2PRW0000HD_Portraits_from_Rural_Wisconsin Final Transcript

[gentle music]

- Andy Soth: Picture rural Wisconsin, and for many, a familiar landscape emerges, one of farms with fertile fields, cornstalks, and cows. This landscape can be an idyllic image, but it doesn't reveal the ways many rural areas struggle today, as a slow economic recovery, population decline, and fleeing industry has led some to worry that a quickly changing world may be passing them by. How people's lives are affected by these many changes may be hidden in the landscape but revealed in personal stories, in portraits, as in these Portraits from Rural Wisconsin. 
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- female announcer: Support for this program has been provided by the O'Brien Fellowship in Public Service Journalism at Marquette University and by the Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.

- The portraits you're about to see and the people you'll meet come from a yearlong search for stories, stories about rural Wisconsin and the challenges its small farmers, small-business owners, and small-town residents are facing and the ways they're meeting them. 
[tranquil music]

The portraits come from travels across western Wisconsin up and down its winding roads on an alphabet of highways, through summer, fall, winter, and spring. I met people working hard to improve their communities and people whose hard work might not be enough to keep their farms.

- Heather Wittig: Some way. I just didn't know how.

- As you'll see, their stories are varied, but they all share a single sentiment.

- Rural life is still the best life there is. 
§ §

- I began the search at the end of summer in Pepin County, a place whose rustic beauty seems the ideal image of rural America. In a way, you could say that image was born here, as the county is home to the revered birthplace of Laura Ingalls Wilder.

- Julie Miller: Laura was born here in 1867.

- Little House in the Big Woods is set here, the first book of Wilder's influential Little House series on pioneer life. 
[bell ringing]

- Julie Miller: Any boys and girls that want to come in for a quilt block story...

- Thousands come annually to celebrate the author.

- People come from all over.

- They're drawn by the chance to get a taste of the past.

- Doing what Laura did. Run through the fields with your bonnet flying off and having a good time.

- Maggie Glynn: If you could, would you try living like a pioneer?

- Festival attendee: Yes.

- Festival attendee: She would. 
[laughter]

- But it may be more than playing pioneer that brings out Wilder's fans. The book's celebration of simple virtues also resonates, according to celebration organizers like 92-year-old Maxine Johnson.

- Well, I think they like that homespun philosophy that Laura had.

She always pointed out that even though many years have gone by, those principles that were taught at that time are still the things that we should rely on today. 
[marching band music playing]

- Today the village of Pepin celebrates their connection to Wilder and her legacy in classic small-town fashion. The community puts on a parade and they hold old-fashioned events like fiddle contests and spelling bees.

- "Chocolate."

- "Chocolate." C-H-O... C-O-L-A-T-E. "Chocolate."

- Okay, I guess we have our winner. 
[applause]

- Children learn about Wilder's hardscrabble life and then make a mad scramble for Life Savers and lollipops. 
[slow fiddle music]
It's easy to see all that's changed since Wilder's day, but her influence remains.

- And the values. I think her values are just what families and the world needs to get back to.

- The Little House Wayside isn't the only place you'll encounter these traditional values when exploring Pepin County. You'll also hear them expressed on your radio. 
[radio static crackling]

- Well, haven't played this one for a while, and here's Tim McGraw with "Humble and Kind." It's 11:06. 
[Tim McGraw's "Humble and Kind" playing]

- § You know there's a light 
§ §
That glows by the front door 
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Don't forget the key's under the mat §

- We play traditional country music.

- § Always stay humble and kind §

- You know, work hard and... mind your own business and respect your-- your neighbors, respect your elders... all the basics. The golden rule really resonates with a lot of these-- these people in our part of the state or in-- really in anywhere in rural America.

- § Always stay humble and kind §

- The county seat of Durand is inland and upland from the village of Pepin.

- Here at Reel Country 1430 WRDN, clouds, 66, with Conway and Loretta.

- And providing the soundtrack for the city and surroundings is station WRDN. Station owner Brian Winnekins and cohost Martha Gingras know that much of their audience listens from dairy barns and tractor cabs, so they provide them with the news they need.

- Market update being brought to you...

- And often, they've been the bearer of bad news.

- Really, the biggest challenge has been the low prices. It's really been a challenge for some of these smaller operations to be able to survive, because they don't have that economy of scale of--of producing a lot of milk to be able to-- to make up for it.

- When the numbers tell me that milk is down, if--if I could be lying media, trust me, I would say that milk ended $25. July, milk down four at $15.52. August, down 14 at $16.41. 
[laughing]
I wish I could, because I know that would help my community.

- And the long, steady decline has had an impact on Durand's downtown.

- Half of our downtown has empty buildings.

- I still look this way, wondering whether or not somebody's coming off the bridge, and I realize, "Oh. There's no bridge there anymore."

- That's among many changes to downtown that Martha has seen over the years.

- My parents had the flower shop, and when the economy started taking a turn and we really couldn't support two flower shops, um, my parents sold.

- Brian sees this economic stagnation as a major factor in people's dissatisfaction.

- In rural America-- it doesn't matter if it's Wisconsin, Minnesota, wherever-- they're like, "What about us? We seem to be working hard, but we don't get any extra-- we don't get bailouts. We don't--you know, if our bank goes down, it doesn't get bailed out. It gets bought up by a big chain or ordered to--to close."

