Adventure: Reedsburg Fermentation Fest
Proving we could in fact get out of our yard AND have fun, yesterday we headed North and West to the Reedsburg Fermentation Fest. This is put on by the Wormfarm Institute, a group whose goals, in part, are to "connecting urban and rural, people and land, culture and agriculture". |
| The farmstands were designed by artists too, I loved how the shelves pulled out on this one. |
We didn't take any classes this week, though the fest stretches over 2 weekends and I might be back. Yesterday, we went for the Farm/Art DTour, a 50 mile driving loop scattered with farmstands, informational displays, art installations, and community projects.
Reedsburg is on the edge of Wisconsin's driftless area--a part of the state missed by glacial activity and left with a high ridges and river valleys. It's not a wild place (well, in places), its a big agricultural area of the state, and inexpensive--which has brought both Chicagoan/Madison market-farmer wannabees and Amish/Mennonite families who relocated from the east coast. Plus your classic old-school Wisconsin dairy farmers. It's a fun mix!
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| This piece was beautiful in motion, all the bands vibrated in the breeze. |
And honestly, on an 80 degree October afternoon, at the height of fall color, we were ready to chuck everything and move out here.
It wasn't hard to remind myself, though, that where we live is beautiful too. (With jobs! And biking to work! And our own mini urban farm!). I love Wisconsin in all four seasons, but in fall, its almost unbearably lovely. In town and out.
Though we did talk about retiring out there (I believe the conversation went "and by retire, I mean, become subsistence farmers").
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| Back home at the dog park, my pup has NO idea that not all dogs live this well. |
Very cool, looks like a great day. Really though, retire AND subsistence farming? Not exactly retirement, to be sure....
ReplyDeleteExperimented with the wiggle wire today, that stuff is genius!
Ooo! Then I am doing pre-retirement work!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great day you had. I love the light at this time of year; I always loved driving thru Wisco in Oct/Nov because it is so beautiful.
You'll appreciate this, Sara, thinking of your gardens: I was reading Sam Sifton's four-star review of Per Se today (NYTimes) and I had a bit of a laugh as *every* veg they featured, down to the subtype, was something that I grew. So hell. No need to spend $300/person for dinner; just go to the garden and do a bit of scrounging. (But I suppose if someone wanted to pay me that I wouldn't say no...part of subsistence after all.)
Ali: Yeah, well we kind of figure we'll have to work anyway, why not for ourselves, ha. Glad you like the wiggle wire!
ReplyDeleteEl: Oh gosh that's a pretentious sounding place, must they co-opt all humble foods? I love how the NYT is so down to earth in the face of economic hardship (sigh). Though I did quite like Bittman's thoughts on Occupy Wall Street--and how he tried to somehow fit it in with food politics.