End of Season Recap ‘22
Deep breaths and a big “Woo-hoo!” We made it. It is the end of the season at Wonka’s Harvest. This is the farm’s second year of production. We narrowed down our missions and put practice into our passions, hit record market sales, loved the CSA so much we extended it, and we laughed hard while working up a sweat with the whole team.
If you don’t know about Wonka’s Harvest already, hello! Welcome. We are a no-till regenerative farm located just outside of Hollandale, WI. Patty Grimmer and Ky Christenson got this property and started establishing the farm in 2020. People love to ask about the name, so maybe you’re curious. It’s not after Willy Wonka. It’s after Wonka, the farm dog!
Patty and Ky came into farming from a unique avenue, and it shows in their passion and expertise. Patty’s passion is in food sovereignty and feeding the community with real food. So, this season we successfully had a pay-what-you-can summer and fall CSA. And thanks to the community it worked! We had just enough people pay more than the recommended price to cover the difference for the folks who paid less.
This is what community looks like. It may have been us who grew the food, but it was our customers who came together to support the community. Also, with the support of our customers we were able to give excess vegetables to Madison Community Fridges. After just about every Saturday market, we were able to stock up the community fridge with greens, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and more! We also had the privilege of donating our excess food to Little John’s. Little John’s kitchen and restaurant provide food in a pay-what-you-can system all over the Madison community area.
Ky’s passion and expertise on land management makes Wonka’s Harvest a very special place to work. Farming is hard. It takes a lot of time to do things the right way. It would be much faster and more efficient in the short term if we had different practices. But we took the time to make this land better for all the living plants and animals for this season, AND beyond. With Ky’s problem-solving skills we were able to practice regenerative farming for the future. Most notably, as a no-till farm. This means we didn’t use any machinery to “start fresh” before planting. Which also means we used our hands... a lot!
We dug up all the weeds by hand. We transplanted by hand. We harvested by hand. We used beneficial insects and companion plants to combat pest issues. We used high quality organic compost to feed the soil and the plants. All these practices might take a little bit longer, but we know they are best for the long-term health of the land. Keeping the soil alive and full of nutrients is the goal! And this season I know we had some happy living soil.
And my favorite part, Patty and Ky both have a passion for social justice that is able to be seen in the practices at Wonka’s Harvest. This season we were able to donate $500 to planned parenthood with the help of your donations that were matched at the Dane County Farmers Markets! We are always looking for ways that we can be of service to the community, the land, and to each other.
So, what did we all do this season?
We started seeding all the way back in February. It was a cozy spot to hang out in the cold winter months, and a way to still get our hands dirty. So, I thoroughly enjoyed seeding at the beginning of the season. We were prepping so early because we have two new greenhouses that were built by last year's team! So we got to work getting these spaces ready for the baby plants by hauling in compost and measuring out beds. By April we had one greenhouse full of spring greens and roots, and another full of tomato plants!
By the end of April we were up and at it Saturday mornings on the square. The Dane County Farmers’ Market has been a blast and very successful for us. As we fell in love with the market, new customers were falling in love with our veggies! We have so many new regulars that are so fun to visit with each week. Thanks for your support if you’re one of them!
An adorable addition to the farm in April was 8 little piglets. They were so cute, tiny, and timid. Throughout our vegetable season, the pigs got to try all of the seasonal food grown on the farm. As vegetable connoisseurs, the pigs became little (turned large) foodies quickly. Their favorite vegetables were beets, zucchini, sweet corn, and tomatoes! Check out these pictures of the pigs when we first got them compared to them in November!
In May when it started to warm up a bit we were blessed to have a new employee come to the farm! Rachel Kulacz was a breath of fresh air. She has such a go getter personality and an impressive work ethic. With the new energy and warming sun we started making new beds outside. This is about the time we started planting vegetables in the ground outside as well. We also started experimenting with growing mushrooms! This is a fun and delicious project that we are still perfecting, but it has worked very well for us in the CSA and at the markets.
Abigail Miller (left) and Rachel Kulacz (right) harvesting spring arugula.
