>> 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.
[birds chirping]
[cow lowing]
* *
[truck honks]
* *
[truck honks]
* *
>> Hi there.
Welcome to the farm.
I've got a fun day planned
today.
I was invited to go to a kubb
party, but I couldn't make it
because I had to milk.
So I invited the kubb party here
to the farm.
We're going to do kind of a fun
tailgating theme.
For the veggie burgers I'm going
to be picking up some hazel nuts
at New Forest Farm in Viola.
Then it's off to Valkyrie
Brewing in Dallas for some
good old fashioned Viking beer.
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.
* *
>> I'm washing out my old bulk
tank here.
This is a Ice Bank bulk tank
from 1952 and it's still goin'
strong, just like my parents.
It was the year they were born.
I love it, I love these
vintage-style farm equipment.
Then never give up,
they never break.
They just keep goin' and goin'
and goin'.
Every other day when I'm
shipping milk I have to wash the
milk tank.
The milk truck driver comes
every other day to pick up
our milk.
On bigger dairies they would
clean the bulk tanks with a
whole different system.
So you just kind of plug in this
great little system into your
bulk tank and it does the work
for you.
Here we have to do the work
ourselves, but it's okay.
It only takes a few minutes.
This way we can make sure that
everything gets very clean.
We're going to head out to the
pasture when I get this
sprayed out.
We're going to meet Aaron and
Eric who are kubb experts.
I know you're probably
wondering, what is kubb?
What is this?
So we're going to go out there
and talk to them in little bit
and find out just what it is.
* *
[distant conversation]
--a little bit of attention.
Thank you guys for coming out.
>> No problem.
>> It's a pleasure.
>> What is this?
>> This is the -- king.
This is the kings of the
National Kubb Championship.
Every team that wins the
US championship, they get their
name on here.
Aaron here, he's got his name
on here.
>> Nice!
I'm kind of new to
the game of kubb.
My husband's a big kubb player,
but I'm not.
So tell me a little bit
about the--
What is it?
>> Well, it's throwing blocks at
other blocks.
Call it Viking chess, that's one
other way to call it.
>> How did you come to start
playing kubb?
>> My wife and I lived in Sweden
for a year back in 2005/2006.
We just started introducing
people to kubb as we met people.
Aaron was one of the first
people we introduced kubb to.
That's how I learned about
the game.
It just kind of quickly
has grown.
>> And now you guys know
everybody.
>> I don't know about everybody.
But a lot of people do know kubb
so that's a great feeling.
>> So Eau Claire is really that
hub of kubb here in the
United States.
>> The kubb capitol of North
America.
>> That's awesome.
>> Every year we host the
championship with different
events.
Kubbnation magazine is out of
Eau Claire, and we've got
national champs from Eau Claire.
It's in the schools,
it's everywhere.
>> I don't know if people still
do high-fives.
I think they do the fist things.
But I always do high-fives.
Good job, guys.
>> Yeah, yeah.
>> What is it about the game
that really brings you guys back
to it every day?
>> I play with my dad, with my
son, so it's a game that kind of
goes all ages.
I play with my daughter.
All skill levels.
People who are new, when they
see or hear or have that feeling
of knocking something down,
there's this hunger to do
it again.
There's really a lot to offer in
that game the can start out
seeming really simple.
>> Yeah.
Are there any sort of basic
rules to kubb?
>> The game is set up where the
field, or the pitch, is eight
meters by five meters.
There's five kubbs on one side
and five on the other.
And the king, he sits in
the middle.
Pretty much the whole object of
the game is to take the wooden
batons here, and you have to
throw them underarm and they
can't go sideways at all, and
you're trying to knock over the
kubbs on your opponent's side
that are eight meters away.
The kubb that you knock over,
they get thrown back into play
later in the game, so the game
goes back and forth,
back and forth.
And the king, he stands in
the middle.
He's like the eight ball.
If you knock him over during the
game, you lose.
But once you eliminate all the
kubbs of your opponent's side,
then you can try to take down
the king.
