Valley Sentinel - 06-23-2021

Inside this edition

June Dairy Month: Three regional dairy farmers share their stories

Page 5-7

Spring Green, Wisconsin

Wednesday, June 23, 2021 Vol. 2, No. 25 Free, Single-Copy

‘I Did This All My Life’: One Family Farm’s Fight for Survival Brian Reisinger

In honor of June Dairy Month, Valley Sentinel is sharing stories of three regional farms throughout Sauk and Iowa Counties. The following story is a first-person account of the Reisinger’s dairy farm between Plain and Spring Green as the family made the decision to

end their generational milking operation.

Most people will never see a farm like the one I grew up on. But you don’t just see a farm like ours – you smell it, hear it, and feel it.

Like the sound of the cows coming into

the barn for milking, mooing low. It’s one of those things – so many, countless things – that sinks deep into your mind, and works its way into your blood and your bones. Until it’s there for good.

At least, that’s how we feel, and also what we hope. Because after more than 100 years of Reisingers dairy farming

here in rural Spring Green, we decided to sell our cows and look for life after milking – not only for our family, but for our farm too. It’s been a long road, and it’ll be longer still to survive.

“I started milking cows when I was probably 8 years old,” my 69-year-old

See page 5

Rainbow surrounds Spring Green following much needed rainfall Photo contributed by Don Greenwood

The National Weather Service reported nearly an inch of rain fell June 20 in the midst of a drought in the Spring Green Area.

Pictured is a perfect rainbow over St. John’s Church in Spring Green on June 20 following much needed rain.

“Some days we go searching for beauty. Other days it comes looking for us,” shared photographer Don Greenwood.

APT’s The Road Back: More covid protocol changes on the way American Players Theatre

With new guidance from the unions we work with, and the local government, we thought now would be an ideal time to recap the rules in place, and the changes to come July 1 (including the new Facemask Fridays).

Time is moving at a strange speed this summer. While it feels like the season has just begun, here we are looking at closing the first two plays in the next two weeks. Much has changed since we started our season a mere month ago, with guidance from the unions we work with, and the counties that surround the theater being regularly rewritten. And there are more changes to come – we’ve already planned to relax some protocols with the opening of the next two plays, An Iliad and Rough Crossing.

There’s a lot to keep straight, so we thought a summary was in order. And, as has been the way of the season, these, too, are subject to change.

What remains the same: •Masks are required in all indoor spaces, including the Touchstone Theatre, the Shops, restrooms and shuttles and tram.

•Capacity in both theaters is limited to 25%.

•For everyone’s comfort and confidence, please continue to maintain social distance from those around you.

•Do not come to APT if you have any COVID-

like symptoms. Call the box office to discuss your options of refund, exchange to another in-person performance or exchange for the APT at Home version up until an hour before show time if you feel unwell.

•We’re still using (free) shuttle tickets to maintain social distance on our shuttles to the Hill Theatre. If you need a shuttle ride, please get a ticket either online or by calling the box office. No tickets necessary for the tram to the Touchstone Theatre.

•The stars remain beautiful, and the whippoor-wills are excited to have you home.

Recent changes that are in effect right now: •In the outdoor Hill Theatre you may take a “mask break” if needed for your comfort and well-being.

•You are no longer required to wear a mask in the picnic area or on the paths to the theater.

•Food and drink is now allowed in the outdoor Hill Theatre.

•We’ve simplified registration for our Beyond the Plays events. Find the links to join on our website about two weeks before the program.

If you’ve already registered through the box office, don’t worry – we’ll still send you the link by email.

More changes to come (as of July 1): •Masks will no longer be required in the outdoor Hill Theatre.

•Capacity in both theaters will be raised to 50%.

•For those who prefer a fully masked environment, we have designated #FacemaskFridays, three performances of Rough Crossing when masks will be required. Those dates are July 9, 23, 30. July 9 is also a Four Pack performance.

If you want to exchange into, or out of, these performances, contact the box office at 608588-2361.

•Shuttle tickets will no longer be needed for a ride to the Hill Theatre, though shuttle capacity will still be limited for each run.

Ticketing Tips: •When in doubt, call the Box Office: We continue to use the tool in our ticketing software that automatically leaves empty seats between parties. The downside of this system is that instead of selecting specific seats, you choose the section and price level you prefer, and the system assigns the best seats available. It can be a bit confusing, so remember that our friendly box office staff is available by phone if you would like to talk through seating options to make your purchase. Box office hours are Monday – Saturday, 10 am – 5 pm, and until 15 minutes past curtain time when there is a performance. And Sundays 2:30 – 6:15 pm, or 11 am – 6:15 pm when there is a Sunday matinee. Their phone number is 608-588-2361.

•Auxiliary Seating in Touchstone: We’ll once again offer the tall director’s chairs in the Touchstone Theatre to increase our capacity a bit while still maintaining social distance. It’s a great option to get seats for an otherwise sold out performance. Call the box office for more information – they are not available online.

•Check Back: If seats aren’t available in the section you want, we encourage you to check back. In order to maintain social distance, we’re working to stagger people from one row to the next. We open every other row and as those rows fill, we open some seats in the rows between. Plus, many people take advantage of our convenient exchange policy, which can also lead to increased seating options for you.

•Thanks for your patience: Finally, thank you for your patience and understanding as we navigate these changes. We understand it’s not ideal, and we are grateful you’re sticking with us.

Finally, a couple announcements: •The Box Office will be closed on July 5 in observance of Independence Day. •Highway 14 is closed in Mazomanie through the end of the month. Read about the detour here. Also the Highway 23 bridge between Spring Green and County C is one lane (with traffic lights). Please allow extra time if either of these detours are on your route to APT.

Page 2

WednesdaY, june 23, 2021

opinion/letter to the editor

Letter to the Editor: ‘Truth in Food Labeling’ legislation Dear Editor, During June Dairy month, it is a perfect time to have a conversation about how the general public is being misled about the food they consume.

As a Dairy Farmer, I am really glad to see that Senator Howard Marklein is working on Truth In Food Labeling legislation again. These bills are import-

ant to our dairy industry and consumers because they protect our products from fake competitors.

Real milk and real dairy products should not be confused with lab made, plant-based alternatives that use our names. Almond “milk” is not “milk”. Soy “provolone” is not “provolone”. These are not the same things.

I know that these Truth In Labeling

bills are not the end-all for our industry, but they are important to us as farmers as well as the consumers who put them on their tables.

We work hard to raise strong, healthy animals to produce high-quality, nutritious food. The people who buy our products deserve the absolute best - real dairy, real ice cream, real cheese and real meat. They should not have to

figure out whether the cheese slices they hold are real – or not.

Thanks, Senator Marklein, for standing up for real dairy farmers in Wisconsin and our consumers, during Dairy Month. We appreciate your effort.

Jim Winn Cottonwood Dairy South Wayne, WI

Letter to the Editor: Re: Constant dissent in village of Arena LTE from last week Dear Editor, Every week, week after week, we read about the Arena Village Board and the constant dissent that is prevalent in all their actions. Trustees keep resigning, and no-one can be persuaded to run for their positions.

What’s going on?

The most notable thing we have found in speaking with the residents and reading the local news is that every controversy seems to have one name attached to it: Paul Pustina. In almost every report, if the board is for a measure, Pustina is opposed or vice versa.

Recently there was a brat fry at the Crappie Shop to raise money for an

accessible ramp at the fish pond in West Park. Before that happened, we spoke with the owner of the Crappie Shop, who donated, along with other private donors, all the food and fixings to make the event a success. This is really a cause that everyone would and should support.

Why, then, if Mr Pustina had “concerns”, didn’t he just go and talk to the owner?

He wouldn’t have had to stir the pot at the board meeting (again).

We know from personal experience that the Village Clerk, DaNean Naeger, is very conscientious and professional.

For some reason, Mr Pustina takes issue with everything she does. Kate Reiman is the duly elected Village President, and yet Mr. Pustina questions everything she says and does. Is this retaliation because he lost the election?

At a recent board meeting, an Amplified Device Permit extension of hours (from 9pm to 11pm) for outside music was requested by Tara Hill for her private event venue for an upcoming wedding.

Having the mostly empty commercial property generation revenue again seems like a good option for the Village. But Mr Pustina, who lives nearby objected.

