
01:04:57:08	- What does it mean to you to be able
01:04:59:09	to be a part of such an amazing project?
01:05:01:28	- I absolutely love, you know, what I do at my job here,
01:05:06:02	and the reason why I love it is 'cause I really believe
01:05:09:03	in the mission of Hillview Urban Agriculture,
01:05:11:17	is to give people access to a healthy, sustainable
01:05:15:04	food system, which really isn't always possible in the city.
01:05:19:27	So, really to teach people and kids of all ages
01:05:23:28	and gardening ability, whether they've been gardening
01:05:26:03	for 50 years, or they kill everything they touch,
01:05:29:13	I love to teach everyone how to grow the plants
01:05:33:02	and how to somewhat be sustainable themselves.
01:05:35:24	- Well, one of the reasons I wanted to
01:05:37:18	stop down here is I'm really interested
01:05:39:22	in your compost that you make from worms.
01:05:42:22	- You want to see it?
01:05:43:29	- I would love to go see it.
01:05:45:17	- All right, let's go check out the worms.
01:05:47:12	[gentle folksy music]
01:05:51:06	
01:06:01:22	- So, this is actually where the worms are living?
01:06:03:23	- Mm-hmm.
01:06:04:28	- I don't see any.
01:06:06:03	Are they kind of underneath the whole thing?
01:06:07:25	- Yeah, so just like in nature,
01:06:09:20	you never really see worms right on the top.
01:06:11:21	So, they actually live right underneath the surface.
01:06:13:28	So, if we take a look...
01:06:15:19	- Okay.
01:06:16:24	- ...we could see them under there.
01:06:18:13	- Oh, wow.
01:06:19:18	
01:06:20:18	- Yeah.
01:06:21:23	- And it's fun.
01:06:22:28	So, you've got eggs in here,
01:06:24:06	
01:06:25:08	carrots, all kinds of different vegetables and fruits,
01:06:27:26	where are you getting all this from?
01:06:29:15	- So, we pick up from two local universities
01:06:32:23	as well as a health care center in La Crosse,
01:06:36:07	and that's gonna be about 400 pounds of food waste a week
01:06:39:19	that we pick up and feed to our worms.
01:06:41:21	- That's a big deal.
01:06:43:03	I mean, food waste is such an issue in the United States.
01:06:45:16	We have so much food waste.
01:06:47:07	What a great way to utilize it.
01:06:48:27	- Yeah, it's really happy.
01:06:50:05	You know, once you see all the numbers add up
01:06:52:05	and when you carry those heavy buckets of food,
01:06:54:10	you really understand, you know,
01:06:56:20	once you get into this operation, you know,
01:06:59:19	it's reused in such a great way
01:07:01:12	instead of just sitting at the landfill.
01:07:02:28	- Sure, yeah.
01:07:04:08	So, for the people that don't know about compost,
01:07:06:03	can you explain what it is
01:07:07:14	and what's the benefits of compost?
01:07:08:27	- Yeah, so there's a few different kinds of composting
01:07:11:06	and a lot of people are familiar with, you know,
01:07:13:08	kind of your pile of your grass and your branches
01:07:15:27	and maybe some food waste outside in a pile,
01:07:18:28	but vermicomposting is really special 'cause it uses worms,
01:07:22:21	and the worms that we have here are a kind of earthworm,
01:07:26:05	they're red wigglers, and they're special
01:07:28:13	'cause they reproduce really fast and they eat a lot.
01:07:31:27	- So, they're actually taking these scraps and eating it
01:07:35:22	and then, that's their-- it's coming out and it's soil,
01:07:39:14	basically, or soil amendment.
01:07:40:19	- Yup, so yeah, so we get to harvest their waste,
01:07:42:25	which acts just like any other manure,
01:07:45:05	and this is actually really special
01:07:46:18	because of the type of worms that we have.
01:07:49:03	They have a special bacteria in their stomach
01:07:51:17	that their end product or their waste that we harvest
01:07:54:09	is actually more nutritious than when they ate it.
01:07:57:25	- Wow, interesting.
01:07:59:23	Is this something, you're doing it on quite a big scale.
01:08:02:04	Can I do this at my house, if I wanted to?
