Yellow Barn Farm

A wet morning went unnoticed, according to our moods, as we biked the rolling, curvy roads of the Wisconsin River Valley with smiles on our faces. We were surrounded by massive hills covered in green and few cars. This area is known for progressive artisans (of all art/food/beverage types) hiding in the valleys. Quietly, modestly sharing their talents with the surrounding community.


As we biked down the gravel driveway we passed a yellow milk house then were greeted by a beautiful farmer on her front deck standing in yellow pants held up by similar colored suspenders. It had been raining all morning. We were soggy from our socks to our hair under our helmets. She was dry and stylish according to farmer standards!



As everyone walked up to meet Rebecca, squishing with every step, we became aware of how wet and cold we were. She offered towels, her clothes dryer, and a warm kitchen to eat some food. We wrapped ourselves in towels, tossed our socks and jerseys in the dryer, started a pot of coffee, then sprawled ourselves out in her kitchen. After our meal of quiche, heirloom tomatoes, green beans, couscous, and watermelon we decided on our next route. We analyzed the elevation and chose the one that had one serious incline then kept us on the ridge for a while.

Shortly after arriving, the sun broke through the clouds. We were excited to continue drying off on the front deck and help clean onions. We cleaned about 6 crates of onions, provided some entertainment for Rebecca and her friend Krista then made our way to Mineral Point.

Yellow Barn Farm was established in 2010 and is owned and operated by Rebecca Claypool. She is originally from the east coast yet finds the hills and valleys of the Spring Green area friendly and comfortable. Rebecca's graduate degree was in Agro Ecology at the University of Madison and continues to work part-time with the program on an independent research project. Rebecca's past experiences include farms from Maine to Minnesota during the past 11 years.

I became familiar with Rebecca at the Mt. Horeb Farmers Market during the summer of 2010. She also was a vendor at the Spring Green Market. These were her first markets as Yellow Barn Farm and her tables were always full of beautiful crisp vegetables. We typically conversed about farm goodies; what was growing well, what wasn't, the weather, and other farm gossip. I was working full time at Middlebury Hills but still liked to go to the market, supporting other farmers and buy produce we didn't grow.




At the start of 2011, Rebecca decided to share her produce with a 25 member Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) over the course of 20 weeks. She still attends the Spring Green Market but due to limited time she dropped the Mt. Horeb Market. Rebecca also sells produce to Arcadia Books in Spring Green, Isaac Spicer who runs Milkweed Club, and other Spring Green businesses.

Rebecca packs boxes for her CSA members on Tuesdays and Fridays. I must say, Rebecca's CSA members are the luckiest members in the area (if they joined the CSA to get loads of delicious, nutritious veggies)! I had a feeling this would be true when I first started helping at her farm this year. Looking around at the fields I exclaimed, "This is a lot of food! Where is it all going to go?". Every Tuesday, as I help Rebecca pack boxes I am reminded of my first thoughts. We get to the last two or three items and I have to pause. Step back. Then look up at her in confusion, dismay, and awe. Often the boxes are already full to the brim after 3/4 of the veggies have gone in. Last week I actually had to step back and let Rebecca close the boxes because i felt guilty at the pressure I had to put on the veggies to close the boxes.


Rebecca is fortunate enough to have a great connection with UW Madison and the Agro Ecology program. About once a month a group of UW students and friends come out and help out for an afternoon on the farm then enjoy in a potluck at the end of the day. Some of these outings are organized and called a "Farm Mob". My first farm mob experience was this summer at Yellow Barn. About 8 people came out and we all worked together to pull up landscape fabric from a large area (about 100 ft by 200ft). The task was daunting. The fabric had grass and other weeds growing up through it cementing it to the ground throughout the large area. It was not easy and would have been miserable to do as one, two, or even three people. With a group of 8 plus 3 normal farm workers the task was completed in no time without a decrease of motivation. The strength of a group (to rip up the hard-to-remove fabric and to overcome the daunting feelings) was obvious.

