>> HI.
I'M JAMES STEINBACH.
I'M A VOLUNTEER HERE AT PBS
WISCONSIN.
I'M HERE IN THE STUDIOS FOR A
SPECIAL "AROUND THE FARM TABLE"
TREAT COMING UP.
HERE'SINGA RIGHT HERE.
>> I'M SO EXCITED TO BE WITH YOU
TODAY.
WE HAVE A REALLY GREAT EPISODE
OF OUR SHOW COMING UP TONIGHT.
WE'RE FEATURING SOME REALLY
AMAZING FARMERS FROM RIGHT HERE
IN WISCONSIN.
WE'RE GOING TO BE INTRODUCING
YOU TO A WOMAN WHO'S RAISING
HERITAGE GOATS.
SHE USES THE MILK FROM THE GOATS
TO BE ABLE TO MAKE SOAPS AND
DIFFERENT THINGS.
WE'RE GOING TO BE INTRODUCING
YOU TO A WOMAN WHO GROWS FLOWERS
HERE IN WISCONSIN WHERE IT'S
COLD FOR SO MUCH OF THE YEAR,
RIGHT?
>> AND FINALLY?
FINALLY, FINALLY, YOU WILL HAVE
A CHANCE TO GET THE GIFT OF
CHEESE.
>> JAMES IS A BIG FAN OF CHEESE.
>> I AM A BIG FAN OF CHEESE.
SOME OF THE CHEESE IN HERE WILL
BE INGA'S CHEESE.
>> MADE BY THESE HANDS.
>>
is a PBS Wisconsin original production.
[gentle acoustic guitar music]
- Inga Witscher: There's nothing better
than sharing a meal with friends,
gathering around the table,
enjoying home-cooked food with fresh ingredients
and sharing stories about how we live our lives as farmers.
That's what brought me to the small community
of Prairie Farm, Wisconsin.
Welcome to Prairie Farm, Wisconsin.
I'm here today to enjoy a meal with these amazing farmers
and to find out what brought them
to this wonderful small community
in northwestern Wisconsin.
Along the way,
we'll learn more about the unique things
that they're doing on their farms,
and we'll cook and eat some delicious food.
Gather with us, Around the Farm Table .
I'm your host, Inga Witscher.
[cows mooing]
Hey!
I'm Inga, a fourth generation dairy farmer,
milking cows and making cheese on my small farm in Wisconsin.
I'm passionate about exploring new places,
meeting new people,
and finding the best local ingredients
that I can turn into delicious meals.
I would like to invite you along
on this food and farming adventure.
Sometimes, you find the most interesting people
in the most unexpected places.
[upbeat guitar music]
Ken and Jay are a wonderful couple
who I've been inspired by for years.
They came to Prairie Farm to try something new and original.
[upbeat electric guitar music]
- My name is Ken Seguine.
- I'm Jay Gilbertson.
- And we are the proud owners and founders of
- In unison: Hay River Pumpkin Seed Oil.
[upbeat electric guitar music]
- Americans love pumpkins,
and you know, they're actually native to the Americas.
They really became very popular in Europe.
And in about the 1600s,
the Austrians started taking the seeds
and pressing the seeds for the oil.
And you know, the pumpkin seed oil, it tastes delicious.
And so we think a lot of Americans,
if they tried it, would also enjoy it too.
- Inga: Thank you so much for having me out to the farm.
Everything looks absolutely gorgeous.
So tell me, what is happening here on the farm?
- Well, we are the proud producers
of America's first pumpkin seed oil.
So we're growing pumpkins.
- Nice. - Quite a few of them.
- We've got 80 acres,
but we're only farming on two this year,
'cause we really wanna focus on pumpkins.
- Inga: Right, and that's still quite a few acres
for this kind of an operation.
- Our whole thing this year,
even though we've been doing it for a while,
we really wanna perfect the technique, you know.
It's not just a cookie cutter recipe of how you do it.
So we're really still learning how to do this well,
and that's our real goal.
- Jay: They're looking really close.
- Ken: Yeah.
- Part of learning how to do it well
is finding creative solutions to the challenges that come
with being organic farmers.
How are you growing these pumpkins here in Wisconsin
with the climate we have? - Well, as you know,
we have a relatively short growing season,
and pumpkins are very tender.
They're very delicate for frost and cold.
So we greenhouse start them.
[water spraying]
And then we take those transplants from the greenhouse
and we transplant them in the field.
- I imagine that there can be some weed issues,
as there is with all organic agriculture.
What have you been finding that's been working for weeds?
- Oh, we don't have weeds on our farm.
Maybe you do on your farm, our farm is good; we're good.
- Paper mulch.
We're trying paper mulch this year,
and so far it's been great.
- Like a lot of us, Ken and Jay are always looking
for effective ways to deal with weeds.
And from what I've seen,
they've found a solution using paper mulch.
[upbeat music]
- Jay: Paper mulch is the best way that we can think of
of weed control.
It completely suppresses the growth
of anything underneath it.
- Ken: So at least in the strip where this mulch is,
where the pumpkins are being planted,
there's gonna be no weed competition.
The plants are gonna be able to have the sun,
the light, and everything to really grow at their very best.
[upbeat electronic music]
[water spraying]
- We plant 50-cell seed trays over in a neighbor's greenhouse.
We greenhouse them for 10 to 12 days, depending.
And then we bring the seedlings over here on a truck
and they go in with the water seed planter.
[upbeat electronic music]
[tractor rumbling]
- We use a water wheel transplanter today,
and it's new for us.
It's pretty cool.
You roll along,
and it has a wheel that has three spikes in it.
And these spikes will pierce that paper mulch that we have,
and then it also has a tank of water,
and a it's dripping water.
And when that spike goes into the ground, it drops water.
So you're just sitting on the transplanter
and you're reaching over and dropping a seedling
into basically the mud
that's in that little hole in the paper.
And it's an ideal way to get the seedling started
because they have complete contact with the soil
and a boost of water.
- With their seedlings in the ground,
we'll give Ken and Jay some time to let their pumpkins grow.
[gentle acoustic guitar music]
And I'll travel a couple miles down the road
to visit Maggie.
Maggie is a one-woman flower farming force of nature.
- My name is Maggie, and I am the owner/operator
of Green Light Farm in Prairie Farm, Wisconsin.
- She came to Prairie Farm to realize her vision
of growing locally produced, sustainable cut flowers.
- So a lot of people think more and more
about where their food's coming from,
but people don't necessarily always think about
where their flowers are coming from or how they're grown.
So when you seek out local flowers,
that supply chain is so much shorter, so much simpler.
You're getting a product that is fresh.
Every flower that I sell was sold
within days of being harvested here on the farm.
- One of the things I really enjoy about Maggie and her farm
is following her social media.
She's always posting the most beautiful pictures
of just this amazing variety of cut flowers
throughout the year.
And this spring, she showed me how she cares for
and harvests her tulips,
the first cut flowers of the year.
[groovy guitar music]
- So this year and the past couple of years,
I've grown about 20,000 tulips.
They're all harvested by hand
and sold here on the farm, throughout western Wisconsin,
and in the Twin Cities.
Tulip season is only a couple of weeks long.
It's very energy-intensive.
We harvest tulips one, two, sometimes three times a day,
seven days a week until they're all harvested.
- For me, it is so interesting
to see this different style of farming,
so different than dairy farming,
and realize the amount of work and knowledge
that really goes into this.
- When I harvest tulips, I pull the whole thing up,
bulb and all, outta the ground.
I harvest them into crates.
I then take them into my barn.
I wash the dirt off the stems.
[hose spraying]
Put them in the cooler.
And then when I'm ready to sell them,
they come out of the cooler, we snip off the bulbs,
put them in water,
and then they go out into the world from there.
[whimsical music]
- Is a hoop house something that you definitely need to have
to be growing your production flowers in Wisconsin?
- So I don't think that you necessarily need to have it,
depending on what you're growing.
But for me, my production
is increasingly more and more focused
on early and late season, and then perennial crops,
so when I grow things inside the hoop house,
I have a lot more, just control.
So I can grow things earlier.
I can grow things later.
And also the quality of the flowers is nicer
because I get longer stems in here.
I also have control over water and things like that.
So it just gives me higher quality flowers
earlier and later than I could otherwise have.
- How do you choose which flowers to plant?
- Some of it's trial and error.
Some of it is guessing on what I think demand will be.
Some of it is just colors that I'm drawn to,
that I just really want to grow.
So it's a little bit of a lot of things.
- That's the way it should be.
It should be what you wanna grow, right?
Tell me about those early seasons.
I notice on your Instagram,
it's like my favorite thing about spring
is when you're posting these beautiful pictures
of these tulips.
And the colors of the tulips are just,
I've never seen anything like it before.
It's just the most beautiful tulips ever.
Is that how you start your season?
- It is.
So every season ends with planting tulips
and then begins with harvesting tulips.
So it's very labor-intensive,
but it's also just one of the more important crops
in terms of the business, but also I think it's the crop
that really connects with people most
coming out of the wintertime.
And one of my favorites to grow.
- While Maggie got back to work,
I headed up to go visit with Erin,
another woman who's bringing
her own unique vision to the area.
[upbeat music]
- My name is Erin Link.
I am the owner of EB Ranch,
located in Dunn County, Wisconsin.
And I am a goat farmer and poultry farmer,
among other things.
[goats bleating]
EB Ranch's big idea was to showcase that a small farm
can be diverse in not only livestock,
but in the products that it produces
and offers to the community.
[upbeat music]
And show off that these animals,
that these different livestock and poultry
can work together in tandem
in a rotational grazing situation.
- She decided to focus on raising and preserving
a rare breed of goat called the San Clemente.
[groovy music]
- I am happy to say that I'm steward
to the critically endangered San Clemente Island Goat.
There's only about 1,400 of them left.
And what's so intriguing and special about them
is their multipurpose nature.
They are really hardy; they're adaptable.
They can be really good milk and meat producers,
as well as possibly fiber, or just browse pets.
You name it, they're there for any small farm or homestead.
They're this rugged little goat that I really enjoy raising.
- Inga: Erin finds creative solutions
to the challenges she faces as a homesteading farmer.
[upbeat rock music]
- My milking situation is fun.
The shelter that the goats use on rotational pastures
is actually a gutted-out camper
that I have the milk stanchion in.
Good girl.
[milk splashing]
[metal clinking]
I enjoy farming because of the variety
and the challenges that it offers me.