(From what we hear he objected loudly and often). We also live nearby and have no problem with events like those Ms Hill proposes.

Mr Pustina appears to be an obstructionist. Our question is: WHY? What is his motive for creating all this turmoil in the Arena?

Kevin and Kristen Shea Arena

Response

Dear Editor,

My reply is this: We’re all entitled to our opinion. The statement in the editorial beginning with, “From what we hear”, doesn’t make for a strong opinion. You can make your opinion stronger by listening to both sides of any issues. I’m available by phone, email or face to face to answer any questions anyone may have. I do adhere to social distancing recommendations in the case of face to face conversations.

Paul Pustina

Community Column: Racial injustices and the importance of Juneteenth

Katie Green, The Plain and Simple Correspondent We had our own homegrown Juneteenth celebration here in Plain last weekend, in a village known more for its homogeneity than diversity. The party in our neighborhood was ostensibly a birthday party for a one-year-old, but it was charming and inspiring in its inclusion of a wide variety of ages, races, and genders. This was no bacchanal, but what one Gilbert & Sullivan operetta termed “innocent merriment.” Nubile nymphs in scanty swimming apparel and uninhibited young lads, neither group pretending to be anything but kids, partook exuberantly of a long waterslide down a steep hill and there were wading pools for the tots.

Oldsters looked on -- probably, like me, remembering the larks of their flaming youths. I didn’t overhear anyone talking politics, religion, or philosophy, but in that crowd, while there may well have been a wide range to choose from in contentious categories, the dominant mood was calm and unruffled, good spirit and soul. Possibly the generous potluck

and little or no alcohol helped keep friction under wraps, if there was any, and established a feeling of wellbeing and amity. Would that we had the opportunity for many more such gatherings that are joyfully, conspicuously inclusive here, there, and everywhere.

During the afternoon I talked briefly with my brother in the Central Valley of California, an area generally quite conservative, but he was in the midst of a much larger, much noisier Juneteenth gathering sponsored by his city in a park. He and his wife were taking a stint handing out information at a booth representing the local Prostate Cancer Support Group. He told me the turnout was more than twice as large this year as last, a good sign, in his estimation. The agricultural workers of his area – Latino, Filipino, Hmong, and a dozen other immigrant groups as well as First Peoples and low income native-born Whites who are capable of – driven to – doing such difficult, often dangerous work– call the Central Valley home. All can relate to

Juneteenth as a time to commemorate the throwing off of shackles. They, too, for generations past (and too often in the present) have been swindled by those in charge, who conveniently concluded their workforce was not worthy to be respected, well compensated for their labors with a living wage and safe working conditions, only worthy to be exploited for commercial gain. This sounds like a stereotype, but I personally experienced it when young, gleaning cotton, picking strawberries and other stoop labor row crops.

The process of accepting true assimilation and laying aside ancient enmities is very hard for some, including myself. I am on the list for periodic articles from The Smithsonian archives and I just read one about heroic American individuals, military and civilians, who survived Japanese POW camps and the so-called Bataan Death March during WW II. The amazing, heart-rending stories were applauded by many readers who responded with emotional messages

of support and/or by contributing stories of their own. At first the responses were positive in nature, but eventually the conversation degenerated into name calling. Slurs aimed at Asians here, now, and forever, fears expressed by white males that they were being displaced and were now the victims, accusations and counter-accusations of bigotry, etc.

Despairing, I closed down the site. I have witnessed this inability to discuss any topic civilly on other social media platforms, as you no doubt have, too.

It seems to be in the DNA – think Cain and Abel, the bloodthirsty Greek myths, all the oral and written records going back to Year One. People ganging up on one another from some sense of internal emptiness and projected or real hurt.

My prayer, as Juneteenth becomes a national holiday, is that holding up the injustices of the past that it represents will help us all move forward toward a better, more equitable day for everyone. And lots of innocent merriment.

Community Column: River Valley celebrates return of Frank Lloyd Wright students Contributed by Jay Rath The return of students from the architectural school founded by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1932 will be celebrated with a community event in Mazomanie on July 15. The city’s new Performing Arts Pavilion, designed as a project of the School of Architecture at Taliesin, will be dedicated at 7 p.m. It opened on Memorial Day. One year ago it was uncertain if the students would ever return to Wisconsin.

Five months before that, the school was declared dead. “Frank Lloyd Wright Turns In His Grave As The Architectural School He Founded Closes After 88 Years,” reported Forbes magazine.

The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, based at Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Ariz., had parted company with the school, which traditionally split its year between Taliesin West and Taliesin, near Spring Green. This pattern was established by Wright and continued uninterrupted since the school’s inception. Two years ago the graduate program was forced to find new homes and even a new name.

Today it is The School of Architecture.

In Arizona it found safe harbor at Arcosanti, an experimental community near the state’s center. But where it would be quartered in Wisconsin, at least temporarily, was unknown. As the pandemic intensified it was clear that, for the first time in its history, in 2020 the school would not return to its birthplace and summer home.

In consultation with state arts leaders, area residents organized and launched a campaign, “Bring Back Our Students,” to make sure the lower Wisconsin River Valley continued to be – as The Wisconsin State Journal described Taliesin in 1954 – a place of “inspiration that will be turned toward making life more beautiful for generations to come.”

Bring Back Our Students assembled resources including local lodging and drafting space at the recently refurbished Wright-designed Wyoming Valley School, near Taliesin. Students arrive July 11, with some faculty; other faculty reside in the area.

“It’s an immersion program, giving students the complete Wisconsin experience,” says Jay Rath, president of Bring Back Our Students. “Students

have told me again and again that their education is incomplete without walking the same land as Wright, breathing the same air, viewing the same distant ridges.”

As a newspaper reporter, Rath began covering the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture for the State Journal in 2006, and later for ISTHMUS, Madison’s newsweekly, and The Wisconsin Examiner.

“I don’t think we appreciate how our sense of place is globally prized,” he says. “Taliesin is a United Nations World Heritage site. The school was expecting another 20 or so students from Taiwan, but they had difficulty with passports and proof of vaccination. But the point is that 15 Taiwanese architecture graduate students were eager to not only observe but collaborate with Wisconsin heritage.”

In 2018 students collaborated in just that way to create the Performing Arts Pavilion for Mazomanie. After researching and meeting with the community, the final design selected was “Dancing Gables,” by Frank Corridori, a student from Columbia, Mo. “The idea being expressed in this design brings together the colorful peaks and gables of the downtown architecture

into one playful, dancing roofline,” he explained. Mazomanie’s railroad history is also harkened. “The structure of a train platform is reflected in the design of the cantilevered roofline which overhangs a low, platform-like stage – much like the form of a railroad siding.”

Mazomanie resident Jeffery Wirth led the $30,000 fundraising effort to construct the design, with the generous support of local industry Wick Buildings Inc. Dedication of Mazomanie’s Performing Arts Pavilion will begin at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 15, in the Westland Promenade, 116 Brodhead St. School of Architecture faculty, staff and students look forward to meeting residents. A brief live music performance is planned, and Tim Wright, Frank Lloyd Wright’s grandson, will tell tales of his teenage years living at Taliesin in the summers and working for his grandfather. The event will last about an hour, and is free and open to the public.

A reception and impromptu performance will be held the next evening at 8, at the Wyoming Valley School on Highway 130.

Details will follow. For more information visit Bring Back Our Students on Facebook.

opinion

WednesdaY, june 23, 2021

Page 3

Representative Dave Considine— Celebrate our dairy farmers Rep. Dave Considine Dave Considine represents the 81st District in the State Assembly. The 81st District includes Baraboo, Sauk City, Prairie du Sac, Portage, and many other communities. His office can be reached at (608) 266-7746 or via email at Rep.Considine@legis. wisconsin.gov It’s been one heck of a year. Through it all, our farmers have been strong and steady. They have added extra hours onto their already long days to ensure that we have safe and healthy foods on our table each night. They also have weathered unpredictable markets, pricing, and supply issues.

Producers and processors are hard

workers, they give back, and they make up so much of what we value in rural communities.

While COVID vastly changed last year’s celebrations, I’m excited to see what this June Dairy Month has to offer. I am excited to celebrate our community members who make Wisconsin the dairy powerhouse that it is. I am also happy that many of us will be able to make in person connections that we so sorely missed last year.