He's the easiest one to knock
over, but I think it's the
toughest shot in kubb.
It's tough, yeah.
>> Because it psychs you out.
>> Oh, big time.
>> Yeah, yeah.
>> So I know that for us here,
we always play kubb just
wherever on the farm.
Well, I usually watch Joe
playing kubb by himself and I
sit there pouting a little bit.
But we can play it in the
pasture, we can play it on the
concrete.
It's kind of one of those games
you can just take anywhere.
>> You play it on beach, you
play it on the street, backyard.
You don't even need pieces
sometimes.
If you really need to play,
I mean, you can--
These are pieces of wood.
It really is a game that can go
anywhere, anytime.
>> We play it in the winter.
Some people around here ask, oh,
you can play that in the summer?
Because it's fun to play all
the time.
>> Well, guys, I'm going to be
off to Valkyrie Brewery to get
some beer, because I just want
to be able to rehydrate you guys
with a little bit of good
Wisconsin beer.
>> We love Valkyrie.
>> The beer of Vikings.
Then I'm going to be gathering
some nuts for some
veggie burgers.
If you guys wouldn't mind
keeping track of the farm.
If I'm not back in time you guys
are in charge of milking cows.
>> We got everything.
>> We can handle it.
>> All right, I'll see guys in
a few hours.
>> Thank you so much.
I appreciate it.
>> Awesome.
Thanks for coming out.
>> Thank you.
* *
>> So this is such an exciting
moment for me, that I get to
taste beer with the makers of
the beer.
I think in the state of
Wisconsin that probably happens
quite a bit because we have so
many microbrews here, but you
guys were really the first
microbrewer in Wisconsin.
>> Yup, well, in western
Wisconsin, I think.
Here, we were the first ones in
so it was an experience.
We came into Dallas and they
were going, a micro-what?
[laughter]
You know.
>> So tell me a little bit about
the beer-making process.
>> Well, it starts out with
malt, malted barley usually,
sometimes a little bit of
malted wheat.
Then we mill that, grind it, and
then steep it in hot water.
We use the enzymes in the barley
to convert the starches
into sugar.
>> Okay.
>> Then we extract the sugars
out of that, and boil that, add
in other spices and herbs into
that, typically hops,
at least hops, into it.
Then pitch yeast into it and
ferment it.
>> Nice.
It seems like a lot of these
processes are similar
to cheesemaking.
I'm saying that because I've
been making cheese forever.
You add certain ingredients at
certain times, wait for the
temperature to come to a
certain time.
It's a lot of waiting while
you're working.
>> Brewing is like that, yeah.
There's a lot of waiting
involved.
>> Is it like cheese, where each
batch is a little bit different?
>> Yes.
In a small brewery you get to
notice that because we rarely
brew the same beer back to back.
>> Okay.
>> Okay?
Every batch is different
slightly.
And it varies both because of
the ingredients are varying.
You're using an agriculture
product so makeup of
the agricultural products
change things.
And depending on what time of
year it is, because this
building has great temperature
swings in it.
It's different in the winter
than in the summer.
>> I love that.
>> The big boys do the same
thing except they have so much
of the same beer that they blend
the tanks to maintain a
particular consistency.
>> I think it's more fun if it
doesn't have that same
consistency.
>> Yeah, that's the artisanal
part of it.
>> Yeah.
>> You know, everything ought to
be a little bit different.
>> It would be wonderful if in
every small town like Dallas,
Wisconsin there was the local
brewer, the local cheesemaker,
the local butcher.
Wouldn't that be amazing if we
could get back to that way of
life?
>> Back there, yeah.
Absolutely.
I think we're going to go back
that direction.
The pendulum is swinging back
towards small.
>> I hope so.
Well, I'm going to get out of
your hair before the tours
start today.
I know you guys are busy.
But I'm hoping to take some beer
home for--
I'm having some folks over to
my farm to play kubb.
Are young guys familiar
with that?
>> Yeah!
>> You have to know kubb if
you're doing Viking beer, right?
