[upbeat folk music]
[gentle acoustic music]
- Lisa Kivirist is someone who has inspired me for years.
- My name is Lisa Kivirist.
I live in Green County, Wisconsin
and I am a author, farmer, and founder of Soil Sisters.
- Inga: Lisa has created a farmstead
where she grows her own food
and hosts guests at a bed and breakfast
that's run entirely on renewable energy.
- Our ongoing journey has been to retrofit
and renovate this existing Wisconsin farmstead
with sustainability in mind
and to create a place that will be even better
for future generations.
So we do that through running the farm completely
on renewable energy, of growing organically,
and really working towards soil health
and enhancing the soil,
and creating a place of community vibrancy,
where people can come and learn
and share in the abundant harvest.
- What's really inspired me about Lisa though
is that she's one of the founders of the Soil Sisters,
a grassroots network of women farmers
in southwestern Wisconsin.
- Soil Sisters started here in Green County,
where a group of us area women farmers
started getting together and getting to know each other.
And it grew.
It grew because when women committed to the land,
committed to sustainability, local food, community
get together over good food at potlucks, things happen.
- Inga: These women come together
to support each other, [women chatting]
share laughs, [women laughing]
share ideas, and work together to improve their communities.
- It is now a project of outreach to help support women
who wanna get back to the land, who wanna start their own farms,
and really renew our countryside.
[women chatting]
- Inga: Let's go back to where that support all started
and visit with Soil Sisters founder, Lisa.
[gentle acoustic guitar music]
Lisa, you're one of the founders of Soil Sisters.
Why do you think it's important
that we recognize women finally as farmers,
as farm owners, as land stewards?
- Oh, that's a great question, Inga,
because none of this is really new, right?
Women have been working on the farm,
we have been out there in the fields
and taking care of the land for hundreds of years,
for generations.
But really, and this surprises some folks,
it's only been in the last couple of decades
that women have achieved both political and economic rights
of being recognized for their work.
So I say that with a shout-out to our Soil Sisters
from past generations who created the world
in which we're living today.
And we're in a really strong position to take charge
and to just take ownership of our farm
and direct things in a way
that will sustain future generations.
But also step up to that leadership plate
and bring more women's voices in agriculture
to elected office, to county boards, to township boards,
to really where the decisions are being made.
And we haven't had voices there historically,
but you see Soil Sisters shaking that up.
- What is the origin story of the Soil Sisters?
- So this was about 15 years ago now.
And we had been on the farm a couple years,
but I didn't know any other women in the community really.
And it's quite common for,
you probably feel it yourself sometimes,
you feel isolated,
you just don't have that built-in community.
And I wanted that and I craved that.
And I took out literally a paper map
and drew a circle around our farm
and invited any women I knew.
And so we met; there were about a dozen women
that came to my living room that day.
And we didn't have a formal agenda
or a plan or anything, but it clicked.
And we just loved that energy.
And we said, "Let's do it again."
And we've been saying, "Let's do it again,"
now for 15 years and have grown to a local network
in our county of over 250 women.
And we've connected.
And a lot of us are farming.
A lot of us are enthusiastic home gardeners,
local food enthusiasts, customers.
We need those too.
But we're all super supportive of each other
and committed to sustainability in our community.
And what strikes me is that
sometimes, we women just need some space.
And space over a good meal and time shared together,
ideas just percolate.
And that's great.
I think that is a real inspiration train
to get more women thinking out of the box.
And once you get in on the farm and in these settings,
especially around other supportive women,
that really contributes both
to the health of our rural communities and agriculture,
of just new ways of doing things.
- I love this.
I love just sitting here and being able to talk
about these ideas that we've tried
and we've had to fluctuate away from
and these different things.
It's so wonderful to be able to talk
with somebody who gets it.
- Oh, that's kind of you to say, Inga.
It's really how we are as women,
is we thrive in creative, diverse environments, right?
You think about Mother Nature, she doesn't just plant one seed.
There's all kinds of things growing.
And farms historically and very much so today
give us that palette to do it.
So it's that combination of being self-employed on your farm
and having that freedom to try out new things,
and just the fact that we women really thrive
in a lot of different things going on.
And they are, like Mother Nature, all integrated.
They're different, but they all fit.
And you try new things and you're always evolving.
And I find that, like you, very satisfying and inspiring.
And to do that amongst other women who are kindred spirits,
and that gives us the strength to reach out a bit.
- Well, I'm so excited that you all are coming up
to a potluck that I'm gonna be hosting soon.
Thank you for inspiring me.
Thank you for doing the work that you're doing
to just elevate all the women in agriculture.
I really, really appreciate it.
- Oh, thank you, Inga, for what you do to bring
all of our agriculture stories to the table
and especially all the cool things women are doing
in the rural hinterlands. [both chuckling]
[upbeat folk music]