- There's a lot of upset people when they go to the bank now, and it's like, they don't know who I am, or don't they? Why don't they know who I am? It's just based on my social security number, my income, and numbers. It's changed.

- These changes to the local community come at the same time as broader changes to society, some of which challenge long-held beliefs.

- People in rural America also feel threatened that their beliefs are wrong and that they're being told that their beliefs are wrong from someone who lives in the Twin Cities or an expert that lives in the Twin Cities or New York or Chicago or the media.

- An example is gay marriage. Brian says he knows DJs uncomfortable playing music for same-sex weddings.

- They've gotten out of the business because of that, because they're like, "You know what? I'm not even gonna take the chance. "To heck with it. I'll just-- just won't do it for anybody anymore," and that's sad. 
[rustic music]

§ §

- Beyond social issues, other changes in rural areas could increasingly become matters of life or death.

- These rural areas are totally dependent on volunteers.

- As director of Durand's ambulance service, Peter Pillman has witnessed a steep decline in volunteers for emergency medical positions.

- We have seen that the number of people that we have responding to calls become less and the burden on our staff that we do have responding to calls increasing greatly.

- The same issues that challenge Durand's downtown are factors in the volunteer shortage. Many residents now commute out of town for work, while others are holding down multiple jobs.

- So we used to have janitors or others that could leave work to go on an ambulance call and had flexible hours, and that's no longer the case.

- Even after offering hourly wages for what had always been volunteer positions, as well as helping to pay for EMT training, the ambulance service has had a hard time getting fully staffed.

- So that's number six.

- But Peter believes the reasons fewer people make the commitment to get trained and to give of their time is not only due to economic factors but cultural ones as well.

- So what society is changing-- we used to have a lot more where-- say, a small farm, and I'm using a barn-raising analogy. We have a lot of Amish in this area, and you'll still see it with some of them. When they need to put up a barn, they invite over all their neighbors and they all pitch in. 
[melancholy music]

- For Peter, the Amish remain much closer to the type of community that rural Wisconsin once was.

- It's built on that agrarian foundation of farmers, neighbors helping each other out, and that's something that I think even us in these rural communities have lost that and have lost understanding that. As that is lost in the community, as that is lost from the fabric of our society, we see that there are less people being willing to sacrificially serve.

- No, no.

- No?

- Okay, y'all ready?

- Yep, ready.

- Back at the radio station, sacrificial service is a topic for Martha and her guests.

- Um, I have Heather Wittig, Jenni Patnode-- I'm gonna say the Johnson sisters. 
[laughter]

- The Johnson sisters is how Martha knew these two when they were in high school. Today they're guests on her radio show to talk about their mission work in Central America.

- Women in third world countries don't have anything to manage their monthly cycle.

- When we can give back to them and give them a pair of underwear and these hygiene solutions, they are able to stay in school. They're not sex trafficked.

- This is a whole movement.

- Mm-hmm.

- I thank you both for coming today.

- Thank you for having us.

- After the show, Martha catches up with Jenni about how her husband, Weston, is doing.

- And then someday, you guys will have to come in and talk about your farm journey.

- Yeah, we will. 
[rustic music]

- The farm journey Martha is talking about began on Patnode Road, where Jenni's husband, Weston Patnode, grew up. When the road bears your name, it likely means you've lived there a long time, as the Patnodes have for four generations. 
§ §

- Yeah, at eight, I bought my first calf, or my dad bought it for me, and from there, it just kept growing... 
[laughs]
And the love and the passion just kept taking off, I guess, from there on, you know?

- It was love and passion that led to meeting the love of his life.

- I didn't come from a dairy farm. I didn't grow up on one, but all of my friends showed cattle.

- Jenni wanted to be like her friends so showed her borrowed cow at the county fair.

- We met there, and he claims that I was, like, spraying him with the hose to flirt, but I just didn't know what I was doing. 
[both laugh]
So that's how we met, and then he gave me a ride home after the fair, and we've been together ever since, so...what is that?

- 19 years.

- 19 years. Yep. It was a little bit of adjustment going from not growing up on a dairy farm to--his work hours were from 5:00 in the morning until about 7:30, 8:00 at night.

- 365 days a year. 
[laughs]

- Weekends, Christmas, so it was a little bit to adjust, but that was our life.

- Yep.

- That's--that's what we knew, so we made it-- we made it work.

- But making it work, they say, started getting harder and harder. 
[cow lows]

- The financial part was the big problem. Milk prices are the same as they were in the '70s or '80s. Things got really tight, and... we...
[laughs]
Paid the bills when we could and hoped we could continue to pay them, and then we kind of started to fall behind, and it just got... to where we weren't gaining ground.

- Yes! That's how high I can go!

- They talked to bankers about expanding and came close to signing for a $2 million loan but didn't want to risk losing their land or burdening their children with debt.

- They're nine and five, so I don't want to tie them down right now, but, uh...

- That was part of it, too. When we were asked to expand, they said they're nine and five. They can't make that decision. You know, if they're 20 and they said, "Yeah, we want to go all in," we probably could've, but... whatever they decide to do, they're just responsible and kind, caring people. At the end of the day, that's what we're hoping for. 
[rustic music]

§ §

- It's been only a few weeks since they made the decision to get out. The memories are still raw, and it's hard to talk about that last milking and saying good-bye.

