[cows mooing]
>> Woman: Caboss, caboss...
Caboss, caboss...
Welcome to the farm.
We're getting ready to cut
our first crop of hay today,
and we're going to do it
the old-fashioned way,
using Austrian scythes.
I've got a crew of scythers
on the way out.
To refresh them and re-hydrate
them, I'm making them
a batch of switchel,
also known as haymaker's punch.
It's a tradition in my family
to always serve the haymakers
a rhubarb pie
at the end of the day.
For these ingredients, we'll be
going to Honey Hill Apiary in
Maiden Rock for buckwheat honey.
Then off to Durand
to Wheatfield Hill Organics.
Gather with us,
Around the Farm Table.
I'm your host, Inga Witscher.
Caboss, caboss...
>> All: Gather with us,
Around the Farm Table.
>> A few years ago,
I moved up to Wisconsin.
I started an organic dairy farm
at St. Isidore's Mead.
That's when I discovered
the abundance of Midwestern
local food
and small-scale farmers
growing everything
from green zebra tomatoes
to pasture pork.
I'm taking a break
from the cows,
hittin' the road
and seein' if I can't satisfy
my epicurious appetite.
Here at the farm,
we do intensive grazing.
That means we move the cows
to fresh grass every 12 hours.
We use a polywire,
which is what I have here
in my handy little roller.
I can just roll out
a new pasture in the morning,
and then a new pasture
after the evening milking.
What I like about grazing
is that you're getting
this really amazing feed.
It's high in protein.
The cows are going out there;
they're doing it themselves.
This year was a great year
for grazing.
It was a horrible year
for planting crops, but
while everyone else around me
was planting their corn,
I was already harvesting
a second crop of feed
off of my pasture using cows.
They go out.
They harvest their own feed.
They spread their own manure.
It's really healthy for them.
They're out in the sunshine.
They're getting all that good
Vitamin D, all the Omega-3s
out of the grass.
It's just a really healthy
thing.
Just look at the diversity
in this pasture.
I've got plantain,
a little bit of alfalfa,
red clover, white clover.
You can really just see exactly
where they stopped eating
and where they began.
But this is what we like,
we like this nice mowed look.
And then, with all this moisture
we're having, its going to
grow back in no time.
I also find that I don't have to
have the hoof trimmer out
as much, because the cows
are naturally trimming up
their hooves as they go.
It's a really cost effective way
for me to farm.
It's not costing me a lot of
money to be putting these cows
out here during the day,
as opposed to having to
bring them feed
up on a concrete slab somewhere
and having to run equipment.
I'm terrible at fixing
equipment, so this is always
a nice way for me to do things,
as well.
Before we get going, I need to
check in with the scythers
and make sure that they have
everything they need,
and then I can take off.
Hi Boton.
>> Hi Inga.
>> You guys are getting
a lot mowed today.
>> Yeah.
It's great, people are really
getting it.
>> This is kind of ideal
for someone with a smaller-scale
farm or an orchard, to be able
to go around those fruit trees.
I know we use it here a lot
to mow our fence line,
so that our fences
aren't getting shorted out,
or anything like that.
You use scything a lot
at your own farm.
Do you use it to cut hay
for your flock?
You have geese?
>> Yeah, hay for the ducks and
geese, but mostly I mow bedding
for the ducks and geese.
It makes a really nice, thick
bedding so they're
off the cold ground.
>> How did you come about
learning to scythe?
>> I spent about six years
learning the hard way.
>> Yeah.
>> Then I want to a symposium
and learned how to do it
the right way.
Then I started teaching it,
to save people
that long learning curve.
>> Yeah, and there seems to be
a demand for learning.
People want to learn
how to scythe.
>> It takes a lot of know-how
to use it.
>> I remember taking a scything
workshop from you years ago
about drying hay down.
You had a metaphor about hay
and tea.
>> Yeah, really good hay
smells like fresh herbal tea.
A perfect hay
will smell like that.
Once it's been rained on, it
starts to smell like used tea.
The water leached out
some of the flavors and aromas.
The more times it gets rained
on, the less nutritious
the hay becomes.
>> Listen, I'll let you
get back to it.
I'm going to bring some switchel
out in a little while.
