- This week on "Wisconsin Life:"
Meet a Door County couple born to farm,
[slosh, slosh]
a group that brings mobility to veterans,
a musician following his dreams,
and a woman who brings Shakespeare
to the great outdoors.
It's all ahead on "Wisconsin Life!"
* *
- Funding for "Wisconsin Life"
is provided in part
by Alliant Energy,
Lowell and Mary Peterson,
and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.
- Hello, I'm Angela Fitzgerald
and welcome to "Wisconsin Life."
Today, I am headed down,
underground to the caves
at the Ledge View Nature Center in Calumet County.
This county park is just south of the city of Chilton
and offers affordable tours of the natural cave formations
in the area.
This cave system is surrounded by hiking trails
and nestled within 105 acres of woods and prairie.
All of which can be seen
from the top of a 60-foot observation tower.
But the most exciting features are found underground
with several caves and tunnels to discover.
I'll begin the cave exploration in the nature center,
where I'll join a group as they prepare
to take an adventurous route
that will have them crawling through tight tunnels.
Before we hit the caves,
we travel to Door County
for our first story
where we meet a couple
who works a farm
that brought them together.
[cock-a-doodle-doo]
- [high-pitched mooing] Moowwwwwrrrr!
- C'mon girls. Let's go.
- [low-pitched mooing] - Mhrrooonnh! Muuhhhrrr!
- Get in there.
We're on the cows' routine.
Seven days a week, five o'clock, morning and night.
- [Moo!] - And they let you know
if you're ten minutes late, they're bellowing at you.
- For Mike and Jamie Henschel and their three boys,
milking time is often family time.
Jamie tries to appreciate it
since two of her sons have jobs off the farm.
[cluck, cluck] - Hey, chick, chicks.
Early morning's my best time.
I mean, the sun just peeking up,
it's peaceful,
it's calm.
- Most people think a chore
is something that's dull and repetitive
but farm chores give you eggs for breakfast.
[sizzling]
- We know no different; It's always been that way.
- Mike and Jamie were born into farming,
as were most of their ancestors.
Mike says the Henschel family came to Door County
a century ago, drawn by cheap land prices.
- My great-grandpa Ed and Mary moved up here
from Elkhart Lake area in 1902.
I think 12 cows, something like that,
that great-grandpa had had back then.
Eighty acres.
My Grandpa Ray took it over at the age of 18.
He had four children, and one son.
That was my dad, Roger.
And he ran it.
And then in 2000...
- 2000, we purchased it.
- Me and Jamie took the farm over from my parents.
- Jamie grew up on a farm down the road.
They were kindred spirits, growing up in an era
when more and more of their classmates
had no connection to farm life.
- Jamie: We knew what to talk about.
It was always, "What crop you're raising?"
or, "How's harvesting going?"
[pig snorts]
- Mike: I was 13 years old when I took the pigs over.
That's when my dad had his first heart attack.
And that pig smell, you can't get off your hands.
I mean, you'd wash them.
So I'd soak my hands in aftershave lotion,
and try to cover up the smell.
I always say, "Jamie's the only girl I found
that could handle the pig smell."
[laughing] - I grew up on a farm.
It's... the natural aroma.
[slosh, slosh]
We married two years out of high school,
and stayed right on this farm,
and helped his parents out until we took it over
and started raising our own family.
- Despite the chores and the routine of the animals,
Mike and Jamie say
there's always something new on the farm.
- Jamie: Just a little bit of diversion.
I mean, something different in the day.
- That's because they do more than cows and corn.
- We tap about 1,200 trees.
- They cook and bottle their own maple syrup.
They have bees for their own brand of honey.
And because they're in Door County,
they have a small cherry orchard.
- This year will be 89 years the cherry orchard's been there.
- And in case that wasn't enough,
they also operate a sawmill.
- Jamie saws a little over 200,000 board feet a year.
So now we call farming our hobby
and the sawmill is our main job. [chuckles]
- Add it all up and it's enough for a family farmer to get by.
- Having the sawmill, all our diversification
really helps out, kind of offset, and family labor.
I mean, you don't count your hours.
- Mike and Jamie were born into farming
but they made a choice to stay on the farm.
A choice their boys will have to make, as well.
- Jamie: It's been in his family.
We're fourth generation.
Our boys will be fifth.
- Mike: We're hoping.
I mean, just like my dad was hoping
I'd take the farm over.
And I'm pretty sure our boys will be taking this over
'cause they seem to like it so far.
- After all, it's not a chore if you enjoy what you're doing.
- Jamie: Always liked it. Always will.
- Mike: Dad always said,
"Work is something you don't enjoy."
So, hopefully, I never have to work.
