Wisconsin is famously the dairy state, but an Earth Day tour of a group of farms, growers and local food providers in the Driftless Area will show just how diverse Wisconsin agriculture can be.
It’s called Savor the River Valley Farm & Food Tour, and it will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on April 26.
In all, the tour will spotlight more than a dozen farms, orchards, producers and local-food eateries. In an area about 45 minutes west of Madison, the stops are roughly located along a 40-mile stretch of State 23 from Plain to Ridgeway.
The attractions include:
- Meadowlark Farm and Mill, which produces fresh flour from grain, corn and beans grown on the property.
- Seven Seeds Farm, serving smashburgers made from the meat of cattle that graze in pastures lined with fruit and nut trees.
- Elderflower Retreat at Savanna Institute’s Hillside Pastures, offering samples of juice made with aronia berries, honey berries and elderberries.
- Tortilleria Zepeda, a family-owned producer of tortillas, empanadas, tostadas and chips, offering samples of artisan tortillas.
The tour is an effort to tap into the interests of foodies who love locally-grown fare and at the same time add another attraction to the state’s array of farm tourism opportunities, said Patti Peltier, a co-founder of Savor the River Valley, a group with goals to raise awareness, visitors and business for farms and other food-oriented businesses in the Spring Valley region.
Spring Valley sees plenty of visitors in the summer, attracted to the area by the American Players Theatre and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin. The Farm & Food Tour is designed to be an off-peak season attraction, Peltier said, and holding the tour on Earth Day made sense because of the close association between environmental sustainability and small farming operations.
The tour idea sprouted when Peltier was talking with a friend, Stef Kerchkhoff, who started a nonprofit group that promotes the health and well-being of the community.
“I was talking to her about how we need an economic engine for our community. What can we do to make it more robust,” Peltier said. “And we identified all these food-related entrepreneurs.” The two friends did some research on agritourism efforts, and the tour was created with the help of the small farmers and business owners.
This will be the third annual Savor the Valley Farm & Food Tour, Peltier said, and she believes the group is hitting its stride. Last year about 400 people attended the event, and they came from areas such as Madison, Milwaukee and Chicago, she said.
While the tour dispenses with the notion that Wisconsin farming is only about milking cows, it does have a stop for traditionalists. Cedar Grove Cheese will open its doors to give tour goers a taste of its products which are made from cow, sheep and goat milks from local farms.
For a detailed list of all the tour’s stops and to learn more about Savor the River Valley, visit savortherivervalley.org.
Keith Uhlig has been writing about Wisconsin, its people and all it has to offer since 2000. Raised in Colby, he loves wandering around the state. He can be reached at [email protected], and is on Facebook, X and Threads.
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