Hopefully, the sun
will start shining and
you guys will work up a sweat,
and you'll be ready for it.
>> That'll taste great.
>> Okay, we'll see you soon.
Douglas!
>> Hi.
>> Hi, I'm Inga.
>> Glad to meet you.
>> It's nice to meet you, too.
They said you were
"out standing" in your field,
but I didn't know they meant it
quite so literally.
What a beautiful way
to spend your time.
>> It is.
It's just enjoyable out here.
It's so pretty.
It's fun watching the bees
and listening to them buzz.
>> Did you plant the buckwheat
specifically for the bees?
>> Well, it's partnership
with the bees.
I planted it, so I could get
some buckwheat honey,
and the bees love buckwheat.
There's a lot of flowers.
so they can make a lot of honey
off of it.
>> Because whatever the bees
are pollinating, they kind of
collect those flavors.
Is that how it works?
>> Yep, you know, clover
is the honey that most people
are used to.
It's a real mild flavor
and a real light color.
The buckwheat is a darker color
and a stronger, fuller flavor.
But people that try it,
most of them just love it.
>> What else do they eat?
What's their kind of life-cycle
of eating throughout the season?
>> The dandelions give them
a good boost in the spring.
It's a real bitter honey,
so it's nothing we'd want
to extract.
With all the land changes,
the farming practices changing,
it's getting so there's less
and less food for the bees.
>> No one's pasturing anymore.
>> Nobody's pasturing.
You used to be able to count on
pastures, that there'd be good,
sweet clover out there,
or the white Dutch clover,
the catnip, the milkweed.
It's all good honey plants.
But there's not the food
for them.
That's another reason why I
stated with the buckwheat field.
>> Being proactive.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> The recipe I'm using
the buckwheat honey for today
is a switchel, and it calls for
molasses, but I thought
buckwheat honey would be a nice
alternative, because it has
almost that molasses look
and flavor and feel.
>> I'd have to agree with you,
because me being a honey
producer, I'm kind of opposed
to molasses.
So if you can change it out
any time, I'm always happy.
Here's the veils and a suit.
>> Okay, awesome.
This is really fun.
>> We're going to look down
in the brood box.
[bees buzzing]
>> Wow!
>> We'll just smoke them
a little, you can see a lot
more bees here.
>> Boy, it's intimidating
when you hear that sound.
>> I'll lift
this honey super up.
>> Wow!
>> When these are full,
they'll weigh, like, 60 pounds.
>> You're not going to squish
any bees putting them in?
>> Nope.
Honey from your area is good
if you have allergies.
In the honey that you buy
in the store from your
local beekeeper, there's
traces of pollen in there.
That pollen in the honey
helps you build immunity to
the pollen you're allergic to.
>> The other day,
I had a cow come in and
she had a huge patch of skin
ripped off her back foot.
I was looking for a poultice
to put on it.
I had a friend come over
and bring me some honey
from his apiary.
And no infection ever happened.
It healed.
>> Honey kills bacteria,
just from the high sugar level
in the honey.
>> How many times a year
will you collect the honey?
>> We just collect once.
We'll start maybe around
the 20th of August.
We collect it just in the fall.
We have some basswood
and some clover.
It's not enough to separate.
>> I'm hoping to take some
buckwheat honey home with me
today.
Where should I pick it up at?
>> Kim's up at the house.
We have some up there
you can get from her.
>> Okay.
Douglas, thank you so much
for spending time with me today.
>> This is interesting.
>> Yeah, I'll take the suit
back up with me.
>> Okay.
Hi Bob!
>> Well, hello Inga!
>> It's nice to see you.
>> Yeah, it's very nice.
>> Hi, you guys.
How are ya doin'?
Do you guys want to come help me
milk cows later?
>> Yeah, sure.
>> What kinds of things do you
have to do to make good hay?
>> You have to get a good stand
established.
>> Okay.
>> We went organic cold turkey.
I'd probably wouldn't have gone
organically, if it wasn't for
wife.
In the '70s, once she encouraged
me to plant four rows
up on the field, or eight rows
of corn, without spraying it.
Well, I put it where nobody else
could see it.
Of course, I didn't have
the knowledge or anything
to farm it.