If you’re interested in supporting your local dairy farmers, you have many options to act on. Buy some local milk, branch out to try a specialty item (like my favorites - goat cheese or another specialty

semi soft cheese), or find the nearest June dairy brunch and attend. Don’t forget to check in on your local farmers too. As a former farmer, I understand the unique challenges farmers face in their day-to-day operations, as well as the stress that this incurs. Unfortunately, COVID-19 put additional strains on already overworked women and men.

Everyone needs a shoulder to lean on and a good friend to confide in.

Reach out to your friends and check in on them. Lastly, this June Dairy Month, don’t forget to thank the dairy producers, processors, and grocers for helping keep Wisconsin’s dairy safe and easily accessible.

Rep. Dave Considine

Driftless Grace— Missed connections and adapting to less-than-ideal situations Grace Vosen, Contributer For reasons I won’t go into, I don’t have my own Internet connection.

This is usually not a problem, but it has created some awkward situations during this time of a cautious reopening of public spaces. Such was the case the other day when I was invited to attend a short webinar.

The wi-fi signal is strong outside of the Spring Green library, and the weather that morning was clement.

So I drove up in my “mobile office”, rolled down the windows, and connected with no problems. (To their credit, the others on the call didn’t find my location the least bit unusual.)

It was downhill from there. I hadn’t charged my laptop before leaving the house, so I had to politely turn off my

Grace Vosen camera and go sit by an outdoor plug.

This lasted exactly two minutes before the group of people a few feet away started talking loudly. They had every right to do so, and I had every right to march back to my car (the battery

wasn’t as low as I’d worried).

Next came a train, which rendered me deaf as it moved through town.

A few minutes later, a lawn mower started up — seemingly just to annoy me, as the grass seemed well trimmed already. By the end of the talk, I was flushed with shame at being subject to these vagaries of town life. Why couldn’t I just be normal and have my own Internet?

Later that day, I drove down the road to a business that typically has great wi-fi but happened to be having issues at the time. This was a minor annoyance compared to the earlier ones.

I accepted my fate and found other work to do, eventually closing my computer so I could enjoy a perfect summer afternoon. But the man sitting one table over was not so calm.

He was polite but perturbed as he

Contact us

PO Box 144 Spring Green, Wisconsin 53588 USA (608) 588-6694 editor@valleysentinelnews.com valleysentinelnews.com Editorial Editor-in-Chief Nicole Aimone Managing Editor Taylor Scott Legal Editor Gary Ernest Grass, esq.

asked me what was going on. Written on his face was disbelief at the idea that one could lose access to the Internet for a single minute. He made a comment about this area and what he saw as its backwardness. I knew he wouldn’t understand if I tried to explain why I choose to live here.

I’m happy to say, though, that I now see my morning at the library in a new light. Not only can I adapt to less-than-ideal situations, but I can accept them with no real change to my blood pressure. And I don’t need a computer to forge meaningful connections with the place and the community around me.

Grace Vosen is a writer and conservation educator living in Spring Green. She blogs about both the human and nonhuman communities of our region at DriftlessGrace.com.

Deadlines: The display and classified

Valley Sentinel is published in Spring Green, Wisconsin every Wednesday by Lower Wisconsin River Valley Sentinel, LLC. ISSN 2694-541X (print) — ISSN 2694-5401 (online) Interns Graphic Design/Pagination Anna Stocks-Hess Graphic Design/Infographics Whitney Back Editorial Adeline Holte Graphic Design/Editorial Nicole Hansen

advertising deadline is Monday at noon for that week. If you would like our design team to design the ad then please allow extra time for the creative process and proofing.

Ad team: ads@valleysentinelnews.com

Editorial Matthew L. Beyer Editorial Adam Meyer Distribution/Photography Kalen Scott Regular Contributors Arts & Culture/Editorial Bill Gordon

Arts & Culture/Editorial Alison Graves Arts Jen Salt Columns Grace Vosen Sports Mike McDermott

Our team will be growing and changing as we settle into publishing regularly, please stay in touch. Thank you to all of our contributors, by name and by pen, for believing in our community.

Editorial Policy

On certain topics in areas of great community interest, the editors of the Valley Sentinel may take positions they believe best represent and serve the interests of the community. Any opinions or positions taken by the editorial board are separate and distinct in labeling and substance from the community journalism that appears in the rest of the publication and does not affect the integrity and impartiality of our reporting. .

Est. 2020 igne conflatum “Forged in Fire”

Letter to the Editor Policy

Letters submitted for consideration are subject to fact-checking and editing for space and clarity.

Submissions must have a compelling local community interest. Letters to the editor must fit within a 500-word limit, and include name, city and phone number. Phone numbers are for office use only and will not be published. Letters of a political nature, without chance of rebuttal, will not be published the week before an election.

Valley Sentinel is a free, weekly single-copy news publication, available on newsstands in the area.

Covering Arena, Lone Rock, Plain, Spring Green and the surrounding areas.

Column Policy

Editors may feature opinion columns written by public figures, members of the public or other publication staff. Columns reflect the opinions of the individual contributors and do not represent positions of the publication. Guest columns of an anticipated length more than 500 words should seek prior editor authorization. .

Subscribe Want the paper delivered to your home or business? Subscribe online at valleysentinelnews. com/subscribe or subscribe annually with your name, phone number, address and $30 sent to: Valley Sentinel, PO Box 144, Spring Green, WI 53588

Community Discussion Policy

From time to time the editorial board may select letters to the editor of a particular compelling community interest where a public figure or accountable public action is the recipient of criticism and allow, in the same issue, the subject of the criticism chance for rebuttal, with expounded independent input.

The format shall be point, counterpoint and expert analysis. This community discussion shall serve as a moderated dialogue that presents multiple views of important community topics. .

Page 4

Community

WednesdaY, june 23, 2021

COmmunitycalendar Events for June 24 - July 7 Thursday, June 24 Local Night: Camela Widad 5:30 PM - 8:00PM . The Shed/Post House Garden, 123 N Lexington Street, 119 E Jefferson Street Spring Green . Come out and spend your Thursday evenings with some local music and local food. The food cooked on the grill on the patio is from our many local vendors in Spring Green and surrounding towns, and the musicians are from the River Valley area.

Wine & Yoga 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM . Wild Hills Winery, 30940 Oakridge Dr. Muscoda . $10 cash only . www.wildhillswinery.com. Wine & Yoga every Thursday in the Vineyard with certified Yoga Instructor Lara Carpenter.

Friday, June 25 Wine Down Fridays: Jake’O 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM . Wild Hills Winery, 30940 Oakridge Dr. Muscoda . Free . www.wildhillswinery.com. Wine down and chill at Wild Hills Winery! Live music every Friday! Enjoy the sounds of local musicians and singer-songwriters outdoors on the patio. Food and drink specials.

Saturday, June 26 Spring Green Farmers Market 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM . S230 E. Monroe St Spring Green . www.facebook.com/SGFMarket. Local farm fresh produce, coffee, fresh baked goods, honey, soaps & lotions, bedding plants, cut flowers, maple syrup and more.

Driftless Landscape Tour 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM . Taliesin Preservation Frank Lloyd Wright Visitor Center 5607 County Road C Spring Green . $6 – $25 . www.taliesinpreservation.org. Join Taliesin for a conversation about the interconnectedness of land and culture while enjoying an approximately 1-mile walk across the Taliesin estate. This completely outdoor tour will speak to the natural history of the estate, using Frank Lloyd Wright as the connecting theme between topics.

June Dairy Month Drive-thru Celebration 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM . S8641 CR-G, Plain . www.wisconsindairy.org . Due to the Sauk County Breakfast being canceled, we are hosting an on farm June Dairy Month drive-thru educational event to highlight a local Sauk County farm. We'll have trivia, a goodie bag for the whole family, and information about the farm!

Acoustic Jam 2:30 PM - 4:00 PM . Spring Green General Store, 137 S Albany Spring Green . www.springgreen.com . Come to play, come to listen. Come to teach, come to learn. Or just hang out & enjoy the people and the music.

