VIOLA - Continuing their summer education series for women farmers and landowners, Wisconsin Women in Conservation (WiWiC) gathered at Keewaydin Farms in rural Viola on Friday, June 23. The event drew about 50 women to the organic community supported agriculture (CSA) business operated by Joy Miller and Rufus Haucke.

Women attending the event came from Dodgeville, Lime Ridge, Spring Green, Hillsboro, Lone Rock, Soldiers Grove, Rolling Ground, Wildcat Mountain, Viroqua, Genoa, Sauk City, Richland Center, LaFarge, Prairie du Sac, Blue Mounds, Chaseburg, LaCrosse, Seneca, Pepin, New Glarus, and Friendship.

In addition to the CSA, offering vegetables, herbs, eggs, chicken and pork, Miller operates a business she named ‘Driftless Curiousity,’ offering on-farm cultural and education events for those who are curious about all the Driftless Region has to offer, and those seeking a deeper and more meaningful connection to the land.

“Working to nurture this beautiful land and deriving a living have proved to be a considerable challenge,” Miller told the women gathered. “We just keep trying new things until we find the right combination that works, and allows us to pursue our passion for the land and for conservation.”

Miller exhibited a joyful and energetic presence, humble yet hard-charging, and ready to embrace and tackle her challenges.

Driftless Curiousity was born of this adventurous and entrepreneurial spirit, and offers over 30 events on the farm each year ranging from a Bird Lovers Program, a Creative Metalworking Weekend, Raising Sheep and Goats, Driftless Fly Fishing, Wellness Retreats and more.

They are perhaps best known for their colorful and enchanting ‘Dia de los Muertos’ event held every year around Halloween.

This year the celebration will take place on Saturday, Oct. 7, at Keewaydin Farms The free community event, co-hosted by Driftless Curiosity and the Mexican Folk Art Collective, is held with the intention to preserve Mexican traditions, promote cultural understanding, uplift underrepresented artists, offer a safe space to pro-cess grief, and mindfully explore pathways to heal-ng.

 “This land was part of the Ho Chunk territory whose traditional lands covered parts of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri and Illinois,” their website reads. “We seek to understand and respectfully recognize the violent history and injustice toward indigenous people which drastically changed life on the land and brought rise to our current system. We further recognize the role of privilege in our status as landowners and strive to use our privilege to work toward land justice and cultural healing. We aim to hold safe space here for people of all backgrounds to connect to the land.”

According to their website, “Haucke’s parents, Richard and Mary Haucke were back-to-landers who purchased the 200-acre farm in 1976 and ran a dairy operation of registered Holsteins for 20 years. Although they were not certified organic, they held strong beliefs about proper animal husbandry and their role as stewards of the land. Changes to farm policy, particularly the elimination of milk parity in 1983, made their livelihood financially impossible. Like many Wisconsin dairy farmers, they were forced to sell their herd, take off-farm jobs, and scramble for creative ways to make the farm payment.”

Transition to no-till

Rufus Haucke has been growing organic vegetables on the farm for 19 years, and was joined in the enterprise by his wife Joy Miller in 2017. Miller grew up nearby in the Village of Kendall in Monroe County.

“In 2020, due to increased demand for locally produced food during the pandemic, our CSA distribution increased to 275 boxes per week, up from the typical 50-75,” Miller explained. “This gave us the cash flow we needed to make the transition to a no-till system.”

Miller said that the two decided to move the market gardens closer to their home in 2018 and 2019. The process they used to convert their operation to no-till involved laying down cardboard on top of the grass that was free of dyes, tape or glue. Then, they brought in 15 semi loads of compost from Purple Cow, and laid down a 12-15 inch layer of compost on top of the cardboard. In 2021, they added another five semi loads of compost, and every year now they bring in more compost. Eventually, they plan to develop an on-farm composting system that can supply their soil building and fertility needs.

“This move literally changed our world,” Miller reported. “Because of the layer of cardboard, the weeds that would normally create so much work for us are suppressed, and because the compost is so rich in nutrients, we get great harvests. Actually, the process of tilling brings up weed seeds, and helps them to germinate.”

Haucke has been exploring additional ways to enhance the health and fertility of the soils in his gardens. He said that after taking a soil health class from Dr. Elaine Ingham, he has begun to explore ways to promote the life in his soils.

“Healthy soils require a mix of bacterial and fungal life in order to be most productive,” Haucke explained. “For this reason, I have begun to introduce sawdust and wood chips as mulch and for paths in order to introduce more fungi into the mix.”