[chuckles]
[moo]
- Next up, we're off to Waupaca
to find a group of veterans
who are on a mission
to bring mobility
to those in need.
[bells jingle]
- There are a lot of different kinds of freedoms.
- What's new, Kenny?
- Just busy, busy, busy.
- But one most people take for granted
is freedom of movement.
[bells jingle] - Good morning, Jim.
- Morning.
- For some, just getting out of the house to visit friends
can be an impossible task.
Which is why
twice a week, a group of retired veterans
shows up at the Mobility 4 Vets Wheelchair Shop in Waupaca.
- Everything you see in this building is a donation.
[pump valve squeals]
[gear clicks]
- Oh, yeah.
- They'll spend the next few hours
fixing up donated wheelchairs and scooters.
[mechanical whirr]
- It should be ready to fly now.
- Just some veterans helping restore
a little freedom of movement.
[whirr]
- We take the equipment.
We refurbish it and get it back into working shape.
Put a very reasonable asking price on it
and make people happy.
- Ken Tourville is president of this nonprofit
and says donated goods, volunteers, and free rent,
allow them to make mobility affordable.
[clunk]
- They look fairly new, too.
- A lot of people don't realize
how much some of this mobile equipment goes.
Some of those chairs run up into $20, $25, $30,000 range.
- Most of the chairs were purchased
through Medicare or the VA,
but they don't take returns.
- I got a call from a lady.
She said it belonged to her father.
He just passed away.
She said, "I don't even know if he used it.
If he did, once or twice, maybe."
- It's a $20,000 electric wheelchair.
Mobility 4 Vets will list it for $800,
but they understand even that price could be too expensive.
So, the right price could be nothing more than a handshake.
- I don't know how to thank you so thank you.
- You're welcome, sweetheart.
- So our prices run
anywhere from zero
up to whatever you can afford.
We put a very, very reasonable price on things.
- Whatever they can't fix, they break down for parts.
- Years ago, the group worked out of a wheelchair repair shop
at the Wisconsin Veteran's Home at King,
just down the road.
- Five of us were volunteers there for quite a while.
They ended up closing the shop.
We talked about it and said,
"Do we really want to open another shop?"
Our youngest guy at that time was, like, 73.
We decided it's really worthwhile
what we're doing there and helping people.
- Despite the name,
Mobility 4 Vets provides help for anyone.
- So, we really have a warm spot in our heart for veterans,
but we try to help everybody.
* *
- That's for donuts and coffee for you folks.
- Holy cripes.
- That's a donation, call it.
- All right.
Fantastic.
- The social aspect can be just as important
for their customers.
Immobility can be isolating.
- That's a dandy right there.
We understand what their needs are.
Yeah, sometimes we just shoot the bull.
- Ken can relate because he uses a chair as well.
- I had a bad accident.
I got a whole new respect
for stairs, for ramps,
for accessibility.
- Ken understands how easy it is to lose mobility
and therefore how important their service really is.
And it's that history of service
that ties this group together.
- Like the old saying, "band of brothers."
Veterans just kind of bond to one another.
[laughter]
They have a very special bond.
- The only thing I can do is take it for a test drive.
- If I can help a Veteran,
that makes my day.
[ratchet clicks]
- Okay, it works.
[motor whirs]
- Ken tells a story that sums up what they do.
A disabled veteran was poor,
but too proud to take a scooter for free.
- So I said to him, I said, "John,
how much money do you have?"
Real proud, he says, "I got 120 dollars."
"We'll sell you that for $120."
The guy was just totally elated.
He was so happy.
About three days later, I called him.
He lives in Oshkosh.
And I said, "How's it going, John?"
"Ken, yesterday," he said, "I went to Walgreens."
He'd never been to Walgreens, like, two blocks from his house.
He said, "Tomorrow, I'm going to the grocery store."
That's why we do it.
He was so happy.
How do you replicate that kind of satisfaction
in what you're doing?
It just made us feel good.
- Group: Yeah!
- Now we feel better.
That's why I do it.
- I'm in Calumet County exploring the caves
with some young friends I've met today.
Together, we set out to see
what's hidden beneath the surface.
The Ledge View Nature Center offers beautiful hiking trails,
educational opportunities,
and year-round activities
to experience the natural world,
above and below ground.
The most popular features at the park are the caves
and Naturalist Supervisor Louise Marum knows their origins.
[speaking in Australian accent] - We have a dolomite limestone here.
So, during the Silurian Period,
there was a warm tropical ocean and a coral reef.
It was an accumulation of coral sediment over millions of years
that formed our dolomite limestone.
Dolomite is a carbonate rock.
And rainwater is acidic.
So very slowly, over time, that rock will be dissolved away.
So, water seeps down through cracks in the rocks
and over possibly up to a million years,
it dissolved the rock away.
