[load ticking]
[alarm clock rings]
[bleating sheep]
>> Oh, I must've fallen asleep
counting sheep.
I'm down here
in Westby, Wisconsin,
at Hidden Springs Creamery.
I'm going to help out
Brenda and Dean around the farm.
I'm also planning on making
breakfast for the young couple
that's staying at their
on-farm bed and breakfast.
I'm going to use some of this
wonderful cheese that's made
right here from these wonderful
sheep, and then I'm going to
head over to Driftless Organics
for some sunflower oil.
Gather with us,
Around the Farm Table.
I'm your host, Inga Witscher.
>> 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.
>> Oh! Good morning!
>> Sorry I'm late.
>> No problem.
>> Listen, I want to give you
guys a hand.
You guys go off and have a
wonderful 25th wedding
anniversary celebration.
How does that sound?
>> Great, I'm looking forward to
it.
Let's go.
>> So, your milking parlor is
here, the creamery is here.
How do you get the milk back and
forth?
>> We gravity flow the milk.
There's no pumps.
We want to be very careful with
that milk.
We have this special
high-quality sheep milk.
We wanted to very gently gravity
flow it into the tank.
We bring it over to the
receiving area, and then we
gravity flow it down into that
vat.
>> That's very special that
you're doing this on your farm.
I suppose that's what makes it
artisan cheese.
It is.
It's time consuming.
More time consuming, but we
really feel that that's going to
only be reflected in the cheese.
>> We got rid of our pipeline
for our little dairy herd,
because we're going to start
making a few batches of cheese,
and we're pouring the milk into
tanks.
You can see that that's staying
together.
It's not getting stuck to the
pipes, and things like that.
It's an amazing difference.
>> It is.
>> Tell me a little bit more
about your caves.
>> Well, we have two 8' by 10'
caves.
They're about 22 feet below
ground.
We have those there, because we
want that constant temperature
and high humidity.
We want to run at about 95%-98%
humidity in those caves.
Specific to those cheeses, we're
trying to grow mold on those
cheeses down there.
>> You talked about washing your
cheeses, and washing the rinds.
What are you using to wash the
rinds with?
>> We're using B. Linen and a
little bit of salt in that brine
and water in that brine.
>> That just helps add flavor to
the cheese, or is it just
protecting that outer layer of
the cheese?
>> It's actually adding flavor.
That cheese is really aging from
the outside of that rind in, so
when you taste that cheese, the
closer to the rind that you're
tasting it, is the more flavor
that you're going to have.
That rind is edible.
>> How many different varieties
of cheese are you doing right
now?
>> We are doing seven cheeses,
and I'll be trying two new
cheeses at the end of the week.
>> Wow.
>> Yeah, we're expanding.
We're in really a growth period.
Every year, we grow about
a hundred sheep,
and one new person.
>> I've been using some of your
soft cheeses a lot.
I'm hoping to use more of an
aged cheese that I can use in
the Swiss chard tart that I'll
be making.
>> We do have the Bad Axe.
It's aged about three to six
months.
It's our perfect melting cheese.
We also have some hard cheeses.
We have the Ocooch Mountain,
which is a raw milk.
It's aged in our underground
caves.
It has that washed rind
that we age down there.
That's aged about six months.
Then we've got our mixed milk,
which is our Meadow Melody.
That cheese, we only do at the
beginning of the season, when we
just start out with the milk,
with the sheep milk, so we'll
bring in some cow milk.
Then we do it at the end of the
season, when we're running low
on sheep milk again, because the
best cheese is made with the
freshest milk.
>> How many pounds of cheese,
roughly, would you say you make
a year?
>> We're at about 1000 pounds a
week.
>> Wow.
>> Typically, it's about eight
months.
We do sell some of the milk
also.
>> That's a lot of cheese.
>> It is.
We sell the weekend milk, so we
can not have to make cheese on
the weekends.
>> That's a great idea.
>> It works out really well for
us.
>> I think it's wonderful that
you're doing all these things,
and you really have a passion
for doing it.
Let's get started milking, and
we can get you on your way to
having a wonderful afternoon.