It is always fun to work with people in the fields who typically wouldn't get dirt under their nails. The farm fields are their escape from the city. An escape from the fast pace, loud lives they lead where veggies are often only found in a super market wrapped in plastic on a styrofoam tray. Their appreciation for the quiet solitude the farm offers is unrelenting. This commonality is unsaid and brings us closer as we pick tomatoes or weed a bed of carrots together.

For the Love of (Wisconsin Artisan) Cheese

I love cheese.

I have always liked cheese, but there is a big difference between liking and loving something. Today, I want you to give you a glimpse into my transformative experience that caused me to take that leap from using one L word – like – to the next – love – to describe my disposition toward cheese.

I can pinpoint the change in my attitude to the day, time and cheese (Yep, I know– pretty silly). It occurred on July 24th, 2010 at about 4:47pm in La Farge, WI. I had been working with Mark Knoebl from Sand Creek Brewing Company and Jeanne Carpenter from Wisconsin Cheese Originals on developing and putting on a Beer, Cheese and Chocolate Pairing at the 7th Annual Kickapoo Country Fair and on this late July Saturday, it was time for the show to go on. Mark and Jeanne had picked out all the cheeses for the pairing and I hadn’t tried any of them (I was there to organize setup and execution of the pairing). Our second beer and cheese pairing- Sand Creek English Style Special Ale with Carr Valley Apple Smoked Cheddar- is what did it. It made me fall in love with cheese. Carr Valley’s Apple Smoked Cheddar is a white cheddar produced in 12 pound wheels. Each wheel is smoked with apple wood and rubbed with paprika. The paprika balances perfectly with the smokiness of the cheese. So delicious. My mouth is watering just writing about it. Anyhow, back to the story about falling in love with cheese… On this day I had Carr Valley’s Apple Smoked Cheddar for the first time. About a week after the pairing, Jeanne wrote on her blog, Cheese Underground, about her experiences at the pairing. In her description of the Carr Valley Apple Smoked Cheddar, she said, “Carr Valley's Applewood Smoked Cheddar, one of those cheeses that I consider to be a gateway drug of specialty cheeses. You take one bite and you can't stop eating.” I couldn't agree more. I took one bite on this fateful day and couldn’t stop eating. I was hooked on cheese – well, let me clarify, not just any old cheese, cheese that is made by artisans, cheese that is made in small batches, cheese that is made by hand, cheese that is of a place, cheese that reflects the milk that is made from, cheese that is art.

The rest is history. I have been on a journey since then to learn more about the cheese makers around me and have been supporting them through the purchase and consumption of their delicious dairy products.

When Heidi and started planning a bike tour of SW Wisconsin this past spring, it was natural for me to want to include a number of stops at Wisconsin creameries. I wanted to continue my education about the cheeses of Wisconsin and, more importantly, those creameries that were close by my home of Viroqua, WI.

In the next week, I will write a blog entry about each Wisconsin cheese we had on the Wisconsin Barns, Breweries and Cheese Bike Tour. It should give you a quick view of the amazing cheeses that are produced by Wisconsin artisan cheese makers and, hopefully, help you understand how ridiculously privileged we are to have so many of them in the wonderful state of Wisconsin.

In the mean time, go out and purchase some Carr Valley Apple Smoked Cheddar. Your taste buds won’t regret it.

Cheers to Wisconsin Artisan Cheese,
Bjorn

PS If you haven’t checked out Jeanne Carpenter’s blog: Cheese Underground yet, you should. It covers the wonderful world of Wisconsin Artisan Cheese. It is always part of my weekly blog reading and, more importantly, lets me know where and when I can find and sample the newest Wisconsin artisan cheeses.

"The Trough"

I have a really high metabolism. I sort of knew this before the trip, but it really came to my attention (and everyone else’s) very quickly on our WIBBC adventure. You see, I really need to eat something substantial every 15 miles that I ride on a bike. When I say substantial I mean two tortillas with almond butter and jam/honey/dried cranberries every 15 miles. If I don't eat, then my body starts tapping its emergency energy reserves. As a result of this emergency energy reserve draw down, you get to deal with cranky Bjorn. And no one wants or needs to deal with cranky Bjorn.