* *
Well, thanks, guys.
This has been just fantastic.
I can't wait share your beer
with the friends I'm having to
the party.
If you guys are around, come on
down, hang out with us.
>> Oh, we'll be there.
>> Okay, super.
>> Here's your beer.
>> Have a good afternoon.
>> You too, bye!
>> Bye.
* *
[oinking]
* *
>> Hi there.
You must by Mark.
>> Hey there.
>> Hi, I'm Inga Witscher.
>> Hi, I'm Mark Shepard.
Pleased to meet you.
>> Nice to meet you.
I think what your doing at your
farm is just amazing.
It's been so inspiring to me.
My husband and I just have a
30 acre farm.
We've been farming there for
about seven years.
And everybody said, you should
till up your pastures and
replant, and this is what you
should plant.
I think I heard Joel -- or
something say, if it grows in
the ditches, that's what you
should be growing on your farm.
Because you don't have to--
And that's what I did and it was
like, oh, well, that's great.
Number one, I didn't have any
money to do anything, so it
worked out just having the
pasture there.
>> In the ditches the brush
that's growing up are hazelnuts,
wild plum, wild roses,
raspberries, grapes,
gooseberries, probably some wild
apples thrown in here and there.
So why not design a system just
like the brush on the side of
the road, and the brush on the
side of the road, they try to
mow it and they try to herbicide
it every single year.
It keeps coming back and coming
back and coming back.
That's sustainable agriculture.
>> Yeah.
>> The three-dimensional
system I'm going to show you, I
think it is ten different crops
in the same space, and it all
started as a simple ally
cropping system where we were
growing annual produce in as
ally and a row of chestnut
trees.
It started that simply.
And it has, over 20 years,
evolved into what it is now.
Why don't we go take a look
at it.
>> Okay.
>> Hey you guys, where are you?
[whistles]
[buzzing lips sound]
* *
>> Mark, standing here and
looking at this pasture that the
pigs are in, I would have
thought that it would have been
churned up and torn up.
You know how pigs can get.
>> Part of why it's not so torn
up is the breed.
These are a mix of Tamworth
mostly in their genetics.
Tamworths really don't tear up
pastures all that much.
Part of that also has to do with
the fact that they're extremely
well fed.
We're coming into hazelnut
season.
They'll get all the hazelnut
processing waste.
They'll get the pressings from
elderberries, the pressings from
grapes, the pressings from
apples.
And then they finish, finish
on chestnuts.
That's their final finishing.
>> Mark, what is kind of the
nutrition of some of these
crops, because in my dream world
I'd be able to grow enough
perennial crops to feed my cows
so I could cut down my
$20,000 feed bill.
>> Right, right.
The hazelnut is more
nutritionally similar to a
soybean and it's three times
the oil.
Chestnuts are more similar
to corn.
Actually, their most similar to
brown rice.
So it's more like a grain that
grows on a tree.
>> Okay.
>> It's a complete human diet.
We lack nothing if we eat only
these plants except,
believe it on not, salt.
Salt is naturally deficient in
this diet, and I think that's
probably why humans have such a
craving for salt.
In a natural environment, eating
the foods that are around us,
we are deficient in salt.
>> Interesting.
>> So you'd still want to have
your mineral blocks out in your
pasture for your cows.
* *
>> So permaculture is basically
just paying attention to what's
happening on the land and
allowing those things to happen.
>> In a certain sense.
The subtle distinction between
permaculture and restoration
agriculture, which is more of
what I practice, is restoration
agriculture is ecosystem
mimicry.
If you're living in central
Canada, there's going to be
different species that will
thrive there all by themselves
than if you're down in
Louisiana.
>> Okay.
>> Permaculture will make
somewhat artificial assemblages
of useful plants and plant them,
whereas I'm imitating natural
plant communities.
>> I've seen a lot of photos of
your farm during years where
we've had drought all over
Wisconsin, and it seems like
you're always green here.
>> Right.
>> How are you holding so much
water in your soil?
