[upbeat twangy music]
Hi, welcome to my neighbor Tom's farm.
I'm down here helping him with morning chores.
Once we're finished, he's gonna help me
go pick up my new horses.
And then it's time for a birthday party
for all four of my nephews.
For the ingredients to their chocolate beet cake,
I'm headed down to Nordic Creamery in Westby, Wisconsin
for some goat milk butter.
And then it's off for a quick visit
to the Driftless Folk School.
And then I'll be gathering some beets
from my friend Steve's root cellar.
Gather with us, Around the Farm Table .
I'm your host, Inga Witscher.
Good morning, girls!
I'm Inga and I love everything about farming.
[upbeat music with a driving twang]
Midwestern farms are a bounty of good food
made by good people.
I love being able to travel,
to search out good ingredients.
Cooking is all about what's seasonal, what's fresh.
Every day can be filled with good food,
good friends, and a beautiful herd of cows.
Welcome to the farm.
[Inga speaks warmly to cow] Good girl!
- Around the Farm Table is funded in part
by Kwik Trip, big on fresh,
and proud to support Wisconsin's farmers,
Wisconsin Farmers Union, united to grow family agriculture,
American Provenance,
Heartland Credit Union,
and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.
- Farming is all about neighbors helping neighbors
and today, my neighbor Tom is gonna help me
pick up these horses.
Let's go get 'em.
[twangy music]
Tom and I couldn't help but reminisce
on our ride to pick up the horses.
He and his brothers had horses growing up.
My brothers and I shared Pepper, our Shetland pony.
Pepper was as stubborn as they come.
Tom and I also reflected on the early days of his farming.
I asked him how he overcame the challenges of farming alone.
"Neighbors," he said.
I guess some things never change.
[twangy music]
Well, maybe I'll turn you back into a horse fan.
- A nice horse. - It is nice.
Joy, these are beautiful horses.
And these are Welsh Cobs, right? - Yes.
- What is the Welsh Cob known for?
- Mostly driving. They're workhorses.
They drive at Disneyland.
They use them in the carriages there.
- And these are kind of almost ponies.
They're just large ponies. That's good.
And they're gonna have a good temperament, right?
- These guys do. They really do.
They're very friendly. They're not mean usually.
- Well, I'm excited to bring them back to my farm
and let them run around the pastures at St. Isidore's Mead.
One thing I'm a little bit nervous about is
getting them home and getting them comfortable.
What do I need to do to introduce them to me
and to the farm?
- Spend time with them.
The best thing you can do is spend time.
- And just walking them around?
- Walk them around, pet 'em, sit out there, read a book.
Don't abandon them
'cause they don't have any idea what's happening.
They're gonna be happy 'cause they're together.
I know with my cows, they're better in groups.
Is that the same with horses
or can you keep just one horse on your farm?
- You can keep just one horse, but they are a herd animal,
so they do prefer to be with other horses.
I was doing a bit of research on these.
They're kind of known for that working horse.
I know these ones were used for driving.
Can any horse be taught to drive or pull a wagon?
Or is it only special breeds?
- I would think just about any horse can be taught.
It's just their temperament and what they'll tolerate.
That's what these guys are mostly for.
- He's already being really friendly.
- He likes people.
I'm hoping that they're not gonna get too nervous
about the smells of the farm and the cows
and just being there in that atmosphere.
So I'm hoping to make them feel nice and calm
as soon as they arrive.
Feed, what do I need to think about with feed?
- Hay, good quality hay.
Fresh clean water. A salt block.
That's all you need.
- They're easy keepers.
This is a lot easier than dairy cows. [laughs]
Well, I'm sure it's not. [laughing]
And then, any advice that you can give me?
It's been a while since I've horses
so I'm kind of out of practice.
- Just spend time with them.
Everybody will tell you different things you need to do.
For as many horses as there are out there,
there's our opinions,
so you just have to figure out what works for you.
- Well, Tom and I are gonna take them back to my farm.
Then I'll meet you in Westby, Wisconsin
where we're gonna pick up some goat butter
for the birthday cake.
Horses have a mind of their own
and Dylan and Merlin were none too eager
to get into the horse trailer.
But patience and a calm demeanor paid off
as the horses finally got on board.
Now, these two black beauties are off to the farm
and the organic pastures and
I'm off to gather ingredients for the birthday cake.