I love problem-solving.
Look out you guys, we're moving.
[chickens chirping]
It's a mix of routine and surprises. [laughs]
- Erin, thank you so much for inviting me
to your farm today.
This is a really beautiful location.
I love the peacefulness and the birds.
Tell me what you're envisioning for your farm.
- I am a person that likes to do many things,
and so having multiple species on my farm
is really important to me
to see how everybody works together for livestock.
And so my big dream is to have ducks and goats
and chickens and other poultry
following each other up in this rotation system
that has been recommended
by a lot of different places and people.
- I'm always fascinated with how people decide
on either dairy cows or beef cows or goats.
How did you come to the decision of the goats
and the ducks and the chickens?
- I, you know, moved back up here in western Wisconsin.
And I always wanted to have goats since I was a little girl.
And I couldn't have goats 'cause everybody had dairy cows.
- Yeah, same here. [both laughing]
- And so it was never my true intention, really.
Like I didn't have this long-term plan
of moving back up here to farm,
but my partner and I had the opportunity to do so.
And so I was like, "I'm getting goats."
And I wanted to see
if there were any heritage breed goats around.
And that's where I came across the San Clemente Island Goat.
These goats have a very unique DNA,
and that's part of this heritage breed
is that they offer diversity and uniqueness
in our food system
that is really important for our food safety.
We need people to be more aware of like,
their actual meat sources or their product sources.
And if we don't find those purposes for those animals,
those animals are gonna be gone.
So we need to support farms
that are raising heritage breeds.
- Inga: I love it, because a lot of people
who are not from Wisconsin
really think that Wisconsin is just dairy cows, right?
- Yeah.
- It's so fun to be in these communities like Prairie Farm
and see how diverse it is just in this community,
with what you're doing here with these amazing goats
and the ducks and the chickens,
what Maggie's doing growing these beautiful flowers.
And then you have Ken and Jay
with America's first pumpkin seed oil production,
all in this area.
I just, this is the great thing about Wisconsin
is just all these communities
that are being built through agriculture,
and just through sharing of knowledge too.
- And this being supportive of each other.
The overwhelming support and this encouragement,
this is a really open and giving and helpful community
to be part of, yeah.
[ducks quacking]
[upbeat electronic music]
[engines humming]
- Inga: Back at Ken and Jay's, the weeds are under control,
the pumpkins are thriving,
and we talked more about their journey as farmers.
I know on my farm,
I'm so grateful to have my husband there
to help me and work side-by-side with me.
What is that like for you two?
You always get along, I imagine.
- We do. - Inga: Oh, good.
- I'll let you speak. [Inga laughs]
- Oh, I guess I don't even think about it.
We are a team, definitely.
We both have our things that we're the best at, I guess.
I mean, Ken is really good at planning.
I'm good at implementing.
He's good at directing, I'm good at following.
It is definitely a team effort.
- I think we need to plant.
- Well, let's just see.
We're always learning stuff.
I think that's part of the fun too, and the interest.
it's always something different.
This way, this way.
- We're very, very good work partners,
and we work well together, and it's been complementary.
And I'm sure as you know,
you couldn't do it alone. - No.
- You have to have a partner. - Yeah.
- This, it's a lot. - Yeah.
- And we're just very fortunate.
It's easy for us.
- So you've started the transplants then inside,
you've brought them out here to plant them,
laid the mulch down.
And now you just kick back with a martini and just wait?
[laughing] - Oh, well, this year,
so far, we've had drought.
So we've had to irrigate.
And usually, we look at irrigation
as just something to bridge us over to the inevitable rains,
but they haven't happened.
So we have irrigated three times
and we're just using a big 300-gallon tank.
Drag it along, let gravity water them.
[water splashing]
Also surprisingly, pumpkins, or the plant itself,
it's really built to collect moisture.
- Inga: Really?
- Every morning there's a lot of dew.
They have these great big leaves,
and you notice it all funnels into the central, the petiole,
that takes it down to the stem.
So that dew will collect on the leaf,
flow down right to the center of the plant.
So it will gather some moisture on its own.
- Inga: Nature is amazing.
[gentle acoustic guitar music]
The summer months have also been kind to Maggie,
and new crops of flowers are in full bloom.
[birds chirping]
You have so many beautiful flowers here,
and I'm sure it's like hard to choose,
but do you have a favorite?
- So my favorite flower is always the one that's blooming.
So in the springtime it might be tulips.
In the summertime, it could be lupine or zinnias.
In the fall, it might be lisianthus or eucalyptus.
It just changes a lot.
- Inga: That's spoken like a true farmer.
So what are some of those differences
between buying those store-bought flowers
at the grocery store,
where they're coming from so far away,
and then buying from a local grower?
- In the United States right now,
about 70% of the flowers sold in the United States
are imported, primarily from Central and South America,
but really from all over the world,
and of that small percentage grown here,
most are grown in California, about 70% to 80%.
And you think about all the miles
that it took for them to get from halfway around the world
into your home.
You're not able to have that connection
with the farmer that grew it,
or to even be able to ask the questions
of how it was grown and the story behind it.
So local flowers is a really small, but growing market.
- Inga: The flowers seem to be more interesting too.
What I see at farmers markets or here,
it just seems like the flowers are more interesting
and there's more of a variety.
- Yeah, absolutely.
You know, a lot of the flowers that are grown commercially
and shipped from abroad, you know,
they're bred for their ability to be shipped
and to survive that process, whereas with local flowers,
and what really makes them special,
is I can choose varieties that smell amazing,
that you can really stick your nose into and enjoy that,
that are gonna have all the colors and textures
and all the things that you might not necessarily get
from flowers that come from halfway around the world,
we can get with local flowers.
- It must be so meaningful for you
to be out here working with the flowers.
What is that passion like for you to be a farmer?
- It's interesting, especially,
you know, here we're talking, it's the beginning of July.
It's a time when you're a farmer,
life moves very, very fast.
And I always have to remind myself
to take some moments to move a little bit slower
and to just take a look around and really take it in
and be reminded that I am surrounded by beauty.
And I'm very lucky to have that in my life every day.
And that I can provide beauty and kind of a place of peace
for myself and for other people,
I can provide a habitat for pollinators.
There's just so much beauty that comes with growing flowers
that I just appreciate more as time goes by.
- This has been amazing getting to be here
and getting to hang out with you.
Prairie Farm seems to be just a wonderful place to visit.
And I'm so happy that I've had the chance to visit.
- Yeah, I'm so glad that you came out.
[birds chirping]
- Once the work of summer is finished,
we're gonna see how Ken and Jay call on their farmer friends
>> HI.
I'M JAMES STEINBACH.
I'M A VOLUNTEER HERE AT PBS
WISCONSIN.
AND YOU'RE WATCHING THIS
PREMIERE OF THIS EPISODE OF
"AROUND THE FARM TABLE."
TO MAKE IT SPECIAL, WE HAVE INGA
WITSCHER HERE.
>> RIGHT HERE LIVE.
>> THIS SHOW IS REALLY
WONDERFUL.
>> I'M SO EXCITED TO BE ABLE TO
BRING THESE STORIES OF THESE
FANTASTIC AND REALLY
HARD-WORKING FARMERS TO FOLKS
HERE IN WISCONSIN.
IT'S IMPORTANT TO BE ABLE TO
SHARE THE EXPERIENCES THAT SO
MANY FARMERS HAVE ON THEIR FARMS
WITH PEOPLE LIKE YOU, JAMES.
>> YEAH.
YEAH.
BECAUSE I DIDN'T GROW UP ON A
FARM.
I KNOW A LOT OF FOLKS WHO DID.
BUT I DIDN'T.
SO WATCHING THIS PROGRAM REALLY
GIVES ME A SENSE OF NOT JUST
WHAT IT'S LIKE TO GROW UP THERE,
BUT TO LIVE IT EVERY DAY.
>> RIGHT.
>> AND THE FARMERS YOU ARE
WORKING WITH ARE FOLKS WHO ARE
INVENTING -- WE'LL TALK ABOUT
THIS MORE -- INVENTING THEIR
FARMING.
IT'S REALLY EXTRAORDINARY.
>> RIGHT.
>> THIS PROGRAM IS REALLY
EXTRAORDINARY.
SO CALL US AT 1-800-236-3636.
>> HI.
I'M LINDA BERMAN, A VOLUNTEER
HERE AT PBS WISCONSIN.
AND I WILL TELL YOU, THE GIFTS
WE HAVE TO SAY THANK YOU WITH
ARE INCREDIBLE.
FIRST, AT $10 A MONTH OR $120,
WE HAVE THIS A TO Z FROM
ASPARAGUS TO ZUCCHINI COOKBOOK,
COOKING FARM-FRESH PRODUCE.
IT IS AMAZING.
I DID NOT KNOW THERE WERE SO
MANY RECIPES FOR CAULIFLOWER.
IT IS ALPHABETICALLY ARRANGED SO
YOU CAN LOOK UP ANYTHING AND
FIND A RECIPE FOR IT.
THIS IS GREAT FOR GRANDPARENTS,
FOR KIDS TO DO COOKING TOGETHER
WITH SEASONALLY FRESH
VEGETABLES.
$20 A MONTH, THIS IS
EXTRAORDINARY.
IT'S A CHEESE GIFT SET.
IT IS VERY LIMITED.
BUT IT WILL SHIP TO YOU FROM THE
WONDERFUL PEOPLE AT
FROMAGINATION.
THEY HAVE PUT TOGETHER THIS
TRULY ARTISANAL GIFT SET.
YOU GET CRACKERS TO GO WITH OF
COURSE THE NUT CRACK, THE
CANDIED PECANS.
YOU GET APPLE JAM TO GO WITH IT.
OF COURSE THE CHEESES THAT ARE
FANTASTIC.
YOU GET A YOUNG GOUDA, ISADORE
CHEDDAR, UP LAND RESERVE.
THESE ARE PHENOMENAL.
<!24576> TOP IT OFF, YOU GET CAR
CARMELS.
THIS IS A LIMITED OFFER AND WILL
BE SENT TO YOU THE FIRST WEEK IN
APRIL.
THEY KNOW HOW TO SHIP IT COOL
PACK.
IT WILL BE RIGHT TO WHOEVER YOU
WANT AS A GIFT OR TO YOURSELF AS
A WONDERFUL GIFT.
THAT'S AT $20 A MONTH.