It got about six inches tall and
that's all the taller it got.
For the soil,
the micro-nutrients
are a big part of your soil.
Your three major nutrients
are very, very easy
to apply and put on, and
overlook the micro-nutrients.
>> I've got some folks out
at my farm today and they're
cutting hay using a scythe.
I still need to bring in hay,
because I feed about 95 tons
of hay, I figure, for my cows.
Which would be a lot
to put up with a scythe.
>> Very much.
>> So it's a good thing
that there's modern equipment
nowadays for farmers.
I'm looking for Helen and Chris.
Is Helen around?
>> She's up at Paul's farm
right there, up by the barn.
>> Okay, all right.
>> Boys, would you like to
take Inga and show her
where Grandma is?
>> Yeah.
>> Have all the cows calved
so far?
>> No.
>> Well, 909 just had a calf
yesterday or the day before.
>> Was it a bull or a heifer?
>> It was a heifer.
My dad and my grandpa tried
to tag it yesterday, but
it was too old and too quick.
>> What do you guys think about
the school?
Are you happy?
>> I really don't like it.
>> We gotta go!
[laughs]
>> How are you doing today?
>> I am well.
You too?
>> I am, I love being out at
your farm.
It always makes me happy.
>> Thank you.
>> Helen, on my farm with the
dairy cows, I do an intensive
grazing, but with your beef herd
you do a mob grazing.
>> Mob grazing is giving them
less than they maybe absolutely
require for that day.
So they come in there, they
mow it down like a lawn mower.
They eat everything
that's there.
You have less clipping.
If I didn't mob graze,
and have them mow that down
before I moved that ribbon,
they may have a more desirable
forb that they want.
If they can get away with it,
they might leave something
that's a little less desirable,
but might be important
in the complexion
of what they need to eat.
They will eat that also.
If they just had free range
of an entire field,
they might leave that behind.
They waste that.
The other thing is,
they are manuring behind them
in a pattern that's random,
so you're not spreading
all of that manure,
you're not using the energy
that it takes to pile and load
and spread all of that manure.
They're doing the spreading.
>> You guys have had
weather related problems
in the past years.
I remember you telling me
a story about the hail
coming through.
How do you get through
something like that?
>> It destroyed everything.
Every annual crop we had.
[thunder clap]
I didn't know what a hail storm
really was, then I found out.
You have 30 acres
of sweet corn and melons,
and you can't pick a cob.
The stalk and the cob are
driven right into the ground.
You'd think you could find
one pepper.
No, sir.
They looked like you stood
at close range with a shotgun
and blasted 'em.
It put us outta business
on the vegetable end.
We came to, you know,
and said, look, we've got market
in a couple of days,
what are we going to have
on our table?
That's when we realized
the importance of diversity.
We had no fresh crops,
but we had beef; we had popcorn.
It was a hail storm to remember.
>> You guys are growing
a lot of melons here,
a lot of alfalfa.
Why are you growing those crops
as opposed to something else?
>> This is a sandy loam.
There's a lot of Plainfield
sand, a lot of Boone sand.
This soil in our county,
in Pepin County and specifically
our farms, are really designed
for those type of crops.
Alfalfa, once you get a good
catch, puts roots down
to where the water is.
And melons demand,
those kind of crops
really demand sandy soils.
Literally, my bones and
my blood, my marrow, my DNA,
they're built from this soil.
My mother formed me here.
I was built here.
My very composition
is of this soil.
I do get emotional.
(sighs)
Because...
>> Oh, I want to hug you.
I just think
you're so wonderful.
>> What my father did,
he made some big steps
by putting in all the waterways,
stripping and contouring,
putting in your drop inlets
your berms, you know,
diking things.
I think now we have to go beyond
maintenance of just those
things.
We have to go to the next level
of improvement, and that's
the improvements you can't see.
You can only see it
by what's produced there.
That's all the livestock
beneath ground, you know.
Unless you have soil health,
you just cannot have
healthy crops,
you can't have healthy cattle,
and it's hard to have
healthy people.
>> Hey Chris.
>> Hi Inga!
>> How are you doing today?
>> I'm well, thank you.
>> I love looking at
your garden.
It's so beautiful and weedless.