The last week of May is when we started our sliding scale CSA. We had nearly 60 customers in our CSA program. This was a huge feat for us and also a huge accomplishment. Ky and Patty did a wonderful job at planning out the vegetables prior to the season starting, so we always had food to pick each week.
Come June we got even more help from amazing coworkers and employees! Chloe Boehnen, Noah Gonring and Lauren Cortright all came in after their spring semesters ended and brought their own fun attitudes and prior knowledge to help out! This is when we really started getting things DONE at Wonka’s. We built a total of 93 new beds!!!
Chloe Boehnen (left) and Lauren Cortright (right) washing spring turnips.
Noah Gonring celebrating the first of the season’s carrot harvest.
* probably listening to a horror podcast *
A celebratory selfie when the UTV actually turns on!
July and August were hot, busy, and so much fun. We were working hard trying to keep up with the weeds, pruning the tomatoes, and planting/harvesting according to the schedule. One of my favorite things to do during these hot days was spend the morning out in the woods picking wild berries!
#farmstrong
A typical week midsummer looked like:
Monday- Harvesting and Washing for Market Wagon (an online farmers market that serves all over south WI and delivers right to your door!) and field work in the afternoon.
Tuesday- CSA harvest, wash, and deliveries.
Wednesday- Field work and occasional afternoon attendance of the Verona Farmers Market.
Thursday- Start house seeding, direct seeding, and transplanting.
Friday- Harvest, wash, and pack for Dane County Farmers Market
Saturday- Dane County Farmers Market. (Done by Patty or Ky and occasionally me, Abigail, and Chloe)
Sunday- Rest Day ♥️
In September we said goodbye to the employees who were back off to college…
From left to right: Patty, Rachel, Abigail, Chloe, Noah, and Ky
And welcomed a couple new employees! Hannah Dykstra and Collin Mead were very helpful additions for end of season harvesting and clean up!
Collin Mead (left) and Ky Christenson (right) cleaning the cured garlic.
Collin Mead (left) and Hannah Dykstra (right) hauling squash out of the field.
Then in a blink of an eye, October rolled around and we finished our 20 weeks of CSA just like that. We are so proud of everything we grew and accomplished throughout this CSA season. We loved it so much that we decided to add on a Fall CSA! It was an easy decision to make because we knew we would have excess fall crops and because we had built connections with a few amazing local farms that could add to the variety and diversity of a Fall CSA. We want to give special thanks to Linstroth Farms, Atoms to Apples, Snug Haven, Blue Valley Gardens, and Bures Berry Patch for helping supplement both our Summer and Fall CSA with more organic and local food.
Fall CSA Share 1
Fall CSA Share 2
Besides harvesting vegetables in the late season we also started the mushrooms and microgreens back up. We completely switched over the greenhouses and planted our fall crops like carrots, kale, and PEAS! And my personal favorite part, we harvest honey from the ladies as Patty and I like to refer to them as. The bees did a great job at providing us with delicious honey and pollinating our crops.
Abigail, Chloe, and Patty doing hive checks before scheduling a fall honey harvest.
Chloe, Hannah, and Abigail removing frames to harvest honey.
As November hit, we continued our fall clean up around the farm and finished our the last few Dane County Farmers’ Markets. The last outdoor farmers market was a whopping 20 degrees outside and Patty, Ky, and myself celebrated a wonderful season shivering amongst our most loyal customers and seasoned vendors. We miraculously had fresh greens from our field despite hard frosts, some tasty radishes from our greenhouse, loads of fresh ginger, and storage crops like carrots, turnips, squash, onions, and garlic.
sold out market = happy farmers
Throughout the last few weeks, we have been attending the indoor Dane County Farmers’ Markets at the Monona Terrace, building raised beds for an herb expansion for next year, and getting excited to attend the Garver Feed Mill Farmers’ Market come January. We are also already elbows deep in the soil of planning for next season! I am so excited to see Wonka’s Harvest grow even more, and I couldn’t be more proud to work here! Hope to see you around whether it's on the field, at the markets, or at a CSA delivery!
I am so excited to see Wonka’s Harvest grow even more, and I couldn’t be more proud to work here! Hope to see you around whether it's on the field, at the markets, or at a CSA delivery in 2023!
With love,
Abigial Miller, Farm Manager