AT $25 A MONTH YOU CAN GET THE
WHOLE PACKAGE.
YOU CAN GET THE COOKBOOK FROM
ASPARAGUS TO ZUCCHINI.
YOU GET THE WONDERFUL ARTISANAL
GIFT SET.
YOU GET IT ALL PLUS THIS APRON,
WHICH IS OUR NEW PBS APRON.
EVERYBODY NEEDS AN APRON,
ESPECIALLY ONE THAT HAS POCKETS
IN IT IS OUTSTANDING.
THIS IS YOURS WHEN YOU CALL
RIGHT NOW AND PLEDGE YOUR
SUPPORT FOR PBS WISCONSIN AT
1-800-236-3636.
>> THANK YOU, LINDA.
I'M ERIC GREILING.
I'M THE DIRECTOR OF FRIENDS OF
PBS WISCONSIN.
WE ARE EXCITED TO SHARE THIS
PROGRAM WITH YOU TONIGHT.
AND WE'RE EXCITED TO BE ABLE TO
OFFER THESE WONDERFUL THANK YOU
GIFTS IF YOU CALL TODAY AND
BECOME A MEMBER, BECOME A
SUSTAINER OF PBS WISCONSIN.
INCLUDED IN THAT CHEESE PACKAGE
IS INGA'S OWN CHEESE, MADE ON
THE FARMSTEAD.
SO BE SURE TO JOIN UP TODAY AS A
MEMBER AND SUPPORT THIS GREAT
PROGRAMMING, THESE GREAT
WISCONSIN STORIES, THESE STORIES
OF WISCONSIN FARMERS AND
ARTISANS AND GROWERS AND ENJOY
SOME WISCONSIN CHEESE, INCLUDING
THE CHEESE FROM SAINT ISADORE'S.
ONE OF THE EASIEST WAYS TO
BECOME A MEMBER IS TO BE A
SUSTAINER.
YOU JOIN AND MAKE AN ONGOING
MONTHLY GIFT THAT COMES RIGHT
OUT OF YOUR CREDIT CARD OR
BANKING ACCOUNT AND YOU KNOW
THAT YOUR MEMBERSHIP IS ALWAYS
CURRENT AND YOU'RE ALWAYS GOING
TO RECEIVE "AIRWAVES" MAGAZINE
AND SUPPORT GREAT WISCONSIN
PROGRAMMING LIKE THIS.
IT'S SO EASY.
ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS CALL
1-800-236-3636.
>> INGA, WE WERE TALKING ABOUT
THE CHEESE.
AND YOU SAID THEY'RE ALL --
>> THEY'RE ALL FARMSTEAD
CHEESES.
AND WHAT FARMSTEAD MEANS IS THAT
ALL THE CHEESE, THE MILK FOR THE
CHEESE COMES RIGHT THERE FROM
THE FARM AND IT'S MADE RIGHT
THERE ON THE FARM.
SO, FOR EXAMPLE, THE
ST. ISADORE, WHICH IS A CHEESE I
MAKE, THE COWS ARE MILKED THERE,
THE CHEESE IS MADE THERE AND
EVERYTHING COMES FROM THAT
SINGLE SOURCE.
THESE THREE CHEESES ARE VERY
SPECIAL IN THAT WAY.
>> IT'S HARD TO HAVE THE CHEESE
IN THE ROOM WITH ME.
ALL RIGHT.
FINE.
BUT, YOU KNOW, IT'S WONDERFUL.
IT'S ALSO A CHALLENGE.
AND YOU'VE BEEN THROUGH SOME
REAL CHALLENGES RECENTLY.
>> A FEW YEARS AGO WE HAD OUR
BARN COMPLETELY BURN TO THE
GROUND.
WE WERE ABLE TO REBUILD, TO LIFT
OUR SPIRITS AND GET BACK GOING
BECAUSE OF OUR COMMUNITY.
AND THAT'S ONE OF THE REASONS I
LOVE WORKING WITH PBS AND BEING
HERE WITH PBS, IS IT'S ALL ABOUT
COMMUNITY.
JUST LIKE RIGHT NOW I KNOW I'M
HERE IN MADISON.
MY NEIGHBORS ARE DRIVING BY TO
CHECK ON MY COWS, MAKE SURE
EVERYTHING IS GOING WELL.
WE ALL NEED EACH OTHER TO BE
ABLE TO MAKE THE WORLD GO ROUND.
SO THAT'S WHY I'M HOPING THAT
YOU'LL CALL IN RIGHT NOW WITH
YOUR SUPPORT AT 1-800-236-3636.
JAMES, ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT
GETTING SOME CHEESE?
>> I WILL BE GETTING SOME
CHEESE.
NOT JUST THINKING ABOUT GETTING
CHEESE.
AND FROMAGINATION, WE'LL BE
TALKING WITH THEM IN A LITTLE
BIT.
IT'S MY SOURCE OF CHEESE BECAUSE
I'M NOT CLOSE ENOUGH TO YOU
GUYS.
1-800-236-3636.
>> AND JUST TO REMIND YOU, AT
THE $10 A MONTH YOU CAN GET THIS
AMAZING COOKBOOK.
AND I HAVE BEEN LOOKING THROUGH
IT.
JUST HOW MANY DIFFERENT GREEN
SALADS.
NOT ONLY ARE THERE TIPS TO HOW
TO USE THEM, BUT STORAGE TIPS
AND DIFFERENT DRESSINGS.
THAT'S WHAT'S SO IMPORTANT IS
YOUR VEGETABLES DON'T GO TO
WASTE, THAT THEY'RE USED WELL.
AT $20 A MONTH WE HAVE THE
ARTISANAL GIFT OF AMAZING
CHEESES AND CRACKERS AND PECANS
AND CHOCOLATES.
BUT I'M TELLING YOU, THE
CHEESES, THIS IS INGA'S
ST. ISADORE CHEDDAR.
THIS IS SPECIAL.
THESE ARE ALL HOMESTEAD CHEESES.
THE MILK IS FROM THE FARM AND
IT'S MADE THERE.
THE PLEASANT RIDGE RESERVE.
I WILL TELL YOU IN NEW YORK WE
WERE LOOKING FOR CHEESE AND THEY
SAID, OH, THE BEST, YOU'VE GOT
TO GET THE PLEASANT RIDGE
RESERVE.
WAIT.
THAT'S FROM WISCONSIN.
YES.
THAT'S WHERE THE BEST CHEESE IS.
AND WE ARE HERE TO TELL YOU
THAT.
AND EVEN A YOUNG GOUDA.
ALL OF THESE CHEESES WILL BE
SENT OUT THE FIRST WEEK IN
APRIL.
SO GIVE THE NUMBER YOU WANT IT
SENT TO.
IF YOU WANT IT SENT AS A HOLIDAY
GIFT OR GIFT TO YOURSELF, YOU
CAN DO THAT AT $20 A MONTH.
AT $25 A MONTH, YOU CAN GET THE
COOKBOOK, THE CHEESES AND A
SPECIAL PBS APRON.
THIS CAN ALWAYS BE YOURS WITH
YOUR CALL AT 1-800-236-3636.
>> NOW, WHEN SOMEBODY SAYS
WISCONSIN AGRICULTURE TO YOU,
YOU MIGHT THINK FIRST CORN, HAY
AND COWS.
AND THAT'S NOT WRONG.
BUT WHEN WE WATCH "AROUND THE
FARM TABLE," WE LEARN THERE'S SO
MUCH MORE TO WISCONSIN GROWING,
SO MUCH MORE TO WISCONSIN FARMS.
AND IT'S JUST GREAT TO WATCH ALL
THESE INNOVATIVE, PASSIONATE
PEOPLE DO AMAZING THINGS.
THE FIRST PUMPKIN SEED OIL
OPERATION IN WISCONSIN, AN
AMAZING TULIP OPERATION,
OPERATING UNDER A HOOP HOUSE.
IT'S FANTASTIC TO LEARN ABOUT.
THESE ARE WISCONSIN STORIES THAT
WE WANT TO SHARE WITH YOU.
AND YOU ARE THE IMPORTANT PART
OF THIS.
THERE ARE OVER 70,000 FAMILIES
IN WISCONSIN WHO ARE MEMBERS OF
PBS WISCONSIN.
WE WANT YOU TO JOIN AND BECOME A
MEMBER, TOO, TO KEEP LEARNING
ABOUT THESE GREAT THINGS, YOUR
FRIENDS, YOUR NEIGHBORS, PARTS
OF WISCONSIN YOU MAY NOT KNOW
ABOUT YET AND JUST LEARN ABOUT
THE GREAT DIVERSITY THAT'S IN
OUR STATE, EVEN IN THE
AGRICULTURE, AS IT CONTINUES TO
EMERGE INTO A NEW ECONOMY AND
ALL THE WONDERFUL WISCONSIN
STORIES THAT WE CAN SHARE WITH
YOU.
YOU CAN GO ONLINE AND MAKE A
GIFT, pbswisconsin.org, OR
GIVE US A CALL AT
1-800-236-3636.
>> YOU KNOW, THERE'S A
TREMENDOUS AMOUNT THAT GOES INTO
FARMING THAT YOU DON'T SEE
UNLESS YOU'RE RIGHT THERE EVERY
DAY.
IN FACT, ONE OF THE THINGS
COMING UP INGA IS GOING TO BE
SHOWING US AROUND YOUR PLACE AND
HOW YOU MAKE CHEESE.
AND THERE ARE THINGS IN THERE
THAT I NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT.
WHY WOULD I?
BUT NOW I HAVE A MUCH DEEPER
UNDERSTANDING OF HOW THESE
PIECES COME TOGETHER.
>> IT'S SIMILAR TO DOING A
TELEVISION SERIES.
FARMING IS A YEAR-ROUND PROJECT.
I DON'T KNOW IF YOU KNOW, BUT SO
IS TELEVISION.
A LOT OF THESE STORIES THAT WE
COME UP WITH TO FEATURE ON
"AROUND THE FARM TABLE" WE WORK
ON SOMETIMES FOR YEARS AT A
TIME.
IT TAKES A LOT OF WORK AND
DEVELOPMENT AND A LOT OF CREW
GETTING TOGETHER TO MAKE THINGS
WORK.
IT'S EASY TO FLIP-FLOP BETWEEN
TV AND FARMING WHEN THEY'RE SO
SIMILAR.
