[upbeat folk music]
- Inga: Just outside of La Valle
sits Hilltop Community Farm,
a small-scale, diversified farm
growing wedding flowers, vegetables,
and some unique varieties of fruit.
I first visited Hilltop seven years ago,
and I met Erin and her husband, Rob,
when they were first developing their orchard.
I was excited to come back and see how things have grown.
Hey, Erin! - Hey, Inga, welcome.
- Thank you, good to see you. - Yeah, welcome to the potatoes.
- It's been years since I've,
it's been almost seven years since I've been here.
- Oh, welcome back.
- It looks even more beautiful than the last time.
Can we take another little tour, just so I can see
how things have grown up?
- I'd love to show you around, yeah.
[gentle folksy music]
Yeah, so we are like, right outside of La Valle, Wisconsin,
and it's right on the eastern edge of the Driftless Region,
so about the last glaciation missed this area.
- Uh-huh.
- So, you have a lot more rolling hills,
a lot more rivers instead of lakes, and the soils are older.
It's pretty cool, as you continue north
up back toward your place, you'll drop down
into old Glacial Lake Wisconsin lakebeds.
So, it's really-- we love it here,
but old soil, sloping lands.
We have about just under 60 acres, and so you're looking
right back here at prairie, so, native prairie.
- Wow.
- About 24 acres, and we used to rent this out to a neighbor,
and it was a corn/soy rotation, and you know,
we just heard about the Conservation Reserve Program,
and it just kinda made sense
to transition that to prairie habitat
'cause of just, slope, and I think especially
now with more intense and frequent rains,
the more we can keep the soil covered continuously,
I think the better off we are, especially on sloping lands,
and so perennials have been a really good fit for us.
I think it's been really fun to just
try to experiment with what works well for us,
what we have time and energy for,
and also what works well for the landscape.
[gentle folksy music]
- Inga: After seeing the beauty of the restored prairie,
Erin took me down to her orchard
to show me how she's growing her fruit in guilds.
A guild is a way to create a mini ecosystem of plants
that are known to grow well together.
So, Erin, is this one of your famous guilds?
Is that what you call them? - Yes, we call them guilds.
So, a plant guild is sort of finding plants
that grow well together in combination,
and they create networks of mutual support.
So, you look around here and it's not really linear.
We, you think you have your kind of overstory,
which is this apple tree,
so it's providing a little shade.
If you've got a cool spot,
currants like a little shade and wet,
so then you kind of think about in layers and function.
- Well, it looks like if you're out in a forest,
this is what it looks like when walking through the trees,
all these different plants growing together.
- Oh, yes, and thank you for reminding me of that.
Sometimes I take for granted 'cause I'm just
living and breathing currants right now.
But it really is; we're just, we get this inspiration
from the structure and function of a forest,
and we just translate that
into growing perennials and fruit.
- Inga: Can we go taste some of these currants?
- Erin: Yes, oh, my gosh!
- Inga: And see some of the different varieties?
- Oh wow, pretty!
- Yeah, and they just draw you right in, right.
- Inga: They do.
- Erin: How red can you get? [laughing]
- Inga: Yeah.
- Erin: Let's try to find, do you see one
that's nice and red almost consistently?
- Inga: I think here. - Yeah, help yourself.
So, what do you think, how would you describe that?
- It's a little tart, but it's delicious.
It's nice, it's light.
What's your favorite way to preserve these?
I'm thinking about making
like a nice little jam or something.
I'm preserving the season.
I'm trying to get all my canning and everything done
in such a short time.
- Yes, well, like, so we like just making a jam.
We've also really gotten into doing some juicing,
especially the black currants.
They're kinda more like a blueberry habit
where they're, instead of being
on these grape-like clusters, it's called a string,
they'll be just kinda separate.
But black currants, especially, you wanna go for ones
that are fully black all the way around.
And how would you describe that to me? [laughing]
- This one is, it's so earthy almost.
- Erin: These are like little black pearls.
And how can you not wanna eat little black pearls?
- Inga: It's just so much fun.
I love that passion you have and the excitement.
- I like to think I'm part plant sometimes.
[both laughing]
- I was hoping I could get some currants from you today
if you've got some available.
- Oh, yeah, we've got a few in the cooler
we can show you, show you around what happens
after we pick these and wash them
and when they're ready to go out.
- All right.
I really like the black ones.
They're delicious. - Mm-hmm.
[gentle folksy music]
- So, I'm just gonna grab a few currants from the cooler,
and we can sample some of the tastes from the orchard.
- Oh, that'd be great. - Awesome.
[gentle folksy music]
So, this is my favorite part of the farm,
because I get to eat it. [both laughing]
And so I have right here is black and white currant fool,
where I just kind of cook the currants down,
I added some honey from our bees...
- Oh! - ...for the sweetness.
- Can I help myself to a little? - Oh, my gosh, please do.
I brought some bowls out for you.
We do have some fresh mint,
and this is my favorite way to enjoy.
- This recipe is so easy, and I think that's what
is good for people to know is that,
when you're cooking with really great ingredients,
you don't need to do a whole lot to 'em,
and things don't have to be complicated.
Simple is good. - That's true.
Want a little mint on yours? - Yes, please.
- What do you think?
- I think they're so great. [Erin chuckling]
Well, I'm gonna follow up here with Erin
on a little bit of tasting,
and then I'll see you on down the road.
Mm.
[gentle folk music]
[upbeat folk music]