01:08:04:12	- Yeah, it's very possible to do this on a small scale
01:08:06:28	with just your average tubs
01:08:08:14	that you pick up at your hardware store.
01:08:10:26	You could buy the worms online or even from us,
01:08:13:22	and you use some basic bedding like newspaper, grass or...
01:08:17:18	and you just start feeding the worms
01:08:19:28	and they adapt very well, and they're here to eat
01:08:22:07	and reproduce and that's what they do well.
01:08:24:11	- One of the things that I like about using compost is,
01:08:26:24	I never have to worry about burning the plants.
01:08:29:12	I know it's an organic resource
01:08:31:12	and I know you're just building that soil by adding compost.
01:08:34:18	Is that what you're encouraging folks to do?
01:08:36:12	- Yeah, we definitely encourage, you know,
01:08:38:00	people are always asking, you know, how do you,
01:08:40:21	how do I use this fertilizer?
01:08:41:29	You can use it in many different ways
01:08:44:06	from top dressing throughout the season.
01:08:46:10	So, just putting a little teaspoon to a tablespoon
01:08:48:12	on a plant and watering it in.
01:08:50:03	You can mix it into your raised bed or your garden rows
01:08:54:17	at the beginning of the season,
01:08:55:26	and you can even make a worm tea.
01:08:57:22	
01:08:58:22	So, you just put, you know, put it in a sock
01:09:01:01	and leave it in a bucket of water for 24 hours,
01:09:03:10	and it seeps through and that's a liquid fertilizer-- - Sure.
01:09:05:24	- that your plants can use.
01:09:07:14	- Sure.
01:09:08:19	Well, I'm gonna let these guys
01:09:10:17	keep the worms in their garage,
01:09:11:23	and I'm going to grab some compost
01:09:13:05	and then head out to our next location.
01:09:14:24	
01:09:15:27	[gentle folksy music]
01:09:19:15	
01:09:20:22	From the city to the hills of the Driftless Region,
01:09:24:00	I took a hike into the forest,
01:09:25:20	where I found Bjorn foraging for ramps,
01:09:28:25	a wild food that appears for a short time
01:09:31:27	only in the early spring.
01:09:33:09	
01:09:36:17	Hi Bjorn.
01:09:37:22	- Hey, Inga, how are you?
01:09:38:28	- Good, good to see you.
01:09:40:04	- Good to see you.
01:09:41:09	- It's nice to be out here in the ramps with you.
01:09:43:21	- Yeah, totally.
01:09:44:26	- I always know when spring is here,
01:09:46:14	is when I see you out ramping around.
01:09:48:02	- Definitely, definitely,
01:09:49:07	it's one of my favorite things to do in springtime.
01:09:51:08	- So, look at all these beautiful,
01:09:52:26	this is the most I've seen, ramps
01:09:54:24	and for folks that don't know, what is a ramp?
01:09:57:22	- They're actually a native plant in Wisconsin,
01:10:00:23	and they're in the Allium family,
01:10:02:15	which is what onions are in, garlic is in, leeks are in,
01:10:05:15	so they're a relative of onions, garlics, and leeks,
01:10:07:25	and they grow wild in Wisconsin,
01:10:11:11	in usually north-facing maple forests,
01:10:14:08	and they're a perennial, so they just come back
01:10:17:09	year after year after year and they're super delicious.
01:10:20:25	- I love well, I love anything garlic,
01:10:22:14	anything that has a strong flavor, I'm all about it,
01:10:24:20	and that's one of my favorite things about this,
01:10:26:18	is just, it's really pungent, you know what you're eating
01:10:28:19	when you're eating it.
01:10:29:24	- Definitely, definitely, definitely.
01:10:31:04	Yeah, you know, you get a little bit of that garlic breath,
01:10:33:16	but I think it's a great thing for spring.
01:10:35:14	- It's worth it.
01:10:36:19	[laughing] Yeah, totally, totally.
01:10:37:24	- Have you found that wild food, especially ramps,
01:10:39:22	is becoming more and more popular?
01:10:41:02	- Yeah, I feel like it's getting more and more popular.
01:10:43:15	I know for me, about the same time I started
01:10:45:16	seeing them on menus, I was like, "What are ramps?"