Won't my nephews be surprised?
[twangy music]
My friend Al picked me up near Westby, Wisconsin
to give me a little taste
of what it might be like with my ponies.
Not only is he a horse enthusiast,
but he's also an artisan cheese and butter maker.
And today I'm here at Nordic Creamery
to learn how to make goat butter.
Al, this farm has been in your wife's family
for quite a few years.
- Hundred years, this year.
- That's amazing.
I love hearing about these hundred-year-old farms
because so many farms are disappearing from our landscape,
I think, and to see the farm has been passed down
from generation and that's still thriving--
it makes me really excited.
- Yeah, we're pretty proud of what we've done
on the farm here, building the plant about seven years ago,
hoping to have something to pass down
to the next generation.
We've got six children, so we wanna have something
that they can enjoy and hopefully make a living at.
- That's wonderful.
There's a sense of security by turning that milk
into your own product, isn't there?
And knowing that you can regulate your price.
The milk price is so fluctuating these days,
it goes up and down, and this is a nice way
to secure your market.
- We make a little unique product here and there
and demand a pretty nice price for it,
but most of that is passed back down to the farmers
so they can also make a living too.
- Sure. One of the reasons I like buying locally--
we have so many great cheese makers here in Wisconsin--
is because you're giving the money back to them
but which they're in turn giving to their communities,
so it's all staying together, which I think is just
how the food system should work, personally.
- Yeah, we're all in this together
and we all need to make a living
and have fun while we're doing it too.
- What got you interested in horses and driving?
- A couple years ago, we decided to get our first team
of draft horses and since then,
we've added a few more and a few more and a few more
and we really enjoy it.
- So how many horses do you have right now?
- We have almost 30 horses now.
- So you have no extra time in the day to do anything?
- No.
You start out with six kids,
you know that time is not an issue there, so...
Yeah, we're busy.
- Well, what do you hope to see the creamery happening?
What are your growth goals in the next 10 years?
- Well, we have some projects coming up,
some new product that we're gonna put out there,
and we wanna keep making the staples that we have,
some really nice product that people really do enjoy.
- What's your favorite part about making cheese?
- Just to take the raw product and turn it into something
that people out there can enjoy,
and know where it's coming from,
and the hard work we've done to make it.
- Well, wonderful.
Well, I am so excited to learn about goat's milk butter,
in particular, something I never really heard of before.
So, why don't we head on out to the creamery?
And Al's gonna teach me how to make goat's milk butter.
[twangy music]
Thank you so much for giving me a ride on these horses.
It makes me less intimidated just to drive my own.
- Al: It's my pleasure to pick you up out here
and bring you into our nice little plant,
give you a little tour.
- Inga: I'm excited.
Al, it's been about 15 years since I've made butter
in this scale.
Can you tell us what the process
of making the artisan butter is?
- So we're gonna add the cream to the churn.
We're gonna get it closed up here
and start it up
and it's gonna take about 15 to 20 minutes for this to churn.
- Alrighty.
- And then after that, we'll drain the buttermilk off
and add the salt.
- Well, start it up. - Al: Alright, here we go.
[twangy music]
- This is quite a bit easier than doing it with a mason jar,
which is what I do at home.
- This is a lot easier process to do it this way
than that way, yes.
- So after we get it churned for about 15, 20 minutes,
what's the next step?
- After we churn it, we wait for the butter to separate
from the buttermilk
and then we wanna drain off the buttermilk
and then we're gonna add salt to it
and then we're gonna work that salt into the butter
and take it out and package it.
- That's fantastic. It's so simple.
Now you're one of the only artisan butter producers
here in the state of Wisconsin.
We have a lot of artisan cheese makers,
but why are there not more artisan butter makers?
- The state of Wisconsin holds the butter makers
to a pretty strict standard and it's kinda hard
to get that license so it's pretty hard
to get a lot of people that wanna go through that.
- But artisan butter is so good. It's so fresh.
- Artisan butter is great to taste the difference
in the seasons of the butter,
going from spring to summer and summer to fall.
It's wonderful.
There's a lot of butter that's made and froze
to use at a different date.
We try to make our butter fresh,
get it out there as quick as we can
so you can taste that freshness
and the change of the seasons in the butter as well.
- And this is goat butter, which is something
that's very unique.