Can you show me your tomatoes?
I'm getting ready to do
something with my tomatoes.
I've always put them in cages,
but I want to do something
different this year.
>> Absolutely!
We use what they call a
Florida weave with a string.
It's kind of a figure-8,
and then every four or five days
we'll add another string.
Sometimes we've strung them
so they're almost to the top
of this fence post.
>> Wow.
What's the difference between
determinate and indeterminate?
>> Determinate has a kind of
determined, or set, height.
They're not required
to be staked.
They'll only get, like,
this tall, and their fruit
will be kind of set
at one time.
Where, the indeterminates,
if you keep staking them,
they will keep growing,
and they'll keep blossoming
and setting fruit at different
times throughout the year.
So you kind of have
a longer extended harvest.
>> How many different crops?
>> There's probably over
50 varieties that we order of
tomatoes and peppers and melon.
>> What's it been like
to have the commercial kitchen?
>> It is absolutely wonderful.
Mom and I were tugging on each
arm, please Dad, we need this
commercial kitchen,
and we promise we'll be
working there every night
if you build us this kitchen.
We're very lucky.
>> I always love to visit
your booth at the Eau Claire
Farmers' Market.
>> We're really thankful for the
dedication, you know,
the customers
and the city as a whole.
>> It's fun going there
and just being a part of it.
Seeing the community
and just being there
is a great experience.
>> It really is, I think,
a great asset to have.
>> The rhubarb looks fantastic.
>> Thank you.
>> This is kind of the end
of the season for it, right?
>> The end of the season
for the rhubarb.
The cucumbers are just starting.
>> Okay, and then oh, popcorn,
and blueberry topping
and raspberry topping.
>> We thought the raspberry
topping would go good
with the rhubarb.
>> I think it's going to go
great in the pie.
>> Wonderful.
>> Well, good.
Ladies, thank you so much
for spending time with me.
I'll probably see you
at the farmers' market.
>> Thank you for coming.
>> Yes.
>> Come back any time.
>> I will be back,
probably a lot.
>> Okay, bye-bye.
>> Bye.
>> Let's get started with our
switchel, the official drink
of scythers everywhere.
It's wonderful.
Vinegar, honey and ginger.
The vinegar, honey and ginger,
they all have potassium,
which is an electrolyte.
It helps restore you after
you've been out there sweating
making hay all day long.
I'm making a huge batch, because
I've got a lot of scythers
out there.
I'm going to start
with a 4" piece of ginger.
To peel the ginger, I just use
a little spoon here that takes
the skin off without taking
too much of the flesh with it.
Okay, this looks like
a lot of ginger.
It would be, if you were just
serving this to a few people.
But since we have so many
scythers out there,
we're going to need this much.
Grate this on the big part
of your box grater.
The next ingredient is honey.
We're using a buckwheat honey,
because it has a similar taste
to molasses, which is also used
in switchel.
But I thought since we're here
and we have so many wonderful
beekeepers in the state,
we should probably substitute
with honey.
It's important to find a
beekeeper in your area, because
those bees are harvesting
the pollen in your area.
If your eating that honey,
it might also help you lessen
the allergies.
So, two cups of honey.
Now that I've got the honey
and the ginger incorporated,
I'm just going to add two cups
of apple cider vinegar.
Now just add two gallons
of water, and that's it.
All the farm workers
used to like drinking switchel
during the temperance movement,
because the vinegar had the
same kind of bite as alcohol.
They couldn't drink alcohol,
so they liked the switchel.
Now when you're ready to take it
out to all your haymakers,
or your party guests, or whoever
you're going to serve it to,
you want to do it ice cold.
Since I have some strawberries
that I had in the garden,
I'm going to just going to put
a few in here, just to make it
pretty and fun, and let
everybody know that I'm thankful
for all their hard work
out there.
Mmm, that's really good.
All right, let me get some more
and we'll take it out
to the haymakers.
Rhubarb pie is a tradition
in my family
at the end of haymaking.
It was one of those things that
my mother always brought out
to the workers after all the hay
was in the barn.
We could celebrate with a slice
of pie and relax and kick back.
I'm carrying on that tradition
on my own farm here.
