Farm Visits in Minnesota and Wisconsin (3)

On Thursday 25 July we traveled north from Eau Claire to Duluth on the western end of Lake Superior. Duluth is in Minnesota, just over he border from Wisconsin and not far south of the Canadian border. En route, we stopped at the Chickadee Hills Homestead Farm. It raises Mangalista hogs described as the Kobe beef of pork, fed only on non-GMO foods. These rare animals come originally from Hungary!

As we approached the farm HQ we drove past stacks of grass feed for the coming winter months before seeing lots of little pens containing the hogs.

The farm also hosted a variety of other livestock including Alpacas, geese and pea-hens.

When we got to Duluth, we found a huge port where grains and other rural produce from much of the US mid-west arrived and were stored in a monumental collection of silos before being loaded on to large vessels for transportation through the Great Lakes system for either export or consumption in the eastern parts of the United States. We took a lovely boat trip to examine these facilities

The port also handled a variety of minerals for transit to eastern locations. The last day of our field trip saw us return from Duluth to Minneapolis Saint Paul. The first stop was at Grantsburg in Wisconsin. We had a rather nice lunch at Brickfield Brewing, but it was worth knowing that the residue of the grains used in processing beers were fed to dairy cows at the Four Cubs Farm owned by the same family.

So, after lunch, we headed to the Four Cubs Farm and an interesting surprise. This modest size farm was home to around 700 cows, housed as before inside a large shed. They received feed in troughs.

But when they felt the need to discharge milk, they walked to what might be termed a milking station. There they lined up to take their turn to be milked, not by a human but by a machine with artificial intelligence. At their turn to be milked, cows walked into an empty stall. Then a robotic machine attached itself to the animal's teats

And, when the milk had been extracted, the machine let go its hold on the teats, the cow walks off back to the feeding stalls, and the next 'customer' enters.

And so we leave for our last appointment on this trip, the 40 acre Common  Harvest Farm, south of Osceola in Wisconsin. Founded in 1989, the farm was an outreach of an urban peace and justice community. Today, it produces 40+ different herbs and vegetables, including basil, broccoli, onions, cabbage, eggplant, hot peppers, lettuce,potatoes, spinach and zucchini. This community farm not only provides 'ethical' food but shares the risks between producers and consumers.

We were welcomed, unusually, by a country music group! They were called the Camp Dawgs - and great entertainers!

This visit was a great way to end the conference. Thanks to the organisers for making things work. Let's hope that next year's meeting in Zagreb (Croatia) will be just as good. One last comment. En route for Saint Paul we were scheduled to see a herd of American Bison on a property near the twin cities. Alas, when we got to the top of the viewing platform there was no animal in site. That's strange. I have a problem with viewing bison. In Poland several years ago we tried to nail down some European Bison, but we also couldn't find any - see one of my earlier posts.

AS

Farm Visits in Minnesota and Wisconsin (2)

The second and third days of our mid-west field trip took us in an anti-clockwise circular trip south of Eau Claire. We visited in order (a) the Durand Smokehouse; (b) Lock and Dam #4 and adjacent vineyards at Alma; (c) Suncrest gardens and (d) Cowsmo Compost - the last two located near Cochrane. Durand is a tiny village but is home to an award-winning smokehouse producing a wide variety of meat dishes.




















Businesses like this one can add considerably to the value of rural produce and help market particular farming locations. However, we didn't get to sample any of the produce.

From Durand we traveled south through corn growing country like that shown below: lush green fields with massive corn crops.

Our target destination was the Mississippi River which separates Minnesota to the west from Wisconsin, where we were, to the east. In particular we visited a spectacular site where (a) the flow of this mighty river was controlled and (b) a lock system enabled the lowering of commercial craft carrying a lot of rural produce to water levels downstream.


This photo shows both the lock system in the foreground and the barrage controlling river flow in the background.











Here a tug awaits an incoming barge train - helping it to enter the lock system. Just look at the size of the river both up-and down-stream!




