How did you decide to do a goat butter?
So goat butter would be a lot like goat cheese
where the people that are a little lactose intolerant
or have a little trouble with lactose
can take the goat butter and use it for their butter
instead of the cow butter and it'll digest
in their system a little easier.
- Well, I can wait to taste it. Why don't we finish up here?
I'll help you load up some packages
and hopefully I can take a sample home with me.
- Al: You bet.
[twangy music]
- This looks great.
I'm gonna help Al package up this beautiful butter.
Why don't you head on over to the Driftless Folk School
and I'll meet you there?
[twangy music]
It's wonderful to be out here today.
Can you explain to me what the Driftless Folk School is?
- Sure.
The Folk School is a little over 10 years old now
and it was initially a collective of people near
that had a passion for some expertise or skill they had
they wanted to share and preserve.
So, the school is trying to preserve those knowledge,
pass them on, promote them.
Initially, there was no campus.
It was just people that would conduct classes in their home
or in a public place.
But a little over two years ago,
they got into a partnership with Bear Creek Farm
and now we have a five-acre campus.
We're slowly building infrastructure
so that more and more things can happen here,
like the cabin here.
- That sounds exciting.
What kinds of classes have you offered in the past?
- It's a wide range and usually has to do
with crafts or skills or homesteading-type things.
Some of the classes I've taken are deer butchering,
chicken butchering.
My wife's done fermenting.
I did some tree pruning,
to learn how to keep my apple trees in shape.
So, a wide range.
- These really sound like skills
that perhaps my grandparents would've passed onto me.
And it's nice to know that
since they didn't pass these tricks onto me,
that there's a place
where we can relearn these amazing skills.
- You know, I was raised on a farm, but it was a conventional farm
and I think some of these things kinda skipped a generation
or just didn't get passed on the same way.
So now that I live here, I'm excited
at all the classes I can take
and learn the things I should've before.
- One thing that I think is great about the school
is that you're learning from your neighbors,
your peers, and there's not these sort of academics
coming in to teach you these labor-intensive things.
You're working right along side your neighbors.
There's definitely a community piece to it.
Locally, in the Driftless area, there's an attempt
to re-localize, let's say, and create community
and that's part of what the school would like to do.
But people can sign up from anywhere,
from large cities, come here for a weekend,
and that's a kind of community also.
Again, these were people in this area,
that all happened to know each other, connect,
and create this school, but also to be a resource
for the area and it doesn't just have to be local community.
People come here from pretty far away sometimes
and that's another form of community.
It's a common interest. - I love that.
I live about two hours away from here
and there's definitely some classes
that I'm looking forward to taking this summer
and I don't mind driving down 'cause they're skills--
chicken butchering, I love this.
I wanna bring people with me so they can learn these skills
and come back and help me butcher chickens.
But in the meantime, what I really came for,
is to learn more about root cellars
and I know that you have a root cellar.
I think it's a wonderful way to keep food
throughout the winter.
And I'm hoping that maybe you could show me yours
and just teach me a little more about it
so that I can build one at my house.
- I'd love to do that. -Wonderful, well let's take off.
[twangy music]
Steve, this is an inspiration
to see all the wonderful food that you've been keeping up here
and to be in your root cellar.
I'm really inspired to do a root cellar
in my basement and I know that ventilation is key.
Can you explain what I need to be thinking about
when it comes to ventilation?
- Sure, sure.
Two things to ventilation.
First off, you need to make this area cold,
as cold as you can.
So you need cold air from outside to be able to get in.
And then secondly, for root vegetables
and things that aren't dehydrated,
they need to have high humidity,
but not so wet that they'll get moldy.
So you need air movement,
but it needs to be cold, humid air.
So that's why, for example,
on these bins for potatoes and things,
I've got slats for air.
- So, air movement all the time?
- Air movement, you don't pile 'em too deep.
That's why there's several different layers.
Same thing for other root crops.
- Inga: Alright, now do you have to take any air out?
- When you have a root cellar that needs the air movement,
yeah, you need air in and air out.
In this root cellar, I added a second line to bring cold air in
and then this vent is where the warm air gets pushed out.
- And what's the optimal temperature for the root cellar?
- It depends on the vegetables.
Some like it really cold,
just as close to freezing as you can get.
And others, not as cold.
But in general, you want it cold.