01:10:47:17	"I have no idea what these are,"
01:10:48:29	and a friend introduced me to them,
01:10:50:11	who I was helping with their maple syrup operation,
01:10:54:05	and I had never known what a ramp was,
01:10:55:29	and I was walking through them all the time
01:10:57:24	in the springtime.
01:10:59:14	Yeah, and like you, I love garlic and onions and leeks
01:11:02:22	and essentially, it's just a combination of
01:11:06:11	all those things that I love.
01:11:08:03	- Yeah, and I was reading about ramps a few years ago
01:11:11:04	and I read in Appalachia, they're really popular,
01:11:13:09	and people would go out and harvest these,
01:11:15:00	just like I do with nettles because it was that first green
01:11:17:24	and they were full of that, all that nutrition
01:11:20:00	that we'd been missing for the whole winter.
01:11:22:01	- Yeah, it's kinda-- - And it's just a cleansing.
01:11:24:01	- Yeah, it's kind of like a spring cleansing tonic,
01:11:26:03	at least for me, I just love, you know,
01:11:28:22	you've gone through the winter eating lots of potatoes
01:11:31:15	and carrots and stuff like that.
01:11:33:02	- Don't show me another squash.
01:11:35:12	[laughing]
01:11:36:19	- It's all good, but getting that first local
01:11:39:02	green thing of the year is just super rewarding
01:11:41:26	and fresh and bright, and so,
01:11:43:21	ramps are just some of the first things
01:11:45:22	to come out of the ground here in spring.
01:11:47:24	- Here's what else I love about wild foods
01:11:49:18	and things like this, is you don't really
01:11:51:06	have to do anything to them, it's not like you're out there
01:11:53:18	weeding away all these other things so they can grow or
01:11:55:26	having to bring out compost for them.
01:11:58:19	They just, they do their own thing.
01:12:00:04	That's the kind of harvesting I like to do.
01:12:01:29	- Yeah, yeah, that's the beauty of ramps
01:12:03:17	and native perennials like this is,
01:12:06:05	they just do their thing, they're there, they grow,
01:12:08:20	
01:12:09:25	and you just have to come out and harvest them.
01:12:12:00	- Speaking about harvesting,
01:12:13:13	I know it's important not to overharvest.
01:12:15:10	- Yeah, I'm glad you brought that point up.
01:12:17:04	That's super important to talk about.
01:12:19:18	Ramps are a really slow-growing species.
01:12:23:21	They reproduce in two different ways.
01:12:25:09	They'll produce seeds and then they'll also
01:12:27:28	produce little rhizomes
01:12:29:13	where they'll reproduce off to the side of the plant,
01:12:32:07	and what's crazy to think about is,
01:12:34:27	when they reproduce with seeds,
01:12:36:22	it takes
01:12:38:10	five to seven years for a plant to be able to produce seeds,
01:12:41:17	and then once it produces seeds
01:12:43:16	and it drops those on the forest floor,
01:12:45:26	it can take anywhere from 6 to 18 months
01:12:48:01	for those seeds to germinate.
01:12:49:16	- So, if we all got really excited
01:12:51:05	and went out and collected all the ramps in this area,
01:12:53:19	we could really be destroying that habitat
01:12:55:22	or that whole plant system.
01:12:57:09	- Yeah, totally, it's really important to be,
01:13:00:19	have sustainability in mind.
01:13:02:22	I know all the ramp patches I harvest from,
01:13:04:26	I only take a tiny bit of the population that's there,
01:13:08:00	'cause I want to enjoy them into the future,
01:13:09:24	and I want other people
01:13:11:06	- to enjoy them in the future. - Sure.
01:13:13:01	- So, yeah just, I think it's so important that
01:13:15:02	if people are going and harvesting ramps,
01:13:16:14	they just take a little bit here and there
01:13:18:08	and they can come back every year and enjoy.
01:13:20:02	- So, a lot of times I noticed you'll just harvest
01:13:22:09	the leaves but, if we, could we harvest one of the bulbs
01:13:25:02	just to kind of, see what they look like?
01:13:27:12	- Yeah, yeah, definitely.