>> Plants can grow without all
kinds of different minerals.
They can grow in deficient soil
on all different sorts of
things.
The one thing they can't live
without is water.
Our hands together are like a
ridge and valley system.
Here's this main ridge with
hills and saddles, and the main
valley going down the middle.
So what we do is, starting up
here at these points, these are
called key points, we make a
tiny depression in the ground
and then we make little
diversion terraces that now draw
the water slightly down hill but
toward the ridge.
And so the whole entire property
becomes these reverse
herringbones.
When the water now pours on my
hand, if it tries to concentrate
in this little valley, it gets
pulled out to the ridge.
>> Wow.
>> So it ends up being thee big
zigzagies all across the land.
* *
>> I see what a lot of folks
when putting in annual crops
like corn or beans or something,
they seem to be taking out all
the trees along their hedgerows.
Maybe they're worried about the
shade or something.
But it seems like in our
pastures anyway, if we have a
little bit of shade things grow
a little bit better.
Do you notice that too?
>> Actually, yeah.
The University of
Missouri-Columbia, School of
Agroforestry has done extensive
research on agroforestry
systems, and a partial shade
actually increases yields.
Annual plants are plants that
you plant the seed in the
springtime and you harvest in
the fall, three or four months
of growth and then it's dead,
it dies.
In order to get a annual plant
established you have to destroy
the ecosystem that was there,
a forest or a prairie.
You have to disturb the soil,
either with tillage or with
herbicide in order to get your
plants to grow.
So you have to kill nature in
order to get agriculture to
happen.
Establishment costs actually,
for establishing a farm like
this, would be less than
starting a dairy would be.
>> Okay.
But what it doesn't have is the
immediate cash flow that a dairy
does have.
Unless you use some of the
agroforestry techniques,
which is how we first got
established.
>> What's the agroforesty
techniques?
>> The ones that we used the
most, the primary one was
ally-cropping where we would
grow our ally crop with,
say, corn or beans.
I've actually grown corn and
beans here in the early years.
You have your regular crop
established and then you plant a
row of trees spaced fairly wide
apart so we can still get in
there with the equipment.
In the early years your trees
are small, their not yielding
anything anyway, so your
cash flow is coming from your
annual crops, your corn or your
beans.
>> Okay.
>> Then as the woody plants
mature, like these hazels, then
you don't need as much of your
ally crop.
You can continue to close in the
rows, close in the rows,
until you're 90% to 100%
perennial crops.
>> Okay.
My cows love to eat leaves of
trees.
They just reach their heads out
as far as they can absolutely
go, like a giraffe or something.
They just love it.
What is that about?
It's their natural--
>> They're natural browsers and
grazers, and we use that
behavior as a tool.
We're using them as a
management tool.
We're not doing cattle as our
enterprise, or pigs as our
enterprise.
They're management tools, so how
we can manage the system with
low labor and low equipment
costs.
We'll turn the animals into an
area and they'll browse.
Very few branches down low.
Apples, very few branches down
low, because the cows go in and
they tear all the branches off.
Most people would look at that
and say, oh, my goodness, the
animals are damaging the trees!
All the trees in our part of
Wisconsin here, in the savanna
biome, are accustomed to abusive
grazing and browsing by wild
animals and to fire.
You can cut these trees down and
they sprout right back and will
continue to produce.
* *
Well, thank you Inga, for coming
to New Forest Farm.
Here's a parting gift of some
hazelnuts in a Shepard's Hard
Cider box.
>> Nice.
I would have taken the hard
cider, Mark, but these are going
to be perfect for the veggie
burgers I'm making.
>> Good, enjoy.
>> Great.
Well, anytime you're up in
Osseo, please stop by my farm.
>> I'll do that.
>> Have a great day!
* *
>> Well, let's get started
cooking here before everybody
shows up.
I love veggie burgers.
You know, I grew up partially
vegetarian.
My father was vegetarian, my
mother cooked vegetarian a lot.
So veggie burgers were always
something we'd incorporate in.
