DriftlessNow.com’s focus is on the nature, geological features, cultures, and people of the Driftless area. In addition, we showcase events that celebrate the pride and diversity that makes the Southwest Wisconsin Driftless region unique.
All tagged Wisconsin Driftless Farms
Urban living, rural living. It is a personal choice that may carry few or many personal reasons.
Visionaries are rare. They are people who can see the puzzle of our existence and then make the extraordinary effort to find a way out.
Over the past year and a half driving through the Driftless in search of stories, only once have I passed a small heard of Texas Longhorn cattle.
A couple weeks ago, I went to Echo Valley Farm in Ontario, Wisconsin, for a class called The Root of Healing.
Set back on fifty-five acres in a small valley so indicative of the Driftless Area, The Birdhouse Inn Bed and Breakfast is, well to put it mildly, breath-taking.
Started back in 1985, and organized by Willie Nelson, Neil Young, and John Mellencamp, Farm Aid was formed to raise awareness about the loss of family farms and to raise funds to keep farm families on the land.
“My grandpa and his two brothers came over from Norway about 1905. Ole was my grandfather. He started a farm back here in the valley. Knut, his brother, started a farm outside of Cashton. His other brother Alvin ventured off to California. I’ve never seen him, but my brother was in the Navy and he went out and seen him in ’70. Ole and Knut did farm around here back on the valley and bought this farm on the ridge. He eventually died so my dad bought this place on the ridge. His brother bought the place in the valley. I have lived here all of my life. My dad started farming around ’45 and farmed until ’85 when he passed away. He loved it. It doesn’t look like it did back then anymore.”