- Inga: But how do you deal
with the different temperatures in the space?
- Steve: Yeah, root cellars have zones
and it takes maybe puttin' thermometers
to see where exactly things are going on.
But, down low will be the colder stuff,
so stuff that likes it cold, you'd put in the lower bins.
That doesn't need it as cold,
you put 'em in the higher bins.
This is a squash and they don't need it super cold.
They're a good storage crop, but they don't need it so cold.
- Inga: This is really inspiring
and I have not been doing my due diligence
when it comes to storing food.
So this looks like it's taken hours and hours
of you and your wife's time.
What is it about putting your own food away
that is important to you?
- Well, there's several things.
Just the feeling of accomplishment,
but you know where your food's coming from.
You wanna live a more sustainable life, grow your own food.
And, you can extend the season
for how long you eat your own food.
It's great to have tomatoes in the summer,
but a lot of this food will be eaten all year.
- And I bet it tastes a lot better than you
just go to the grocery store. - It does, it does.
- Well, I was wondering if I could taste
some of your beets that you've storing.
I'm planning on making a birthday cake for my nephews.
- We still have some beets left.
- Well, fantastic.
Well, I'm gonna get the produce
and then why don't you meet me back at the farm
where we're gonna make up a beet chocolate cake?
[twangy music]
I stopped off on the way home and picked up my youngest nephew
to come help me make the birthday cake
because he loves making cakes with me, right?
We've made quite a few. What's your favorite kind?
- Beet. - Beet cake?
I think he's just trying to get on my good side
with that one.
Today we're gonna make a beet cake
because it's a lovely cake to have this time of year.
It's a great way to use up those beets
that are in your root cellar
and it's a way that I can get my nephews
to get a little bit more vegetables in their diet.
You probably have most of these ingredients on hand.
It's a very simple recipe.
We're gonna use some eggs, a little bit of salt,
some baking powder, some goat's butter,
brown sugar, flour, and two cups of pureed beets.
Now, for the beets, what I did is I wrapped them in foil
with a little bit of olive oil, popped 'em in the oven
at 425 and let 'em roast for about an hour,
throw 'em in the food processor and process that down.
Remember to scrape your sides
so that you're getting a nice, even puree.
So we got the brown sugar in here
and then this goat's butter--
I'm excited to be able to use goat's butter.
I don't think that I've ever eaten it before
and I love it that now I know where I can find it locally.
Do you know, when I was a kid, I would often go
to my grandma's house, just like you do,
and I would bake all the time.
So what we're doing here is
we're just gonna get a nice cream
on that butter and the brown sugar
and it's gonna look a little coarse at first,
but just keep going with it and get it nice and mixed in.
Alright, Ashtin, that looks good, I think.
So the next thing we're gonna do is add three eggs,
one at a time.
Mix the eggs in well before you add the second egg.
I know that you're the egg cracker king.
Can you crack me an egg?
[twangy music]
For me, it's important to be able to cook with my nephews.
And cooking with kids should be important to all of us.
It's a great way to establish that passion of cooking
for them as they grow up and become adults.
And hopefully, when they become adults,
they'll want to cook at home more,
hopefully healthy meals, and maybe even
with ingredients from their own farms.
We're gonna cream this all in
so it's nice incorporated.
You wanna chop your chocolate up as small as possible
so that it melts faster.
And then in with the chocolate is a quarter cup
of the goat's butter.
And this is gonna be a delicious chocolate mixture
for the beet cake.
Melt your chocolate using a double boiler.
A double boiler is essentially a pot
with boiling water on the bottom
and then a smaller pot that just fits right in there.
And that's gonna heat gently that chocolate,
making it nice and luscious.
Once your chocolate's melted, set it off to the side
so that it can cool slightly before we use it in the recipe.
[twangy music]
Now, once the vanilla's in here,
you're gonna add your beet and chocolate mixture
right into your bowl
And be sure to have a big bowl
when you're making this recipe 'cause there's a lot of it.
It's kind of surprising how much this'll fill your bowl.
You wanna start swirling that around?
Get it mixed in.
Good, alright, let me give you a hand to speed this up.
We can do it together.
I love spending time with my nephews.
I realize that I love it more than they do.
But I still love it and they still put up with me.
Once the beet mixture's mixed in,
then you take your baking powder,
pop that in with your flour,
and then your pinch of salt.