>> Okay.
>> I call myself a dairy farmer.
Are you a dairy farmer, as well,
because you're producing dairy,
right?
>> Yeah, I think I've been
called a couple things, but
I think that the crazy
sheep farmer was probably one.
But we are dairy.
We are producing milk, so it's
not just the dairy state of cow
milk.
We are producing sheep milk,
which is a dairy.
We do tell people it's sheep,
and they say,
you can't milk a sheep,
and I say, now you tell me.
But these are East Friesian,
which is a German breed,
and Lacaune, which is a French
breed.
They're actually dairy sheep.
We milk them in a parlor
twice a day.
>> Every 12 hours, is that...?
>> Yep.
[sheep bleating]
>> How much milk do sheep
produce?
>> They'll produce on average
about four pounds a day.
>> Wow, how long is their
lactation?
>> Well, we're trying to work
that out, but usually about
eight months.
>> Oh, okay.
Nice, and then you dry them up,
just like you would a cow?
>> We do.
We're trying to stagger our
lactation and start some early
and then continue on, so our
goal would be to milk year
round.
>> You know what you can do to
help that?
What I just did this year, is
I'm trying to breed so all my
cows will calve in the same
month.
And now, they're all spread out!
>> Oh, I see!
[laughs]
>> So if you just try to get
them all bred in one month, then
you'll have them all spread out.
>> Yeah, that's the way to do
it!
>> I met up with Brenda's
husband, Dean, to get trained
in on mowing pastures with their
Percheron horses.
During the grazing season, Dean
uses horses and a sickle mower
to keep the weeds down in their
pasture.
In the winter, he uses the
horses to move large bales of
hay out to the sheep.
He's even used them a time or
two to pull a car out of the
snowy Wisconsin winter.
Now that the farm work's done,
I'm going to take off to
Driftless Organics to pick up
the sunflower oil to use in the
crust for the Swiss chard tart.
Come along.
I'm completely lost.
I've got to find somebody.
Excuse me!
Excuse me, I'm really lost.
>> Yeah, I can tell.
[laughs]
>> Excuse me.
I'm sorry, I don't mean to
interrupt you.
>> No, you're all right.
>> My name is Inga.
>> My name is Nick.
>> Nice to meet you, Nick.
I'm looking for Driftless
Organics.
I hope I'm close.
>> Yeah, Driftless Organics is
just up that way about three or
four miles.
>> Okay, good.
I'm sure you're probably having
a great day fishing, until I
jumped in the water.
[both laugh]
Have you caught anything?
>> I did, a couple of brown
trout.
That's what's most common
in here.
There are some native brook
trout.
>> I was kind of surprised to
see you out here.
I'm not from Wisconsin
originally.
I never thought of Wisconsin as
being a fly fishing place.
>> This area is called the
Driftless Area, because it never
was glaciated.
That natural topography caused
all these streams.
There's Copper Creek, which is
about three or four miles south
of here, and Rush Creek, about
three or four miles north.
>> What kind of flies do you
use?
>> This one's called
a Pink Squirrel.
It was invented by a professor
at UW-L.
This one is a Hellgrammite
pattern that my neighbor ties.
They work.
>> It's probably not so good if
random people come and get in
the stream with you, and start
talking and creating, you know,
chaos.
>> Well, when they're good
looking women like yourself,
it's okay.
>> Hey, you're my kind of guy!
[both laugh]
[rings bicycle bell]
>> Thanks!
>> Bye-bye.
>> Hi, Josh.
>> Hey, Inga.
Did you get lost?
>> I did.
I always think I know how to get
here, but I never do.
>> Yeah, the roads aren't that
straight around here.
>> But I saw the bathtub, and
I knew I was getting close.
>> Yep, that's a good marker.
>> I never would've thought
there would be sunflowers
growing for oil production in
Wisconsin.
>> People that cook on a daily
basis use oil, and it's used in
almost all cooking, so it's real
nice to have the oil for sure.
It seemed like right around when
I got started, there was three
or four other operations that
kind of got going, and they're
doing this kind of small scale
oil pressing and bottling in
Wisconsin, and also in
Minnesota, too.