- I'll talk. 
[laughs]
I'll talk. 
§ §
Uh, it was hard. It was something that we knew would be hard, but we didn't realize it would be as hard as it was, and, um, we didn't realize how hard it would still be. 
§ §
So I wrote a blog, kind of to just tell everybody for our family and friends to know. Tomorrow morning, the alarm clock will go off early, 4:30 a.m., to board our dairy cows on trucks and trailers for them to live on other farms. There isn't a book for this. There probably should be, but no one wrote about what to do next when you sell your fourth-generation family farm. No one wrote a book about how to get through that last milking, tears never seeming to end as you hold each other tight with no words to be spoken. No one wrote a book about where to go from here or how to get over the emotions of the loss you feel in the pit of your stomach, the heartbreak. No one wrote a book that tells you how to get over that feeling of failure, even though you know you gave it your best to the bitter end.

- Through Facebook, Jenni's post was shared thousands of times.

- Yeah, our phones were blowing up that night...

- Yeah.

- Or for, like, the next week, just text messages, phone calls, um, and then like you said, uh, messages online from all over the country and the world. Um, it was... quite amazing, I mean, the outpouring...

- Yeah.

- Of support.

- Witnessing the widespread interest in their story, Jenni and Weston say that much more than their dairy herd was being lost.

- I think a sense of the culture of America. 
[laughs]

I mean, really, the-- they say, you know, like, Wisconsin, America's Dairyland, and...

- I think growing up, the... family helping the next family down the road, the responsibilities we learned as kids, the work ethic-- I don't know if you see that as much.

- While Weston weighs his work options, they all enjoy the unexpected family time together.

- Even if our kids aren't gonna grow up milking cows, it's still important to us that they still get the same work ethic into them that you did.

- I still want to be able to raise my boys in the 400 acres here we have tucked back in this valley. Now duck down. Get down. There you go. 
§ §

- As the calendar turned to fall, the search for portraits moved south to the Kickapoo Valley. 
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[excited screams]

§ §
Fall in the valley kicks off with the Gays Mills apple fest. A true harvest festival, it celebrates the literal fruits of seasonal labor from orchards ringing the valley. 
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This year's version of the fest took place under a blistering sun with triple-digit temperatures. The year previous, the event was canceled due to flooding. The Kickapoo often dictates or disrupts the rhythm of life in the valley as it flows and floods along its winding course through many river towns, and it's given rise to responses from both the people and the government, each with their own way of providing help. 
§ §

[cash register rings]
The Last Kickapoo Hillbilly is in the house.

- Mike Eicher: Hi, Ray.

- Or rather, Crazy Frank's Flea Market in Readstown. 
[rustic music]
Musician Ray Hadley sits in the corner, strumming and sharing stories, like his time spent on leave from Fort Campbell, Kentucky...

- We went to Nashville every Friday night.

- Where he saw country legends like Hank Williams Sr.

- Old Hank, he-- he got pretty mean when he got drunk, and... 
§ §
He was always drunk. 
[laughs]

- Which just might lead Ray into an old Hank Williams tune that suits the setting. 
[playing "Kaw-Liga"]

§ §

- § Kaw-Liga was 
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A wooden Indian 
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Standing by the door 
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He fell in love with an Indian maid 
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Over in the antique store 
§ §
Kaw-Liga §

- Ray has lived around the valley for most of his 85 years, performing as the Last Kickapoo Hillbilly many times with his father, Merle, by his side. Ray was born into the musical family in the 1930s.

- Ma and Dad always said that I come with Roosevelt's New Deal in 1932.

- § We're working today 
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Boys 
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On the WPA §

- Merle Hadley sang this song in praise of New Deal programs.

- It was a godsend, actually. 
§ §

- The quality of life for Ray and his family improved through the New Deal. Work, loan, and rural development programs from the federal government played a vital role in keeping people afloat in the Kickapoo Valley...

- § 'Cause I got them bad ol' 
§ §
Bad ol' 
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Kickapoo River blues §

- And the Kickapoo River's frequent flooding has brought the federal government there many times since.

- We're going backwards. We're getting closer to the day it happened.

- Charley Preusser is the editor of the Crawford County Independent & Kickapoo Scout. He has his own vivid memories of floods.- See, this is all-- this is all we have for our paper. Here's--in this canoe right here.

- A canoe lent by a neighbor.

- And he said, "You can take my canoe and get down to your office in my canoe." Then he saw how clumsy I was in the canoe and said, "I'm going with you," thank God. Yeah...

- That was just the first kindness...

- It was pretty tough.

- At a time when many neighbors came to help the newspaper.

- [sighs] The community showed up. Wow. People from out of town showed up. And I get a little emotional thinking about it, and, um, they just helped us carry everything out, stack it on the curb, and everything we had was thrown in a giant Dumpster. All the furniture--everything, um, except those bound volumes.

- Bound volumes that surely absorbed some of the dank humidity of Kickapoo floodwater, as well as sweat and a few tears.

- [sniffs] I-it was unreal. It s-seemed it wasn't really, like-- wasn't normal. It was like-- mm, like living in a novel. So...

- A story told in the next week's paper.