IT'S ABOUT JOINING AS A
COMMUNITY TO -- I JUST THINK
ABOUT WHAT I DO ON MY FARM AND
EVERYTHING IS WITH THE SUPPORT
OF OTHERS.
THANK GOODNESS MY PARENTS
RETIRED.
WELL, THEY THOUGHT THEY RETIRED
RECENTLY, BUT NOW THEY'RE ON THE
FARM WITH ME ALMOST FULL-TIME
HELPING WITH THE CHEESE.
IT TAKES ALL OF US TO HELP OUT
WITH EVERYTHING.
AND IF YOU'RE ABLE TO HELP OUT
NOW, I WOULD DEFINITELY SUGGEST
AN AMAZING COOKBOOK.
I HAVE IT ON MY SHELF.
I HAVE ALL THESE CHEESES IN MY
REFRIGERATOR.
THERE'S SOME REALLY GREAT GIFTS
TODAY.
SO IF YOU CAN, CALL IN TO
1-800-236-3636.
>> AS INGA SAID, IT IS A
COMMUNITY.
AND IT TAKES A COMMUNITY.
IT TAKES ALL OF US TOGETHER TO
CREATE QUALITY PROGRAMMING AND
PBS WISCONSIN NOT ONLY HAS THE
QUALITY PROGRAMMING, BUT IS
ASKING YOU TO JOIN US.
AND IT'S SO EASY TO DO.
A SIMPLE PHONE CALL OR SIMPLY GO
ONLINE AT pbswisconsin.org.
SO WHAT I WANT TO REMIND YOU AT
$10 A MONTH YOU CAN GET THIS
FABULOUS COOKBOOK.
ACTUALLY, WHAT CAN I SAY?
IF INGA HAS IT, WHY SHOULDN'T
YOU, FROM ASPARAGUS TO ZUCCHINI.
THAT'S $10 A MONTH.
AT $20 A MONTH WE HAVE THIS
FANTASTIC CHEESE SET WITH THE
CRACKERS AND THE CHOCOLATES AND
PECANS AND JAMS BUT THREE TYPES
OF CHEESES.
WE ALSO WANT TO ENCOURAGE YOU
THAT YOU CAN GET ALL OF THEM FOR
[garage door rattling]
- The machine to me, it's improbable.
If you had told me how it works,
I'd say, "Nah, that wouldn't work,"
but it actually works very well.
[engine rumbling]
[surf rock music]
[air whooshing]
[air whistling]
[pumpkin thumping]
All the work, all the planning that you've done,
everything is all geared to today.
- Today is a huge relief; it's very exciting.
It's harvest.
[surf rock music]
[motor rumbling]
[pumpkins thudding]
When we have harvest, we need a whole bunch of people to help.
And I think what's really interesting
is we never know what kind of crew we're gonna end up with.
So we're always meeting people, and that is really wonderful.
- Today, we harvested pumpkins with Ken and Jay.
It's very physical,
but I really enjoy helping out friends.
[whooshing]
- It's my 13th year helping Ken and Jay harvest pumpkins.
My role now, kind of is just like kicking their butts
and like, let's get going here and get this done.
- Harvesting pumpkins is actually a lot of fun.
We take turns grabbing the pumpkins off the ground.
We break them off the vine
and then we just toss them into the chopper box, basically.
- It's incredible to see the technology of these machines,
to be able to harvest those pumpkins,
separate out the seed, and get it all cleaned.
These kinds of things really help out around the farm.
- Ken: It smashes up the pumpkins,
and then it goes into a series of three tubes.
And in the very first tube,
it actually will spit out out the back end
the rind, the flesh of the pumpkin,
so it's a net gain of organic matter to the field.
[surfer rock music]
And the seeds move on into the other tubes
where they're cleaned.
And we end up with remarkably clean seeds at the end.
- Helping out other farmers like this,
it means a lot to me.
- It's nice to feel like I've helped a local farmer
create a product.
- Ken: It's very nice to be with community in doing this.
- The harvest is a delight; it's just a delight.
[tractor rumbling]
[gentle acoustic guitar music]
[cat meowing]
[geese honking]
- So tell me a little bit about the oil.
I wanna know like what it tastes like,
what are those benefits of this oil?
- Actually.
- You know, have you ever had roasted pumpkin seeds?
- Yeah.
- It has a rich nutty flavor; it's delicious.
I mean, that's the main reason we're doing this.
It's a really tasty, delicious oil.
- Inga: The color is beautiful and kind of unexpected.
- It is; you're not normally seeing this in oils.
And actually, the color is the nutrition.
So pumpkin seed oil is rich in some of these compounds
that are antioxidants in our body.
And it's a very healthy fat with a wide range of benefits,
you know, from healthy cholesterol
to supporting heart health.
But the thing that we like to really focus on is the taste.
It tastes good.
- The flavor is really amazing.
It's delicate and nice.
How else do you use this?
'Cause it seems to be very, you don't wanna heat it.
- You're right.
So it's also high in omega-3 fatty acids that are delicate,
they don't like high heat, so you wouldn't fry in it.
But you would use it like this, salted to dip bread in,
or maybe most commonly a salad dressing,
a vinegarette salad dressing,
or to put it on cooked vegetables,
like it's been asparagus season here.
It's delicious on asparagus, on broccoli.
- Well, this is really interesting.
I have a couple ideas on how I wanna use this in the kitchen.
So if you don't mind, I'd like to get started.
- Yeah, our pleasure, please do. - Wonderful, let's go.
[corn husks snapping]
- I really love cooking for people,
especially in the summertime
when the ingredients are ripe for the picking
and we can gather as a little community
and sit down for a meal.
[gentle acoustic guitar music]
I wanted to make a corn chowder.
Corn is like, so wonderful when it's ripe,
and it has to be ripe to make this chowder.
It kind of is just a little love letter to summertime
with the chowder.
The key to making anything
is to find the best quality ingredients possible.
So I picked up some of the corn at the farmers market.
The potatoes came outta my garden,
the onions outta my garden, the bacon from a local farm.
And that's what makes things really amazing.
So not only am I gathering
with a community in Prairie Farm for eating,
but I'm using a community of farmers' ingredients
to cook up this dish.
The first thing I'm gonna do
is I'm gonna turn my soup pot on to medium, medium-high.
And I'm just gonna put a little bit of butter
in the bottom of my pan,
because as a dairy farmer, I have to always use
some sort of dairy product while I'm cooking.
So now that the butter is melted,
I'm gonna start adding in the bacon.
And I just sliced them right on up,
so they're nice, small pieces
that'll crisp up really well with the butter.
[bacon sizzling]
When I'm working with stews or soups or even braising,
I often will start with the bacon.
And that's kind of that first base level of the flavors.
So it's crisping up in my pan.
I can get those nice bacon bits up later on
as the soup cooks.
It's giving the kitchen an amazing smell,
and it's making me awfully hungry.
And then, now you're just gonna add one onion, finely diced.
Let the onion and the bacon cook up
until the onion is nice and soft.
A few minutes and then we'll start adding
our other ingredients.
[food sizzling]
Now that the bacon and the onions have cooked down,
we're gonna make a little bit of a roux
to get that thickness in our chowder.
I'm just gonna push the bacon and the onions
off to the side of my pan,
making a little hole in the middle.
And then I'm gonna sprinkle in about a quarter cup of flour.
While I'm sprinkling in little bits by bits,
I'm just gonna stir like crazy so it can get incorporated.
And like I said, this is just gonna make it nice and thick.
Give it a little consistency.
Once that flour is mixed in now,
I'm just gonna add in five cups of vegetable broth.
So I'm slowly adding the broth in
and I'm scraping up all the bits and pieces
on the bottom of my pan at the same time.
Now we're gonna add to our broth, bacon, and onions,
a few cloves of garlic.
We're gonna add in eight ears of corn,
which is quite a lot,
but it's gonna get a really beautiful corn flavor.
So eight ears of corn are going into my soup pot here.
And then I'm gonna add in a few diced up potatoes.
They're maybe like a half-inch dice
and I just kept everything as uniform as possible
so that the potatoes can all cook at the same time.
Stir those in.
And give it a good shake of salt and pepper.
[pepper grinding]
I'm gonna add in some bay leaf for flavor.
And a little bit of tarragon that came from the garden here.
Summer's also a great time to be using your fresh herbs.
All right, so now I'm gonna turn up the heat,
get it boiling, and then I'll turn it down
to a simmer and let it cook.
The last thing I'm gonna add is two of my corn cobs.
As the soup cooks, it's gonna grab any moisture
and flavor from these stalks.
And it kinda looks fun too.
So I'll get this rolling, cook it down,
and then we'll get ready to serve it.
Now the house is filled with the aroma
of summer cooking on the stove.
I'm gonna finish the soup off with just a few more steps.
The first thing I'm gonna do
is take out my bay leaf that I put in there.
That's not something that anybody needs to have
caught in their mouth when they're eating soup.
And then I'm gonna take out my corn cobs.
And now I'm gonna add, maybe like a quarter
of the corn and potato mixture into my Cuisinart.
And I'm gonna puree those up in my Cuisinart,
and that's gonna give the soup nice little consistency
of creamy flavor.
[Cuisinart humming]
That looks good, nice and steamy.
There's still plenty of crunch in the soup
with the corn kernels, but this will just give it
that sort of chowdery mouthfeel.
Okay, and to finish that soup,
I'm gonna add a lot of heavy cream.
The key to cooking anything is lots of butter,
lots of heavy cream.
And I'm just gonna pour some in.
We'll start with, I'm gonna go full cup.
I think that'll be delicious.
It smells gorgeous.
And then when you're serving your soup,
you're just gonna ladle out a nice ladle full.
Doesn't that look amazing?
Clam chowder without the clams and more corn, delicious.
The showstopping ingredient is gonna be the pumpkin seed oil
that I'm gonna just garnish the top of the soup with,
and that's gonna give it so much more flavor.
It's gonna be really delicious.
And I think the pumpkin seed oil goes perfectly
with corn as well.
And we should probably put a few pumpkin seeds on top.
And then even a little piece of basil
for a little hint of green.
And there you go.
Your summer corn chowder is now ready to be served.
[upbeat acoustic guitar music]
This is what I love about Wisconsin.
People from all walks of life,
coming together to expand on our farming traditions
and build community.
[people chatting and laughing]
Well, I hope this has inspired you
to sit down with members of your community
and enjoy a meal.
And I hope you'll gather with us next time,
- In unison: Around the Farm Table .