>> When did you start growing
sunflowers?
>> We started in 2007.
We had about seven acres down in
the valley.
About half or two-thirds of them
got flooded out, but we ended up
with a few at the end.
>> That's good.
What kind of a crop rotation
would you do?
I think I see some buckwheat
coming up through.
Did you have buckwheat here
before?
>> Yeah, last year, most of this
farm was in fallow, and then it
was cover cropped with buckwheat
during the summer.
So, a cover crop every four or
five years, and this kind of got
double cover crop last year.
We're trying to build this one
up a little more.
Then the other rotations are
corn, rye, wheat, and sometimes
a little buckwheat,
we'll grow for seed.
>> So, you're doing it to build
soil.
When you're moving all those
different crops, what does that
do?
Is it just kind of, you're
keeping ahead of the bugs?
>> The sunflowers, obviously,
are our cash cow in the
rotation, then corn is like this
kind of, the last couple of
years, organic corn has kind of
risen up, and that's kind of a
filler cash cow.
It's not, philosophically,
it's not something
I like to grow a lot.
It's a heavy feeder and kind of
a little harder on the ground.
>> Tell me a little bit about
Driftless Organics.
What are you guys doing here?
>> Driftless Organics is a
partnership between my brother
Noah and another friend,
Mike Lind.
The three of us run operations
on a day-to-day basis.
We're growing 40 acres of
produce, fresh produce for the
fresh market.
About half of our product goes
into the CSA, which stands for
Community Supported Agriculture.
Then the other half gets sold
to food co-ops and a few
wholesalers and retail stores.
>> I have to ask you this,
because I know you grew up on a
dairy farm.
Why didn't you want to dairy
farm?
Why did you want to go into
vegetable production?
>> That's a good question.
When we were little on the dairy
farm, our mom got us started
with growing some different
colored specialty potatoes.
She always had a giant garden,
and still does, actually, and
got us a spot at the Dane County
Farmer's Market.
So we always kind of did that
through grade school
and high school.
I don't know, I guess after
milking cows every morning at
5:00 before high school,
I just got kind of...
>> Burnt out.
>> You know, I was smarter back
then in high school and thought
maybe I should not do this,
because I don't like it.
[both laugh]
>> When I first moved to
Wisconsin, I wanted to grow
vegetables.
When I was really thinking about
it, my dad said I should get
some cows, so you can help
cash flow the vegetables, and
now I'm milking cows full-time.
Some days, I wish I would've
gone more vegetables and
less cows, but it's nice.
>> I do miss the cows and the
fact that they were, they
really, from the dynamic of a
sustainable farm, they really
add a key element with the whole
compost and manure, and making a
full circle of the ingredient
list, so to speak.
>> Yeah, I have a friend with a
CSA up north, and he's putting a
herd of dairy cows to help with
getting that fertility in there,
and things, because that's a lot
of money to be trucking in
organic fertilizer.
>> Right, right.
>> So it's nice to have that
kind of around.
Do you mind, can you show me
around a little bit since I'm
here?
>> Sure.
Why don't we throw your bike in
the truck, and we can go give
you a little tour.
>> Otherwise, you can ride on my
handlebars.
>> Uh...
>> We'll take the truck.
>> Yeah, the truck's good.
>> So this is it.
>> Yeah, this is a 1961.
I bought it at an auction.
>> This is just for the
sunflower seeds?
>> We clean wheat and rye seed
and sometimes barley oats.
>> I've met a couple people
cleaning their own seeds, and it
seems like they all have the
Clipper, and like these retro
models.
Is that because they're not
making something nowadays for an
operation of this size?
>> Well, these were in almost
every old feed mill and every
grain elevator across the
Midwest in the prairie, you
know, back in the '50s and '60s,
had a machine like this.
So, some of them are still
sitting out there.
They cost, for $2,000 to $5,000,
you can pick up an old machine
like this.
>> That's not bad.
>> They work pretty good,
especially if they're in decent
shape.
You can clean.
>> Can you still find parts for
them?