- We were under duress, which is exactly how we felt. We lost everything we had and made our Tuesday deadline.

- After devastating back-to-back floods in 2007 and 2008, it was clear something needed to be done, and only the federal government would have the resources to make it happen.

- We're sitting here 'cause of federal dollars.

- Robert E. Lee: Oh, absolutely, yeah. 
[gentle music]

- The newspaper shared its building with Robert E's Barber Shop.

- Uh, I went to East Moline, Illinois, Lincoln Barber College, and then right straight from there to Milwaukee.

- After many Milwaukee years, Robert Lee packed up his Braves souvenirs and moved back home. Over time, the downtown flooding in Gays Mills took its toll.

- Mm-hmm.

- The sidewalk was, like, a inch from the door.

- Well, that building sat right in a little swale. We--we got the water first, no matter what.

- FEMA bought out the old building and brought it down. A new structure was built with federal funds to create a new business district. It's called the Gays Mills Mercantile, and it's safely removed from the Kickapoo, but like the old town, with its now-empty lots, the Mercantile has had some trouble filling its slots, leading some to jokingly call it "the ghost mall." But the newspaper moved there, still sharing a building with the barber.- I don't know. I knew we would never get the feel of the old Main Street back.

- Robert E. Lee: Well, true.

- Toby, it's Charley at the Crawford County Independent. I'm extremely thankful to have this office provided by the village through--through the work of the federal government. Federal government response is generous, and...I think the people here are thankful for it, but, um... it is...kind of generic.

- While the Mercantile had a big taxpayer price tag, Charley sees it as also coming with a social cost: the loss of character and sense of community that the old town inspired, the same community that helped out in the crisis.

- They were standing there in the mud with us. Mostly, the federal government was not. 
[gentle music]

§ §
- While rivers can be unpredictable, the change of seasons is inevitable. 
§ §
In this hilly region, fog collects in the valleys before burning off under the low sun. The colors change, and temperatures drop... 
§ §
And many in the area look forward to the coming of deer season. It's what brings the large crowd to the last day of hunter safety training at the Gays Mills Community Center. Young kids get ready to join their families at deer camps just weeks away.

- Instructor: Go ahead and cross the fence.

- So there's a lot of things involved in what to do in the field and how to be responsible and ethical and safe.

- Instructor: Each shell goes to a certain type of gun, right?

- AyJay Anderson: Okay.

- 'Cause you know if you... He's eager to learn about how to do things the right way. I told him he needed to pass hunter safety before he could even come out with me.

- Wayne Raynor: If you teach youngsters how to hunt and fish and give them a focus on the outdoors, they're less likely to get into other kinds of problems. 
[gentle rustic music]

§ §

- With Thanksgiving approaching, many in the area think of those less fortunate, including the local motorcycle club. 
[band playing "Gimme Three Steps"]

- § Ask one favor from you 
§ §

§ §
A-won't you give me three steps 
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Give me three steps, mister §

- The band The Lost Crows includes members of the club.

- Well, tonight we're having a food drive, uh, for our local community at the Societies' Sons Clubhouse in Gays Mills, and we get a lot of response from the community with a lot of donations. Cash donations, food donations-- we'll take anything that you want to give us.

- § Go on, take the money and run 
§ §

§ §
Go on, take the money and run §

- We're all connected with the communities around us and help when we can. You know, we all want to get along.

- All right.

- Societies' Sons-- you know, they wanted people to see that they weren't just a motorcycle group, you know, that-- riding around or whatever.

- Retired teacher Renee Salmon volunteers at the Gays Mills food pantry where the Societies' Sons donations will end up.

- They donate with the usual organizations: the Lions, the Lionesses, churches, of course.

- Churches provide the volunteer staff.

- The Methodists have two months. The Lutherans have two months. The Catholics have two months.

- Renee is filling up backpacks to be sent home with hungry students at a nearby school over the weekend. The pantry has become a focal point of community giving. The motto is "Doing whatever it takes to be a good neighbor."

- It's definitely-- that's the way people feel, and--and I think our-- our--our clients are so appreciative.

- The need is great, as witnessed by the numbers who use it. The pantry's located in the same new building as the barbershop and newspaper office, and it's said the one day a week the pantry's open is the only day the parking lot fills, particularly as the snow begins to fall.

- We do see an increase, a tick up.

- Renee sees the lack of job opportunity as a major factor in the area's food insecurity.

- Well, we don't have very much, um, industry. It's more seasonal. I think people get laid off, or they need the little extra help in the winter.

- Just down the road from the Mercantile, one business is trying to change ideas about industrial potential in rural areas. 

The Applewood Business Park has streets named after apples, so you could mistake the name BAPI for a new variety, but the inside of BAPI's facility looks much more like the Silicon Valley than the Kickapoo Valley. Ritch Stevenson is the founder.

- We're a high-tech business in a... "low-tech market," uh, and-- and we do quite well.

- They do well as a global leader in sales and manufacturing of sensors and climate-control products. BAPI, or Building Automation Products, Inc., has their technology used in buildings on every continent. Take a tour, and Ritch will emphasize that BAPI jobs include much more than what's seen on the plant floor.

- We employ all the different career functions, so we have accounting; we have marketing, manufacturing engineering, and engineering management. Wave. Mechanical engineering, electrical engineering. We have drafting. Tech support, and, uh, professional fly fisherman.