I'm adding in a new tradition
by adding some jam in.
My mother-in-law
did it the other day
while we were at a picnic.
She had a rhubarb with some jam,
it was like a little crumble,
or something.
I thought, hey, that's a
fantastic way to add extra fruit
to your rhubarb.
If you don't have that fruit
fresh right away,
if it's not the season for it,
why not add jam?
So I'm experimenting
with adding jam.
So far, it's turned out
pretty well.
You'll need six cups of rhubarb.
That's about 1-3/4 pounds,
if you're going to weigh it out
before you cut it.
You cut that into 1/2" pieces.
To the rhubarb, I'm going to add
six tablespoons of flour.
That's going to thicken it up.
A good hefty pinch of salt,
and then I'm going to add
a whole jar of jam.
Add one cup of sugar
to the rhubarb mixture,
incorporate that.
Save 1/2-cup, we're going to
use that a little bit later on.
We're ready to start
rolling out our pie shell.
You can use whatever pie crust
is your favorite.
I do a double crust
for a 9" pie.
That's about what you're going
to need.
I use a pate brisee,
which is a lot of butter.
I love butter so it works
good for me, and it turns out
nice and flaky.
It's a really simply pie crust.
I've had this chilled
in the refrigerator for about
30 minutes, just so it can
kind of firm up.
You're going to roll
your pie dough out to be about
1/8" thick.
That's where you get
the flakiness.
I roll my pie dough out
in between some waxed paper.
It just kind of helps me
work with the dough
a little bit better
to hold it together.
Okay, I'm just going to
leave that overhang.
Cover it back up
with the waxed paper.
I'm going to put this
back in the fridge
while I roll out the top dough.
There's something about rolling
out pie dough in the middle of
summer, and you see the flowers
outside and everything's
starting to bloom.
It just feels like it's exactly
what you're supposed to be doing
in the summertime on your farm
when your berries are ripening.
We're going to make
our lattice top for the pie.
There we go.
Here we go.
Then back on the pan this goes.
Here's a little trick
that I learned recently.
Put a little bit of your sugar,
maybe 1/2 cup or so,
we have 1-1/2 cups of sugar.
Try for about 1/2 cup
on the bottom of your pie crust.
When that cooks,
it's going to caramelize.
It's going to keep the dough
nice and flaky
without getting soggy.
You know how pie dough
gets soggy.
We'll bring our beautiful
rhubarb mixture back.
To my rhubarb mixture,
I'm going to zest an orange.
The orange is just going to add
a nice little bit of flavor.
A little fresh zest
is always good.
I always think of rhubarb
as this humble pie plant
that's found
in every Midwestern backyard.
But really,
it originated in China,
and it was used for the root.
The root was kind of a cure-all.
It was a digestive, it was
the Pepto-Bismol of the day,
and it was prized.
It was one of the most important
things that came over
on the Silk Road.
China basically had a monopoly
on it.
It was a very important plant.
It wasn't until plantations
started producing sugar that
we started using the stalks.
No one could really eat it,
it was so sour.
But as soon as we had sugar,
then we started realizing
that the stalks were wonderful
for pie.
That's how it became known
as the pie plant.
Now this is the fun part.
Put one of our long pieces
right down the middle.
With our other long piece,
we're just making an X,
then over, under.
Great, ooh, it looks good, okay.
Then we're just going to cut
around the base here.
After you get it crimped,
you just do a little egg wash.
I just have one egg here that
I just beat up a little bit,
like the egg yolk part,
to put on the shell,
the beautiful lattice.
Here's the most important thing
you need to know
about making a pie.
I've made the mistake once
of putting a pie in the oven
without anything underneath.
It took me the next day
to clean out the oven.
It only takes one time
to learn that for me!
I put my pie on a cookie sheet
with a piece of parchment
underneath.
That way it's easy, easy
clean up.
I have the oven preheated
to 450 right now.
I'm going to turn it down to 375
when I put the pie in.
I'll cook that pie for an hour
or an hour and a half,
take it out,
let it cool for a little bit,
and then serve it
to my farming friends.
I hope the sun always shines
when you're making hay.
And I hope you gather with us
next time
Around the Farm Table.
I'm your host, Inga Witscher.