- I'm your host, Inga Witscher.
Enjoy. - Maggie: Thank you!
- Inga: Thanks for having us. - Ken: Everything is so good.
The soup's delicious, the salad's great.
- Inga: You know, I really love this meal, because...
>> HI.
I'M JAMES STEINBACH, A VOLUNTEER
HERE AT PBS WISCONSIN.
WE'RE GOING TO HAVE MORE "AROUND
THE FARM TABLE."
IN FACT, WE'RE GOING TO GO TO
INGA'S FARM AND MEET HER HERD OF
DAIRY GOATS.
>> DAIRY COWS.
>> BUT YOU CALL THEM THE GIRLS,
RIGHT?
>> YEAH.
YEAH.
I DO.
>> THAT'S RIGHT.
SO TELL US ABOUT WHAT'S COMING
UP.
FIRST, I FORGOT.
THIS IS A CHALLENGE BREAK.
THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT.
MEMBERS OF PBS WISCONSIN HAVE
SET ASIDE UP TO $2,000.
IF YOU PLEDGE NOW, THAT WILL
EFFECTIVELY BE DOUBLED DEPENDING
ON WHAT YOU PUT IN.
BUT THIS IS A TERRIFIC TIME TO
PLEDGE BECAUSE IN ADDITION TO
BEING ABLE TO TALK TO INGA, YOU
GET TO BE ABLE TO SUPPORT PBS
WISCONSIN AT A MUCH HIGHER
LEVEL.
AND WE CAN'T STRESS ENOUGH THAT
THIS IS THE TIME TO CALL.
1-800-236-3636.
NOW, I DIDN'T LET YOU SAY
ANYTHING, BUT WHAT'S IMPORTANT
HERE?
>> WHAT'S IMPORTANT IS THAT THEY
CALL IN RIGHT NOW,
1-800-236-3636.
>> HI.
I'M LINDA BERMAN, A VOLUNTEER
HERE AT PBS WISCONSIN.
AND WHEN YOU DO CALL IN, WHAT'S
SO IMPORTANT IS WE CAN SAY THANK
YOU TO YOU.
FIRST OF ALL, EVERY PLEDGE
COMING IN, INCLUDING OUR SENIOR
CITIZENS, WILL GET OUR
"AIRWAVES" MAGAZINE.
I DON'T WANT TO FORGET.
SO YOU CAN LOOK UP AND FIND OUT,
OH, WAIT, THERE'S INGA ON THE
BACK.
FIND OUT WHAT'S HAPPENING ON OUR
AIRWAVES.
$10 A MONTH YOU'LL GET THIS
FANTASTIC COOKBOOK.
IT IS AMAZING.
SUCH AS CELERY.
WHO KNEW THAT YOU COULD MAKE SO
MANY DISHES WITH CELERY?
NOT ONLY DOES IT GIVE YOU THE
NAME FROM BOTANY, COOKING TIPS,
STORAGE TIPS, RECIPES.
IT'S SO MUCH FUN.
YOU CAN DO THIS WITH YOUR
FAMILY, WITH YOUR KIDS, WITH
YOUR GRANDKIDS.
$20 A MONTH WE HAVE THE
ARTISANAL CHEESE GIFT SET.
NOT ONLY DO YOU GET THE
WONDERFUL CRACKERS AND PECANS
AND CARMELS AND THE JAM.
YOU GET THE ST. ISADORE CHEESE,
THE SED DA F CHEDDAR FROM INGA'D
THE RESERVE AND THE YOUNG GOUDA.
EVERYTHING WILL COME TO YOU, $20
A MONTH.
IT WILL COME THE FIRST WEEK IN
APRIL.
MAKE SURE YOU CALL AND GIVE YOUR
ADDRESS WHERE YOU WANT IT SET.
$25 A MONTH YOU GET THE
COOKBOOK, THE CHEESE, YOU ALSO
GET A PBS APRON.
OUR WAY OF SAYING THANK YOU.
JOIN US.
BECOME PART OF OUR COMMUNITY.
LET US SHARE THE WONDERFUL,
WONDERFUL PROGRAMS THAT YOU'RE
ENJOYING ON PBS WISCONSIN AT
1-800-236-3636.
>> HI.
I'M ERIC GREILING, DIRECTOR OF
FRIENDS OF PBS WISCONSIN.
"AROUND THE FARM TABLE" IS MADE
RIGHT HERE IN WISCONSIN FOR
WISCONSIN VIEWERS.
IT'S PART OF OUR MISSION TO
BRING YOU WISCONSIN'S HISTORY,
CULTURE AND NATURAL BEAUTY.
AND THE BEST WAY YOU CAN SUPPORT
THAT IS TO BECOME A SUSTAINING
MEMBER OF PBS WISCONSIN.
IT IS A CHALLENGE BREAK, SO YOUR
GIFT CAN GO EVEN FURTHER THANKS
TO THE GENEROSITY OF OUR MEMBERS
WHO WANT YOU TO BECOME A MEMBER
RIGHT NOW.
BECOME A SUSTAINING MEMBER OF
PBS WISCONSIN.
IT'S A CHALLENGE BREAK.
WE'VE GOT SOME REALLY TERRIFIC
WAYS TO SAY THANK YOU.
THAT CHEESE PACKAGE INCLUDES
INGA'S VERY OWN CHEESE.
THEY'RE ALL FARMSTEAD CHEESES.
IF THE PHONES LINES ARE BUSY,
YOU CAN GO ONLINE,
pbswisconsin.org, AND YOU CAN
MAKE YOUR PLEDGE OF SUPPORT
THERE ONLINE.
AND IT'S QUICK AND EASY.
IF YOU PREFER TO GO ONLINE, YOU
CAN GO AHEAD AND DIAL IN AND LOG
IN AND MAKE THAT GIFT RIGHT
THERE ONLINE.
YOU CAN ALSO CALL US,
1-800-236-3636.
>> SO THERE'S A CHEESE SHOP IN
MADISON CALLED FRO IMAGINATION
AND IT IS THE BEST CHEESE SHOP
IN THE WORLD.
WE'RE REALLY FORTUNATE THAT
THEY, HE, KEN, YOU'RE GOING TO
MEET HIM IN A MOMENT, IS
SUPPORTING PBS WISCONSIN BY
MAKING IT POSSIBLE FOR THESE
CHEESES TO BE ABLE TO COME TO
YOU.
HE DOES IT EVERY DAY IN THE
STORE, BUT THIS IS WORKING WITH
US TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN.
INGA, YOU'VE BEEN WORKING WITH
KEN FOR A WHILE.
>> HE'S THE MOST AMAZING PERSON
TO WORK WITH.
HE'S A HUGE SUPPORTER OF
WISCONSIN CHEESE-MAKERS.
IN CANNOT FACT, HE WROTE ME A R
THAT HE WOULD CARRY MY CHEESE
AND IT SECURED THE LOAN FOR MY
FARM.
>> KEN, WE'RE SEEING YOU IN YOUR
SHOP SURROUNDED BY CHEESE.
>> AMAZING CHEESE.
I'M SO LUCKY TO BE HERE TONIGHT.
FIRST OF ALL, WE ARE BIG
SUPPORTERS OF PBS AND WE LOVE
WHAT INGA IS DOING.
IT'S GREAT TO BE PART OF THIS
COMMUNITY.
IT'S ALL ABOUT COMMUNITY.
IT'S GREAT FUN.
>> SO TALK A BIT ABOUT YOUR
INSPIINSPIRATION TO START NOT OA
STORE, BUT A DESTINATION TO
SUPPORT SO MANY FARMERS.
>> WELL, I FELL IN LOVE WITH
WISCONSIN.
I MOVED HERE IN THE '90s.
I DECIDED TO CHART MY OWN
DESTINY, BECOMING PART OF THIS
WONDERFUL TRADITION THAT GOES
BACK 180 YEARS AND THAT IS
CHEESE-MAKING.
LIKE INGA, FOURTH GENERATION
CHEESE-MAKING FAMILY, THAT IS
UNBELIEVABLE.
BEING A VERY SMALL PART OF THIS
ALLOWS US TO MEET SOME WONDERFUL
PEOPLE AND BRING YOU SOME
AMAZING CHEESE.
>> WELL, I'VE CERTAINLY SPENT
TIME IN THE STORE AND IT'S
WONDERFUL TO GO IN.
IT'S AN EXPERIENCE ON ITS OWN
BECAUSE WHAT YOU SMELL AND WHAT
YOU SEE AND WHAT YOU CAN TASTE.
THANK YOU FOR THAT.
BRIEFLY WE'RE GOING TO BREAK
AWAY AND COME BACK TO YOU.
BUT REMEMBER TO CALL US, FOLKS,
AT 1-800-236-3636.
>> AND KEN HAS CURATED THE
SPECIAL CHEESE GIFT SET AT $20 A
MONTH.
HE HAS FOUND THE POTTER'S
CRACKERS, THE GOURMET
CHOCOLATES, THE NUT-CRACKED
PECANS, THE APPLE JAM.
OF COURSE HIS CHEESES ARE
AMAZING.
THE ST. ISADORE CHEED CHE CHEDS
INGA'S CHEESE.
HE HAS CURATED THIS, BUT HE ALSO
INCLUDES HOW TO TASTE CHEESE,
THAT YOU SHOULD EYE IT, TOUCH
IT, SNIFF IT, TASTE IT, WHAT TO
SERVE WITH IT, COMPANIONS.
THIS IS AN AMAZING GIFT PACKAGE.
$20 A MONTH WE HAVE THE COOKBOOK
FROM ASPARAGUS TO ZUCCHINI.
AT $25 A MONTH YOU GET THE
COOKBOOK AND THIS CURATED CHEESE
GIFT SET AND THE PBS APRON.
THIS IS ALL YOURS.
IT'S SO SIMPLE TO DO.
THIS IS A CHALLENGE BREAK SO
YOU'RE REALLY DOUBLING THE MONEY
FOR PBS WISCONSIN.
BUT IT STARTS WITH YOUR CALL AT
1-800-236-3636.
>> THERE'S ONLY A FEW MINUTES
LEFT IN THIS CHALLENGE BREAK
BEFORE WE GO BACK TO INGA'S
FARM.
SO IT'S A GREAT TIME TO MAKE
YOUR CALL, 1-800-236-3636.
