"Around the Table" star invites Wisconsin residents to makers market
Aug. 21—EAU CLAIRE — The host of a PBS cooking and farming show hopes an upcoming makers market will give people the opportunity to meet the people who produce the food on their tables.
The event is themed around the Wisconsin PBS show "Around the Farm Table," hosted by Osseo dairy farmer Inga Witscher. The show aims to educate viewers on the diversity of agriculture through storytelling and recipes.
The free event, scheduled for September 18, aims to introduce the public to local farmers in the western Wisconsin area and their farming practices.
"It's going to be a day to meet your farmers," Witscher said.
Witscher started dairy farming in 2006. She discovered most cooking shows lacked the perspective of farmers and decided to create a show that collaborates with farmers around the Wisconsin. What started as a few short cooking demonstrations turned into a television show now entering its ninth season.
Several of the farmers who will be present at the event have appeared on "Around the Farm Table."
"It's really through this community that we've built with (the show) that we were able to take the plunge," Witscher said.
Some of the farms in attendance include Sacred Blossom Farms, Wheatfield Hill Organic, Wool and Feather Farm, EB Ranch.
Market-goers will be able to buy a range of products including teas, goat-milk soap, and of course, cheese from Witscher's creamery; St. Isidore's Dairy. There will also be activities including constructing pumpkin arrangements decor pieces, provided by Wheatfield Hill Organic and farm tours.
Participants will also see cooking demonstrations from Witscher and her family, just as they do in her show.
"It will kind of be like a live 'Around the Farm Table' episode," Witscher said. "So you get to meet the farmers, talk about what they're doing, see the cooking demonstrations, see where we're filming at and spend a really fun afternoon on the farm."
Witscher said people come from all over the state to get out of the city and onto the farm.
The event will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at St. Isidore's Dairy N45354 County Road E in Osseo, WI. Questions can be emailed to stisidoresdairy@gmail.com.
A tour of the creameryWitscher started dairy farming on her land in Osseo in 2006. After over 10 years of shipping milk, she decided to take her cheese making experience — which she learned on a Virginia farm in her 20s — and dive into making her own cheese.
In 2018 she and her husband decided to downsize her farm from over 30 dairy cows, to just eight to start their own micro-creamery.
However, the barn where the creamery was to be constructed was destroyed by fire just days before the equipment was to be installed. Along with the structure, the farm lost three calves to the fire.
Once they were able to rebuild in 2020, the pandemic struck, pausing the distribution of their product to restaurants and other public spaces.
"So we hunkered down and made cheese for a year," Witscher said. "This has kind of been a dream in the making of years."
St. Isidore's Dairy sits on 28 acres of land. Witscher said she moves the cows every 12 hours to a fresh pasture so the cows can harvest their own feed and spread their own manure.
"Grazing is the foundation of my farming," Witscher said. "There's a whole system happening out in the pastures with the cows' help."
Witscher said they make small batches of cheese every Monday and Thursday. Once batches are pressed, they are aged for up to a year to get the sharp tangy flavor. Currently, the creamery only produces aged cheddar cheese.
"After so many years of just shipping milk it is such a rewarding experience to be a part of that process from pasture to cheese plate," Witscher said.
Cheese from St. Isidore's Dairy is available at the Fromagination cheese store in Madison as well as the Eau Claire Farmer's Market.