So, on day one of the trip, I let everyone know that I needed a snack around mile 15. Everyone politely obliged and pulled over into a ditch. Nearly everyone had a tortilla with almond butter and dried cranberries during our 10 minute break. Then we headed back down the road. Thankfully, Mark Shepard's Farm was only about ten miles away, so a pit stop to let Bjorn refuel was not as inconvenient for the whole crew. After a tour of Mark's Farm and lunch, the rest of the team went about solving my metabolism and eating way more than everyone else wanted to issues by creatively developing a “Don’t let Bjorn go Hungry Plan.” The plan went a little like this: every stop that we make someone in the group needs to ask me if I need any more goodies (nut and dried fruit trail mix, granola, dried cranberries, dried figs, almonds, wild grapes, beef jerky, etc.) in my handlebar bag, which sits nicely in front of my handlebars and allows me to eat while I am riding. Throughout the long rides when we don't stop to eat (20-30 miles) I would satiate my hunger by eating those foods out of my handlebar bag. By the end of the trip, the group had affectionately named my handlebar bag “Bjorn's Feeding Trough” or “The Trough” for short, which I think is quite fitting.

Now that you have been introduced to ‘The Trough’ or my handlebar bag, I figured that this would be a great place to talk about the kind I use. I use an Ortlieb Ultimate 5 Medium Sized Handle Bar Bag. It is quite a delightful bag because it can carry 6 lbs of goodies, it is waterproof, you can attach a map to the lid, it can be accessed while you are riding, and it easily is removed and can be used as a man purse. Beyond holding tons of food, a handlebar bag is a great place to put a lot of important items that you want to make sure remain close to you.

On a typical day this is what you will find in my handle bar bag:
-pens and paper for note taking
-keys to my bike lock
-fork
-spoon
-butter knife (for applying almond butter to tortillas)
-cheese slicer (who knows when you are going to come across a delicious WI artisan cheese!)
-swiss army knife with bottle opener and cork screw
-sunscreen
-digital camera and case
-digital camera charger and downloading cable
-external hard drive
-wallet
-check book
-change purse
-cell phone
-cell phone charger
-cell phone hands free cord
-reusable chico bag
-food (granola, apples, dried fruit (cranberries and mangoes are my favorite), polenta bars)

I simply cannot think about my bike touring days prior to purchasing my trough. Beyond keeping my energy (and spirits) high, my trough lets me have all these important items right at the tips of my fingers! If you haven’t tried a trough yet, I would highly recommend it! You won’t be sorry.

Cheers to high metabolism and touring with a trough,
Bjorn

Let Me Explain Myself...

So, if you all could, please take a moment and bear with me. I would like to use my first blog posting to try to explain the 'why' of this trip. Many folks have asked, “Why would you ride your pedal bike around South Western Wisconsin visiting farms, creameries and different food producers?” People think I am crazy for vacationing on my bike and in my own backyard. Why don't you do it by car? Why don't you go see different parts of the world instead? These are the general questions I have gotten over the last few months, and if I they didn't ask me, I know they were thinking it. So, I figured it would be good to address them on the outset so that we are all on the same page.

Bikes and food**(see definition below). Simply put, these are my two loves. And you have to admit, the two go together pretty well. The more you bike, the more you can eat. It is a lovely (and tasty) marriage.

First off, I'd like to address this question: Why would you vacation on your bicycle rather than using a car or other mode of transit? There are a number of reasons, so I am going to make a quick list of them:

Reason #1: I can eat more food when vacationing on my bike. A major part of vacationing for me is about experiencing the food that is available in each different and unique place. To refine that thought even more: Vacationing is about eating. When you bike a lot, you burn a lot of calories. When I ride I always use the rough rule of thumb that for every mile I bike I burn about 35 calories (not sure how accurate it is, but let's just go with it). As an example on day one of our trip: we rode from Viroqua, WI to Muscoda, WI and put on about 52 miles. 52 miles x 35 calories = 1820 calories burned. 2000 calories (average american diet) + 1820 calories (number of calories burned) = 3820 calories. What this means to me is that on that Monday, I could eat 3820 calories worth of food and still not gain any weight! Holly cats! That is a lot of food! I can eat two times the amount of food in a day that I usually eat!