MAKE SURE WE'RE ABLE TO SAY
THANK YOU TO YOU FOR BECOMING A
MEMBER OF PBS WISCONSIN WITH ONE
OF THESE FANTASTIC THANK YOU
PACKAGES THAT WE HAVE FOR YOU.
AND AT EVERY LEVEL THAT LINDA
HAS DESCRIBED TO YOU TONIGHT,
YOU ARE ELIGIBLE FOR PBS
WISCONSIN PASSPORT.
PBS PASSPORT IS SIMILAR TO A LOT
OF THE STREAMING SERVICES THAT
YOU'RE FAMILIAR WITH AND IT IS A
DEEP DIVE INTO A LARGE VAULT OF
FANTASTIC SHOWS, BOTH PBS
WISCONSIN SHOWS AND NATIONAL
SHOWS.
THERE'S SO MUCH GREAT COOKING ON
PBS WISCONSIN, SO YOU CAN ENJOY
EXPLORING WISCONSIN, WISCONSIN
FARMERS, WISCONSIN FOOD, AND YOU
CAN ALSO GO DEEP INTO A DEEP
LIBRARY OF COOKING PROGRAMS AND
FOOD, TELEVISION SHOWS WITH PBS
WISCONSIN PASSPORT.
THE BEST WAY TO DO THAT IS
BECOME A MEMBER RIGHT NOW,
CALLING 1-800-236-3636.
>> SO WE HAVE A CHANCE TO TALK A
LITTLE BIT MORE WITH KEN,
FOUNDER OF FROMAGINATION HERE IN
MADISON.
NOW, I KNOW THAT YOU HAVE
CLASSES AND YOU HAVE A WEBSITE
THAT PEOPLE CAN -- TELL US ABOUT
HOW PEOPLE CAN LEARN MORE ABOUT
CHEESE.
>> AFTER ALL, CHEESE IS WHAT
MAKES WISCONSIN GREAT.
SO WE'VE GOT IS ZOOM CLASSES.
WE SHIP CHEESE ALL OVER THE
COUNTRY.
SO IF YOU WANT TO SHARE THE LOVE
OF WISCONSIN CHEESE, YOU CAN DO
THAT 24/7.
SO WE HAVE A WEBSITE.
WE'RE LOCATED ON THE CAPITOL
SQUARE.
WE'RE VERY EXCITED TO BE PART OF
THIS ASSORTMENT WE'RE FEATURING
TONIGHT FOR THIS PLEDGE DRIVE.
>> TELL US THE WEBSITE.
WHAT IS THAT?
>> YEAH.
IT'S FROMAGINATION.COM.
IT'S JUST A NAME I MADE UP.
IT'S ABOUT EXPANDING YOUR
IMAGINATION OF THE WORLD OF
CHEESE.
WE FOCUS OBVIOUSLY ON WISCONSIN
CHEESE.
FROMAGINATION.COM, YOU CAN BUY
CHEESE 24/7.
>> I LOVE CHEESE.
I DIDN'T THINK ABOUT THE WAY I
SHOULD APPROACH IT, I MEAN JUST
MORE FULLY APPRECIATE IT.
THAT'S ONE OF THE THINGS YOU
HELP PEOPLE THINK ABOUT SO THEY
CAN GET MORE ENJOYMENT OUT OF
CHEESE.
>> WE LIKE TO SAY WE HAVE GREAT
RELATIONSHIPS.
INGA IS ONE OF THOSE WE HAVE A
WONDERFUL RELATIONSHIP.
WATCHIVISITING CHEESE MAKERS, TE
HARD WORKERS.
THEY'RE UP AT 4:00 IN THE
MORNING, BRINGING US THIS
AMAZING CHEESE.
IT'S STORIES YOU CAN TASTE.
WHEN YOU SEE THE LENGTHS THEY GO
TO TO BRING US THIS WONDERFUL
MILK, IT'S A JOY TO BE ABLE TO
SHARE IT.
SO WE HOPE YOU BUY THIS
ASSORTMENT TONIGHT.
>> THANK YOU FOR SHARING THE
EXPERTISE AND THE CHEESE.
WE LOVE IT.
AUDIENCE, PLEASE CALL US AT
1-800-236-3636.
>> AND JUST TO REMIND YOU, AS
PART OF OUR CHALLENGE BREAK,
THIS IS A CHALLENGE, AND WE KNOW
WE HAVE VIEWERS OUTSIDE OF
WISCONSIN, ILLINOIS, MICHIGAN,
IOWA, AND WE THANK YOU.
BUT WHEN YOU CALL, YOU WILL GET
WISCONSIN'S BEST.
YOU'LL GET OUR FROM ASPARAGUS TO
ZUCCHINI COOKBOOK, $10 A MONTH,
AND OUR SPECIAL CHEESES ARE FROM
WISCONSIN.
NOT ONLY DO THEY COME WITH THE
CRACKERS AND AMAZING CARMELS,
NUT CRACK, INCREDIBLE PECANS AND
THE APPLE JAM, BUT THE
ST. ISADORE CHEESE IS FROM
OSSEO, WISCONSIN.
THIS IS FROM THORPE, WISCONSIN.
PLEASANT RIDGE RESERVE IS FROM
DODGEVILLE, WISCONSIN.
THESE ARE THE BEST OF WISCONSIN
CHEESES FOR YOU AT $20 A MONTH.
THEY WILL BE SENT THE FIRST WEEK
IN APRIL.
FROMAGINATION, KEN KNOWS HOW TO
SEND THEM IN THEIR OWN LITTLE
COOLER ALL PACKAGED AND COOL FOR
YOU.
AT $25 A MONTH, YOU CAN GET NOT
ONLY THE COOKBOOK AND THE
AMAZING CHEESES, BUT ALSO THE
SPECIAL PBS APRON.
THIS IS AN AMAZING GIFT.
AGAIN, IT WILL COME THE FIRST
WEEK IN APRIL.
KEEP IT FOR YOURSELF IF YOU WANT
AS YOUR GIFT, OR GIVE IT TO
SOMEONE ELSE.
BUT, REMEMBER, YOU ARE
SUPPORTING QUALITY PROGRAMMING.
WITH THIS CHALLENGE BREAK, IT'S
A GREAT OPPORTUNITY, AS INGA
SAID, TO BE PART OF THE
COMMUNITY.
WE'RE ALL GIVING SOMETHING TO
KEEP THE QUALITY PROGRAM THAT
ENTERTAINS AND INSPIRES AND
EDUCATES YOU.
NOW IS YOUR OPPORTUNITY TO GIVE
US A CALL AT 1-800-236-3636.
>> THE GREAT THING ABOUT WORKING
WITH YOU IS THE PLEASURE THAT
YOU TAKE IN ALL OF THE THINGS
THAT YOU DO.
IT'S REALLY WONDERFUL.
I REMEMBER WHEN YOU FIRST
BROUGHT THIS SHOW TO US, I USED
TO WORK HERE AT PBS WISCONSIN,
AND WE LOOKED AT IT, AND WE
WATCH A LOT OF BAD SHOWS.
BUT WE LOOKED AT IT AND SAID
THIS IS WONDERFUL.
THIS IS A PERSON WHO NOT ONLY IS
THE CONTENT GREAT, BUT THE WAY
THAT YOU PRESENT IT TO PEOPLE,
THE WAY YOU GIVE IT TO PEOPLE,
IT'S A WAY OVER USED WORD, BUT
AUTHENTICITY.
IT REALLY IS YOU.
IT'S WONDERFUL TO SEE.
>> THANK YOU.
I COULD LISTEN TO THIS ALL
NIGHT.
I COULD GET USED TO THIS.
WELL, IT'S SUCH AN AMAZING
PROGRAM TO BE ABLE TO BE A PART
OF, BECAUSE I LOVE FARMING.
AND FARMERS NEED TO BE ABLE TO
HAVE THEIR STORY TOLD SO THAT WE
CAN CONNECT WITH THE FOOD,
RIGHT?
SO WE WANT YOU TO CONNECT WITH
OUR PROGRAM AND WITH
[birds chirping]
- Inga: Come on, Bussay.
Let's go, girls.
As this sun rises over the hills,
another day begins on the farm.
Let's go, baby.
[gentle piano music]
Most mornings on the farm start the same way.
Hey, girls, let's get up.
I'm gonna move you to a different pasture.
When the sun rises, I start calling the cows in.
Let's go, my sweet starlet.
I call them in the same way that my father did.
KA-BOSS, KA-BOSS, KA-BOSS, KA-BOSS!
The same way that his father did, and his father before him.
KA-BOSS, KA-BOSS, KA-BOSS, KA-BOSS!
My family's been calling the cows in the same way
for four different generations.
KA-BOSS, KA-BOSS, KA-BOSS!
Once the cows are up, we take the long way home,
going past all the different wildflowers
and the goldenrods,
letting them stretch out and just kind of enjoy the morning.
[gentle piano music]
Come on sweet girls, let's go.
You're okay, sweet princess, you're okay.
We follow the trail home towards the barn
to begin the morning milking.
[gentle piano music]
Welcome to St. Isidore's Dairy.
I'm excited to have you spend the day with me
right here on my farm.
First, we're gonna milk the cows.
Then we'll put 'em back out to pasture
and I'm gonna invite you into our creamery
to see how we make our cheese.
Gather with us, Around the Farm Table .
I'm your host, Inga Witscher.
Hey girls, all right, let's go.
Come on, toots.
Let's go.
[gentle acoustic guitar music]
The morning milking always turns into
kind of a meditation for me.
It's the time of day when I can just sort of
really be present and connect with my own thoughts,
and with the cows too.
You guys are really pretty today.
Yes, you are.
We start off by giving them a scoop of grain
with some added vitamins and minerals in it.
This keeps them really happy while they're in the barn,
and it also keeps them healthy.
[broom swooshing]
[cows munching]
After grazing the clover in the old hay field,
their udders are full of this milk
that we're gonna use to make our cheese.
[metal clinking]
Carrying out the daily ritual of milking cows
reminds me that I'm doing the same things here on my farm
that generations of my family have done before me.
The things that I'm doing here every day,
milking the cows, making the cheese,
are things I'm doing to build my future.
But they're a constant reminder of my connection to the past.
[system humming]
[vacuum sucking]
As soon as that vacuum pump goes on in the morning
and I hear that clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk,
that sound of the pulsation, [pump clicking]
it takes me right back to being a kid,
milking cows on my parents' dairy farm.
Hey!