The Growlers 3:00 PM - 6:30 PM . Wisconsin Riverside Resort, S13220 Shifflet Road Spring Green . www.wiriverside.com/entertainment. Summer music continues on the River Stage!

2021 Spring Green Pride Paddle 3:30 PM . Highway 14 Boat Landing, Spring Green . Free . www.ourliveswisconsin.com/event/2021-spring-green-pride-paddle/. Dress up and decorate your kayak, canoe, or paddle board for the second annual SG Pride Paddle! We will paddle to Peck’s Landing. The celebration will continue at the Pecks Landing sandbar.

Sunday, June 27 Family Day - Celebrating Pride 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM . Taliesin Preservation Frank Lloyd Wright Visitor Center 5607 County Road C Spring Green . Adult– $25; Student, Senior & Military – $20; Children Under 10- FREE . www.taliesinpreservation.org. We welcome LGBTQ+ family to participate in Family Day. Taliesin is a safe space to enjoy and celebrate families of all forms. Bring your blended, extended or chosen family. Taliesin is offering a self-guided opportunity to walk the 800-acre estate.

Poem Homes Open House 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM . 770 N. Westmor St. Spring Green .

Free . www.poemhomes.org. Tour Spring Green’s first net zero energy home and meet Amber Westerman, owner/designer/contractor. Learn how this solar-powered, super-insulated home works.

Dog Park Open House 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM . Lions Park, Walter Rd Entrance, 318 Park Street Mazo . Party with your pooch!

Musical Tribute to Don McDougal 1:30 PM . The Shed/Post House Garden, 123 N Lexington Street, 119 E Jefferson Street Spring Green . Free . Join us for an afternoon of music to celebrate the life of our friend Don McDougal. The tribute will feature performances by many musicians throughout the River Valley who knew and loved Don, and seek to honor him with live music, one of the things he enjoyed the most.

Water Street Jacks 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM . Wisconsin Riverside Resort, S13220 Shifflet Road Spring Green . www.wiriverside.com/entertainment. Summer music continues on the River Stage!

An Iliad: Opening Night 6:00 PM . Touchstone Theatre,5950 Golf Course Rd, Spring Green . Ticket prices Vary . www.americanplayers.org. A reincarnation of Homer’s epic tale by Lisa Peterson & Denis O’Hare. Limited seating.

Monday, June 28 Plein Air Still Life Painting Workshop: Arts Lab 10:00 AM - 3:30 PM . 143 S. Washington Street, Spring Green . $45 - bring your own materials, preferably oils . www.artslabspringgreen.org. Come paint for the day on the lawn of the Spring Green Arts Lab with award-winning plein air artist Bethann Moran-Handzlik.

Take & Make Craft Kits: Marbled Tiles 11:00 AM . Spring Green Community Library, 230 E Monroe St Spring Green . www.springgreenlibrary.org. Drop by the library to grab a Take and Make Marbled Tiles! These kits are created with adults in mind (all are welcome to them!) and contain materials needed to complete the project. Kits are available first come, first served, while supplies last.

Arcadia Book Club: Bad Moon Rising: a conversation with John Galligan and Jim DeVita 6:00 PM . Online . www.readinutopia.com. John will sit down with James DeVita to discuss their dark tales of murder and police work, all set in Wisconsin. There's a good chance they'll also talk about fishing.

Tuesday, June 29 Story Time at South Park 10:00 AM . Spring Green Community Library, 230 E Monroe St Spring Green . www.springgreenlibrary.org. Join Ms Christi at Spring Green's South Park for a fun morning of summer Story Time!

Tails & Tales Outdoor Storytime 10:15 AM - 11:00 AM . Plain Kraemer Library and Community Center, 910 Main St, Plain . www.kraemerlibrary.org. Storytime lasts between 30 minutes and aimed for ages 0-6 with themed songs and stories.

Pizza on 14 4:00 PM - 8:00 PM . The Shoppe, 7352 Hwy 14, Arena . Pizza from our wood-fired oven and live music every Tuesday.

Wednesday, June 30 Story Time at South Park 10:00 AM . Spring Green Community Library, 230 E Monroe St Spring Green . www.springgreenlibrary.org. Join Ms Christi at Spring Green's South Park for a fun morning of summer Story Time!

Thursday, July 1 Wine & Yoga 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM . Wild Hills Winery, 30940 Oakridge Dr. Muscoda . $10 cash only . www.wildhillswinery.com. Wine & Yoga every Thursday in the Vineyard with certified Yoga Instructor Lara Carpenter.

Local Night: The Crooner Strikes Back 5:30 PM - 8:00PM . The Shed/Post House Garden, 123 N Lexington Street, 119 E Jefferson Street Spring Green .

Come out and spend your Thursday evenings with some local music and local food. The food cooked on the grill on the patio is from our many local vendors in Spring Green and surrounding towns, and the musicians are from the River Valley

Friday, July 2 Wine Down Fridays: The Sapsuckers 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM . Wild Hills Winery, 30940 Oakridge Dr. Muscoda . Free . www.wildhillswinery.com. Wine down and chill at Wild Hills Winery! Live music every Friday! Enjoy the sounds of local musicians and singer-songwriters outdoors on the patio. Food and drink specials.

Saturday, July 3 Spring Green Farmers Market 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM . S230 E. Monroe St Spring Green . www.facebook.com/SGFMarket. Local farm fresh produce, coffee, fresh baked goods, honey, soaps & lotions, bedding plants, cut flowers, maple syrup and more.

Driftless Landscape Tour 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM . Taliesin Preservation Frank Lloyd Wright Visitor Center 5607 County Road C Spring Green . $6 – $25 . www.taliesinpreservation.org. Join Taliesin for a conversation about the interconnectedness of land and culture while enjoying an approximately 1-mile walk across the Taliesin estate. This completely outdoor tour will speak to the natural history of the estate, using Frank Lloyd Wright as the connecting theme between topics.

Jeff Larsen 2:30 PM - 4:00 PM . Spring Green General Store, 137 S Albany Spring Green . www.springgreen.com . Come to play, come to listen. Come to teach, come to learn. Or just hang out & enjoy the people and the music.

3 Souls 3:00 PM - 7:00 PM . Wisconsin Riverside Resort, S13220 Shifflet Road Spring Green . www.wiriverside.com/entertainment. Summer music continues on the River Stage!

Rough Crossing: Opening Night 8:00 PM . Hill Theatre,5950 Golf Course Rd, Spring Green . Ticket prices Vary . www.americanplayers.org. Here we have a play that hits all the notes with equal glee – a screwball comedy written by one of the smartest playwrights of our time. Limited seating.

Sunday, July 4 Lone Rock 4th of July 11:00 AM - Dusk . Fireman’s Park, Lone Rock . We have a parade, carnival games, volleyball tournament, tractor pull, bounce houses, and so much more!

Myles Talbott Dyad 12:00 PM - 3:30 PM . Wisconsin Riverside Resort, S13220 Shifflet Road Spring Green . www.wiriverside.com/entertainment. Summer music continues on the River Stage!

Independence Day Celebration 2:00 PM - Dusk . Lions Park, Walter Rd Entrance, 318 Park Street Mazo . Come celebrate with us! Pool games, baseball and Ladies Must Swing Big Dance at the Pavilion. At dusk, fireworks will be set off Retrobus 4:00 PM - 8:00 PM . Wisconsin Riverside Resort, S13220 Shifflet Road Spring Green . www.wiriverside.com/entertainment. Summer music continues on the River Stage!

Local Night: Better Daze 5:30 PM - 8:00PM . Post House Garden, 119 E Jefferson Street Spring Green . Come out and spend your 4th of July with some local music. The Shed dining room will be closed inside.

Tuesday, July 6 Story Time at South Park 10:00 AM . Spring Green Community Library, 230 E Monroe St Spring Green . www.springgreenlibrary.org. Join Ms Christi at Spring Green's South Park for a fun morning of summer Story Time!

Tails & Tales Outdoor Storytime 10:15 AM - 11:00 AM . Plain Kraemer Library and Community Center, 910 Main St, Plain . www.kraemerlibrary.org. Storytime lasts between 30 minutes and aimed for ages 0-6 with themed songs and stories.

Pizza on 14 4:00 PM - 8:00 PM . The Shoppe, 7352 Hwy 14, Arena . Pizza from our wood-fired oven and live music every Tuesday.

