>> Funding for
Around the Farm Table
is provided in part by
Wisconsin Farmers Union,
a member driven organization
for family farmers, rural
communities and all people.
Wisconsin Farmers Union, united
to grow family agriculture.
Information at
WisconsinFarmersUnion.com.
[bear growling]
[munching sounds]
[bear growling]
[zipper hisses]
>> Good morning.
Joe and I are finally on
vacation.
It's tough to go on vacation as
a dairy farmer, but luckily we
have a wonderful hired man
at home.
You really have to trust
somebody to be able to leave
them with your cows.
I think that Craig is a most
trustworthy person.
I know my friend, Sam Thayer,
lives up here.
He's a wild food expert.
I'm hoping that he can teach me
about a few plants up in
this area.
And also I hear that there's a
sheep milk dairy that does
sheep's milk gelato.
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.
[water splashes]
[geese honk]
>> Boy, this is like a
never-ending lake.
I hope I get to the other side.
* *
I made it all the way here and
I didn't even need a compass.
* *
Hi, Sam.
>> Hi, Inga.
>> Hey, I was hoping you were
going to be out here.
It's nice to see you.
Oh, sorry.
>> I've got a handful of
stitchwort here, that's why I
had to switch to shake hands.
>> What is stitchwort?
>> It's a native chickweed and
it's perennial.
Sometimes there's also called
starwort because they have these
little, white, star-like
flowers.
>> Okay.
>> We're a little bit past the
prime here, but these tips are
still good.
They taste like corn silk.
You almost certainly have it in
your pasture, and they're all
edible.
>> What would you do with it?
>> You know, it's a nice
salad green.
We get it in our garden and in
our orchard, and I use it early
in the season.
I'll snip off the plants when
they're about that tall and use
them in salad.
>> Oh, nice.
It almost has like a sweet pea
flavor.
Do you know what I mean?
>> Yeah, yeah.
>> What's kind of the best time
to be foraging?
>> It really depends on what you
want to forage for.
So you know, starting in early
July is berry season.
Early summer is kind of an
off-time.
In the early summer I look for
disturbed areas like the edge of
farm fields, garden weeds,
personally.
>> Okay.
>> Black nightshade, the berries
and the greens, lambs' quarters.
And wetlands are real good in
the early summer,
cattail marshes.
The neat thing about cattail is
that anytime of you that you
have cattails there's something
to eat on it.
>> Really?
>> This time of year you could
eat the base of the stalks.
You pull it up carefully out of
the mud and peel off the outer
layers, then you have this
tender vegetable.
It's kind of like the bottom
of a leek.
>> Okay.
>> You would identify the tender
part in the same way as you
would with an old leek, you
know, you peel off the outer
tough layer.
You can use that raw or you can
use it cooked.
It's just a mild, some people
say it's got a little
cucumber-like flavor.
>> Well, let's keep moving and
foraging, because these
mosquitos, I think they've
already got three-and-a-half
pints of blood so far.
I'm probably going to pass
out soon.
* *
>> You know, the interesting
this is that this field has got
the indicators of poor soil.
So you see oxide daisy, that's
an indictor of poor soil,
orange hawkweed, there's
wild strawberry.
The fun thing about foraging is
even kind of what is poor for
agriculture sometimes is great
for foraging.
Oxide daisy, now this isn't
something that you'd make your
whole meal out of, but these
leaves, try that.
It's just an interesting flavor.
>> Oh, it is nice.
>> Almost everybody likes it and
nobody knows how to describe it.
Some people say it's like mint
and some people say, no, it's
like arugula.
>> I was going to say it tastes
like salmon.
I don't know why, but that's the
first thing I got.
>> Some people say it tastes
like carrots.
It's so exciting to follow
the seasons.
I don't want to worry about
something is not in season and
try to force it to be in season.
Some things are meant to keep
and some things are just
for a week.
And I like it that way.
There's so many different things
to try.
You can't even hit all the
seasons that go by in a year.
Even winter, a lot of people
say, well, what do you do as a
forager in the winter?
And I tell them, you don't
understand, winter is when you
process all the stuff you
collected in the fall.
So we make hazelnut milk.
We collect hazelnuts like crazy
in early September, and then in
the winter every Packer game, we
listen to it on the radio so
we're not distracted.
We shell hazelnut so we can have
hazel milk all winter long.
>> Wow.
Is there a lot of wild hazelnuts
around?
>> There's tons of wild
hazelnuts around.
In fact, I had a friend that
came from Maine and he said, so
Wisconsin is to hazelnuts what
Maine is to blueberries.
>> Oh, my goodness.
>> I mean, there are thousands
of acres of hazelnut in northern
Wisconsin, literally thousands
of acres.
You could park a pickup truck
and never go more than a hundred
yards from it and fill the
pickup truck easily.
You could do that in any of
millions of locations.