I think it's about a quarter teaspoon of salt, I'd say.
And then adding a little bit at a time,
we'll mix in the flour.
You wanna help?
We can do it together.
We do a lot of fun things together.
We milk cows together sometimes, feed calves, what else?
You've done a lot of fencing with me.
I don't think recently, but when you were a baby,
you'd come and sit out in the car with me
in your car seat and take naps
while Papa and I got all the fencing done.
I've decided I'm going to put this into a Bundt cake.
I like the shape of it and it's kind of unusual.
And the other thing is,
the Bundt cake pan was invented in Minneapolis,
so I thought it was a nice little local touch
to our local birthday cake.
And now we just add the last bit of the flour mixture.
And the color of this cake, it's my favorite batter to make
because the color is just amazingly beautiful and vibrant
and it really has that beet color.
And it will have just a subtle beet flavor to it, too.
If you didn't know you were eating a beet cake,
I'm not sure that you'd know there were beets in there.
Let me finish it up there, buddy.
And now that everything's mixed up,
we can just put it right into our Bundt pan,
making sure to get it around evenly.
Can you scooch this for me when I ask you, just do that?
Alright, gimme a scooch.
Thank you, sir.
Gimme a scooch.
Scoochie.
Keep scoochin'.
Let me get the rest out of here.
Yummy.
Does it look good?
And then smooth it out so that it has a nice surface here.
And I don't know if I mentioned this,
but I have some cocoa powder that I dusted the pan with,
that way, if you use regular flour, all-purpose flour,
it kinda leaves a white residue.
So using the cocoa powder,
you don't have that white residue.
Alright, now I'm gonna pop this in the oven at 375
for about 45 minutes.
I'll let it rest for a little bit
when it comes out of the oven for about five minutes
and then flip it over to get it out of the pan.
And I was thinking of putting a nice icing
on the cake using a little bit of powdered sugar,
some beet pulp, and a little bit of milk.
And I have to get it to the right consistency.
I don't want it too drizzly and I don't want it too thick.
I just wanna coat the cake with a nice pink icing.
Okay, well let's get this in the oven
'cause I see the brothers have just arrived.
Are you excited about seeing your surprise?
Are you?
Well thank you so much for helping me bake the cake.
[kissing]
I know how much you love kisses. [Mwah, mwah, mwah, mwah]
And why don't you jump on down
and head out and go greet your brothers.
I'll get this cake in the oven and get some dishes done
and then it's time to see the surprise.
[twangy music]
I finished baking the cake while the boys were outside
and now I'm ready for the frosting.
It's an easy recipe with only three ingredients:
milk, powdered sugar, and some beets.
So let's quickly whip that up.
Start with about a cup of powdered sugar.
Then add a little milk
until you get the consistency that you desire.
A thicker frosting means less milk.
If you want a lighter coating, then add a little extra.
Once you get the icing to the consistency that you like,
then you're ready for the final ingredient:
beet pulp, or pureed beets
to give it that rosy color.
Add the beet paste to your frosting mix
and give it a stir.
When it gets to the consistency you like,
drizzle that frosting all over the chocolate beet cake.
Looking good.
And there's nothing like homemade birthday cake.
Now it's time to head out to the stables
to show my four nephews the newest addition to the farm.
It's a big surprise; Look what we got for the farm.
Horses! [cheers]
Who's excited for horses? [cheers]
What do you think?
* Happy birthday dear us
* Happy birthday to us
One, two, three.
[blows]
Sure to be a new birthday tradition.
Rich and moist, chocolate beet Bundt cake.
Vanilla ice cream and chocolate beet cake,
they're made for each other.
The boys love Grandma's gingerbread horse-shaped cookies.
There's nothing better than a glass of ice cold milk
to toast a birthday.
[twangy music]
Did you guys have a good birthday party today?
[boys assenting]
Well I hope for your next birthday party,
you'll consider this chocolate beet Bundt cake.
And I hope you'll gather with us next time
Around the Farm Table .
I'm your host, Inga Witscher. Cheers, guys.
[twangy music]
- Around the Farm Table is funded in part by
Kwik Trip, big on fresh
and proud to support Wisconsin's farmers,
Wisconsin Farmers Union,
united to grow family agriculture,
American Provenance,
Heartland Credit Union,
and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.