Wednesday, July 7 Whippoorwills and Words: An Evening on the Wisconsin River 7:30 PM 9:30 PM . Ferry Bluff Rd, Sauk City . $40 . www.eventbrite.com/e/whippoorwills-and-words-an-evening-on-the-wisconsin-river-tickets-15816515323. Join us for a very special evening of Whippoorwills and Words at Ferry Bluff State Natural Area. While we wait for the birds to sing, we will listen to short stories and poems from August Derleth, a native of Sauk City, and one of Wisconsin's most prolific writers.

Community

WednesdaY, june 23, 2021

Page 5

‘I Did This All My Life’: One Family Farm’s Fight for Survival continued from page 1 dad, Jim, remembered as we walked the farm recently. “My dad fell off of a corn crib out here, and that’s when I got interested in farming because my dad needed help.”

My grandpa broke his back that day, and my dad carried on. It’s the kind of story that makes it seem like family farms can stand forever – against economic downturns, industry consolidation, and global market trends that long ago left us behind.

“Dairy cows are like working moms”

For years now years it’s been my dad and sister, Malia, farming – although my mom and I took our turns too. Whenever I watch Malia prep for milking in the milkhouse just off our barn with the milker pump blaring, I’m reminded how she is cut out for farming in a way I wasn’t.

When the temperature dropped below freezing this winter, she was 7 months pregnant – and still milking. She talks about our cows like they’re people she knows.

“Dairy cows are like working moms, so they go to work, they have to pump,” Malia said during one of our last milkings.

“A beef cow is more like a stay-at-home mom that just takes care of her kids.”

The original homestead became a Century Farm in 2012. Our sturdy, 50-cow barn was big years ago, but we’re crowded out now by bigger milking parlors – some family owned, some corporate.

Milking helped my great-grandparents climb up out of the Depression, and my grandparents and parents provide a better life for their children. My sister and I, and her kids, mark five generations on this land.

But things are different now. Since the 1970s – when my dad bought the farm from my grandpa – America lost nearly 85 percent of its farms with milk cows, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, including more than two registered herds per day in recent years

Photo via Brian Reisinger The Reisinger farm in the 1980s, as Jim Reisinger was working to build the family’s acreage to its largest in 100 years of farming in rural Spring Green. in Wisconsin alone. Many were bankruptcies, or sales where there were few good choices and the family also lost their land.

Our best hope was to sell one part of our way of life, to save the rest of it.

Saving our way of life

We planned for more than a year, searching for a way to survive as other farms got bigger or disappeared. It wasn’t easy.

A farm is more than your job – it’s your family, your community, and your heritage. That’s why they call it a way of life.

My dad milked twice a day more than 60 years, 10 years longer than his own dad.

But the simple fact is, dairy farming is too hard financially and physically as my dad gets older – we saw that after years of breaking even, we needed to find a longterm path to keep our farm in the family and fund my parents’ retirement. There is no 401(k) when you’re a farmer.

But we all have our own reasons. My

mom, who has fought for dairy with Farm First Co-Op, feels the economics are too tough. My sister wanted to find a way to keep farming that could work with four kids, too young to be in the barn with her morning and night. I felt the farm needed to evolve. But as the first eldest son in four generations not to farm, I’ll always wonder whether we’d have made different decisions 20 years ago to let us keep milking, if I’d pursued a career in farming instead of writing.

We all have that – times we wonder if things could have been different. My dad would have held on forever if a serious case of COVID hadn’t put him in the hospital. It literally took a global pandemic to stop him.

“I did this all my life,” my Dad said.

“That COVID, that really hit me hard, I know I can’t do it anymore.”

We could have gone into debt to go bigger – with a milking parlor, or robotic milkers – but our family takes pride in

Photo via Brian Reisinger The Reisinger family. Rear, left to right: Jean, Jim, Malia’s partner Nick, Malia (pregnant then with Harlie, born in April), Brian’s partner Rachael, Brian. Front, left to right: Malia’s children Steven, Roman, and Paxton.

being shoulder to shoulder with our animals. We decided to find a new business model instead, one where a small farm can still be part of the larger Wisconsin farm economy. This year, my dad and sister will try raising heifers for other farms, selling beef, and cash cropping, a transition that’s possible because we had no debt – and accepted reality before it was too late.

We’re grateful for the chance to keep our 400 acres. But it still feels like something was taken from us.

“I think they maybe knew”

A few weeks before the cows went, we got together to milk. My sister’s kids were there, and we talked about old times in the soft yellow light of the barn – all the way back to my Dad and Mom milking as newlyweds.

“We would listen to the Grand Ole Opry, and when they would have the dances come on, we’d dance,” my mom, Jean, said. “It slows it down, but it makes us so much happier, and happy farmers make happy cows.”

On March 12, a cattle broker came with big clanging trailers to haul our cows away. I’ll always remember the way the cows kept turning back as we prodded them out the barn. Like they didn’t want to go.

Afterward, my dad walked the farm making videos on his phone – of the last milk draining into a bucket, of the empty barn. He ended near the back barn door where the cows enter each morning and night – now only in our memory.

I asked him about the cows’ last day.

They had given him more milk than ever, almost 3,900 pounds.

“I don’t know what got into them,” he said. “I think they maybe knew.”

Brian Reisinger is a writer who grew up on a dairy farm in rural Spring Green. He’s worked in journalism, public policy, and consulting, and writes about rural American culture, economics, history, politics, and the outdoors. He lives in Madison, but spends as much time as he can in a cabin in the woods out back of his family’s farm. An original version of this story ran on Wisconsin Public Radio’s “Wisconsin Life.”

See page 6

Page 6

Community

WednesdaY, june 23, 2021

continued from page 5

AGRICULTURE WORKS HARD FOR

Photo via Brian Reisinger

Photo via Brian Reisinger Jim Reisinger driving tractor as a boy, with his brother, Dave, sitting next to him, and their father, Albert, on the hay wagon. Jim started milking at age 8, when his father fell from a corncrib and broke his back.

 Reisinger SAUKonCOUNTY Jim one of his final milkings, before the family sold their 50-cow dairy herd in March. The family will continue farming, but with a different business model -- raising Family-owned farms, food processors and agriculture-related businesses generate thousands of jobs heifers and other livestock, and cash cropping.

and millions of dollars of economic activity for Sauk County, while contributing to local income and tax revenues.

AGRICULTURE WORKS HARD FOR

Agriculture’s annual impact:

 SAUK COUNTY

WHAT DO OUR FARMS PRODUCE?

➊

Family-owned farms, farms, food Family-owned food processors processors and and agriculture-related agriculture-relatedbusinesses businessesgenerate generate thousands ofMilk jobs thousands and of millions of dollars of for economic activities for Sauk County, while and millionsofofjobs dollars economic activity Sauk County, while contributing to local income and tax contributing to local income and tax revenues. revenues.

➋

Grain

$75

$59.5 million

million

Support for this work was provided by UW-Madison Division of Extension, Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin and Wiscinsin Department of Argiculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP).

Agriculture’s annual impact:

HOW MANY PEOPLE DOES AGRICULTURE EMPLOY?

➎

Hay & Other Crops

Cattle & Calves

➍

Hogs & Pigs

$25.2

$15.7

$6.4

➌

million

WHAT IS THE ECONOMIC IMPACT?

million

million

HOW MUCH TAX DOES AGRICULTURE CONTRIBUTE?

➎ Family➊sticks by➋Wisconsin ➌ dairy➍farming despite on-going industry struggles WHAT DO OUR FARMS PRODUCE?

Hay & Other Crops

Milk

Grain Below is a Q&A with the Millers, 3rd generation dairy farmers $ The interview $ and in Highland. photos were provided by regional million million photographer Jolean Putz.

Cattle & Calves

Hogs & Pigs

$25.2

$15.7

Time Dairy Farm nameHOWMiller MANY PEOPLE OwnersDan and Jody Miller DOES AGRICULTURE The Millers milk 250 plus cows and EMPLOY?

WHAT IS THE ECONOMIC IMPACT?

75

59.5

milk 3 times a day.