>> What's the best way to learn
to forage?
Just reading books,
going to seminars?
Is that--
Because you really have to get
the experience hands-on.
>> I would say, any way you can.
But the most important advice I
can give people is one plant
at a time.
You'll never pick up a banana
and say, is this really
a banana?
So when you're that confident
about any plant, you can eat it.
You don't learn to forage as a
skill, you learn each plant
as a skill.
So if you can grow tomatoes in
your garden, that doesn't help
you grow apples very much.
They're two different skills.
Foraging is the same way.
>> Okay.
>> So you know, you learned
oxide daisy today.
Now, if you can remember that
with total confidence when you
see that in your back yard, then
you can pick oxide daisy.
If you learn five plants in a
summer, in four years you're
going to know 20 plants.
And that's pretty good.
* *
We've got some really nice
milkweed here.
This is a little bit late to
pick the milkweed tops.
>> Yeah, can I look at it?
>> You can't pick the whole
shot, but you can pick whatever
part is tender.
But after the leaves are done
you can take the flower buds,
and after those are done you can
take the young pods.
>> That's nice.
>> So it's a multifaceted
vegetable.
And you know it's tender, it's
like asparagus.
You bend it and it snaps.
You have to bend it just a
little bit more than asparagus.
>> What it all the stuff that
comes out of the bottom?
>> This is the latex.
That's how the plant heals it's
wounds, like when a monarch
caterpillar eats it, it'll heal
it's wounds with that.
Now, there are several species
of milkweed, but this, the
common milkweed, what most
people think of as milkweed,
this is the edible one.
It's a real good vegetable.
It should be eaten cooked.
It tastes a lot like
green beans.
That's what I say.
Some people say asparagus, but I
think that they're confusing the
shape with the flavor.
>> Yeah.
>> So I start harvesting
milkweed when the maple leaves
get glossy.
That's about when the milkweed
comes up.
>> Okay.
>> So you've got about a
three-week window.
>> Okay.
You know, I've heard from a lot
of people they think milkweed
that say, oh, it's not edible.
It's poisonous.
That's what I've heard people
say, but it's not.
That's a myth, right?
>> Well, you know, there's
several species and some of them
are poisonous.
>> Ohh!
>> But this one, the common
milkweed, is not.
It does have kind of a meat
tenderizing principle that
actually people say not to eat
it raw.
It gives some people an upset
stomach.
I've never had that happen.
As a cooked vegetable it's been
eaten by every Native American
tribe in eastern North America.
>> And you can just steam it or
whatever, or saute it or
something?
>> Usually we boil it like
asparagus, or stream it like
asparagus and eat it that way.
These tops are ideal.
Wherever it bends it's going to
break easy, that's the spot.
>> And are these a sign of
good soils?
>> You know, they grow on just
about in any type of soil, but
they do grow more robust like
this on good soil like we
have here.
>> Is there anything else, like
wild rice, that's only found in
the Midwest?
>> Vegetatively there's very
little that separates the
Midwest from the Northeast.
>> Oh, okay.
>> It changes a lot more across
Minnesota than from Minnesota to
the East Coast, because you
change from forest to prairie in
Minnesota.
Whereas from Minnesota to the
East Coast it's forest ecosystem
all the way.
>> I took the leaves off.
That's okay?
>> Yeah, you know what?
I usually take all the leaves
off except for the little ones
at the tip also.
I like that, because that shows
me that you have culinary
sensibility.
>> Oh, thank you.
>> Some people yell at me for
throwing the leaves away.
>> That's the first time that
anyone's ever said that I have
culinary sensibility.
>> Well, I presumed it without
even having tasted anything
you've ever cooked.
But to understand that it's okay
to throw away and compost part
of a food plant to me is at
least the beginnings of culinary
sensibility.
>> I'm on the way.
So if it wasn't so late in the
season you would harvest this
entire plant.
>> Well, all the part that's
tender, yeah.
Earlier you pick it at the base,
and it's a lot like asparagus in
that sense.
>> All right, Sam, it's always
great running into you in the
middle of a meadow.
I think we should do this more
often.
>> Definitely.
>> And thanks for getting me
some ingredients for my little
feast I'm making.
>> Hey, no problem.
You should take these.
>> Awesome.
Have a great day.
>> You too.
* *
[labored breathing]
>> I sure wish I would have
brought a compass.
Oh, here we go.
Which way's north?
* Call the -- *
* Call them where *
* The heather grow *
* Call them where *
* The burning -- *
* My bonny dear *
* *
[sheep bleating]
* *
* Hark, the -- *
* *
* Sounding -- *
* And the folding *
* Letters gay *
* My bonny deary *
* My bonny dear *
* *
>> Wow, that's beautiful.
I was lost and I heard this
wonderful music coming
throughout the meadows, and I
smelled that familiar barn
smell.
