When to Visit the Farm: A Traveler's Guide

It occurred to me the other day that there are potentially many of you out there in cyberspace who are itching to come visit us here on our humble patch of Wisconsin soil but just can't decide when. Why not customize your trip in accordance with your own personal fun-o-meter? The year brings ever-changing faces to this place, and chances are you can find a time that would ensure the maximum good times available to you. So let me present the options without further ado. Call us when you decide on a season!

Spring

Life returns with a vibrant green vengeance. Seeds and starts must be lovingly stowed in the earth. There are trellises to be built and/or reinforced and beds to be dug and weeded. The children will be dirtier than usual, and there's a good chance that sand and gravel will end up in the diapers. Horses will need to be curried a little harder than usual to shed their winter fuzz and worked a little harder than usual to shed their winter fat. Grass must be mowed. And mowed. Storms will roll through with the kind of drama reserved only for Midwest weather and Lawrence Olivier. Lilacs and irises and peonies can be plucked and arranged to inspire indoor sensory pleasures. Mosquitoes and other tiny buzzing insects must be endured. You will learn the difference between a wood tick and a deer tick. Think of it as an opportunity. Baby animals of all sorts are abundant. The thick, turbulent air brings relief to the winter-dry complexion. Meals this time of year will most likely include lettuce, asparagus and rhubarb, with some herbs thrown in for good measure, because that's what we've got in the garden. Speaking of herbs, mint MUST be planted in a POT. From NOW ON.

Summer

With the heat come regular trips to the river for cool dips. The Sand Creek Cafe makes a fine chocolate malt, perfect to split with a friend. Beers seem to be enjoyed with more ardor here than any other time of year (and mojitos too - we have to find something to do with all of that mint). When it rains, we weed. When it's dry, we water. Strawberries and pickles await preservation. We sweat as we harvest fresh herbs and cucumbers and peas and broccoli and cauliflower and sometimes the sweating feels like a purging and a release, and sometimes it just feels like plain old sweating, and it's sticky and hot. Summer fashions for children are limited to grungy white onesies. Poison oak should be identified and avoided. The bugs of the season are flies of all kinds, and because of this, a breezy day is to be savored. The hammock is a siesta essential. Horses can be worked in the morning or after dinner. And speaking of dinner, yours will most likely be a combination of fresh veggies all piled up on a pizza, enjoyed on the deck with a glass of sangria after the flies and children have gone to bed. We may be looking for ways to sneak tomatoes down your gullet.

Autumn

The snap in the air is a welcome relief. Apples will need to be harvested in a variety of ways, so bring your paring knife. Tomatoes sit in patient piles on the deck and kitchen counter, waiting to be canned or made into salsa. Pumpkins and squash are the fall standbys. As far as chores go, we'll be thinking about how much wood we'll need for the winter, and if you can swing an axe you will be most welcome. Watch for deer ticks if you go for a trail ride in the woods. The flies will be trying to make the most of their final days on this earth, and the wildlife is everywhere - turkeys, deer, rabbits, woodchucks - all preparing for winter by noshing on the alfalfa fields with wild abandon. This time of year, your meal may find a late harvest veggie like squash pureed for a steaming bowl of spiced soup, along with some dark, molassess-y bread we got the itch to make and some red wine. The garden will be put to bed. Walks all over the farm and surrounding land are perfect this time of year due to a significant decline in bugs paired with crisp, clear days. Avoid coming during deer season unless you enjoy the sound of gunfire.

Winter

This season is long, and has taught me the value of learning to enjoy cold weather activities as well as the art of hunkering down. Snow is a welcome addition to the landscape, making sleigh rides, sledding and kiteboarding a must. If you have decent gear (a turtle fur face mask, for example), there's nothing more ethereal than a walk through the woods in the indigo moonshadow of a -20 degree night. During the day, the palate here is reduced to a few achingly lovely colors - the pale straw grass, the robin's egg sky and the stark white snow. We become baking obsessed this time of year, and there's no shortage of cookies, breads and other carb-rich delicacies designed to help you put on that winter layer of fat (for insulation purposes only). Dinners around now focus heavily on comfort value: homemade macaroni and cheese, calzones and stews, punctuated by a thick, dark beer. If you don't have the right boots, you will be cold. Horses can pull your sled back up the hill with you on it. The cross country skis are always at the ready. The children can get rambunctious and tired of indoor activities, so if rambunctious children aren't your thing, winter may not be your season. The out-of-doors are blissfully bug free. You will be amazed at how good a fire built hot in the wood stove can feel.