The Farm is a 3rd Generation dairy farm. Dan’s dad and his grandpa farmed together and than Dan and Jody took the Farmjobs over. Dan Miller’s Grandpa purchased the farm in 1951. in the county

4,312

million

$743 million

in economic activity

What is the biggest struggles for today’s Farmers: WHO OWNS HOW MUCH IS One of the biggest struggles for FarmTHE FARMS? SOLD LOCALLY? er’s today is the prices farmers are paid

million

4,312

$6.4

jobs

in the county

million

WHO OWNS THE FARMS?

HOW MUCH TAX DOES AGRICULTURE CONTRIBUTE?

Farms pay

95%

$19 (1,341) million

are

family farms

$743 million

1.0

$19

million

in economic activity

in sales tax, property tax & income tax

HOW MUCH IS SOLD LOCALLY?

WHO TAKES CARE OF THE LAND?

$1.0

million

sold directly to consumers

1,412 farms manage

298,906 acres (56% of county total)

in sales tax, property tax & income tax WHO TAKES CARE OF THE LAND?

for their products. Today’s farmers are getting the same prices they were farms are getting 20 plus years ago but still manage $ family having to pay the extremely high prices % today. Many people do not know this farms acres million but farmers(1,341) do not know what they will (56% of county total) be getting paid for their milk until theysold directly to consumers get the milk check in the mail. Farmers have no control or say for any pricing of their products they sell. The weathPhoto via Jolean Putz er has a lot of impact on struggles as Dan and Jody Miller standing in the freestall barn. well. Like this year we need rain, if we don’t have rain we can’t grow our life with many ups and downs but the feed to feed our animals. Some other rewards of seeing the new born calf or struggles is finding people to help work Why do you farm: working with our children and teachon the farm. No one wants to work in Because we are crazy! HAHA! Both ing them a very honest way of living, the dairy industry anymore. Also all Jody and Dan have farmed their entire its something you can never put a price the negativity that farmers face today life. It is the most honest way of living on. on social media and misunderstanding and the most honorable way to live. about the products they produce. The We love our animals and we live and What can people do to help the Dairy pandemic has not helped things either. breathe farming and really don’t know Industry: Jody and Dan both had side jobs off any other way of life. It is a family Buy more local products from your the farm to help supplement income tradition that we will fight to hold on to local farmers. Buy more milk and just to survive the hard times. it our entire lives if we can. It is a hard

95

Farms pay

1,412

298,906

cheese in the store. Buy that gallon of chocolate milk instead of that case of pop. Ask a farmer if you can stop by and see the way they farm and really see what goes in to producing that milk and cheese. Let us help you to see things from our point of view. Please don’t take our Wisconsin Farmers for granted. Because each day we are losing more farms.. and they can’t be replaced once they are gone.

Community

WednesdaY, june 23, 2021

Page 7

Award winning farming family shutters dairy barn doors among difficult industry Below is a Q&A with the Fullers, 4th generation dairy farmers in Loyd. The interview and photos were provided by regional photographer Jolean Putz.

Farm Name- Fuller’s Rustic View Dairy Owners- Steve Fuller, Cassie Fuller and

Mandi Fuller Loyd, WI Or north of Ithaca Cows Milked- 65-70 This was a 4th Generation Farm, Steve himself has farmed for 38 years of his life.

He was now farming with his 2 daughters Cassie and Mandi. The Fuller’s have many honors they have received over the years, 2 time Richland County Outstanding young farmer and with Steve’s mom and Grandma receiving Richland County Outstanding Farm woman.

What factors helped make your decision to stop milking?

The next generations did not want to continue to keep milking cows. A lot of factors play into this decision.

Especially the prices that farmers are paid for their products these days. It’s hard to make the money for the younger generation to survive. Also we were at the point if we needed to get bigger with more cows so many factors play into that and the way prices are today with the cost of feed it just wasn’t something we could see doing.

What led to the cows being sold?

The profit margin’s are so bad now days.

You find yourself adjusting your spending, your needs or your wants are always being adjusting and you go with out just to keep the farm going. The competition from the larger dairies, the small dairies have to fight just to stay a float. No one wants to deal with the small farm anymore.

The price of land has tripled, the price of machinery has tripled as well. You have

Photo via Jolean Putz Steve’s Daughter’s, Mandi and Cassi, that were farming with him. Standing in the barn on one of their last milking’s together. to either stay the same size and keep re adjusting your wants and needs or you need to go into debt and expand. But if the younger generation doesn’t want to keep going and keep milking than you know it’s time to get out.

What needs to change?

Bottom line Farmers need to get paid more for their products. A farmer’s hands are tied. They have no control over what they are paid for their products. And the

world we live in has given farmers such a bad rep no one understands what it takes to produce the products that the world takes for granted. Without Family Farms left there is no one to carry on the family Farm and without the family farm our dairy industry doesn’t have much of a future. We need to change things so the younger generation wants to farm and to make it easier for them to survive starting out.

How can people help small farms?

By giving farmers the option to sell right to the consumers .Try and buy right from your local farmer. Eliminate the middle guy so farmers can see more of an income on their products. Buy Local come to the farm and buy your meat right from the farmer. Get to know where your product comes from. Help promote the good things farmers do and help to give them a good name again and really know where your food comes from.

Photo via Jolean Putz A very Meaningful photo. This is Steve the farm owner and father of Mandi and Cassie. The tractor he is sitting in, was the very first brand new tractor his dad ever bought quiet a few years ago. They still to this day used this tractor every day. The tractor currently has 30,000 hours on it and is still going. It is a 2950.

See page 8

Page 8

Community/Outdoors & recreation

WednesdaY, june 23, 2021

Last Leaf public house open for apps, cocktails in pub and patio Photo by Taylor Scott, Managing Editor Last Leaf Public House is now open 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. serving cocktails and appetizers for dinning inside the pub and on the patio.

Appetizers include hand cut fries, sweet potato fries, smoked salmon dip, chicken curried frites and chicken wings.

Menu options, hours and dinning will increase sometime in mid-July.

The 2021 Day in the Park will be held on Sunday, August 15, from 11 am to 7 pm at North Park in Spring Green. To help support 4PeteSake, all you have to do is show up! Enjoy music from local bands, food and drink, kids’ activities, and a silent auction. The day also features a 5k run/walk and a 26k bike ride. Registration forms are available at 4petesake.com or the morning of the event. For more details about Day in the Park 2021, visit 4petesake.com.

Late June Birding Report—Wisconsin Sees Influx Of Dickcissels And Other Plains Birds Ryan Brady, DNR Natural Heritage Conservation Program Biologist This year continues to be better than average for Wilson’s phalaropes, yellow-headed blackbirds and now another Great Plains species, the Dickcissel. Large numbers of this sparrow-like grassland bird have been reported from weedy fields, pastures and other dry open areas around the state.

Two keen observers in Douglas County recently tallied an incredible 397 singing males over just 36 miles of road that in a typical year may not host one! This influx of Dickcissels and other plains birds is thought to result from drought in their usual range.

On the downside, numbers of Eastern bluebirds, Eastern phoebes, hermit thrushes and some other short-distance migrants remain far below average due to significant overwinter mortality caused by severe cold and ice in the southern U.S. Northbound migration has generally come to an end, leaving nesting season to take center stage. The first

fledged Baltimore orioles have been reported, though most are likely in the egg or nestling phase yet. Expect an increase in young for these and other neotropical migrants as we enter July.

Earlier migrants and resident species are farther along in the breeding cycle as family groups of robins, blackbirds, doves, crows and ducks are already more prevalent.

If you continue to feed birds through summer, you may see family groups starting to appear soon. Be especially vigilant this time of year about using fresh food, cleaning feeders and keeping pets away from feeder areas where young birds are particularly vulnerable. Attract even more birds to your yard with a clean water source, whether it be a dish of shallow water, a small pool or large pond. A fountain or other source of trickling water is especially helpful as the sound draws birds from afar.

Topping the list of rare finds this week was a white-tailed kite at Crex Meadows in Burnett County, marking

Photo via Wisconsin DNR Named for their distinctive song, Dickcissels are now prevalent in fields and grasslands across Wisconsin. the state’s sixth record. June and July can be excellent months for finding unusual, warm-weather species so keep a watchful eye at field and feeders. Moreover, by the last week of June some southbound migration will become apparent as the first adult

shorebirds begin to return from Canadian breeding grounds, often including some yellowlegs, least and solitary sandpipers and a few others. In the meantime, find out what others are seeing and report your finds to www. ebird.org/wi. Good birding!

