I had a great time filming on the farm this week with Inga Witscher, the host of Wisconsin Public Television's wonderful Around the Farm Table. Believe it or not, we both just showed up in these clothes - no planning required. It's as though our linens communicated with each other and dressed us up for the show!
Being a part of this show is a great privilege for me. The first time I saw an episode, sometime last spring, I thought - "This girl is the new Julia Child! And has some cute boots, too!" - and I promptly sent a weblink to all of my friends and family. Not only is Inga charming and the show entertaining, the mission lines up almost exactly with my own - to connect people with the land and the farms and the farmers who provide their food. On the episode with me, Inga is exploring the trend of farm stay bed and breakfast enterprises like mine, and the opportunities such farms present to bring even more people out to interact intimately with rural places. I am so thankful to her and to her crew (which includes her dad, Rick) for the exposure they bring to small family-scaled entrepreneurial farm operations. "Come on out to the country and see all we have to offer here!" is the show's theme, and it is very much my theme as well. Of course, my farm's actual motto is "Play with your food!" and we certainly did plenty of that for the episode, too.
Inga, who has a little dairy farm of her own called St. Isisdore's Mead, produces her own artisan cheese and I make goat cheese here. She had fun milking one of my dairy goats, Mochi, but found it to be a bit different from milking her cows! We picked veggies from the garden and she made my bed and breakfast guests a frittatta, while I made zucchini chocolate bundt cakes decorated with raspberries and edible confetti.
Being a part of this show is a great privilege for me. The first time I saw an episode, sometime last spring, I thought - "This girl is the new Julia Child! And has some cute boots, too!" - and I promptly sent a weblink to all of my friends and family. Not only is Inga charming and the show entertaining, the mission lines up almost exactly with my own - to connect people with the land and the farms and the farmers who provide their food. On the episode with me, Inga is exploring the trend of farm stay bed and breakfast enterprises like mine, and the opportunities such farms present to bring even more people out to interact intimately with rural places. I am so thankful to her and to her crew (which includes her dad, Rick) for the exposure they bring to small family-scaled entrepreneurial farm operations. "Come on out to the country and see all we have to offer here!" is the show's theme, and it is very much my theme as well. Of course, my farm's actual motto is "Play with your food!" and we certainly did plenty of that for the episode, too.
Inga, who has a little dairy farm of her own called St. Isisdore's Mead, produces her own artisan cheese and I make goat cheese here. She had fun milking one of my dairy goats, Mochi, but found it to be a bit different from milking her cows! We picked veggies from the garden and she made my bed and breakfast guests a frittatta, while I made zucchini chocolate bundt cakes decorated with raspberries and edible confetti.
Inga loved the flower confetti we used - and even picked some cornflowers to garnish a meal she served between our two days of taping! We went into the field to show viewers some of the petals we use to make it - multicolored golden calendula blossoms. These aren't just edible - they're medicinal, and gorgeous!
We spent a little time in the dirt , too, to give viewers a real sense of what the work is like on a diversified farm. We planted some tarragon and Johnny Jump Up violas (more edible flowers!) in my new perennial herb field. Inga drove my little old Farmall A tractor, which was a fun learning experience since she doesn't have a tractor of her own. She has a skid steer, though, and I want to visit St. Isidore's so I can drive her rig and eat some of her cheese! She looks like fun on the show, and she is in person, too!
When we went upstairs to film in the bed and breakfast rooms, we found this note on the chalkboard wall from one of last night's young guests! Inga is thinking of opening a farm stay bed and breakfast at her farm, and we talked about the pro's and con's of such a venture. We've only been a certified bed and breakfast since April, and we've been booked every weekend and most of the weeks since we put the word out. There is a growing desire to connect with the countryside among Americans - and among travelers from across the world. This month, we had two families visit from France, one from England and one group from Japan. This weekend we'll be welcoming a family from Ireland. The trend is growing AND it's important. People who visit rural places value rural places. They will be more likely to support rural places - not just financially with their purchasing power, but also legislatively with their votes and their voices. Rural populations that recognize visitors as an important source of money and support will be more likely to support policy and politicians that protect beautiful and pastoral rural places from careless development and destructive agriculture like CAFOs and other resource-stripping ventures.
So come on out and stay and play - either here or in another lovely country place. And I'll let you know when you can see us on the television or internet!
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