- Mentioning the fly fisherman isn't just trivia. It's more of an HR strategy.

- It's a lot more quiet lifestyle than you have in the city, but there's plenty to do. My passion is bow hunting. Canoe, bike, fish, hike, bird-watch.

- The rural setting and remote location of Gays Mills could be seen as an impediment for many businesses, but BAPI makes it a selling point.

- We took being in Gays Mills as an asset. We're looking for talent that wants to live in this type of environment, which is, you know, rural America, a good quality life, you know, an easy commute to work.

- Wouldn't live anywhere else.

- Michael McCarthy grew up on an area chicken farm, got an electronics degree from a nearby tech school, and settled in at BAPI.

- It is beautiful out when I'm driving back and forth to work. I'm not stuck in traffic or anything, and--and... just gotta watch out for deer.

- If Ritch thinks he can sell recruits on a small-town life, it's because it's what he values and what he wants BAPI to play a part in preserving. 
[spacey music]

- Growing up as a kid, I remember it was a vibrant community, and with all the small farmers in the area to support it, it, you know, was a bustling little town. When, uh, we saw the small farmers shutting down, you could also see the local businesses closing as they were leaving, and you could see the community constricting. You have to hit the bottom before you start building back up, and I'd have to say we're right close to that right now.

- But Ritch is confident BAPI can play a role in a revival.

- It takes effort and there is a lot of effort to rebirth and pioneer a new Gays Mills and get us back on the track of growth and prosperity that, you know, some of the old-timers remember from when they were kids. 
§ §

- And he encourages others to follow the BAPI model.

- We have room in the business park, if anybody wants to come. 
[laughs]

§ §

- Upriver from Gays Mills, in the village of Soldiers Grove, their economic development efforts take on a different flavor. 
[smooth percussive music]

It's written right on the board at the very top: Hipster Picnic, a strong dark Belgian brew. What could be more hipster than a craft brewery serving some local artisanal cheeses holding a celebration for the end of fall? 
§ §

It's a solstice open house for Driftless Brewing, a small operation looking to expand. A familiar face walks into the party: Steve George, treasurer of the Societies' Sons Motorcycle Club that put on the food drive. Here Steve is better known as the village president of Soldiers Grove. He doesn't see much difference between the two elected positions.

- Like both places, you always have your public, uh, input where you get your complaints. 
[laughs]

- He's retired from his mechanic career, but Steve still does custom bike work for Harley riders who want a little more oomph. He has hopes that Driftless brewery can inject some fuel into the village's economy.

- We've been very much supported by our village here, our village government. They gave us a low-cost loan for our small system, and they're working with us on a grant for the bigger system for our expansion.

- We always try doing and looking as promoting business in our area, and we'll help you get started so we can create businesses in a small town, 'cause, well, small towns are losing that.

- Steve is well acquainted with that loss. 
[rustic music]

In the late 1970s, he went through what people in Gays Mills experienced in the 2000s: seeing his town of Soldiers Grove moved out of the flood zone.

- That little town down there had, uh, three gas stations, a car lot, a hardware store, seven bars, and they were all full on the weekends with people coming to town at that time. 
§ §

Many businesses simply closed down, but one bar made the slow uphill climb to higher ground.

- Somebody said he'd build a tavern, somebody else said they'd build something else, and the IGA store said he was going, so we started in.- Soldiers Grove's citizens started in by emptying out the old store and then stocking the same shelves they'd later be shopping from. 
§ §

- Service Station Owner: Oh, I-I think it's got a future, if we can get things booming again. 
[quiet music]

- The tavern known as the Wonder Bar has remained a fixture since the move. The grocery store survived against the odds for decades, before shutting down not long ago. 
§ §

If the village and Driftless Brewing can secure funding, including state economic development funds, the space the grocery once occupied will have a new tenant. The writing's on the wall for construction to increase production 15-fold and, no matter how you spell it, a biergarten.

- It's gonna be a destination brewery. If we have a 70-seat taproom and a full-scale production brewery, it's gonna be a pretty exciting addition to this area. It's gonna help the gas station. It's gonna help the restaurant. It's gonna help the B&Bs. Everyone's pretty excited about the potential here.

- We loan them the money to get started, and you're taking a chance, is it gonna go or not? And it is. They're-- they're doing very well. That's good for the community, so that was a good investment for the village.

- As the holiday season approached, the search for portraits moved upland from the valley to Seneca, one of a series of ridgetop towns along Highway 27. 
[tranquil music]

Its downtown consists largely of the sprawling Johnson's One Stop. Walk it end to end, and you'll pass through a supermarket, shoe seller, farm supplier, and hardware store. 

[Seneca High School Pep Band playing]  
Nothing brings out the town like a home game. Seneca's distance from other communities has protected its schools from having to consolidate, like rival North Crawford, but like other schools in the region, Seneca has a high share of students on free or reduced lunch.

It's really the youngest who suffer the most from hunger, and the school and community is doing something extra for them. 
["Jingle Bells" playing on speakers]
Seneca's single kindergarten is a high-energy classroom, especially during the countdown to Christmas.

- Two little Christmas trees standing all...

- When teacher Deb Benish noticed some students couldn't keep up on Monday mornings, she initiated the backpack program. The packs filled by Renee Salmon at the food pantry wind up here, given to select students to take home in a way that won't let other students know they're getting help.