I feel like I'm not lost
anymore.
>> No, you're not.
>> My name's Inga.
>> Inga, I'm Laura Berlage
from Northstar Homestead Farms.
>> Nice to meet you.
Hi.
>> Hi, I'm Tom Draghon
from Heartistry Music.
>> Nice to meet you.
What a beautiful place to
practice.
I noticed you have some sheep.
This is beautiful.
>> Yes, come on over ladies!
I'll introduce you to the
family.
>> I'm Kara.
>> I'm Inga.
Nice to meet you.
>> Nice to meet you.
>> The shepherdesses.
>> Ann.
>> Nice to meet you, Ann.
I'm Inga.
What kind of sheep are these?
>> They're dairy sheep.
We have crossbreeds, we have a
lot of different genetics.
>> I heard something
about gelato.
>> Absolutely, that's what we
make our sheep's milk into.
>> Let's show Inga around the
farm and then we'll stop out at
the shop and get some gelato.
>> There we go.
>> Fantastic.
Wonderful, thanks ladies.
* *
What is this going on over here?
You guys have a little bit of
everything happening.
>> Yes, this is our greenhouse.
In there we have an
aquaponics unit.
We raise fish, and that simbolic
relationship raises plants, so
year round we have produce.
The nutrient-dense water from
the fish goes to some
clarifiers, goes out to the
plants, which cleans it
thoroughly and it comes back
around to the fish.
>> Wow.
So how many members CSA do
you have?
>> We have about 50 members, but
we allow them to pick and choose
the dates, which gives them a
lot more flexibility.
And we go year round.
>> So you're doing the CSA,
you're doing sheep's milk
gelato, and I think I heard a
pig out there somewhere.
>> Yeah, we graze
Cooney Cooney pigs.
>> Cooney Cooney pigs, I've
never heard of them.
>> Yeah, they're a particular
breed from New Zealand.
They're a lot smaller, they have
these cute little waddles under
their chins, and they have a
really short nose.
They need very low protein and
they love grass.
When they're out grazing then
sound like sheep, a cow.
You know, just rip, rip, rip.
And the refuse to eat anything
else if they've got a
lush pasture.
These pigs are smaller, they
have these great personalities,
they're really fun to work with.
Right now we have two litters up
at the barn, and the mothers are
just so laid back.
It's wonderful.
>> Nice, nice.
* *
[turkeys gobble]
[sheep bleat]
>> I'm just assuming, since
we're so far up north, you must
have to deal with predators on a
daily basis with having all the
sheep and the flock of chicken
and everything like that.
>> Yeah, we certainly do.
We have--
This is Half-Pint, by the way.
>> Cute name.
>> We have a very high predator
load up here, primarily wolves,
but also coyotes, bear, we do
have a few cougar once in
a while.
>> That keeps life exciting.
>> Yeah, there you go.
But we're all about prevention,
so all the sheep get locked in
the barn at night, lots of
different types of electric
fencing, and then we also have a
guard donkey.
So just extra layers just to
keep them at bay, so that lamb
chop is never on the menu.
>> How many generations has this
farm been in your family?
>> It was purchased by my
parents in 1968 as a retreat or
a getaway.
It was actually my daughters
that wanted to return it to a
working farm.
Three generations work here on
occasion, but really it's their
project.
>> Nice.
You must be so proud of them.
This is just such a
beautiful farm.
>> Why, thank you.
>> I've got a question, because
you don't hear about a lot of
people doing gelato in the
United States, especially with
sheep milk.
How did you come across the idea
to do something like that?
>> Yeah, it's a great question.
Well, I wanted to start milking
sheep and I started to look
into, what can I do with the
milk?
So I started looking
into cheese.
I did a couple of internships at
some cheese plants, and I
decided that being in a cheese
cave was not something I wanted
to do the rest of my life.
So I started to look at what
else I could do.
Ice cream actually was the first
step of the journey.
I started looking into more.
The more I researched it the
more I realized that gelato
actually is more suitable
because gelato has a butterfat
content between 6% to 8%.
To be labeled as ice cream you
have to have a butterfat content
between 12% and 16%.
>> Oh, wow.
>> Yeah.
So sheep's milk has a butterfat
content between 6% to 8%.
>> Well, I'd like to taste some
of this gelato if I could.
>> All right.
[chickens cluck]
* *
>> Hey, it's the harpist turned
farmer, right?
>> How was the farm tour?
>> It was just beautiful.
You guys have such an amazing
space.
What is it like going from just
farming full time, which is
already a full-time job, to now
being in customer service and
having a store?
>> We wanted to put a face to
your food.
The store gives us a place to do
that in an official type of way.
You can come in and you can shop
for our grass-fed meats, you can
get Kara's gelato, and also
greens from the aquaponics or
from the garden.
But you can also access other
local foods from other farms.
