New Glarus Part 1: terrible bread

Our bicycle trip to New Glarus was extremely lovely. Though, i must admit, it was tough to get started Friday morning. i was starting to feel the differences (aches and pains) in my muscles and bones after biking for 4 days straight. We flew down to New Glarus (about a 20 mile ride) in about an hour and a half.

We visited the New Glarus Bakery for delicious baked goods but not so strong coffee. While we were in the bakery Barnacle and Davin discussed sharing the Apple bread. Barnacle asked if we had a knife with us and i said don't worry about it the bread is terrible. Well, that is what Barnacle, Davin, Bjorn, and the two ladies working at the bakery heard me say. All were astonished with my bold rudeness about the bread. They stared at me wide eyed, mouths slightly open in awe, and in silence. I repeated myself. "It's terrible. My parents always get it and i know you don't need a knife because it is tearable." They started to laugh and someone repeated me with slow thoughtfulness, tear-able. Now i looked at them in confusion. "Yeah... it's tearable." i heard it. i heard the slight difference that could exist with phonemes that possess the ability to dramatically change the meaning of a statement, the desire to buy the bread or not. Then we all laughed, including the bakery workers, realizing the irony of the situation.


heidi

the end of a low

Wednesday was a long day for some. We started from Trusted Earth in Calamine, WI. Calamine is about 10 miles south of Mineral Point and 17 miles south of Dodgeville. As we started we were excited for our day. Pictures were taken with Steven and Yvonne and our belongings were packed up. I took off right away as i always tried to do because of my usual slow pace on the bicycle. If i had a head start on the first hill perhaps my team mates wouldn't have to wait for me at the top. This particular morning Davin was not quite ready as we all rode out the driveway. He still had to attach his tent to the bicycle. After about 5 minutes we realized he wasn't behind us. Our start this morning was around a corner and up a large hill then the hill repeated. It wasn't obvious if we were all together. Barnacle cruised back to see where he was and found him (i am guessing, slightly agitated and slightly lost). We got on the right track to the dairy farm for Uplands Cheese. We stopped at Prairie Ridge Store (i thought Davin might enjoy) and had a beer then proceeded to Spring Green. When we arrived in Spring Green i bought local organic beef for the meat eaters and Davin bought the best (not good but the best the store offered) veggie burgers for himself. We cruised over to the site of the Shitty Barn and started to unpack. Our tents were not in the best location (a bit of hillside and along side a metal shed that belonged to a different property) but we were happy to have a place 25 feet away from our beer drinking location! As we were preparing our beds i stood outside observing our tent city when all of sudden Davin burst out of his tent to the side of shed. He turned a knob against the back of the shed then ran about 60 feet to grab the hose end. He quickly pulled the hose to a spot between the shed and white delivery truck then started to spray himself down. I consider myself extremely lucky to have taken this photo of him because this was his turning point for the day. We bought some beers then went around saying each of our day's highs and lows. For Davin his low was the entire day up until the moment this photo captures.

Throughout the trip we all had moments/days that required something (not always so dramatic as a garden hose shower) to help us pull through and come out the other side better.

Heidi

Wisconsin Barns Beers and Cheese

Wisconsin Barns Beers and Cheese, a set on Flickr.

here's a slideshow of some of our photos!

a link to some of our photos...

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3285516215861.8101737.1206312977&l=e1b97a1ed4&type=1

I'll also post a flicker slideshow shortly... perhaps my friends can help add/edit captions to explain the images!

Trip Statistics

So far, by the end of day 4:

Miles Ridden: 204 miles
Elevation Gained: 5636 ft
Farms Visited: 4
Breweries Visited: 3
Cheese Factories Visited: 4
Pounds of Cheese Consumed: ?
Melons consumed: 9
Number of times Barnacle's panniers fell off: 3
Flat Tires: 1

Day Four Route

Day Three Route

Day Two Route...

So after the 5am wake-up call, the storm proved to be harmless and simmered down to a nice, soothing drizzle all morning. Once you simply accept the fact that you will be wet and it's not miserable like you might imagine, it is actually really enjoyable riding in the rain. The rain brings such a vibrant glow to the landscape, really bringing everything to life. Very refreshing and cleansing.
It was this part of the ride where we experienced what I would consider the first challenging hill. I really love hills, so it was fun to take on the new challenge of not only getting myself up the hill, but getting my fully loaded bike (tent, food, pack raft and all) up the hill as well. I really wish we could have weighed all of our bikes at the beginning of the trip to see how much weight we were really carrying.
Our first stop was at Yellow Barn Farm in Clyde. Heidi is good friends with the farmer, Rebecca, who was so kind to let us dry off, warm up, and refuel in her house as we prepared for the second half of our ride. Since Heidi has worked out at Yellow Barn I will let her talk more about whats all goin on out there.
By the time we left Rebecca's the rain had cleared and the sun was shinin' as we headed to our next stop in Mineral Point, the Brewery Creek Inn for some cheese curds and beer.
Our final destination for the day was Trusted Earth Farm down in Calamine. Steven and Yvonne are doing so many awesome things that they really deserve their own blog post, so for now I will leave it at that :)