- The amazing thing is that it's completely funded by the community. There's no government funds. It's just the people that care about the students in our school and the families. 

While this extra care is taken to fill in gaps in childhood nutrition, there's one segment of the area population that's fed with scientific precision. 
[rooster crows]

[gentle music]

§ §

- Eh, you know, you got people that tell humans what to eat. Well, I do the same for animals. 
§ §

- Ben Olson helps manage nutrition at Olson Feed Service, just outside Seneca. The feed mill is the provider for many of the area's dairy herd. They whip up portions of grains and protein through something like a giant Vitamix.

- What I try and do is, in the most cost-effective way, just try and make sure that animals get the best diet that they can. 
§ §

- That mixed feed is loaded into trailers and onto trucks, with each farm getting their own custom mix based on a nutritional analysis of what the farmer has grown on their own for feed.

- Including, oh, corn silage or forages that are already on the farm to, again, kind of help reduce cost. That's kind of what it boils down to is-- is trying, hopefully, help people make a dollar. 
§ §

- A dollar that's been getting more and more elusive as milk prices remain depressed.

- Chris Klima: You see that cage that they lower the calf?

- Ben's mom, Tammy Olson, has heard her customers asking them for help to trim expenses.

- Chad Sime: Put towels, and they...

- They will pore over those rations. They'll try to come up with something that might be a little less expensive, or maybe you don't have to feed quite so much of something.

- But the real barometer of hard times has been what she hears from customers and the small dairy farmers who gather for a little coffee many mornings at the feed mill.

- Farming can be very lonely. Sometimes you're the only one in there milking, and maybe you don't have a lot of conversation with anybody outside your family, so sometimes I joke that we're the feed mill but sometimes we're the rumor mill or the conversation mill.

- You can always count on plenty of conversation about Seneca basketball.

- Chris Klima: But the one game down at North Crawford, the big boy wasn't there; he was sick with the flu. We couldn't shake him. We only beat 'em by ten.

- And also talk about tariffs and trade.

- Chad Sime: Well, we--we gotta get, you know, essentially, milk out of the country, grain out of the country, uh...

- Absolutely.

- Recently, though, Tammy says conversation has often taken a darker turn.

- I'm like, "How are you doing today?" and I kept getting the same answer that, "Well, why are we doing this? "Who in their right mind works in an industry where not only are you not making money "but it's almost as if you're paying to work in this industry?"
 
[mechanical whirring]

- Low milk prices can't keep up with expenses like feed, putting the squeeze on dairy farmers. Tammy started watching the news more closely.

- And then I started reading more and more, and then I found out that western Wisconsin led the nation in bankruptcies, and I'm like, "How can I be proud of that statistic?" We have somebody who wanted to come out and play. I'm proud of the fact that I'm from Wisconsin and that I participate in our dairy production, and... Oh, he's healthy. Look at him. I can't be proud of this. 
[desolate music]

- The Olson Feed Service’s Facebook page had been tracking a bear seen in the area... 
§ §

- But Tami started sharing links, including one about the dramatic increase in farmer suicides. 
§ §

- And I found that to be very disturbing and heartbreaking. I have a daughter who works in mental health, so I talked to her about it, and... she said, "Every time you see somebody, "it is--that's depressed, it's a--you have to help them." 
§ §

Normally we have very upbeat, happy people that walk through here, and we're always laughing and...joking around, and it just hasn't been that way. 
§ §

Never have we had the sadness that we've had now. They're frustrated. They're distressed. It's despair.

- All things that led Tammy to take action. 
[chatter and laughter]

- We want to say thank you. The support we've received for this has been tremendous, so just a few quick announcements... Uncharacteristically, I reached out, and I made some phone calls and sent some emails to my state representatives, and much to my surprise and much to my happiness, then we are now having our own town hall-type meeting.- Tammy put together a panel of politicians, their aides, civil servants, and industry representatives.

- And we have Kevin Walleser; he just walked in from the Milk Marketing Board, and I believe we have a seat of honor for you too. 
[applause]

- Before the first question, Tammy gets a round of applause.

- Thank you. This has really been a labor of love right straight from my heart.

- The gathered dairy farmers, whose livelihoods are dictated by the laws of supply and demand, have questions about both. On the demand side, ideas about schools.

- Beth Kearns: And my thought is, get our kids drinking good milk. How do you get good milk into schools?

- Well, then, Kevin, go ahead and answer that one.

- Essentially, they want kids to drink chocolate milk that tastes like dirty water. Like, in your after-school vending machines, it says gotta be a 12-ounce bottle. Well, none of the vending machines work for 12-ounce bottles. They work for 16-ounce bottles, so then everything's gotta be retooled. It's--it's total government is what it is.

- Tammy Olson: Okay, we have a question here.

- There are worries about competition in the marketplace.

- Jody Miller: We went to Wal-Mart, my daughter and I, the other day just to check the-- check out the milk section. Almond milk all the way across the top. That's not milk. Seems like everybody's against us. They can take stuff from a nut and sell it as nutritious for milk. To me, that just blows my mind.

- Then the questioning turns to supply.

- Lee Johnson: I wanna address this to Kevin. What are we overproducing right now?