[gentle acoustic guitar music]
Here on the farm, we're still a little old-fashioned.
We milk using bucket milkers.
We do this because we wanna treat the milk gently.
Instead of pumping the milk
through a traditional pipeline system,
I wanna keep the integrity
and the butter fat of the milk whole.
By milking into a bucket
and then pouring that milk out by hand,
we keep all that fat and that flavor in the milk,
[milk splashing]
which then ends up in our cheese.
Thank you, girls.
Let's go, thank you.
Let's move it toots, let's go.
Come on, tootsie.
Let's go tootsie, come on. [clapping]
Good girls, good girls.
Come on toots, come on tootsie.
[milk splashing]
After the morning milking,
I transfer the milk from the bulk tank into the creamery
where my dad, who's a licensed Wisconsin cheesemaker,
is waiting to receive that milk.
[upbeat folk music]
[milk splashing]
Once it's in the vat,
he starts heating that milk up to 88 degrees.
And then we add in our starter cultures.
The starter culture is a beneficial bacteria
that's responsible for creating the textures
and the flavors of our cheese.
[upbeat acoustic guitar music]
Throughout the process of cheesemaking,
we're always monitoring the temperature
and the pH of the cheese.
[upbeat acoustic guitar music]
After adding the starter culture,
it takes about an hour for everything to cure together
and to get the pH where we need it before the next step.
[bright piano music]
After our tea break,
and once the pH has reached a certain level,
we add our rennet.
Nice and slow.
The rennet is an enzyme,
which is gonna help the milk coagulate.
[liquid splashing]
Now you might remember this from Mrs. Muffet.
That's where we get our curds and our whey.
[upbeat acoustic guitar music]
Over the course of the next 15 minutes,
we'll be checking on that cheese vat regularly.
What we're looking for is a certain consistency in the vat.
What do you think? - I think a little longer.
- So we're hoping that the milk is gonna come together
and be kind of the consistency
of like a crème brûleé or a panna cotta.
Once it reaches that consistency,
we take our cheese harps and we cut it into curds.
[upbeat acoustic guitar music]
Now that it's into the curd formation,
we're gonna heat up that whole vat to about 101 degrees.
And this is called cooking the curd.
We're cooking the curd to release more of the whey
and to get the small curds to the right consistency.
As we bring it up in temperature,
we're actually trying to cook out any of the whey.
We're expelling as much whey
from those little curds as possible,
while at the same time creating a nice environment
for the curds to get a little bit firmer
around the outsides.
That process usually takes about an hour.
Our whole goal now is to get as much whey
out of the curds as we can
throughout the rest of this process.
And once the curds have reached
the consistency that we're looking for,
then we can drain off the whey.
[gentle piano music]
[insects chirping]
So what I do here on the farm is called intensive grazing.
During the grazing season, I move the cows twice a day,
every 12 hours.
After their morning milking and after their evening milking.
I put them in a nice, beautiful paddock,
and that way, they can harvest their own feed.
And what they're doing
is they're sort of revitalizing the soil out here.
This is my poorest pasture.
This pasture was kind of always farmed with crops:
soybeans, corn, soybeans, corn,
and it needed some extra inputs to make it fertile again.
The cows have actually done that on their own.
Through grazing, they're grazing down
those taller species of grasses
so that the clovers can come out.
And this field is full of beautiful clovers.
And they're also fertilizing the ground
so that we're getting some really good organic matter
into the ground,
because healthy cows start with healthy soil.
Healthy soil is really the foundation
for all healthy foods.
And I find that grazing is a great way to accomplish that.
The other thing I really love about grazing
is that when we're out here in the pastures,
we're actually also creating habitat
for all kinds of different species.
For birds, for bees, for insects.
[bumblebee buzzing]
These pastures are just alive with different buzzings
of noises and sounds, and it's so exciting.
Like there's such a great relationship
that the cows have with the land,
and the land has with all of these different pollinators.
[cows munching]
We can't have healthy people without healthy soil.
The soil is really where it all begins.
And by having the cows out here grazing that soil,
we're building that foundation.
[liquid splashing]
[gentle acoustic guitar music]
As the whey drains off the curd,
I use my hands to pull the curd into two different sections.
We call these our slabs.
Then we cut those slabs into tinier pieces.
[knife scraping]
Over the course of the next few hours,
we stack those pieces one on top of each other.
And I continue doing this
until I can stack them four to five stacks high.
What it does is it gets as much moisture
out of that cheese as we can.
The weight of the cheese
actually will push the whey out of that slab,
so it becomes a little bit drier.
And that's really what we're looking for.
This is called the cheddaring process.
Once our slabs have reached the correct pH,
it's time for milling.
[upbeat rock music]
We use a traditional British-style peg mill.
The peg mill is a little bit different.
When we process through our slabs,
they come out a little bit shaggier
than your traditional Wisconsin cheese curds.
[mill grinding]
But these curds are perfect for the cloth-bound cheddar
that we do here on the farm.
Once our slabs are all put through the mill,
it's time for salting.
We add the salt in three different applications,
allowing enough time in between
to have the salt really absorb into those curds,
and having any excess whey also expel
from the rest of the curds.
As I'm salting the curds,
my father begins to dress the molds with cheesecloth
to get them prepared for me to fill them.
The final step in our cheesemaking
is to putting the curds into the molds.
We call our molds truckles
because they're in a cylinder shape.
Once I put the lids on the molds,
then it's time for the truckles to go into the press,
where they'll stay under high pressure for 24 hours.
[press hissing]
When the truckles are under pressure,
it's gonna expel even more of the liquid from those curds.
And in this process,
the curds, they're gonna knit together
and become one wheel of cheese.
[upbeat folk music]
Something I learn year after year
is just to let nature take its course.
One thing I've discovered a few years ago
when our barn burnt down,
we didn't have a place to house the cows and the calves,
so we let the cows be with the calves.
[upbeat folk music]
Traditionally on dairy farms,
the cows and the calves are separated
a few hours after birth.
It makes it easier for the dairy farmer to milk the cows,
they can keep track of the growth of the calf.
But what I found is
by just letting the cows raise the calves,
there's so many benefits to it
and it works really well here on this size of a farm.
So now I just let the calves stay with their moms.
This way, they can nurse all day long.
And they grow so fast and so healthy.
There's something just so beautiful
about seeing that connection,
hearing them sort of communicate with each other
and find each other.
[cows mooing]
The calves are outside in this environment
getting fresh air, getting exercise,
and just being able to be a part of that herd.
All these things we're doing
because we really want to try to make
the best milk that we can make.
Back in the creamery,
it's time to take the cheeses out of the molds.
[bluesy guitar music]
Over the course of that last 24 hours,
the individual curds have knitted together
to become one individual block of cheese.
Once I take the cheese out of the molds,
it's time to do a second dressing of cheesecloth.
[bluesy guitar music]
First, I trim any edges of the cheese,
making sure that it's nice and smooth and uniform.
Now I can snip off any extra bits
of the original cheesecloth,
and adhere that right to the cheese using butter.
[bluesy guitar music]
Then I take my second cheesecloth
and I just soak that in melted butter.
This is gonna be my glue, so to speak,
in getting the cheesecloth to adhere to the wheel of cheese.
Once the cheesecloth is on the cheese
and everything's smoothed and perfect,
I have to label the cheese.
We label every wheel of cheese with the date it was made,
the pasture that the cows were grazing in,
and the cheesemakers.
And now it's time to put the cheeses to bed
in the aging room, for them to start developing
the characteristics of the cheddar that we're looking for.
[bright music]
The thing about artisan cheese,
is it's all little bit different,
depending on the pasture that the cows were in,
depending on the weather,
depending on the season that that cheese was made.
And also depending on how long the cheese was aged for.
As I place the wheel of cheese into the aging room,
the process of making a farmstead cheddar
is nearly complete.
We've taken the flavors from the pastures,
we've handled our cows and their milk with love and care,
and now the last ingredient is time,
as the cheeses develop their flavors
and their characteristics over the next year.
>> HI.
I'M JAMES STEINBACH.
I'M A VOLUNTEER HERE AT PBS
WISCONSIN.
AND WE'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT
AND WATCHING CHEESE FOR A WHILE
AND, FINALLY, FINALLY GLERDZ
WE'RE GOING TO TASTE IT.
>> I'M GOING TO TASTE IT.
DID I SAY I WAS GOING TO SHARE
IT?
I'VE HAD YOUR CHEESE BEFORE, BUT
THE GREAT THING IS IT'S A LITTLE
DIFFERENT EVERY TIME.
DON'T TALK.
THAT'S FINE.
THANK YOU.
>> SO THIS CHEESE IS MADE IN
SUMMER OF 2020.
AND THE CHEESE GETS ITS COLOR
FROM THE PASTURE THAT THE COWS
ARE EATING.
>> IT SMELLS SO WONDERFUL.
>> GOOD, GOOD, GOOD.
I'M REALLY, REALLY PROUD OF THE
CHEESE AND WHAT WE DO ON THE
FARM.
IT STARTS WITH THE AMAZING COWS
THAT WE HAVE.
>> KEEP ON TALKING.
>> THIS IS OUR ONE-YEAR CHEDDAR.
WE DO HAVE EVERYTHING THERE ON
THE FARM.
I REALLY WANT TO MAKE SURE I'M
THE ONLY PERSON MILKING THE
COWS.
I LOVE BEING ABLE TO HAVE THAT
CONNECTION WITH THE COWS, JUST
LIKE I LOVE HAVING THAT
CONNECTION WITH OUR VIEWERS.
I'M SO GRATEFUL TO BE ABLE TO
HAVE SPENT TIME ON THIS STATION
AND BE ABLE TO BE IN PEOPLE'S
HEARTS AND BE IN PEOPLE'S HOMES.
IT IS JUST SO EXCITING.
AND THAT'S WHY I'M HOPING THAT
YOU'LL HELP US CONTINUE ON WITH
"AROUND THE FARM TABLE" AND
OTHER SHOWS LIKE THIS BY CALLING
AND PLEDGING YOUR SUPPORT NOW AT
1-800-236-3636.
>> AND I'M LINDA BERMAN, A
VOLUNTEER HERE AT PBS WISCONSIN.
AND IT IS ALL ABOUT CONNECTION.
PBS WISCONSIN IS HERE FOR YOU TO
CONNECT WITH YOU AND PROGRAMS
SUCH AS "AROUND THE FARM TABLE"
DO CONNECT.
