Our Journey to Become Farmers
We’ve come a long way and we’ve risked almost everything we have to start this farm business. We left friends, family and a community of supporters to come and live in the heart of Wisconsin. We saw an opportunity here, however small, and decided it was worth it. After years of nurturing the seeds of our farm dream, we now are able to nurture the local food system in and around Waupaca.
Growing up, my parents both participated in growing a very large garden, keeping bees and making food from scratch. They drove to Waupaca every year from their suburban home in Chicago to buy a side of beef from a farm we can see from our current home. It is no surprise that we evolved into organic farmers, but I often forget what it was like before we embraced this farm life. I really can’t believe it, but there was a time when we didn’t even know what the CSA model of farming was.
We bought our house with one acre in the suburbs the year after we were married, and we learned to grow more than just tomatoes. Each year our garden grew in size until finally it was more than 50′ by 100′. We grew a fantastic variety of vegetables, blueberry bushes, a giant patch of strawberries, a plot of rhubarb, and asparagus plants. We added chickens, and bees, and tapped our own maple trees. But we still weren’t storing much through the winter, and we were still going to the grocery store every week for a good portion of our food. It took the birth of our first child to really motivate the journey toward better food habits.
We began to search for local milk, then milk in returnable glass bottles, local affordable cheese, and locally grown and milled grains and flours. It was not always easy and instead of going to just one store to do all my shopping, I ended up with a list of places I went to get food. When eating seasonal food, you have to be ready for each fruit ripening. Sometimes the window is only two weeks or less.
Amazingly, our suburban oasis just happened to have a winery two doors down, a butcher less than five minutes away, a wholesale natural food distributor and farm markets with all the food we needed. When Ross quit his office job and started his full time farm manager position at a local organic CSA vegetable farm, we were learning more than how to farm on a much bigger scale, we now gained access to unlimited vegetables! Shockingly, even some that we had never eaten before, despite considering ourselves local foodies.
Canning can seem daunting and scary at first, especially when learning from a book, but we wanted to be able to eat local food all year long, and so we just began with pickles and tomatoes and apples. We graduated to jams and jellies, sauces and sauerkraut soon after. We bought a chest freezer for the basement, and filled it with frozen vegetables and sides of beef and pork. People we knew were amazed and inspired by our efforts towards self sufficiency, and they wanted to be a part. We started organizing bulk local food purchases with our friends and family. We invited people over to learn about our backyard maple syrup operation, and our backyard chickens. We could never have envisioned our backyard becoming a suburban farm and education center.
At the end of our days, we sat down to meals of our own food, and it was priceless. The food I searched for was a treasure. It tasted better, and satisfied our souls. Every single dollar we’ve spent on local food showed how much we value the small farm. We are now looking to our customers to show us that same appreciation for our hard work, and our dedication to rich soils, clean water, and healthy animals. It is a choice people make about what kind of community you want to be part of and what kind of business you want to see flourish.
And lastly, my one piece of advice for everyone DON’T BE AFRAID. Don’t be afraid to try new things! Don’t be afraid to change the way things have always been. Don’t be afraid of Food. Fresh vegetables, raw, or cooked, can surprise us with great flavor and feed us in ways we least expect.
-Brigid Ferkett
Growing up, my parents both participated in growing a very large garden, keeping bees and making food from scratch. They drove to Waupaca every year from their suburban home in Chicago to buy a side of beef from a farm we can see from our current home. It is no surprise that we evolved into organic farmers, but I often forget what it was like before we embraced this farm life. I really can’t believe it, but there was a time when we didn’t even know what the CSA model of farming was.
We bought our house with one acre in the suburbs the year after we were married, and we learned to grow more than just tomatoes. Each year our garden grew in size until finally it was more than 50′ by 100′. We grew a fantastic variety of vegetables, blueberry bushes, a giant patch of strawberries, a plot of rhubarb, and asparagus plants. We added chickens, and bees, and tapped our own maple trees. But we still weren’t storing much through the winter, and we were still going to the grocery store every week for a good portion of our food. It took the birth of our first child to really motivate the journey toward better food habits.
We began to search for local milk, then milk in returnable glass bottles, local affordable cheese, and locally grown and milled grains and flours. It was not always easy and instead of going to just one store to do all my shopping, I ended up with a list of places I went to get food. When eating seasonal food, you have to be ready for each fruit ripening. Sometimes the window is only two weeks or less.
Amazingly, our suburban oasis just happened to have a winery two doors down, a butcher less than five minutes away, a wholesale natural food distributor and farm markets with all the food we needed. When Ross quit his office job and started his full time farm manager position at a local organic CSA vegetable farm, we were learning more than how to farm on a much bigger scale, we now gained access to unlimited vegetables! Shockingly, even some that we had never eaten before, despite considering ourselves local foodies.
Canning can seem daunting and scary at first, especially when learning from a book, but we wanted to be able to eat local food all year long, and so we just began with pickles and tomatoes and apples. We graduated to jams and jellies, sauces and sauerkraut soon after. We bought a chest freezer for the basement, and filled it with frozen vegetables and sides of beef and pork. People we knew were amazed and inspired by our efforts towards self sufficiency, and they wanted to be a part. We started organizing bulk local food purchases with our friends and family. We invited people over to learn about our backyard maple syrup operation, and our backyard chickens. We could never have envisioned our backyard becoming a suburban farm and education center.
At the end of our days, we sat down to meals of our own food, and it was priceless. The food I searched for was a treasure. It tasted better, and satisfied our souls. Every single dollar we’ve spent on local food showed how much we value the small farm. We are now looking to our customers to show us that same appreciation for our hard work, and our dedication to rich soils, clean water, and healthy animals. It is a choice people make about what kind of community you want to be part of and what kind of business you want to see flourish.
And lastly, my one piece of advice for everyone DON’T BE AFRAID. Don’t be afraid to try new things! Don’t be afraid to change the way things have always been. Don’t be afraid of Food. Fresh vegetables, raw, or cooked, can surprise us with great flavor and feed us in ways we least expect.
-Brigid Ferkett