- Nationwide, how much do we need?

- Lee Johnson: Yeah, nationwide. Where--

- We're probably 15% long.

- Lee Johnson: We're 15?

- Yeah.

- Lee Johnson: Big number.

- We're probably 15% long. Uh, we can't drink our way out of this domestically.

- Make your way up to the microphone, John.

- John Nolan: Oh.

- Yeah.

- John Nolan: Thank you.

- John Nolan: You know, I went to short course in Madison, and that was in 1988, and they told me that 80 cows is enough for one family. If you got two families, 160 cows is enough for that. 

So why-- why does everybody want to overproduce? You know? Why can't we cut back on numbers on cows? This thing of always letting the bigger farmer get more cows because they want more money, then they can produce it at $10? For what? You know? We can't--we can't even-- we can't even buy equipment. We can't do anything to do our own stuff. These young farmers here-- how the hell do they start farming?

- Exactly.

- You know? What--what are they got-- what do I say to my two young kids that want to go into farming? Do I say, "Oh, no," you know?

- Some emotions are close to the surface.

- Laura Daniels: And then I think we're all looking for a silver bullet, we're looking for a scapegoat, and we're looking for an easy answer, and I don't think any of those exist, and I just made a little note here that kind of bad things happen when people get backed in a corner, and you have a whole room full of people here who feel like they're backed in a corner, and so I think we can all understand the frustration that we have. It's true to everyone in this room.

- Tammy reminds the crowd that those feelings of frustration are just what motivated her to call the meeting.

- John, Judy, and everybody, I don't know if you realize how much we appreciate your passion. We do, and that's what started all this is when I started seeing that, so we do appreciate it, and you have been asked if you could stay after a little bit, because, um, some of these people would like to talk to you. I--and I hope you can.

- I'm pretty proud of him for standing up and talking. He spoke from his heart. I-I was emotional. I mean, I had to h-hold back a few tears, just because it's, you know-- I know the struggle. 
[pensive music]

§ §

- John Nolan said he spoke his piece at the meeting and didn't have anything more to say. Besides, there was milking to do. 
§ §

But other members of the Nolan clan shared their stories.

- Well, we have eight children. Uh, two of them passed away in a ATV accident in 2005, so we have Caitlin, Dustin, Preston, Kirsten, Aaron and Ashlynn, and the boys that passed away were Austin and Justin.

- The Nolans are a throwback to a time when large families operated small dairies and the family was a ready-made workforce. It's been a tradition for the Nolan family since John's ancestors came from Ireland.

- Family dairy farmers-- they want to stay doing what they're doing, and I know it means a lot to generations and generations. They want to keep going. I know John, you know, he'd love to see his-- you know, his kids take over. You know, after our boys died, that was one of the big life decisions John made was, "Should I expand "and keep this going, "or should I throw in the rag and give up?" but... you know, when you see how fragile life is, then you want to keep it going.

- Caitlin, now the oldest, is eager to show her pride in the family business.

- I just want to help out and do anything I can do to help the dairy industry.

- Seven years ago, Caitlin promoted dairy as Little Miss Squirt. Soon she'll be competing for dairy princess.

- Growing up on a dairy farm, you see many struggles, and not a lot of people understand, and it's very emotional. He works very hard, and he loves what he does, and I love seeing him happy and doing what he loves to do. 
[warm music]

- Two hours north of Seneca, an hour south of Pepin County, is Arcadia, its thriving downtown a mix of English- and Spanish-speaking businesses.

- [speaking Spanish] En el nombre del Padre, hijo, espiritu santu, amen.

- Likewise, Holy Family Parish holds separate Spanish and English services, and as with the town, it can be a challenge to integrate the two diverse populations. 
[organ music playing]

Father Fernando, from Mexico, and Father Sebastian, from Poland, emphasize what they all have in common.

- He chooses this setting the last supper, the Passover dinner... I don't have to show people the--the things that divide us, because I think we are all aware of them. My job is to show things that kind of unite us, and--and faith certainly is one of those things, the main thing. 
§ §

- The faithful turn out for Easter week services, and Holy Family holds them together. All week, services are bilingual, with English and Spanish speakers seated together, worshiping together.

- [speaking Spanish] Es una sola fe celebramo lo mismo, pero en lengua differente. Es lo mismo.

- On Maundy Thursday, the day before Good Friday, priests humbly wash the feet of parishioners, and then they can look out on something they rarely see: the diverse flock filling the pews as one congregation.

- Spanish, American, Spanish, American, American, Hispanic. Yes. 
§ §

[rustic music]

- After Easter, the renewal of spring comes to western Wisconsin, the high water’s hardly slowing anyone down. 
§ §
The fish are biting.

- Pretty good day. Better than being skunked.

- The softball fields are full. 
§ §
And the cornfields are being planted. 
§ §
Spring always brings signs of hope. At Driftless Brewing in Soldiers Grove, it comes in the form of a state government grant...

- Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch: For $125,000. 
[cheers and applause]

- And a moment for Steve George to savor.

- And I know I'm not supposed to carry on, but I did write a big speech. Well, I just wanted to say congratulations. 
[applause]

§ §

- It's Memorial Day in Eastman, another ridgetop town.