The Sauk County Gardener— Insects and Other Bugs to Watch for in the Garden Jeannie Manis, SCMGA President

grow. If you haven’t already, mulch the night. Come morning, you can turn “We must remain as close to the flowunder those tomato plants to help reduce over the boards and destroy them. I don’t ers, the grass, and the butterflies as the splash up when it rains or when you share my beer, so I’ll just have to put child is who is not yet so much taller water and to retain as much moisture as down a few boards. Start watching for than they are.” Friedrich Nietzsche possible.

Japanese beetle scouts and be prepared Last week I wrote about the proper June is when the dreaded squash vine to destroy them. They’ll be showing up way to water your garden and now I am borer visits the garden. When I lived soon and if you stop the scouts from telllistening blissfully to a nice gentle rain in Missouri, these did a number on my ing the rest of their buddies about your AGRICULTURE WORKS FOR as I write this article. Maybe I should zucchini HARD and other squash. Watch for an garden, the better off you’ll be. have written about watering earlier. At orange and black, day-flying moth near I’ve never been successful, but I keep  SAUK COUNTY least with some rain, I won’t have to use your vine crops. They lay their eggs at the trying. Of course, at this time you may my gardening time to water. Instead, I of theand vine.

Check the base closelygenerate need to do some Family-owned farms, foodbase processors agriculture-related businesses thousands of jobsweeding your gardens. will get to work on some much-needed and look for any eggs;County, smashwhile anycontributing that The best wayand to tax keep weeds down in and millions of dollars of economic activity for Sauk to local income gardening tasks. you find. If you see any sawdust looking the vegetable garden is to mulch. I have revenues.

As we near the end of June/first week material at the base of your vines, the raised garden beds so it’s easy for me Agriculture’s annualborer impact: CULTURE WORKS HARD FOR of July, there is a lot going on in the has already entered your vines. to mulch. If you haven’t already added gardens. I spotted four monarch caterYou can slice the vines open lengthwise some mulch, weed and then immediatepillars on my milkweed. I always leave and remove any bores that you find. ly add some mulch for what you’ve just WHAT DO OUR FARMS PRODUCE? Photo by Jeanie Manis, Contributor some plants near the back of my flower Then bury the vine, water to keep the weeded. ➊ ➎My flower beds always need wned farms, farms, food agriculture-related wned food processors and agriculture-related businessesgenerate generate thousands ofMilk jobs Hay & Other Cropsand I have any awesome beds forprocessors them. I’m and always excited to see businesses soil➋ moist, and hopefully the vine will some weeding ➍ ➌ s ofofjobs and millions of dollars economic activities for Sauk County, while Grain new roots.

Cattle It & Calves Hogs Pigs them and I can’t wait of tofor show them to mywhile develop worked for me&in way to do it. I always have plants that ons dollars of economic activity Sauk County, contributing to local income and tax have to resort to handpicking or using Bt when comes this week. If Missouri; I’m hoping I won’t have to deal need dividing or I’ve purchased some to ing to localgrandson income and taxhe revenues. $25.2 $6my $15.7 $75or $59.5 (Bacillus thuringiensis var Kurstaki you have some milkweed near or in your .4beds; so I find a “weedy spot”, with them this year. put in Support for this work was provided by UW-MadisonAisawai).

Division of Extension, Dairy Bt only kills the larvae of moths million million million millionas weedmillion garden, avoid pulling it or using pestiA lot is going on in the fl ower gardens it, and then put in my new plant.

Argiculture, Trade and Consumer culture’s annual impact:Farmers of Wisconsin and Wiscinsin Department ofand butterflies and is safe for other incides or insecticides the area. well. I started a shade garden about three I like to think I’m extra efficient as I do Protectionin (DATCP).

On a not-so-happy note, I believe I spot- sects, wildlife and humans. years ago and it is starting to really fill in. some weeding and planting at the same HOWgarden, MANY PEOPLE WHAT IS THE HOW MUCH TAX While you are in the vegetable ted cabbage moths flying around so it is This past weekend my daughter and her time. Overall, it is a great time to be garDOES AGRICULTURE ECONOMIC IMPACT? DOES AGRICULTURE WHAT DOmy OUR check your tomato plants to see if they time to start watching cole FARMS crops – PRODUCE? best friend since kindergarten came out dening in Sauk County.

EMPLOY? CONTRIBUTE? need pruning. I pruned all mine this past to help me move some plants and they This week’s article is written by JeanHay & Other Crops Milk cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and weekend. Pruning increases air flow and cauliflower for cabbage moth eggs. The spotted some slugs. There are a coupleFarmsnie Manis, a Wisconsin Certified Sauk Grain Cattle & Calves Hogs & Pigs $ $ removes leaves that touch the soil; all eggs look like look like white or yellow ways to control slugs. You can place pay County Master Gardener Volunteer. which can help minimize the damage million oblong dots and usually are attached to boards in your garden or put small, shal- If youmillion have any gardening questions, jobs in sales tax, $ $ $ $ $ the underside of leaves. If you spot them, from diseases such as septoria leafinspot, low containers of beer around your hosplease contact in economic activity property tax & income taxthe Extension Sauk early blight and bacterial spot. Whenthe countytas and other squishing them is a great way to control slug-susceptible plants.

If County by emailing to trripp@wisc.edu million million million million million pruning, remove any leaves that would them early. Another option is to use row you use beer, the slugs will crawl into the or calling the University of Wisconsin touch the soil and remove any suckers.

WHO OWNS containers and HOW MUCH IS put down WHOMadison TAKES CARE covers. Later if the eggs hatch and you drown.

If you Division of Extension Sauk Also tie up the tomato plants as they THE FARMS? boards, they’ll SOLD LOCALLY? THE LAND? have to deal with the caterpillars, you’ll crawl underneath during OF County office at 608-355-3250.

W MANY PEOPLE WHAT IS THE HOW MUCH TAX ES AGRICULTURE ECONOMIC IMPACT? DOES AGRICULTURE farms are EMPLOY? CONTRIBUTE? manage

UK COUNTY

➊

75

➋

➌

➍

59.5

25.2

15.7

➎

6.4

4,312

family

19

743

$

1,412

sports

WednesdaY, june 23, 2021

Page 9

2021 River Valley Spring All-Southwest Conference Student-Athletes Baseball 1st Team:

Ethan Wickman Foster Milanowski Keeghan Kjos Jimmy Jennings Jaydon Rose Cole White

2nd Team:

Boys Golf Pitcher Infield Outfield Utility

Eli Johnon

1st Team:

Girls Soccer

Softball

2nd Team:

SWC Champions, Regional Champions

Starr Camacho Leah Deibert Svea Youngquist

Honorable Mention:

Defender Forward Midfielder

1st Team:

Honorable Mention:

Ashton Price

Anna Deibert

Catcher Infield

Katie Hahn Delaney Milanowski Brooke Anderson Kylie Merritt

Midfielder

Honorable Mention:

Preston Hying

Honorable Mention:

Outfield

Emily Esser Aryana McElwee

Track and Field 1st Team:

McKenzie Kruse 400 Meter Dash McKenzie Kruse Pole Vault Zach Gloudeman 100 Meter Dash Lily Borucki

2nd Team:

300 Meter Hurdles

Pitcher Shortstop Catcher 1B/Outfield

2B 1B/Pitcher

Player of the Year:

Lily Boruck 4 x 400 Meter Relay McKenzie Kruse 4 x 400 Meter Relay Bobbie DuCharme 4 x 400 Meter Relay Madison Krey 4 x 400 Meter Relay Isaac Prem 100 Meter Dash Ryan Norton Discus

Honorable Mention:

McKenzie Kruse Zach Gloudeman Zach Gloudeman

200 Meter Dash 100 Meter Dash Shot Put

Katie Hahn

Pitcher

Coach of the Year: Jane Briehl

Business/Professional

Directory ork y W red t i l a u •Qu lly Ins ates u F s • e E tim e •Fr

J J and

Total Lawn Care

M-F Sat 8am-5p 8am -noo m n E4792 Kennedy Rd.

and

Snow Removal

James Harwood •608-588-2453•

•Natural double shredded oak bark mulch - $30/yard •Colored decorative mulch Red-Brown-Gold-Orange - $30/yard •Free delivery to the River Valley area (min. 2 yards) •Other landscape supplies available!