>> Yeah, you can get parts from
a company.
They're still in business.
As you can see, most of it is
just oak, so any of the wood
stuff, you can just make
yourself or have somebody make
it who's in the woodworking
business.
>> Yeah, so how do you get in
the seed in here?
>> There's big fans up on top.
This one has an extra.
Not all of them are like this,
but it has fans on top that suck
the light stuff off.
Then it comes down, and there's
three sets of screens over here.
It sifts through the top two,
and the bottom one is a
scalper, and the little dust
falls through the bottom.
The good seed goes off the
bottom one and goes down through
another fan and up this bucket
elevator you see here.
We've been trying to save
green bean seed, and we'll
probably do that this year.
>> Does it save you a lot of
money being able to save seeds,
or is it, with all the work,
not really getting ahead?
>> Well, the whole thing about
saving seed, and we do save the
garlic seed too, the whole seed
thing for vegetables is getting
seed that's, you know, clean and
disease free.
Like if we have weather like we
have right now, where it's, you
know, mild and not humid all
year, it'd be fine, but we get
so much moisture here, and
it's so humid in Wisconsin,
a lot of disease thrives.
It's traditionally not a very
good vegetable growing region.
We do things that are easy, like
beans.
They don't cross pollinate
very easily.
They're readily combinable with
the machines we have.
We haven't had a lot of disease
trouble with them.
>> They must have to come in
with like a semi load.
>> No, a 50-pound bag of carrot
seed will plant a lot of
carrots.
[both laugh]
>> Do you have to kind of really
take care of how you're storing
that seed before you plant it?
What time of year do you get
them?
>> We order all our seed,
anywhere from the middle of
December on.
We're ordering stuff earlier and
earlier, because some seed types
are hard to get.
>> Whenever, like my seeds,
you know, I just have a small
vegetable garden, but when they
come in the spring, I'm always
like so excited.
I take everything outside and I
start planting.
Then I start doing something
else and I leave them all out
there for like four rains,
you know.
>> Oh, yeah.
>> They're like germinating.
Ah!
What a waste!
>> We do have, we have a whole
room in our office that's
dedicated to a seed room.
Then, for like a crop in bulk
seed, we have big bins and
stuff that we hold it in.
We have semis dedicated, that
have refrigerated units
dedicated for holding potato
seed in the spring.
>> When you're figuring out what
you want to plant, what are you
basing it off of?
>> Basically, we're tying to
get 8-12 different crops every
week for 20 weeks in that box,
so we're planting around a
schedule of what we have
planted, what we've seen on
other farms.
>> Let's go take a look at some
vegetables.
>> Okay, that sounds good.
>> Swiss chard tart is my go-to
favorite recipe of the
summertime.
It's easy to make, and it's
really satisfying.
To start with, I'm going to make
a crust that's very easy.
It's just flour, some sunflower
oil and some milk.
I've got my flour already in
here, and a little bit of salt.
I don't want to forget the salt,
just a sprinkle.
So, let's do a 1/2 cup of the
sunflower oil.
That's about a 1/2 cup there.
Just add that right to your
flour.
Then about 1/3 cup of cream
or whole milk.
I always like to use whole milk,
or cream if you don't have
whole milk.
There we go, that's a little bit
more than I need, probably.
You just whisk it up.
You're just going to whisk this
together until it forms a dough.
This is nice and easy.
You don't have to kind of fiddle
with making sure your butter's
cold and making sure your crust
is going to be perfect.
This is kind of a really easy,
fast way to do it.
Now I've got all that mixed
together.
I'm going to put that into
a 10" pie pan.
Have fun with it, squeeze it in.
Use your heels.
Good to go.
Then take a fork and just pierce
the bottom.
We're going to cook this for
about ten minutes before we add
our filling.
That will give us just enough
time to make our filling.
Pop it in the oven at 425
degrees, for like I said, about
ten or 12 minutes, until it
kind of starts to get brown.
Now, for the Swiss chard tart.
Take one onion.
You're going to dice your onion.
About two cloves of garlic.