- Just think about the persistence of our dairy farmers, who continue to do what they do every day, when prices are high and when prices are low. They really inspired me to reapply to become Alice in Dairyland, and I hope that they can inspire you as well.

- Incoming Alice in Dairyland Kaitlyn Riley is the featured speaker at the Crawford County dairy banquet. The evening's highlight will be the crowning of the dairy princess, and Caitlin Nolan is in the running. But before that, there's other business. Kevin Walleser from the Milk Marketing Board, who also farms in the area, has a short market report.

- Would be great if the milk price would go up, but it's not gonna be strong for a while.

- Rachel Kramer: Some farmers even use apps on their phones...

- Each contestant gives a short talk, and Caitlin raises some of the same issues her father brought up at the big meeting in Seneca.

- Cows are producing too much milk for ourselves to handle for American consumption. During this time period of low milk prices, the best thing to do is stay positive and promote our dairy industry. The more we promote, the stronger we will become. It's all in the hands of our future farmers. 
[applause]

[gentle rustic music]

- Soon the big moment will arrive, and the Crawford County dairy princess will be crowned.

- And we don't know yet what's gonna happen tonight. We don't know yet whose name's gonna be drawn, and I understand if anyone's heart's fluttering or if anyone's a little nervous about what's gonna happen. And your Crawford County dairy princess is Caitlin Nolan. 
[applause]

§ §
- Thank you all, and I hope to see you at the, um, Crawford County dairy breakfast on Saturday. Thank you. 
[applause]

§ §

- June is dairy month and the season of dairy breakfasts on the farm... 
§ §

A chance to get up close and personal with some cows... 
§ §

And have a corny old time.

- Head up. Get your face out of the corn! 
§ §

- This breakfast is on the family farm of Kevin Walleser.

- WXOW TV Producer: I'm sure you know the drill. You don't look at me. At the camera.

- Andy Soth: And it's a chance to get the word out...

- WXOW TV Producer: All right, what is your title?

- About the new name for the Milk Marketing Board: Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin.

- It does invoke the image of the family, because... when you talk about dairy farmers, you're talking about real people, real people who are passionate about their profession.

- The day of the dairy breakfast, milk is 5¢ lower than what was reported on WDRN ten months before.

- Losses in the milk futures. July, milk down four at $15.52. August, down 14 at $16.41. September, down..

- Back in Durand in Pepin County, there's renewed excitement on Main Street. The Riverside Grill is generating buzz with its new expansion into an adjoining building. The first step was to break through the walls to build a doorway. 
§ §

The construction revealed a long-hidden circus poster... 
[smooth saxophone music]
Unseen since 1887. 
§ §

Now, with the poster restored, the room is newly opened as an event hall. They're busy preparing for the Durand Future Farmers of America banquet...

- Right after you called me...

- And supervising the setup are Weston and Jenni Patnode.

- Texting and calling. "Are we doing it or not?"

- In December, um, his-- his old ag teacher had called and just said there's this position opening up. It's in the Durand FFA school district.

- It's the school that I graduated from in 1999, and to be able to come back there and-- it's great. And McKenzie can walk up here with him. It was an adjustment to go from milking cows to managing kids, but it--like I said, they've been great.

- We want to bring joy to the chapter and, like, try and make it fun for people that are, um, already in FFA and people that are joining.

- He's been very open, especially his dairy science kids are like, "Mr. Patnode, you know, our family said you sold your farm. What happened?" And so he's been really honest with the dairy kids.

- There's so many avenues that'll open up in agriculture, not just on a farm, but there's ag business everywhere, especially in this rural community. 
[smooth jazz music]

- Soon the chocolate milk is flowing and plates are being filled and Jenni and Weston can share a moment together before the special guest speaker begins her talk. 
§ §

- Hi, my name is Brooke Brantner, and it's truly a pleasure for me to be here with all of you this evening and talk...

- Sharing her experiences, which surely resonate with Weston and Jenni.

- You know, growing up in that county fair show ring alongside my brothers and sister, I learned some of the most valuable life lessons. I think back to my grandfather, a dedicated dairyman who invested his life to that of a love for agriculture. He would silently stand there at the edge of that show ring railing with tears rolling down his face because he was so proud of the future of agriculture. 
[rustic music]

And it's in those lessons that really taught me that it's important-- of doing what you love with who you love on the family farm. 
[applause]

§ §

- Doing what you love with who you love on the family farm. That's what's going on in the 400 acres tucked in this little valley and in places across rural Wisconsin.

- Farmers are happy when they're working.

- Back at the feed mill, Tammy reports spirits have lifted since the big meeting.

- We're trying to help. We know we're in this with them. 
§ §

- From his perch at the newspaper office, Charley Preusser sees life going on in the Kickapoo Valley.

- People in the country are resilient, and they don't get gloomy. They're still going to the football game on Friday night. 
§ §

- Steve George looks forward to riding with friends to the new Driftless taproom.

- In a small town, everybody helps each other, and we don't forget about people. 
§ §

- After church, there's time for fun for the Nolan clan as the two boys play on the playground named for the older brothers they never met.

- God gave us a second chance with these two boys. 
§ §

- They're all, in their own ways, trying to make rural life the best life there is. 
§ §

[gentle music]

§ §

- announcer: Support for this program has been provided by the O'Brien Fellowship in Public Service Journalism at Marquette University and by the Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.