All is Well on Wellspring Farm.

June 1st – June 15th, 2018

Wellspring Organic Farm

Newburg, WI

About an hour drive, North of Milwaukee is the tiny town of Newburg, WI. Home to Wellspring Farm.

Update

We’re skipping ahead a few months and posting a relatively current thing we did. Well, technically it was just Laura. We find ourselves back in Wisconsin looking for work or at least trying to figure out what’s next for us. While we figure that out, Laura decided to go volunteer on another farm and have a chance at getting some portraits of farmers. Laura found a WWOOF farm nearby and has the photos ready now, so we’re skipping ahead in posts.

Wellspring Organic Farm

The sign that greets visitors at the entrance of the farm.

Located in the small town of Newburg, Wisconsin is the small organic farm, Wellspring. Wellspring is on 36 acres of land on the Milwaukee River. Wellspring is a farm that wears many hats. They operate as an educational non-profit that brings in school groups to teach kids about food and farming as well as teaching many other types of classes to the public. They operate a CSA, which is a program that puts together weekly boxes of organic food for over 100 families. They operate a hostel, bed and breakfast, and conference center as well.

During Laura’s time here she helped out with the farming side of things. Everything from planting several crops, lots of weeding, and harvesting vegetables for the CSA boxes and farmers market. This is one of the hardest working farms she/we’ve stayed on yet. The first couple of days of work left Laura with pretty sore legs. Harvest days were the best. They let Laura harvest all the good smelling things like; garlic, cilantro, and chives.

Here are a handful of the photos Laura took during her stay.

Wednesday is Harvest Day

First off: What is a CSA? It stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Anyone can look up a local farm and see if they participate. Once you find a nearby farm that participates you can sign up to receive a weekly or bi-weekly box of produce for a fee. Wellspring sells large boxes and small boxes too depending on how many people will be eating the produce. They even deliver boxes to a few locations in Milwaukee, West Bend, and Wauwatosa for a small fee if driving to the farm for pick up is too much. Along with receiving local organic food, Wellspring emails it’s recipients a weekly newsletter with recipes and the low down on what’s happening on the farm. It’s a great way to support a local farm and get fresh organic veggies to eat.

Wednesday mornings are harvest days throughout the summer. The farmworkers and a handful of volunteers pick enough produce to fill about 130 CSA boxes. This volunteer picks garlic. In exchange for volunteering a few hours a week, a discount is applied to their CSA fees.

This is Matt, one of Wellspring’s Interns.

Nice shot of Caleb, the farm manager, through the garlic leaves.

Look at how good that beard looks in a field of garlic. Caleb is the very knowledgeable farm manager at Wellspring. After recently being promoted to manager, Caleb has big plans for expanding Wellspring.

In one of the hoop houses, another volunteer harvests cilantro.

Roxanne, on the left, takes time off from running the education program to help with her other specialty, herbs.

Bunches of chives!

Red Basil isn’t quite ready for picking, but look at how pretty it is.

This is the sorting and washing station. Everything that gets harvested gets sorted, washed, and put into the walk-in cooler.

David, another intern, and Caleb wash lettuce.

A big whiteboard is helpful for keeping harvest day organized. Wait what’s that above the whiteboard?!

Awww… It’s a Mourning Dove on a nest. This bird was so calm while we worked around her. She never left her nest and she acted as a calming spirit in the wash area.

Another volunteer helps wash the Pac Choi.

Cleaning up the garlic was one of Laura’s favorite tasks. Not only does it smells amazing, they look so pretty when they’re finished.

Clipped off the roots and washed away the last of the dirt.

With a couple wacks of a big knife, the leaves are trimmed. This is the finished product. This is what young garlic looks like before it develops multiple cloves and the outside is dried. Laura learned that even the leaves are edible and that she will always prefer to eat garlic in this form.

Washing and sorting spinach.

Laura harvests a head of Red Lettuce. Tastes just like regular lettuce, but a much prettier color.

Goodnight Wellspring

View of the farm from Laura’s room at sunset.

Thursday is Boxing Day

By Boxing Day we mean putting the harvested produce into boxes. Caleb sorts through everything we harvested and sets up a conveyor system.

Matt happily helps with the sorting.

Assembly line time. Each person is assigned a few items to place in the box and then pass it on to the next.

Another intern, Michelle, and Caleb finish packing the boxes.

Runs pretty smoothly.

Only takes about an hour to get everything boxed up.

Boxes that are delivered get loaded into the farm van.

Sweet Mini Van! Ready to make deliveries.

Other Work Around the Farm.

Watering plants in the greenhouse.

After a lot of hand weeding, this thing was pretty awesome to see. It’s called a flame weeder. Flames shoot out front and it is rolled up and down a field instantly killing weeds. The downside is it can only be used before a field is planted or before the vegetable seeds start popping up.

What farm isn’t complete without a sweet old truck?

The tractor helps with weeding.

Two plows on the back of the tractor dig up the weeds in the trenches.

All the hard work of watering and weeding pays off with food. By the time Laura left, the cucumbers were ready for harvesting and the zucchini were a few days away from being ready.

Laura even found a rogue strawberry in a field while weeding. It was one of the best tasting strawberries she’s ever had!

Wellspring’s Founder

This is the lovely Mary Ann helping with the Rhubarb harvest. She founded Wellspring in 1982 with the intent to make this farm a holistic learning environment. She helped establish the CSA in 1988, making it the longest-running CSA in Wisconsin.

Mary Ann shows the interns and volunteers some of the wild edible plants that can be found on the property.

Photos of the Property

There are several walking trails, a labyrinth, buildings, ponds, and the river that complete the farm.

Walking the trail in the early evening is a great way to unwind after a day working in the fields.

There are lots of wildflowers along the trail.

The trail leads to the Milwaukee River. A great fishing spot, but beware the mosquitos.

Saw an interesting dragonfly along the trail.

A pretty bumblebee.

There is even a labyrinth. A perfect place to walk and meditate.

An algae covered duck pond.

This is an old barn converted into a living space. Its made out of hay bales and mud. Laura stayed in the room on the upper right side by the balcony. A great room for sunrises.

A detail from inside the converted barn. Complete with a creepy reaper in the window.

This is Mary Ann’s house. It’s also a conference room, learning center, and has the kitchen for cooking.

The front door displays all of Wellsprings recognitions.

Across the street from Mary Ann’s house is the International Hostel. A hostel is shared living space, usually a giant room that has several beds. Guests from all over the world can come here for very cheap accommodations if they don’t mind sharing a room and bathroom. Its a popular way for young or travelers on a tight budget to travel.