I'm going to, well, I want to
add three, but I probably won't,
because I don't want to scare
them off.
But I always like to add more
garlic than the recipe calls
for.
I found this recipe, I've been
making it for years, I found it
in my mother's Joy of Cooking
cookbook.
So then for Christmas one year,
she gave me my own
Joy of Cooking , but it was a
different year than the one she
had, because they come out with
a new Joy of Cooking every
couple of years, and the recipe
was different.
So I had to go get the recipe
again from her, so I can use it
all the time.
So, two cloves of garlic.
You're going to mince these up.
Now it's time for
the Swiss chard.
I brought this with me from my
garden.
I love growing Swiss chard,
because it's so beautiful.
I actually grow it in with my
flowers.
The stalks are just absolutely
gorgeous.
This variety is called
Rainbow Chard, and this is what
I suggest getting.
So, I'm going to have to cook
the stalks separate from the
leaves, because the stalks are
going to cook a little bit
slower.
I'm going to hack these off.
Look at how pretty these colors
are.
I'll get them in some sort of a
medley here.
Then just chop these up.
Look at those pretty colors.
I just love that.
Set those off to the side.
Then I'm just going to slice up
the greens.
Now that I have my ingredients
all set out, I'm going to sauté
up the onions.
I'm going to use the sunflower
oil again.
This is a great oil, because
it's very versatile.
I can use it in a salad
dressing.
I can use it to sauté up my
vegetables, and I used it in my
crust.
I'm really happy that there's
people in Wisconsin doing
sunflower oil.
So, add about a tablespoon.
Let me see if I can get this
sautéing.
Now I'm going to add my stalks.
They're going to take a few
minutes here.
Okay, let's put the Swiss chard
in.
I probably don't need all of
this.
You want to put your garlic in
last, so it still has that
flavor.
Now we're just going to cook it
for a second, just so that
garlic flavor can come out.
I'm going to season it as well
with red pepper flakes,
just a few.
The crust is done, and I'm going
to pull that out.
I'm going to cook it more, but I
just wanted to get it started.
There we go.
Now for the filling.
We have a hired man, Craig,
milking the cows for us today,
because I came down here and
didn't have time to milk.
He brought me some beautiful
eggs from his mom's chickens
before he left.
I just thought that was so sweet
of him.
I'm going to use three of the
beautiful eggs that he brought.
I've got my eggs in there.
Now I'm going to use some of
Brenda's beautiful washed rind
cheese as my filling here.
I'm just going to grind up the
whole thing.
She said that the rind is
edible, and that's where most of
the flavor is, so I'm going to
make sure that I add that.
You need a cup of cheese
to add to this dish.
So, by all means, if you have a
lovely creamery next door, go
ask them for a wedge of cheese.
Okay, add your cheese right to
the eggs.
I also got some basil before I
left the house.
Basil is going to be our herb
that we're going to use.
Oh, it smells so good.
It smells like summer.
Whip that all together.
You want to get the eggs
nice and mixed up.
Okay, now that our Swiss chard
has cooled a little bit, I'm
going to add that right to my
egg mixture.
I probably made too much Swiss
chard, like I always do, but if
you do, you can always save it
and use it for something else.
It would make a great filling
for like a ravioli, or
something, too.
Just toss that a bit.
Put that right in your shell.
What I like to do to finish it
off is I just put some
pistachios right in my little
mortar and pestle and chop them
up a little bit, grind them up.
Okay, and add these right to the
top.
I always like the little bit of
color.
I like the little bit of crunch.
It's just fun.
I love making this tart.
I love Swiss chard.
When I first met my husband, I
knew he was the one when he said
his favorite vegetable
was Swiss chard.
Before that, I wasn't completely
sure, but after that, I said,
all right, now I can marry this
guy.
Pop this in the oven at 325
degrees for about 25 minutes,
and then it should be done.
Serve the Swiss chard tart
with seasonal fruit and garnish
with basil.
There you go.
>> Thank you.
>> Join us next time,
Around the Farm Table.
I'm your host, Inga Witscher.
Enjoy.
>> Thanks.
>> Thank you.