Heidi's Wednesday Recap

we have officially entered cheese country. we arrived at Trusted Earth farm via the cheese country trail. As we were leaving the brewpub a man stopped me and asked some questions about our adventure. I mentioned that we were off to Calamine next and he suggested we take the trail. the trail is a 47 (?) mile stretch of what use to be railroad bed from Mineral Point to Monroe. if only we had time to make it to monroe cheese days? sadly, i have never been. one day. i would be really happy to buy some cheese curds there. Really. i love cheese curds. not the squeaky kind. take the squeaky kind and batter it in a light beer batter and deep fry it until it is golden brown and the white goodness on the inside is kind of melty. the kind that you should never make at home because you realize what your portion size should be. i also like hard cheeses but it is hard to beat deep fried cheese curds. so... when we were arrived at the brewpub in mineral point i immediately opened the menu to see what existed on the menu and there they were. Fresh Wisconsin cheese curds with a hint of jalapeno and served with a raspberry sauce. oh my. The thing is i first saw the Wisconsin cheese platter listed--you pick 3 cheeses from Hook's cheese in mineral point. i looked up at the Bjorn and he knew i was serious about the cheese platter. i am not usually this excited about cheese but i think i was still a bit worked up from the bee sting. after agreeing on the cheese platter i looked again at the menu. oh goodness. i saw cheese curds. i suggested getting them as well then looked around at my counterparts to see their reactions. Barnacle smiled as if he wanted them just as bad (turns out he was just smiling it had nothing to do with his passion for eating my favored treat). our appetizers came and we loved everyone. the brewpub is certainly the place to get an appetizer, meal, or local brew. The menu is abound with local food being used. that is what we like to see!

Heaven Here On Earth

Pack Rafting (http://www.alpackaraft.com)/around the sunset, crossing the mighty Wisconsin River the group embraces our first stop in Muscoda! Adventurous friends supply us with additional fun for our rest from bicycles so we adventure out and find heaven here on earth.  Everyone's rehydrating regularly and feeling inspired and thankful for such a fine group dynamic.  No farms no food, we will spend our money to eat well and may share some of the beauty and adventure with these fantastic people that welcome us to their homes, CSA's, dairies, breweries, etc.  Salud! -Zac (Barnacle)

5:30 Wake Up Call

At 5:30 this morning, a less than distant rumble suggested we get a move on. So with eyes still partially glued shut, we deconstructed camp and brought our half-packed half-sprawled panniers under a nearby gazebo. Now we wait and figure out step two. If this storm makes a grand entrance, we are front row along the river and ready to receive it's splendor.
-Davin


P.S. How do you post photos off an iPhone?

Day one route...

Here is the route from the beautiful ride on our first day. These roads are glorious, I can't stop smiling. We started our journey at the Viroqua Food Co-op in downtown Viroqua, Wi. About 20 miles into the ride, after passing some beautiful sunflower fields buzzing with hardworking bees, we came to our first stop, New Forest Farm. Mark and Jen Shepard have designed this incredibly diversified, highly productive permaculture farm in a very conscious way to maximize food production while creating a thriving perennial ecosystem. Some of the main food crops grown are hazelnuts, chestnuts, asparagus, and apples. We were thrilled to try some kiwi berries, which look and taste just like normal kiwis but are the size of a grape. So delicious! Why aren't these growing everywhere in Wisconsin??! As we rested in the cydery for lunch, Mark offered up some samples of his legendary hard cyder as he mused about the complex, yet simple wonders of spirals. Natural patterns like these are found everywhere, like in the sunflowers we passed earlier on our ride, and offer insight of ways to create agricultural systems that easily integrate into our surrounding environment. You don't find straight lines in nature, and unlike the many fields of corn we passed all lined up in neat and tidy rows, Marks farm is full of curves and spirals, blurring the boundaries between "farm" and "nature" and allowing it all to mesh together seamlessly.
We then continued along the beautiful, and hilly, ridge-top roads headed towards our first cheese factory of the tour, Meister Cheese in Muscoda. After filling up on samples, we naively decided to stop in the grocery store to pick up some all-fruit popsicles like I'm used to getting at the Co-op. My bubble was quickly burst as I walked up to the freezer only to find neon colored boxes of "fruit-flavored" popsicles, none of which seemed to contain even a slight trace of actual, real fruit. This prompted me to look around the store a bit further, realizing how little real food is actually available at the common grocery store. As I wandered down the cereal isle under those aweful florescent lights, it was such a stark contrast to all the bounty of delicious, nourishing food I was nibbling on in the sunshine just hours ago up at Mark's farm. I am so appreciative for all the quality food we will be encountering on this trip!
And on to the best part of the day: we eagerly headed to the campsite so we could get out the pack rafts and enjoy the river! I really can't stop smiling!
-Jackie

almost the first post!

We are at the Viroqua Food Coop collecting our last supplies before hitting the road. Our first stop will be Mark Shepard's Permaculture Farm. Stay tuned for some regional excitement!

-Davin, Heidi, Jackie, Barnacle, and Bjorn