Gravel-Boulders-Screened Topsoil-Sand, etc.

Reserve a spot in our business/professional directory!

Add $30 to any ad order or as a stand-alone ad and you’ll be added to the next week’s business/professional directory.

We offer complete landscape and lawn care service •Full Landscaping from start to finish •Lawn Mowing We’ re y •Plantings stop our on sho e •Grading & Seedings p!

•Bark Spreading •Limestone & Boulder Retaining Walls

Business card sized (2 col./5.125” x 2.81”), full color ad.

Perfect for top-of-mind awareness.

Want to run it every week? $750 for 6 months, $1000 for 1 year (26% discount, $19.23 /week).

WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO THIS SUMMER?

Local. Natural.

Delicious.

We strive to serve specialty coffee and baked goods created with ingredients that are locally sourced, all natural and sustainable.

Inspired by Convivio’s summer playlist, submitted by you and curated by Valley Sentinel — Let’s put together a community playlist for those floats on the river or that evening enjoying wine out on the patio or around a fire with friends and family and more.

Our schedule is posted each week on social media.

Get in touch with us today! www.butternutroadcoffee.com butternutroadcoffeetruck@gmail.com 608-459-5016

To submit your songs, please email us at editor@valleysentinelnews.com or message us on Instagram @VS_Wisconsin.

Coffee & News A collaboration by Valley Sentinel & Butternut Road Coffee.

Stop by the coffee truck starting mid-week to pick up a copy of Valley Sentinel with your coffee, while supplies last.

Butternut Road Coffee Truck butternutroad_coffeetruck

Let’s try to keep it mostly recent and up and coming.

Bonus points for local and regional artists!

Submit your song ideas through June and be on the lookout for our Spotify code in print the first couple weeks of summer.

Butternut_Road

SUBSCRIBE to Valley Sentinel!

Want Valley Sentinel delivered to your home/business? Send a check with your name, address and $30 to: Valley Sentinel PO Box 144, Spring Green, WI 53588.

Or visit: valleysentinelnews.com/subscribe to pay using a credit card, debit card or paypal.

Page 10 WednesdaY, june 23, 2021

sports

River Valley competes in WIAA Division 2 Track & Field Sectionals, sends athletes to state Photo by Taylor Scott, Managing Editor

River Valley Sophomore McKenzie Kruse ran in the 200 meter dash, with a time of 27.82 seconds and the 400 meter dash with a time of 1:02.07 minutes, placing fourth place at the WIAA Division 2 Sectionals in Whitewater June 17. Kruse also competed in pole vault at sectionals, tying for 10th place with a 9 foot score.

Kruse will be competing at the State Competition in La Crosse June 25 in the 400 meter dash.

Photo by Taylor Scott, Managing Editor Pictured, Senior Issac Prem hands the baton off to Sophomore Zach Vickerman in the 4x100 meter relay, with a score 44.76 seconds, placing third. River Valley will be competing at State.

The relay team also included, Zach Gloudeman, Anthony Favreau and Cameron Smith (Alternate).

Photo by Nicole Aimone, Editor-in-Chief Junior Ryan Norton throws discus at the WIAA sectionals June 17, Norton’s final score was 135 feet and four inches, placing fourth in sectionals. Norton will compete in State on June 25.

Photo by Nicole Aimone, Editor-in-Chief Senior Kalen Scott, throws a personal record (PR) of 43 feet, 2.5 inches at WIAA Division 2 Sectionals in Whitewater June 17. Scott placed 12th.

Community

WednesdaY, june 23, 2021 Page 11

COVID-19 Dashboard Wisconsin Summary

612,233Positive Cases

Cases as of 6/22/2021

+414 from 6/15

2,974,786 Negative Test Results +11,117 from 6/15

7,253 Deaths +41 from 6/15

Vaccine Summary Statistics Updated: 6/22/2021

6,388,975

5,457,746 Administered

Allocated

2,982,614

2,250,447

Pfizer doses administered

224,542

Moderna doses administered

Johnson & Johnson doses administered

Vaccine Data

These two core measures are all measures of herd immunity in Richland, Sauk and Iowa County. We do not yet know what level of vaccination leads to herd immunity for COVID-19, or how current or future variants might affect herd immunity. We know based on other diseases that herd immunity is likely at least 60%, and if more transmissible variants become more common, that threshold may become higher, so our current target range is 60-90%.

-Madison Public Health and Dane County

Richland County

1,328 Positive Cases +0 from 6/15 8,365 Negative Tests -14 from 6/15 16 Death +0 from 6/15

Richland

Sauk

Target Range

48.5%

Iowa County

2,060 Positive Cases +0 from 6/15 11,923 Negative Tests +8 from 6/15 13 Deaths +0 from 6/15 Sauk County 5,963 Positive Cases +16 from 6/15 36,381 Negative Tests +67 from 6/15 50 Deaths +0 from 6/15

51%

Percent with at least one vaccine dose

Percent with at least one vaccine dose

46.4%

45.5%

Percent fully vaccinated

Target Range

Percent fully vaccinated

Iowa

Target Range

57.4%

Percent with at least one vaccine dose

53.6%

Percent fully vaccinated

Percent of Wisconsin residents ages 12-15 who have received at least one dose by county

Cases per zip code Cases as of 6/22/2021

Updated: 6/22/2021

Lower %

Higher %

Richland County Ages 12-15 24.2%

Iowa County Ages 12-15

Percent of Wisconsin residents who have received at least one dose

35%

Sauk County

Ages

12-15

Ages 12-15 25.3%

16-17

18-24

Dane County

Ages 12-15 57.6%

Graphic by Whitney Back

25-34

35-44 45-54 55-64 65+

Updated: 6/22/2021 26.2% 35.8%

40.7%

46.2%

54.4%

56.3%

66.8% 84.2%

Data From: https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/covid-19/index.htm

Community

Page 12 WednesdaY, june 23, 2021

prairie

Business Spotlight Inspired Nutrition uses Herbalife product to create healthy drinks.

We offer a large menu selection to accommodate an array of different flavors. Our staff is very knowledgeable to share information of our product with you.

Founded in 1980, Herbalife Nutrition is a global leader in meal replacement shakes, energizing teas, dietary supplements, and protein based coffees.

Herbalife also offers a skin and hair care line. Our ingredients come from farmers who are committed to meeting our high standards for planting and conservation.

Get in touch with Inspired Nutrition today!

130 West Jefferson St. (608).588.0017 Inspired Nutrition LLC. Pictured above are Coach Angie and Coach Joy from Inspired Nutrition in Spring Green.

Question & Answer With owner, Tell us a bit about Inspired Nutrition and your mission

What’s on the horizon for Inspired Nutrition?

Inspired Nutrition started after my cousin opened her Nutrition club in Muscoda. We started these nutrition clubs because we were seeing great results with the Herbalife product.

Our mission is to get our products into households to help people live a more healthy active lifestyle.

I hope to continue to grow business in Spring Green and eventually open more locations.

Has COVID-19 affect your business or location opening? How? I don’t feel COVID-19 has affected my business. We take the necessary precautions to make sure everything is sanitized properly.

What does it mean to you to have your business in Downtown Spring Green?

Since I’m not from Spring Green I feel I’ve been very welcomed into the Community.

People have been so kind to us. I’ve also had the opportunity to support other businesses in Spring Green.

How do you believe you’ve had a positive impact on the community?

I think since opening in Spring Green we are

giving families a healthier option. We offer meal replacement shakes and energizing teas for all ages.

We all feel great using these products.

I love that Herbalife offers products for children too. It is truly about overall living a healthier lifestyle.

Share more about Herbalife and why you use it I chose Herbalife Nutrition because of the great results my cousin was having with her weight loss goals and her overall health. About a year ago I added Herbalife into my home. I have had great results as well. My kids also enjoy the shakes and teas. That is what I love about this product. It’s just not about weight loss. It’s about overall health.

“Friendly Staff, delicious drinks, and has a very cozy feel!”

-Dawson Mueller