It thought this would be a nice
to be able to share with people
and use these wonderful
Midwestern ingredients.
To start with we're going to
take an onion and just saute it
up in a pan.
Let's see here, whoup!
I'd better add my oil first.
I'm just going to use sunflower
oil because I'm just going to be
frying the patties again.
I like that you can use
sunflower oil for higher heat.
Okay.
With the onions you want to
sweat them.
We're not going to saute these
up until they're all the
way cooked.
We're just going to sweat these
onions to get that flavor out.
This is going to be part of our
mixture.
Those onions are going to take
about five minutes or so to just
get nice and soft, and then I
can add the garlic right to
there.
Salt and pepper we're going to
add right to here.
A little bit of Tamari,
and let's stir that around just
a bit here.
Then I'm just going to add a
little bit of thyme for the
herbs here.
It's just something that I had
in the garden so I thought it
would go nicely.
But you could even add other
things like cumin or, I don't
know, ginger, rosemary.
Just have fun with it.
Then just give that a good stir
and just incorporate it nicely.
That's lookin' good.
Okay, we're ready to take
that off.
Not a lot of cooking for the
preparation in this recipe.
Whoa.
I love cooking in these cast
iron skillets, but I always
forget how heavy they are,
number one, and how the handles
are hot too.
Yikes!
In we go.
Okay.
Boy, I've got to start doing
some more lifting.
I'm getting a little bit weak.
I'm going to set that back on
the heat because I'm going to
use that pan again in a
second.
Now I'm going to add the nuts
that are going to create this
burger.
I just took a cup of those
hazelnuts and ran them through
my food processor, and got them
so they're--
They're not all the way
processed.
There's still a few chunks in
there which taste good.
I'll add that right to my bowl
here.
I had some wild rice left over
from dinner last night, and wild
rice is so Midwestern and it's a
wonderful addition to these
burgers.
At least I hope so.
I haven't tried it yet, but I
think it'll be delicious.
So we'll add a little bit of
cooked wild rice
and some cheese.
I just use a cheddar cheese.
Oh, that's lookin' good.
And some bread crumbs.
You should just make your own
bread crumbs.
It's so easy to make bread
crumbs, so everybody should
practice making bread crumbs.
Okay, now let me crack an egg.
Okay, let's get this all
mixed together.
Let's see--
It's looking like I might need
one more egg to bind this all
together with.
Let me go grab that.
[hen clucks]
Thank you Mrs. Hensly.
Let me wash my hands off.
Okay, clean hands.
Let's make the patties.
Actually, I'm going to mix this
up a little bit more with my
hands just to get everything
incorporated.
I'm going to fry these today,
but I also saw that you can put
them in the oven and bake them.
That's a good idea, because
sometimes with veggie burgers
they fall apart really easy.
That's always one of the things
that I always struggle with.
But hopefully these will be able
to be okay.
I hope.
Let's all cross our fingers.
Okay, I kind of like making food
like this where you kind of got
to get dirty and use your hands
a lot.
* *
Okay, I'm going to add a lot of
oil back to the pan so it
doesn't stick here.
Let's all just think really good
thoughts so these hold together.
I'm going to do one at a time.
Okay, and you want the pan to be
hot so that it sears the bottom.
That's going to help that burger
stay together better.
[sizzling]
* *
These are lookin' good.
Well, they held together.
That's a good start.
Okay, well, they look like
they're turning out pretty well.
I'm just going to finish up here
and then I'll meet you at the
party after I put the trimmings
on these beautiful Wisconsin
hazelnut burgers.
* *
Serve your hazelnut burgers with
crusty buns and all your
favorite fixin's.
Deviled eggs and pickled
vegetables are great at any kind
of a shindig.
Make sure to have root beer on
hand for the younger set.
Wild apple tarts with cinnamon
scented whipped cream are a
perfect ending for this party.
* *
When you can't be at the party,
bring the party to you.
And gather with us next time
>> Together: Around the Farm
Table.
* *
>> 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.