01:13:28:19	
01:13:30:02	Yeah, and so typically, they grow in these clumps
01:13:32:16	as you can see right here,
01:13:33:22	there's kind of a clump of ramps between us,
01:13:36:00	and what I think of is, there is one seed,
01:13:38:07	way years ago, maybe 20, 30 years ago
01:13:40:08	that germinated in this spot
01:13:41:20	and it's kind of been shooting off rhizomes or seeds,
01:13:44:18	and we can dig one up to kind of show you,
01:13:46:26	
01:13:48:15	and they're pretty hard to get out of the soil.
01:13:51:01	You can't just pull them, like a carrot or anything.
01:13:53:17	There's quite a bit of roots.
01:13:55:19	- Mm-hmm.
01:13:56:24	- And then when you pull them up,
01:13:58:12	they usually come up kind of in these clumps here.
01:14:00:15	- Okay.
01:14:01:20	- As you can see.
01:14:02:25	- They're beautiful to look at.
01:14:04:01	- Yeah, yeah, definitely, and what I find interesting
01:14:05:25	is there's this little, kind of sheath of skin
01:14:07:19	and this is the ramp from last year when it was
01:14:09:25	full sized.
01:14:11:00	- Oh!
01:14:12:05	- And so, you kind of have to pick that off
01:14:14:11	and I always try to get as much soil off of them as possible
01:14:17:05	'cause it takes a long time to clean these--
01:14:19:04	- Yeah.
01:14:20:09	- ...when you actually
01:14:21:16	dig the whole entire plant, but that's pretty much it
01:14:23:17	and you can, I usually trim off the roots
01:14:26:06	- Uh-huh.
01:14:27:11	- And then you can eat from the bulb,
01:14:29:06	the stem, all the way up to the leaf.
01:14:31:01	- What's your favorite way to eat them?
01:14:32:20	- I love ramp pesto actually.
01:14:34:07	Really early in the season, when they're smaller,
01:14:36:26	they're very fiery, they have a really strong garlicy
01:14:39:21	and oniony flavor, and I love making pesto that time of year
01:14:43:04	and eating it throughout the season from my freezer.
01:14:45:17	- Ah, I know.
01:14:46:22	I think I'm gonna do a pesto,
01:14:48:28	but since I'm cooking for some folks
01:14:50:10	that maybe aren't used to that fieriness
01:14:51:22	- Yes, definitely.
01:14:52:27	and that intense garlic like we are,
01:14:54:09	I'm gonna put a little bit of kale in
01:14:56:10	to help mellow it out a little bit.
01:14:57:28	- Yeah, yeah, that sounds like a great idea.
01:14:59:22	I bet that'll be delicious.
01:15:01:01	- Well, I'm gonna harvest some more ramps with Bjorn
01:15:03:05	and then, why don't you meet me at our next stop.
01:15:05:13	
01:15:08:13	[gentle folksy music]
01:15:10:18	
01:15:17:03	[raindrops]
01:15:20:01	
01:15:23:20	I'm here in Viroqua at Birdsong Ridge Farm.
01:15:26:06	I'm ready to get out of these April showers
01:15:28:04	and into the greenhouse to find out
01:15:29:24	what Beth is doing here on the farm.
01:15:31:22	
01:15:33:20	Just outside of Viroqua, Birdsong Ridge is taking form.
01:15:37:29	
01:15:39:26	After working for years as a research biologist,
01:15:42:28	Beth and Frank relocated to Wisconsin
01:15:46:14	with their two children to become farmers and homesteaders.
01:15:50:05	
01:15:54:00	Hi Beth, thank you so much
01:15:55:10	for agreeing to meet with me today.
01:15:56:22	- Oh, hi, Inga.
01:15:57:28	- I love coming to Viroqua
01:15:59:18	and I wanted to visit some people
01:16:01:10	who are doing something different,
01:16:03:16	and you guys are, you fit the bill.
01:16:05:08	I love visiting new farms.
01:16:07:03	Tell me a little bit about what you're doing.
01:16:09:08	- Well, in the couple of years that we've been here,
01:16:12:11	we've been growing greens here in our greenhouse year-round
01:16:16:15	and then, in our 13 acres of fields,
01:16:19:15	we're working on regenerating soil that was
01:16:24:00	
01:16:25:11	pretty compacted and nutrient deficient from years of
01:16:28:09	monoculture from corn and soybeans.