Reason #2: Travelling by bike is much less harmful to the environment than other modes of transit like cars and planes. I know I may be preaching to the choir on this one, but I wanted to mention it because it is important to me. I am one of those folks that you may characterize as a tree hugger. I am okay with that label. In fact, I like it. I personally believe that I am borrowing this planet from future generations, so I would like to leave as little of a mark as possible while I am here. One way I can do that is to make the decision to vacation on my bike rather than in a car or flying somewhere on a plane. It just makes sense to me.

Reason #3: You go slower and see more when travelling on a bike. In todays culture of highspeed everything, I know that most people would decide against using a mode of transit because it is slow. But in this case, I want to urge people to use bicycling because it takes longer. As you pedal down the county road on your bike, you are more apt to see wildlife on the side of the road or that small sign for an apple orchard that is a mile off the main highway. Seeing these little details gives you the opportunity to take in and contemplate more of what is around you. It gives you the chance to process everything that comes into your view. I know it is those little details like the wildlife we saw or the apple orchard we stopped at and picked apples at that make the trip. The unexpected suprises are often the best parts and I find that I have more unexpected surprises when travelling by bike.

Alright, so now I am going to move on to address another common question I have been asked: Why would you vacation in your own backyard visiting farms, creameries and breweries? Again, I think a quick list of reasons would be best. Here it is.

Reason #1: The abundance of food **(see definition below) in SW Wisconsin is downright ridiculous! Within a 50 mile radius of Viroqua, WI (where I currently call home and where we started our tour from) there is a higher density of organic farms than anywhere else in the United States! SW Wisconsin is also home to hundreds of world championship cheesemakers (I will elaborate much more on this in future blogs). Wisconsin in general is looked at as the artisan cheese capitol of the United States. Why would I go anywhere else to vacation than my own backyard if what I really love (good food) is already here?

Reason #2: Many of the most beautiful places are right in your backyard! So many folks live in a town for years knowing about all the tourist sites without ever visiting them. They say, “Oh, I live so close to that monument/cave/forest/state park. Eventually I will go and see it.” Then they spend thousands of dollar flying around the country or the world to see the most beautiful places in the world. What we always forget is that some of the most beautiful places we can see are so close. So, with that thought in mind, I started thinking about planning a bike tour of Wisconsin. I have lived in this state for the last six years and I am in awe of how little of it I have seen. I haven't been up to the Apostle Islands or to southern WI at all. This spring I visited Blue Mounds for the first time and I was amazed. I watched the sunset (or then end of it) from one of the towers in Blue Mound State Park, which is the highest point in SW Wisconsin. You can see for miles and miles in every direction. I said to myself, “I had no idea something this beautiful existed so close.” Since that realization, I have been on a mission to visit those sites that I have heard so much about that are right in my backyard. Once I see the entire state, I might venture out into Minnesota or Iowa or Michigan. Although, it might take me a really long time to see everything this beautiful state has to offer.

Reason #3: Vacationing close to home uses a ton less fossil fuels than flying to Europe or drivng to Florida.

I think it is a no brainer vacation on your bicycle in your local setting. I suppose I am hoping that this blog inspires others to get on the hog (my friends affectionate name for our bicycles) and go and see what is around them without fossil fuels.

Cheers to loving bicycles, food and life,
Bjorn

**Bjorn's definition of Food: When I say food I mean food that is local in origin; food that has a story. When I eat each and every meal, I want to know the who, what, where, when about it. I want to know the who makes my cheese and where the milk that was used to produce it comes from. I want to know who grows the delicious Charentais melon that I just ate for dessert and how it was grown (in an environmentally friendly way?). I want to know the story of where my meat comes from. I want to know the person who raised hog that provided the bacon for my breakfast. For me this type of food adds so much meaning and richness to my life. It provides me with a connection to those around me and assures that the money I spend on food is going to producers who have similar values (producing food with the health of the earth, animals and producers in mind). And I know many of you are saying, wow, this sounds like a high and mighty goal. But I will be the first person to say I am not perfect. Every now and again I slip up and eat some gummy worms from a Kwik Trip or eat a Mr. Freezie or two (I did that on this bike trip). I do the best I can do and I am getting better and better at it all the time.