I MEAN, WATCHING INGA WITH HER
COWS, I JUST -- I WAS -- I WAS
JUST EXCITED TO SEE IT, TO SEE
HOW SHE TALKS.
COME ON, GIRLS, COME ON, GIRLS.
IT'S LIKE TAKING CARE OF THEM
AND WE'RE TRYING TO TAKE CARE OF
YOU WITH OUR THANK YOU GIFTS
WHEN YOU CALL AND PLEDGE.
AT $10 A MONTH WE HAVE FROM
ASPARAGUS TO ZUCCHINI, A GUIDE
TO COOKING FARM-FRESH PRODUCE.
IT'S GREAT FOR PARENTS,
GRANDPARENTS, KIDS, EVERY AGE TO
LEARN A NEW RECIPE, TO LEARN HOW
TO STORE THE WONDERFUL
VEGETABLES SO THAT YOU USE THEM
WELL.
AT $20 A MONTH, YOU HAVE THE
OPPORTUNITY FOR THIS INCREDIBLY
CURATED CHEESE GIFT SET.
AND KEN FROM FROMAGINATION HAS
PUT TOGETHER WONDERFUL POTTERS
CRACKERS.
THESE ARE ALL LOCAL, WISCONSIN
PRODUCTS.
INCREDIBLE DARK CHOCOLATE
CARMELS.
THE NUT CRACK.
THESE ARE PECANS.
OOLS YOUUNLESS YOU'VE TRIED THEU
DON'T KNOW WHAT PECANS CAN TASTE
LIKE.
THE QUINCE APPLE JAM, TO BE
PAIRED WITH THE DIFFERENT
CHEESES.
AND OF COURSE A YOUNG GOUDA
CHEDDAR FROM THORPE.
WE HAVE THE PLEASANT RIDGE
RESERVE.
THE UP LAND CHEESE FROM
DODGEVILLE.
THE ST. ISADORE CHEESE FROM
OSSEO.
THESE ARE THE BEST OF WISCONSIN
CHEESES.
$25 A MONTH YOU GET THE
COOKBOOK, THE CHEESES AS WELL AS
THE PBS APRON.
WHAT A GIFT.
THEY WILL BE SENT TO YOU THE
WEEK OF APRIL 1.
THERE IS A LIMITED QUANTITY.
PEOPLE ARE CALLING UP BECAUSE
THEY WANT THAT.
GET ON THIS.
CONNECT WITH US AT
1-800-236-3636.
>> MAKE THAT CALL.
I'M ERIC GREILING, DIRECTOR OF
FRIENDS OF PBS WISCONSIN.
"AROUND THE FARM TABLE" IS IN
ITS EIGHTH SEASON NOW, HERE
BECAUSE OF SUPPORT OF MEMBERS,
THE INVESTMENT THAT MEMBERS
MADE.
NOT EVERY STATION IS LIKE PBS
WISCONSIN.
NOT EVERY STATION IS ABLE TO
MAKE AN INVESTMENT IN TELLING
THE STORIES OF THE STATE,
BRINGING THESE STORIES.
ACTUALLY BUILDING A COMMUNITY
AROUND THE STORIES AND THE
PEOPLE OF WISCONSIN.
AND THAT'S BECAUSE OF YOU.
WISCONSIN IS A SPECIAL STATE.
PBS WISCONSIN IS A SPECIAL
STATION.
AND WE WANT YOU TO BE A PART OF
THE FUTURE OF WISCONSIN
PROGRAMMING ON PBS WISCONSIN.
THE BEST WAY YOU CAN DO THAT IS
TO BECOME A SUSTAINING MEMBER.
BECOME A SUSTAINER AT ANY ONE OF
THE LEVELS THAT LINDA MADE, WE
CAN SAY THANK YOU WITH INGA'S
CHEESE.
AND BEING A SUSTAINER SIMPLY
MAKES YOU'RE MAKING AN ONGOING
MONTHLY GIFT FROM YOUR CREDIT
CARD OR BANKING ACCOUNT.
WE KNOW THAT WE CAN RELY UPON
YOUR SUPPORT.
WE KNOW THAT WE CAN MAKE AN
INVESTMENT IN BRINGING YOU THESE
WISCONSIN STORIES THAT MATTER SO
MUCH.
1-800-236-3636.
>> SO WHAT'S COMING NEXT?
>> WE HAVE SOME REALLY EXCITING
SHOWS COMING UP NEXT.
SO HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF
CURNSA?
IT'S A PERENNIAL GRAIN.
KERNEA.
IT'S THIS INCREDIBLE CROP THAT
CAN BE REALLY A BENEFIT FOR THE
LAND AND THE FARMERS AS WELL.
THERE'S A FEW WEEKS INCLUDING A
BREWERY HERE IN WISCONSIN THAT
ARE EXPERIMENTING WITH USING IT.
THE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM IS DOING A
LOT OF RESEARCH TO IT.
IT'S A REALLY FUN SHOW TO BE
ABLE TO FILM AND WE GOT TO DRINK
A LOT OF FANTASTIC BEER AT THE
END OF IT.
>> YOU GOT THE CHEESE, YOU GOT
THE BEER.
SO BY CALLING 1-800-236-3636,
YOU ARE INVESTING IN THIS
SPECIAL GRAIN.
YOU PROBABLY DIDN'T KNOW.
YOUR SUPPORT IS WHAT MAKES IT
POSSIBLE FOR YOU TO KEEP DOING
THESE WONDERFUL PROGRAMS.
CALL US AT 1-800-236-3636.
>> AS I OFTEN SAY, PBS WISCONSIN
IS HERE TO EDUCATE YOU, AS WE
ARE ALL LEARNING, INSPIRE YOU
AND TO ENTERTAIN YOU.
AND "AROUND THE FARM TABLE" DOES
IT ALL.
AND WE HAVE A SPECIAL THANK YOU
GIFT WHEN YOU CALL AND PLEDGE
YOUR SUPPORT.
AT THE $10 A MONTH, WE HAVE THIS
FROM ASPARAGUS TO ZUCCHINI.
I WANTED TO POINT OUT THAT THE
ZUCCHINI RECIPE NOT ONLY HAS
COOKING AND STORAGE TIPS, BUT
ZUCCHINI SALAD, SPEARS AND CAKE.
IT GIVES YOU ALL KINDS OF USES
FOR THIS WONDERFUL VEGETABLE.
$20 A MONTH, WE DO HAVE A
LIMITED SUPPLY OF THE AMAZING
FRFROMAGINATION CHEESE SET AND E
PECANS AND DIFFERENT JAMS AND
THE GOUDA, PLEASANT RIDGE UPLAND
CHEESE AND OF COURSE THE
ST. ISADORE CHEDDAR.
ALL OF THESE PLUS THE AMAZING
CARMELS CAN BE YOURS WHEN YOU
CALL AT THE $25 LEVEL.
AT THE $25 LEVEL YOU'LL GET NOT
ONLY THE COOKBOOK AND THE
CHEESES, BUT THE APRON.
THIS IS OUR SA WAY OF SAYING THK
YOU.
BUT IT STARTS WITH YOUR CALL AT
1-800-236-3636.
>> WANT TO TAKE JUST A MOMENT TO
THANK THOSE SUPPORTERS OF THE
DIRECTORS CIRCLE LEVEL,
PRODUCERS CIRCLES LEVEL, AT THE
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS LEVEL, THOSE
DONORS WHO ARE ABLE TO GO A
LITTLE BIT FURTHER TO HELP US
KEEP BRINGING THIS GREAT
PROGRAMMING TO YOU.
PLEASE CONSIDER JOINING, ADDING
TO YOUR GIFT AND BECOMING A
DONOR AT THAT VERY SPECIAL LEVEL
AND HELP KEEP BRINGING VERY
SPECIAL PROGRAMMING, HELP US
BUILD THIS COMMUNITY AROUND THE
THINGS THAT MAKE WISCONSIN
SPECIAL AND BRING US ALL
TOGETHER.
WE SURE APPRECIATE THAT.
BUT WHATEVER LEVEL IS RIGHT FOR
YOU, WE WOULD WELCOME YOUR
MEMBERSHIP, WE WOULD WELCOME
YOUR SUPPORT.
WE WOULD BE ABLE TO SAY THANK
YOU WITH "AIRWAVES," OUR MONTHLY
PROGRAMMING GUIDE.
IF YOU'RE ABLE TO JOIN AS A
SUSTAINER AT WHATEVER LEVEL IS
RIGHT FOR YOU,
pbswisconsin.org OR CALL
1-800-236-3636.
>> I WANT TO TAKE A MOMENT TO
THANK ALL OF YOU FOR THE SUPPORT
YOU'VE GIVEN US FOR EIGHT YEARS
WATCHING "AROUND THE FARM
TABLE," CALLING US, LETTING US
KNOW HOW YOU APPRECIATE THE
PROGRAM.
IT IS SUCH AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE
TO BE ABLE TO BE STANDING HERE
TODAY AND JUST KNOWING THAT
WE'VE BUILT A COMMUNITY THROUGH
"AROUND THE FARM TABLE."
ONE OF MY FAVORITE PARTS ABOUT
DOING THE SERIES IS AFTER A SHOW
AIRS, WHEN A FARMER WILL CALL ME
UP AND SAY, HEY, BOY, THERE'S
PEOPLE CALLING ASKING WHEN WE'RE
GOING TO BE AT THE NEXT FARMERS
MARKET.
THERE'S PEOPLE FINDING US.
WE'RE GETTING OUT THERE.
AND IT'S JUST YOU'RE HELPING
WITH THAT.
YOU'RE HELPING GET THE MESSAGE
OF THESE FARMS AND THE HEALTHY
SOILS AND WHAT'S HAPPENING IN
WISCONSIN, YOU BY PLEDGING YOUR
SUPPORT ARE HELPING WITH ALL
THAT.
AND IT'S JUST -- IT'S INCREDIBLE
TO BE A PART OF THIS PBS
COMMUNITY.
AND I HOPE YOU'LL CONTINUE TO BE
A PART.
YOU CAN GO AHEAD AND CALL RIGHT
NOW, 1-800-236-3636.
[upbeat folksy music]
- Announcer: Support for Around the Farm Table
is provided by Wisconsin Farmers Union,
a gift in memory of Wendy Bladorn,
Marge Engelman,
Focus Fund for Wisconsin Programs,
and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.