So instead of jumping from this
place to this place to this
place, we're creating a hub in
our county for people to come
and access the best of local
foods.
>> Well, I would love to taste a
little bit of the farm with the
gelato.
Is there any chance I could?
>> Vanilla or raspberry fudge?
>> Ooh, which is your most
favorite?
>> Fresh raspberries and
homemade caramel sauce and fudge
sauce, and all these great
combinations of things.
It's a lot of fun and it's all
fresh, all natural on the farm.
>> You know, we've started
making our own cheese.
Now I'm thinking we went
entirely the wrong direction.
Because just imagine if we were
making beautiful ice creams or
gelatos we could just be having
right away.
>> Not copycatting me.
>> I know, but you've got
it made.
That's the way to go.
>> It's unique.
>> You'd better do the signature
raspberry fudge.
>> Okay, I'll grab some for you.
>> I can't wait to have you
try it.
>> I can't wait either.
>> It doesn't get any fresher
than this.
>> Ladies, this is the best.
I hope I get lost in your field
some other time.
And before I get lost again can
you point me in the right
direction?
>> All: It that way.
>> Thanks ladies!
>> Bye, Inga.
* *
[geese honking]
* *
>> I'm not usually a camper, but
I'm going to try to do a little
camp campy-style dinner for
Joe and I.
I've got some herbs that I
brought here from the farm, and
I've got some leftovers from
last night, which is mashed
potatoes.
And bacon, because you should
never leave home without bacon.
So what I'm going to do is a
version of the bubble and squeak
using up all there great
leftovers and bacon.
But I'm going to do wild foods
instead of the traditional
leftover vegetables.
I think that will be a great way
to use up these babies.
I love our pans.
We got cast iron pans from when
we got married and we just use
them all the time.
I love them.
And I'm going to turn them with
my knife because I completely
forget to bring half the things
I was going to.
We're going to let that bacon
cook down.
I want that fat to break down.
That's going to be my oil.
I think the bacon is cooked
down enough.
It's starting to get that crispy
wonderful look on the outside.
Now I'll add my onions.
I like that I'm able to cook
with chickweed today and learn a
little something from Sam,
because I have a ton of it in
my pastures.
I love it that folks are
starting to embrace wild foods
and starting to say, instead of,
how do we get rid of this?
Starting to say, hey, let's
gather this and eat this.
They're chocked full of just
vitamin C, iron, magnesium.
They're really healthy.
Now just chop up the chickweed
and the dandelion leaves and
we'll add those to our bacon and
our onions.
In everything goes, into my pan.
I don't want to cook these down
for too long because I want that
nutrients and I want that flavor
to retain, but I just want to
wilt it a bit.
Now I just toss the garlic in.
I'm adding at the end so that it
doesn't burn.
Here I've got just some chopped
up herbs.
I did parsley and chives.
This year I've got a ton of
those in the garden.
I'll add those right to the
potatoes.
All right, now to my herbs and
my potatoes I'll just salt and
pepper to taste.
Okay, and once everything's
cooked up you just add that
right to the mashed potatoes.
It's lookin' really good here.
How're we going to do this?
Okay, get it in there.
Ooh, it smells good.
Then just go ahead and grate
some cheese in.
This is going to be good.
Get everything mixed in.
This is when we're going to
start forming patties, so make
sure to incorporate everything.
Once everything's incorporated
then you can put your pan back
on the heart, I'm going to add a
little of butter.
Now I'm going to fry these
babies up.
* *
Now these are ready to go back
in the pan.
I hope they stay together.
* *
Whoo!
The wind just kicked up.
Cook your patties over a
medium-high heat to get them
nice and crisp.
* *
Once they get to be nice and
brown, take them out of that
pan, whip that pan out.
Then we're going to use that to
crack open some eggs and fry
them up.
Now I'm just going to lift up
the eggs and put them right on
the top of our little guys here.
* *
So dinner's ready and now I'm
going to take that sheep's milk
gelato and turn it into a fancy
little cocktail.
I think I should have paddled a
little faster across the lake.
The gelato's melted a little
bit, but that should be fine for
these cocktails.
Just put the gelato in some nice
little cocktail glasses and top
off with champagne
Joey, time for dinner!
* *
There you are.
I've got my contribution
to dinner.
What's your's?
>> A tune!
* *
>> Dinner's ready.
* *
[water trickling]
I hope this has inspired you to
jump in a boat and discover the
Northwoods.
And I hope you gather with us
next time around the
farm table.
I'm your host, Inga Witscher.
* *
[bear growling]
[geese honking]
>> Funding for
Around the Farm Table
is provided in part by
Wisconsin Farmers Union,
a member driven organization
for family farmers, rural
communities and all people.
Wisconsin Farmers Union, united
to grow family agriculture.
Information at
WisconsinFarmersUnion.com.