Dr. Ingham is widely recognized as one of the world’s foremost soil biologists, and her ‘Soil Food Web Approach’ has been used to successfully restore the ecological functions of soils on six continents. The courses offered by her school have been designed for people with no relevant experience – making them accessible to individuals who wish to retrain and to begin a meaningful and impactful career in an area that will help to secure the survival of humans and other species.

In addition to their gardens, the two extend their seasons into early spring and late fall with four hoop houses. They use the structures to grow cool season crops in the early spring and late fall, and to grow heat loving crops such as tomatoes, peppers and eggplant in the summer.

“The hoop houses are a very happy place for me in the early spring after a long winter, and they add more margin for our business in the early season,” Miller explained. “However, we periodically have problems with the structures with high winds because our farm is located on the ridge.”

To combat this problem, the two are researching how to build a ‘deep winter greenhouse,’ which would sink the structure into the ground and reduce its above ground profile. This would help with the wind damage, but also allow them to create a geothermal heating system utilizing fans and tubes.

Permaculture and birds

In addition to the many annual crops they raise for their CSA, Miller and Haucke have expanded into perennial crops such as asparagus and hazelnuts in the last few years. Because it is a perennial system, this method of agricultural production is referred to as ‘permaculture.’

“Our asparagus provides us with a long-season crop that requires very little maintenance,” Miller told the group. “The hazelnuts are just starting to come on, but we have been hampered without a means of mechanical harvest of the nuts.”

In addition, just beyond the hazelnut and asparagus plantings, there was a wide vista of open grasslands. While they do harvest some hay to feed their herd of sheep, they limit that harvest to just what they need, and occasionally a little more as a cash crop.

“We leave as much undisturbed grassland as possible for endangered grassland bird species, because we have a strong emphasis on promoting biodiversity in our farming system,” Miller explained. “As a result, we have seen Bobolinks and Meadow Larks in our fields, which is always a treat.”

Miller said that they typically wait to cut any hay until July 15, giving the birds time to nest and fledge their young. And, she said, when they do cut hay, they start their cutting from the center and work their way out in order to allow the birds to get out of the way of their equipment.

WiWiC offerings

The gathering started with a land acknowledgement that the farm where the gathering was held was the ancestral lands of the Ho-Chunk people. As has become common at their gatherings, an ‘Invitation to Circle’ was read by five women before the meeting started.

A grounding exercise was led by Colleen Robinson of ‘Natures Good Company.’ In the exercise, participants were encouraged to close their eyes, breathe deeply, and listen to the sounds all around them.

“We have come here today for connection,” Robinson said. “As the weather is heating up in the long days of summer surrounding the solstice, we can hear the birds sing and chatter, and we can feel the energy of this place. Take a few minutes to feel the interconnectedness of nature and feel the flow.”

Elena Gutierrez Byrne, WiWiC Southwest Regional Coordinator explained that the group is in year three of a grant from USDA-NRCS. She said that due to the pandemic, which made gathering difficult in the first year of the program, the grant has been extended. The purpose of their organization is to reach out to women farmers and landowners, a historically underserved demographic for NRCS.

WiWiC holds regional gatherings and education events throughout the growing season, virtual education events and podcasts.

In mid-July, they will hold their second annual series of Educator Network Happy Hour Celebrations throughout the state to mark ‘Women in Conservation Week,’ July 10-16. Most locally, an event will be offered at Brix Cider in Mount Horeb on Wednesday, July 12, from 5-7 p.m., with remarks by Melissa Bartz, NRCS Wisconsin Assistant State Conservationist.

Conservation plans

The core of WiWiC’s mission, however, is offering women landowners and farmers free conservation plans for their land.

“The process of writing a conservation plan for your land is a one-on-one, comfortable, friendly experience,” WiWiC Conservation Coach Harriet Behar told the group. “Women’s goals for their land don’t always fit perfectly with NRCS practices. My job is to help translate your dreams into do-able and fundable practices.”

Behar explained that when she conducts a farm visit, she will look at all parts of the land – not just the agricultural land. Her review will include woods, water bodies and invasive species.

“I’m really worried about invasive species in the woods,” Behar said. “They shade out the forest sod crops, and when we get the heavy rains, lack of a healthy understory can really lead to increased soil erosion.”

Behar’s sage advice to the women gathered is to tackle conservation issues on their land in manageable chunks, and not to feel that you have to do everything at once.

“I learned from the words of a very wise woman that you should never underestimate the power of incremental change,” Behar said.

One woman from Richland County had just done a walk-through of her land with Behar.