- Wow, and so, what might we expect to see
during today's tours?
- Well, our caves here at Ledge View are--
We like to call them wild caves.
There's no walkways.
So if you want the opportunity to really go caving
and walk around and crawl around
and, yeah, you can touch stuff.
We encourage it.
Now, some of those tunnels are pretty big.
I can do them on my hands and knees.
Others, I got to get on my belly for
which is the really fun part I think.
- Adventure awaits for those who dare to explore the caves.
- We often find that when kids first go down into the caves,
they're a little bit hesitant
because it's dark, and it's dirty, and it's wet.
And when we put dirt and water together, we get mud.
Some kids are just not used to getting
as dirty as you get in our caves.
But we find after a while that they really get into it
and that's the aspect that they say that they most enjoy
when they come out.
- Huge spiders.
- She's not going to hurt. Promise.
- Tight tunnels and a narrow exit.
- Oh, that was a squeeze.
Wow, that was pretty small.
- It may be dirty and exhausting,
but most visitors say it's all worth it.
- I would just say getting dirty and just exploring.
I really like stuff like that
'cause it's quite fun for me
and exploring is quite fun sometimes.
- The fact that I got to learn a lot.
I like reading history books.
Learning about history, history's people,
and how things are shaped and formed.
- It's obvious Wisconsin has a lot to experience
above and below ground.
Including in Rhinelander,
where a local musician proves
it's never too late
to follow your dreams.
* *
* Looking back
* I didn't know
* I was falling in love
- When I write songs, I can just get lost.
* Across the painted sky
* In a cowboy's dreams
* She was beautiful
I tap into a different space when I write.
* Some said she came from Buffalo
* The sweetheart of the rodeo
* Just passing through
My name's Paco Fralick.
I'm a singer-songwriter.
I'm from Rhinelander, Wisconsin.
I think I was about 15 or 16, I saw my dad play out.
I actually went out and watched him play.
It was New Year's Eve and I remember I was just hooked.
Always like to acknowledge my dad, Len Fralick.
He was my musical inspiration.
And I would grow up listening to that music around the house.
And so my first song was "Rhinestone Cowboy."
[audience laughs]
So, I started playing bass in the band with my dad.
Got $10 a job.
* His hands are worn like leather
So music was always there in the background.
* Holds his cardboard sign
* Hey, man, you gotta dime?
I think I'm a latecomer--
I just turned 50--
to try to do something serious with my music.
* The band played a familiar tune
* And she whispered to me
I saw my dad as he's getting older,
not able to sing like he wanted to anymore,
physically not able to do it.
And I thought I'd better record these songs while I still can.
[soft guitar music]
* Well I remember
* The day that you were born
* First time I held you
It wasn't until, actually, my kids moved out,
which was just a few years ago.
We have three great kids.
I started writing again
and I found that the writing was still there.
* I knew that someday
* You'd set out on the world
My album is called Letting Go
and it was released in May of 2017.
* I'm letting go
* I know it hurts you so this ain't goodbye
* Dry those tears from your eyes
I describe it as eclectic.
I think it's a little bit of everything.
It's definitely got a country side to it.
* You're forever in my heart and in my soul
It has a folk side to it.
[soft guitar music]
My songs are usually written about dreams I had,
or experiences I had, or relationships.
* Start a family of your own
I'm part Ojibwe from Lac du Flambeau.
And when I was 37,
I started having a lot of spiritual dreams.
And that drastically changed my path in life.
[soft guitar music]
Sometimes, I don't always understand what I'm seeing.
My dreams became about Native American things
and it caused me to go on this journey
to start to learn more about that side of myself
because I really didn't know much about it.
* 'Cause I'm letting go
[strumming guitar]
This first song is called "Where Were You?"
and it had come to me in 2008 through some dreams.
So I just feel very blessed
that I'm able to connect through dreams like that.
I don't take that lightly.
* Disappeared into the sea
I don't claim to be the greatest singer
or the greatest songwriter
or the greatest guitar player.
But those are my songs, you know.
And the spirit brought them through me.
And so that happened for a reason.
I just deliver them the best that I can.
* What a wonder through life
I think it's never too late to chase your dreams.
And we're all going to fall short.
But it's the journey, really.
[strums final notes of song]
[applause]
That's what it's all about. [applause]
Thank you. [applause]
- We head back to Calumet County
to High Cliff State Park
to meet a woman
who brings Shakespeare
to the great outdoors.
[medieval flute music]
[voices in distance]
- "If you were men as men you are in show,
"you would not use a gentle lady so.
"To vow and swear
"and super praise my parts." [laughs]
"When I am sure you hate me with your hearts."
- Summit Players Theater
is a traveling group of seven members
that go around the Wisconsin state parks
and do Shakespeare performances and educational workshops
for free.
