Legacy Farm

Anniversaries are important moments to commemorate milestones, and 2015 is an important year for us because it’s the 100th Anniversary of the founding of our farm! That doesn’t happen every day, so here’s a quick look back on the history of our historic homestead.

The Pinery Days: Before the first hoe hit the ground, the whole area was owned by the powerful lumber companies. But after all the pines and hardwoods were logged, these companies sold off their lands to the American Immigration Society.

This group was interested in selling the land to up-start farmers, many of whom were fresh off the boat from the Old Country. They published doctored photos showing huge potatoes and cabbages in wagons and offered pamphlets titled “Seven Easy Steps for Pulling Out Stumps”

A New Start in the Northwoods: In 1915, the Fullington family purchased the original 40 acres of homesteading land, studded with stumps. E.P. Fullington, a Civil War veteran born in Vermont, with his son Lloyd made a fresh start by pulling stumps with draft horses and dynamite.

Over the years, a parcel of 20 acres here and 20 acres there were added as the farm grew. Pigs, chickens, dairy cows, and draft horses were part of the team, along with potatoes as a cash crop. It was hard scrabble, building the barn by hand, which was completed in 1919 when Lloyd returned from serving in WWI.

Changing Hands: Times were changing in the Northwoods. Delicate soils made it difficult to farm, and the local economy was changing over to the resort and recreation industry.

Lloyd and Wilma’s children had taken jobs in town and moved off the farm. As they approached retirement, it became clear that it was time to sell the homestead.

At the same time, Charles and Velma Steidinger (grandparents of Laura and Kara), were seeking a family retreat. With friends already in the area, they learned about a farm for sale east of Hayward. On that farm was a field just long enough to land the airplane Grandpa shared with a colleague–a Cessna 182.

Chuck and Vel bought the farm in 1968. Area farmers kept the fields hayed, and a small garden was maintained. Over the years, the family came for Thanksgiving, Christmas, vacations, even summer stays, splitting wood, fixing buildings, and managing the forests.

Revitalizing the Farm: It wasn’t until the summer of 1999 that the family retreat took on a new chapter. Laura and Kara, then 14 and 11 years old, were interested in spending a summer on the farm, tending a garden and raising some chickens.

The adventure was successful and the family returned to the homestead for the summer of 2000 and stayed. Since then, each year has seen new projects and endeavors, from adding sheep and pigs to building chicken coops and restoring the barn.

Gradually, the face of the farm was transformed, soils revitalized, permaculture cycles established, and a view and value of farming as an ongoing journey towards greater sustainability was shaped and honed by constant study and the great laboratory of experience.

Building the Face of the Farm: 2012 was the next major change in the history of the farm. This marked the building of our aquaponics greenhouse, revamping the north wing of the barn for a sheep dairy, and designing, building, and opening Farmstead Creamery & Cafe.

These endeavors allowed us to produce foods year-round, create exciting new products like sheep’s milk gelato, and launch a multi-faceted local foods hub to connect the community and travelers with great local foods, arts, music, and events.

It’s exciting, looking back at the story of our farm, to think about how much has changed since the days of pulling stumps. Who knows what new adventures lie ahead. Join us this year as we celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the founding of our homestead!

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Unfortunately, because the farm changed families during its journey, we can’t apply for the “Century Farm” recognition. But that’s certainly not going to stop us from commemorating the event. Having 100 years of farming on the same piece of earth doesn’t lighten the “to do” list of upkeep either.

This week, with the quietness of winter, we tackled making sense of the old pump house. A square, silver metal sided shed in front of the barn, this structure protected the farm’s original hand-dug well. There’s a circular hole in the wall to the north, where a pipe used to carry the water out to troughs for the cows and pigs. The Fullingtons used to always say that the best tasting water on the whole farm came from that well, which was also where the milking equipment was washed and stored.

Unfortunately, the ravages of time and woodchucks caved in the well, and while we still have the old pump, there’s no water to be drawn. Over the years, it’s held a variety of things from garbage and recycling waiting to go to pickup to garden odds and ends. The cement floor is broken and heaved, with everything sagging towards an ankle-twisting abyss in the middle—not exactly a safe place to crawl into for a shovel or hoe.

Well, hard-working Germans can only abide this for so long, so we dismantled the pump and hauled out the wooden support platform that made it impossible to fully open the door. We raked around the gravel, hauled out the remaining garbage, and made some order of the collection of tools. With more fresh gravel in the spring, some shelving or additional hooks for tools, the old pump house will have a new lease on life.

It’s not sturdy or clean enough to ever be a milk house again, but quirky, historic structures like the old pump house still have a place on the contemporary homestead. With this interior facelift, interns, volunteers, and of course us too, will have an easy-to-access, go-to place for all those farm and garden tools that tend to pile up hither, thither, and yon. It feels good to be keeping the old place going with dignity and purpose. See you down on the farm sometime.