"Grandpa's Way"

It has been about 7 years that i have eaten food consciously. By that i mean, realized the purpose of eating. I eat to survive. For the first 21 years of my life i ate to satiate that hungry feeling that occurs about 3 to 4 times a day. It takes some thought and i believe most people live everyday just making that hungry feeling go away. It has been a process to have close friends and family understand my "silly" food thoughts. Slowly, but surely, i am surrounding myself by other food conscious people and my family is almost there with me.

Meat is always a sensitive area. I have worked with poultry, pigs, and cows. In the past few years i have decided to help in the slaughter process in order to fully appreciate the whole meal on my plate. I have been elbow high in guts at a turkey slaughter only to be days later elbow high in sage, olive oil, and salt as i present our thanksgiving dinner.

It makes a difference.

Every meat eater should have to partake in the taking of a life; the same life that gives them the ability to live a little bit longer.

Really though, this isn't just about meat. The disconnect of our lives and what fuels us should out rage more than myself and a handful of others. Vegetable eaters should be out there on a hot, humid, august day digging and discovering potatoes under the surface of the soil. Connecting the life cycle of the potato to the french fry is all i am suggesting. It is not an outrageous thought.

Back to the turkey. So i had my family convinced to enjoy a bird at thanksgiving that was clean on my conscience.

Now i had to figure out what to do about other holidays.

I found Black Earth Meat Market.

The market is about 20 minutes away from my house. My family ordered a $60 rib roast for our christmas meal. My parents were not happy about the price. They could have bought the same rib roast at the local big box grocery store for a 1/4 of the price and 1/16 of the nutrients. Most likely the big store meat would have been from a feed lot somewhere in the west or southwest of the nation; pumped full of hormones, injected with antibiotics on a regular basis, and eating only GMO corn (not the natural food for cows). The $60 rib roast assured us of meat from within 100 miles, meat that was not full of all the modern day goodies, and that a farmer nearby got a decent price for the meat he produced. The arguement of "i can't afford that" might linger in your mind. My answer--if you realize that food should be of utmost importance right next to sleep and hydration then you will find a way to feed your body and family the most nutritional food possible (not necessarily rib roast).

I keep telling myself our society chooses the food they do because they lack the knowledge to know better or the time to think about it. But often times parents will open up a boxed dinner because it is quick not because they don't know that cutting up whole vegetables and sauteing them is better. They know.

Our bike trip encompassed all types of community oriented food and beverages so the meat market seemed to be a good fit. We walked in and looked around. Bjorn and i both grabbed for the pineapple brats. They are delicious. Bjorn restocked on beef jerky as the others looked around at the other local non-meat goods as well. We were surrounded by signs that said, "local", "grass fed", and "organic". It felt good.

The man working at the market, Christopher, walked out and asked if we had any questions. Did we ever! Although i had been coming to the market for a couple of years and knew they only sold meat from local farmers i still wanted to know more. After some conversation about the recent changes in management and the principles the market held he asked if we wanted a tour of the slaughter facility.

We all looked around unsure, yet excited. We were dressed in our bike shorts, jerseys, and bike shoes (not exactly slaughterhouse material) but we couldn't pass up the offer.

As we entered the slaughter house we noticed a sign on the wall.

Christopher took us through each step of the slaughter. While we were on the kill floor we heard a group of sheep on the other side of the wall. The market holds the animals over night in an effort to calm them before slaughtering. Usually i would feel a little queasy hearing the animals and knowing their time was about up but instead i had a calm feeling myself. The slaughter process was entirely ran by humans and at a very small scale. Within these parameters the chance for error and a gruesome death was very low. Temple Grandin helped develop the infrastructure and equipment for the animals and it is certified by the Animal Welfare Approved program.