My name is Hannah Klapperich-Mueller.
I am the producing director of Summit Players Theater.
I came up with the idea.
I was camping with my family in Potawatomi State Park,
up in Door County.
My parents and I came across one of those park amphitheaters.
Ever since I was young,
I've been real fascinated by those.
Okay, I'm putting that on my calendar.
So I contacted a bunch of my classmates.
The project started as a kind of senior capstone
and then it grew into so much more.
Okay, so where do you want to put these?
Yeah, and then do you think we should have one
coming from the campground direction?
Yeah, so maybe put one in there, too?
So that's two left-facing signs.
Every inhabitant of Kaukauna
is going to come to High Cliff State Park today.
The mayor will probably come.
Yeah, come "Shake-A-Speare" with us.
- "Wilt thou at Ninny's tomb, meet me straight away?"
- [in Monty Python-like voice] "I come without delay."
- We do somewhat irreverent Shakespeare.
When you're in high school, you have to learn about it
under these florescent lights
and your books are dusty and you hate it.
We want to get people out into the parks
and start thinking of Shakespeare
as something that's fun and exciting.
[plays bugle call]
[applause]
[upbeat music]
The parks have been extremely supportive.
The only thing that we ask from the parks
is that they give us a picnic table.
And that's it.
Let's swivel it so it could be a potential audience thing.
- I love it.
It's a great way to expand people's horizons.
It's kind of nice for the campers
to get out of their sites and just enjoy a play.
- "Away with us to Athens three and three,
we'll hold a feast in great solemnity."
- We have a very sparse set, you might say.
We bring in our trunk and our banner
which creates the line
between front of house and backstage.
This baguette has seen better days.
[laughter]
You can see the newspaper that was used to paper-mâché it.
People in the group all have different skills that we bring.
We all play at least four characters per show.
So it's very wacky.
Part of the process then
is to find those differences between characters.
[in high-pitched voice] I'm Helena, a lover.
[in deep voice] Egeus, Hermia's father.
[in a mid-range voice] Aaaaaaand Philostrate, the Duke's attendant.
It's a very big challenge for the actors.
That's something where we can help the audience along.
If we give someone a vest or a tutu when you're a fairy.
But you really do not need more than that.
Shakespeare provides us with
such wonderful, descriptive language
that you don't need to have a costume to tell the story.
[man brays like a donkey]
- [speaking as Titania] Tie up my lover's tongue and bring him silently.
I am a teaching artist.
That's what I do for employment during the school year.
I've been very lucky to have a lot of great teachers,
who have sparked the love of learning in me.
That was where my love of Shakespeare really got going.
[as Helena] "Most ungrateful maid!
"Have you conspired?
"Have you with these contrived
to bait me with this foul derision?"
Giving kids the key to Shakespeare,
to unlocking it and understanding it
so it becomes something that they are in control of
and that they can own themselves.
That's something that we believe in really strongly
and that the kids love.
We do a quick game.
Do a character walk and a little performance.
We start every workshop with just a game,
a fun theater game
to kind of get kids loose and moving.
Everyone form your lasers.
These are people who are now ready to take risks
and make big choices, which we encourage as actors.
We have them playing royalty.
We have them playing fairies.
They play weather because we want to acknowledge
the important part that nature played
in Shakespeare's plays.
When I see a child with light in their eyes,
playing with Shakespeare and speaking these words,
that is so exciting to me.
I just love knowing that here's someone
who's going to have a fond memory
of the name William Shakespeare,
of theater,
and maybe this state park near their house
they've never been to before.
These are positive associations that we're trying to build.
[thwack, thwack] - Agh!
- Being silly is a skill that a lot of, I think, adults
lose as we get older.
But in a space where
you are able to really play and let loose,
you can discover so much about yourself.
My dream is that Shakespeare in the State Park
becomes something Wisconsin can be proud of.
Because I really strongly believe
that bringing theater and Shakespeare
to all the far reaches of our state
is something that's just going to
add positive energy wherever it goes.
[chorus of voices]
- I've crawled my way through the underground cave system
and this county park is full of surprises.
If you'd like to learn more
about the people and places you've seen
including the caves at the Ledge View Nature Center,
visit WisconsinLife.org.
As always, we'd love to hear about your "Wisconsin Life."
So send us your ideas at WisconsinLife@wpt.org.
- That'll wrap it up,
as I say farewell from Calumet County.
I'm your host, Angela Fitzgerald,
and this is our "Wisconsin Life."
Bye.
* *
[Angela screeches in surprise]
It's a tight squeeze.
[group chatters]
- Funding for "Wisconsin Life"
is provided in part
by Alliant Energy,
Lowell and Mary Peterson,
and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.