01:16:30:14	So, that's been quite an uphill battle,
01:16:32:20	but we're getting closer to where we want to be with it.
01:16:37:10	- So, one thing I love, I found your blog a few months ago,
01:16:40:27	and I am just so inspired by reading it
01:16:43:02	and learning a little bit about what you guys are doing
01:16:45:12	and your intentions for here.
01:16:46:22	Can you tell us what regenerative agriculture is?
01:16:49:17	- Yeah, well regenerative agriculture,
01:16:52:07	
01:16:53:19	it's a pretty broad term for just a style of farming
01:16:56:17	that focuses on giving back to the land
01:16:59:16	in a way that enhances biodiversity and soil health
01:17:03:07	rather than just trying to take from the soil.
01:17:06:09	- Okay.
01:17:07:19	- So right now, we're starting a series of cover crops.
01:17:09:29	We've been doing a summer mixed cover crop
01:17:13:12	and then a winter cover crop in rotation
01:17:15:08	to try and just add organic matter back to the soil
01:17:19:22	and then, we're also working on planting trees,
01:17:23:17	and we're possibly gonna do a prairie restoration.
01:17:27:03	Lots of different things.
01:17:28:18	Just less areas of mowed grass is one of our biggest pushes
01:17:31:26	because so much of this farm was actually just
01:17:33:26	mowed lawn before, so that doesn't give very much habitat
01:17:38:21	to very many things.
01:17:39:26	- Yeah.
01:17:41:01	- I'm not a lover of mowing lawn at all.
01:17:43:02	- Yeah, why do it if you don't have to?
01:17:45:03	- I sort of put my cows in my front yard,
01:17:47:11	and I know it irritates the neighbors, but I love it.
01:17:49:17	- Ah, that's a great idea.
01:17:50:23	Grazing is something that we thought of too,
01:17:52:11	but with our two little kids on the farm,
01:17:54:06	as well as trying to get all this new stuff started,
01:17:56:12	we're like, maybe a few years down the line,
01:17:58:19	we can start grazing animals.
01:17:59:24	We're not quite ready.
01:18:01:15	What's it like being in this new adventure?
01:18:03:03	Also, you're raising kids, I see you've got the sandbox here,
01:18:06:05	and toys and the kids are running around.
01:18:07:24	They must be in heaven.
01:18:09:19	- Yeah, well, especially in the wintertime, you know,
01:18:12:19	they're so little that there's only
01:18:13:25	so much time they can spend in the snow
01:18:15:19	and so, we come in here and this is our oasis
01:18:17:25	and we only heat it to about 34 degrees right above freezing
01:18:21:21	but on a sunny day, it can easily be 70 in here
01:18:24:17	in the winter, so, we're in here in T-shirts
01:18:27:02	and running around and yeah, it's been great for them.
01:18:30:02	- All my favorite memories were growing up on the farm
01:18:32:27	with my dad and my mom and my grandparents around
01:18:35:04	and my uncles and it's just,
01:18:36:24	I think it's the best way to grow up.
01:18:38:18	- Oh, yeah.
01:18:40:02	Well, that's one of the reasons that we decided to do this.
01:18:42:23	My job as a biologist for the government before
01:18:45:13	had me traveling several weeks out of every month
01:18:48:03	and when I had my first baby, I thought, you know what,
01:18:50:15	I need a shift, I need a lifestyle that allows me
01:18:52:24	to be with my kids, but yet still, you know,
01:18:55:03	doing something I really wanted to do.
01:18:56:19	So, farming was a, kind of an obvious choice for us.
01:18:59:25	- Do you see yourself growing in the years to come?
01:19:03:11	- Yeah, yeah, we actually have a business plan,
01:19:06:01	and it entails every year trying to expand a little bit,
01:19:10:00	a little bit what we're producing
01:19:11:10	and right now, we're very small.
01:19:12:23	We sell to a couple restaurants in town
01:19:14:19	and you know, a few individuals,
01:19:16:14	we drop off salad mix on porches, you know,
01:19:18:14	around, so-- - I love that.
01:19:19:23	What do you find most gratifying about
01:19:21:14	being able to grow this delicious beautiful food?