Christopher invited us back for a tour when a slaughter was happening, which we all appreciated his openness to educate about the processes happening behind the doors of the market. I would highly suggest checking out the website and reading about the different types of meat they carry, "Grandpa's Way", "Grassfed", and "Organic". Before we left we had to buy a couple of pork chops as well. Bjorn and I realized before leaving that we had only purchased processed meat with spices and not a meat cut. We cooked our Red Wattle pork chops on the grill and they were delicious! So delicious that you may want to call and find out if their meat is carried in your local grocery store or at your favorite restaurant in the Madison area.

~heidi

Bee sting, Mr. Freezies, and Dodgeball

We had about 60 miles total to ride on Tuesday and at about mile 30 i was stung on the top of my ear by a bee/hornet. **please note: about two weeks before our trip i was stung by a bee on the outside corner of my eye and it swelled to 1/4 open within an hour. oh shiester!**

When i was stung i knew immediately i needed ice. We talked about biking into town but my team mates (that is Team Wisconsin Barns, Brews, and Creameries) insisted we stop at the farm house we were near.

We walked up and asked. The wonderful woman went inside and came out apologizing because she only had a frozen single serve apple juice bottle. really? i held it on my now tripled in thickness, lacking normal ridges and crevices, bright red ear while the woman went inside looking for an antihistamine. oh boy, i am silently thinking, how am i going to ride 30 more miles while holding this apple juice container?

She came back out with tylenol and ibuprofen. no good. While she sorts through her pill bottles she comes up with the idea of mr. freezies ( in case you were fortunate to have a childhood without mr. freezies check it out). She asked her son to go fetch us a handful of freezies, two for my ear and one for everyone dealing with my drama.

Then came the task of getting the freezies on my ear. She went back in the house and came out with some plaid decorative ribbon, i can not even think of an example of where you would use it, maybe around a basket?!? Nope. My head. She tied the ribbon around my head like a head band. we stuck the freezies under the ribbon and my helmet straps which made me smile ear to swollen ear.

i had to look outrageous.

I jumped on my bike and demanded we go to town to get proper supplies.

The only rebuke was from Bjorn. He said only if he could have ice cream. Davin noted Bjorn's extraordinary empathy. I quickly agreed to ice cream.

While in walgreens alone, (the boys were off eating ice cream and jackie was watching out bikes) i ran frantically around with an arm full of pharmaceutical goodies (instant ice bags, benadryl, claritin, and a pain relief spray for stings). As the pharmacist handed me my final item, the pain relief spray, i shook my head and pleaded with him to open it up, shake it, and spray it immediately, multiple times, on my ear, in the middle of the aisle.

I walked out of walgreens still in pain but prepared to continue our journey. I took the freezies out of my ear and replaced them with an instant cold pack. I continued bicycling through Dodgeville with a giant (3 in x 5 in) ice pack tucked between my ear and helmet strap. Outrageous turned ridiculous. The ice pack was warm 7 miles later.

We stopped at Brewery Creek pub and i immediately asked for a bag of ice. Opening the menu was overwhelming for me. I am not sure if it was the adrenaline, the bike ride, or the overall fuzzy, tingling numbness that was taking over the right side of my head. I immediately asked for the cheese platter, followed by the fried cheese curds.

We arrived at Trusted Earth Farm to a delicious meal and great company. I asked Steven and Yvonne for some ice and possibly a headband to keep my hair off my ear. Steven hooked me up with his red and white striped Dodgeball sweatband. Awesome. In the photo you can see how far my right ear sticks out. You really shouldn't be able to see my ear with how i am standing.

The next day we biked about 20 miles to the dairy that produces milk for Uplands cheese. My friend Scott is the herdsman. When we arrived i asked if he had some ice i could use. He didn't have ice. He searched the chest freezers and jokingly (i think he was serious but watching my reaction) handed me a slab of frozen beef. I should have accepted just to make a better story.

Instead he searched some more and found an ice pack. i wrapped it in paper towel from the milk house and we enjoyed some pasture time with the cows.

~heidi