Here come the barges - something like 6 or 7 of them attached to a central vessel, and just narrow enough to get through the lock system.



And the whole floating system is driven and steered by this rear-end vessel.

You must agree that this display was worth a long look!











And so to lunch! This was held at an award-winning vineyard on the banks of the Mississippi. And we had some time explore the modern wine processing facilities.

This operation was fairly small-scale - only 7.2 Ha. of grape-vines. And so we traveled on southwards through more large fields of corn.











We eventually came to Suncrest gardens, a very small organic farm (6.5 Ha.) specializing in vegetables (1 Ha.) and growing animals on lush grass.

From there, we traveled to the last main destination of the day - the Rosenholm Farm which is dairy that produces a side product: Cosmo Compost. The latter is sold nation-wide and even overseas, but admittedly much is sold locally in line with sustainability culture.


We were greeted at the farm by massive rows of compost lying in the sun. And here below is the main source:






You've probably guessed by now where this came from! Yes, you're right. It's the dairy cows, which produce the other main farm output: milk. We had the chance to look briefly at the animals housed in a large barn, eating hay provided from elsewhere on the property or regionally. This shouldn't surprise one since climatic conditions just south of the Canadian border (the 49th parallel) are severe in the long winter people endure in these parts.




We also saw the next generation of cows coming along, albeit drinking milk from a bottle rather than a teat.
















That was the end of another interesting day.

AS

Farm Visits in Minnesota and Wisconsin (1)

A little over a month ago, I recorded my impressions of farm activity I saw in Vermont. After that trip I moved on to a conference in Saint Paul, the capital of Minnesota, treating a similar theme: rural life in the US mid-west. After two days of paper sessions, the conference then took to the road visiting rural communities and their surrounding farming hinterlands and this is the focus of this rather lengthy post. For 4 days we roamed mainly around Wisconsin but spent some time in rural Minnesota. Many years ago I spent two months based in Madison, Wisconsin, but that trip traveled widely around that state and I looked forward this time to reminisce my earlier exploration of the mid-west.

This post covers events after our departure from Saint Paul to Eau Claire (French for clear water) in Wisconsin. First up we examined the regeneration farms project  near Northfield in Minnesota. This pursued environmentally sound, but commercially viable farming. The first three pictures below show a free-range poultry operation.

And from our bus window en route we could see some really lush countryside!

At one pit stop I found myself playing an accordion, something I'd never managed before!

Moving on we came to HAFA farms near Vermillion, also in Minnesota. HAFA stands for Hmong American Farmers Association. Believe it or not, the Hmong people originally came from the border zone between Laos and China. During the Vietnam war they supported US operations and, of course, at the end of the war, when US troops left the region, the Hmong people were persecuted and many fled. Some found their way to the US mid-west and they often took up farming. The site we visited had only 155 acres (c. 70 Ha.) and that was split between several families, who farmed their lots intensively, but cooperatively.

 

Here's our tour guide and some of the rather antiquated machinery they use on the farm - above and below.









































As you can see from these pictures, much of the production amounts to intensive horticulture. And, although I cannot identify many of the crops, especially in the long-distance photos, I recall our guide talking about chili peppers and Bok Choy.












We also visit a zone where produce was packed for sale either under contract to various distributors or via farmers' markets. After departing from HAFA, we headed to Eau Claire, where we stayed the first night of the field trip. The following morning, the 24th July, we were advised to visit the farmers' markets after breakfast and this was interesting.

Unlike the farmers' markets here in Armidale where there's a huge range of goods on sale, including ethnic dining, coffee and other drinks, machinery, second-hand goods, soaps and so on, the Eau Claire version was mostly about the sale of food stuffs or other farm produce like flowers.

I loved the name of this farm: Lambalot Acres. Perhaps the owners gained inspiration for their business after seeing a film about Camelot.


 That's all for stage 1 of our trip.

 AS