01:19:24:19	- Well for me, it's having free fresh greens
01:19:27:16	just picked moments ago, and you know, I was saying,
01:19:30:13	my kids, for whatever reason,
01:19:32:18	don't eat vegetables off their plate very easily
01:19:34:21	unless they're dipped in ketchup, maybe but,
01:19:36:15	- My husband is the same way.
01:19:38:05	[laughing] - still,
01:19:39:13	they will come out here and they will just pick
01:19:41:14	kale off the plant and they'll be, you know,
01:19:43:10	their faces will just be green with vegetable matter
01:19:46:06	and I think if we didn't have this,
01:19:48:12	they wouldn't be eating their vegetables at all.
01:19:50:09	So, we're so lucky in that way.
01:19:51:26	- What are some tips that you can give me for
01:19:54:02	going into something like growing in a greenhouse?
01:19:56:17	- Well, you have to be a little more careful
01:19:58:19	in a greenhouse setting than you do out in a field
01:20:00:25	because you don't get that annual
01:20:03:01	kind of flush of the spring rains
01:20:05:11	and the winds blowing things around.
01:20:07:17	I mean, it's, everything is very cumulative
01:20:10:02	and what you put in the soil kind of stays there,
01:20:12:16	other than maybe some of the nutrients that
01:20:14:06	the plants take up and you take away.
01:20:16:08	So, salts can accumulate,
01:20:18:08	you can end up with pest problems,
01:20:20:22	and you know, there's not predators
01:20:22:18	in here to come and eat insects.
01:20:24:01	So, we actually brought chickens in last year for a while
01:20:26:10	to deal with grasshoppers that were in here,
01:20:29:04	and we bring ladybugs in to deal with the aphids.
01:20:31:22	So, you kind of have to get a little more creative with
01:20:34:28	you know, disease and pest issues than you would
01:20:36:28	if you were just doing it outside.
01:20:38:16	We're not certified organic yet,
01:20:39:29	but we are definitely wanting to be,
01:20:42:23	as of next year, we hope.
01:20:44:22	So, we're really committed to using organic methods
01:20:47:23	and non-chemical ways of controlling those problems.
01:20:51:29	- Well, that's fantastic.
01:20:53:17	I'm gonna gather some greens here
01:20:55:01	and then, why don't you meet me back in the kitchen.
01:20:57:16	
01:20:57:16	[gentle folksy music]
01:21:01:05	
01:21:14:05	Even though I don't have a barn to milk cows in,
01:21:16:16	I still have to milk the cows,
01:21:18:07	and the good thing about that is,
01:21:19:25	I've had plenty of milk left over to do things with.
01:21:22:23	So, I've been making lots of things with dairy products.
01:21:26:02	Cheeses, butters, everything you can think of,
01:21:28:16	and one of my favorite things to make is ricotta cheese.
01:21:32:04	It's really easy, and it's delicious in everything,
01:21:34:28	especially these ricotta dumplings.
01:21:37:22	I'm telling you, they taste like you're biting into
01:21:39:22	just little clouds of deliciousness, they're fantastic
01:21:43:06	and the best part is, they're easy to make.
01:21:45:25	What I did is, I started with about two cups of ricotta,
01:21:49:23	and I strained this in a cheese cloth for 24 hours
01:21:53:05	to get out any extra moisture.
01:21:54:24	You want the ricotta to be firm,
01:21:56:18	and now, I'm ending up with about a cup and a half.
01:21:59:27	I'm gonna put that right in my mixer
01:22:01:27	
01:22:04:02	along with one egg and one egg yolk,
01:22:06:15	
01:22:07:28	some Parmesan cheese, and then just a little bit of flour.
01:22:11:25	That's gonna help thicken everything up.
01:22:13:27	And we're just gonna give that a little bit of a zip
01:22:17:29	just until it comes together.
01:22:19:18	[mixer whirring]
01:22:22:06	
01:22:24:27	And that is perfect.
01:22:26:23	It only takes a minute.
01:22:27:28	
01:22:30:25	Now that the dough's come together,
01:22:32:22	I'm gonna put it in my handy dandy pastry bag,
01:22:35:22	
01:22:37:22	and you can pick these up at the craft store
01:22:40:04	or some grocery stores.
01:22:41:18	
01:22:42:28	I use them for a lot of different things.
01:22:45:00	
01:22:47:04	I don't know why I talk to my food; it never listens to me.
01:22:50:01	Get down, get down, come on.
01:22:51:13	
01:22:54:20	Once you have everything in the bag,
01:22:56:19	
01:22:58:04	you're gonna cut off the end of it
01:23:00:02	
01:23:01:28	and then we're gonna pipe this out
01:23:04:10	on a floured cookie sheet.
01:23:06:03	
01:23:08:18	We're gonna go in long lines.
01:23:10:17	
01:23:12:10	Look at how nice that is.
01:23:13:16	It's so easy to work with these bags.
01:23:16:00	Stop right there.
01:23:17:27	We'll start again.
01:23:19:02	
01:23:23:13	Once you have them all squeezed out,
01:23:25:18	just cut them into about one-inch pieces
01:23:27:26	
01:23:31:25	and then, you can just toss them
01:23:33:23	with a little bit of that flour
01:23:36:01	and let them rest for a few hours.
01:23:38:16	Okay, while these are resting,
01:23:39:21	I'm gonna make my next recipe.
01:23:41:19	We're gonna be using our ramps and the kale that we got.
01:23:45:26	So for our pesto,
01:23:47:17	like if you were doing a basil pesto or anything else,
01:23:50:06	I'm gonna start with a little bit of Parmesan cheese.
01:23:53:03	I'm just gonna toss this right into my mixer here.
01:23:57:00	[mixer whirring]
01:23:59:17	
01:24:03:29	Alrighty, so into here, I'm gonna add
01:24:06:00	a little bit of kale and I'm just gonna slice it up,
01:24:09:07	so that it
01:24:10:12	
01:24:11:15	comes together a little bit easier.
01:24:13:08	
01:24:14:13	I'm gonna take the stems off.
01:24:16:03	
01:24:17:09	So, I've got a good handful of the kale
01:24:20:13	
01:24:21:25	and then, a little bit more of the ramps
01:24:24:06	to get that nice ramp flavor.
01:24:25:22	
01:24:27:16	And then, I'm gonna put
01:24:28:21	a little bit of lemon juice in there.
01:24:30:11	
01:24:32:06	Give it a fresh squeeze,
01:24:33:26	and then, now you're just gonna
01:24:35:13	
01:24:37:03	press go.
01:24:38:22	[mixer whirring]
01:24:40:13	Once everything starts to come together,
01:24:43:14	you're gonna add a little bit of olive oil,
01:24:45:09	a little bit at a time
01:24:46:21	until you get the consistency that you want.
01:24:49:03	[mixer whirring]
01:24:51:20	
01:24:55:11	And I think that looks perfect.
01:24:58:14	Look at that beautiful green.
01:25:00:25	
01:25:02:17	I'm gonna go ahead and boil up some water
01:25:04:18	and pop the dumplings in, and then we'll have lunch.
01:25:07:14	[gentle folksy music]
01:25:10:15	
01:25:13:08	Serve the ricotta dumplings with a wild ramp pesto.
01:25:16:20	
01:25:18:07	A light-bodied wine pairs nicely.
01:25:20:16	
01:25:21:27	Serve your guests Wisconsin cheese and charcuterie
01:25:24:27	to round out the meal.
01:25:26:03	
01:25:29:08	[everyone chuckling]
01:25:31:28	I hope that this is a good reminder to never give up hope,
01:25:35:03	and I hope you'll gather with us next time
01:25:37:07	- Unison: Around the Farm Table.
01:25:39:18	- I'm your host, Inga Witscher.
01:25:41:07	Thanks guys, cheers.
01:25:42:14	
01:25:46:10	Only one week of clean up left and then we're done.
01:25:48:28	[chuckling]
01:25:50:12	[gentle folksy music]
01:25:52:29	
01:26:25:25	- Announcer: Around the Farm Table is funded in part by
01:26:28:08	Wisconsin Farmers Union:
01:26:30:13	united to grow family agriculture,
01:26:33:06	
01:26:34:06	Heartland Credit Union,
01:26:36:06	Focus Fund for Wisconsin Programming,
01:26:39:06	and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.
01:26:41:14	
01:26:42:14	
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