hey bob!

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Permalink Reply by Bobby Gifford on August 4, 2009 at 7:09pm

Hi Kevin,

Well oddly enough, I'm renting a plot of organic land at Rosholt, where I'm doing a very small CSA operation. We did a CSA last year, had 20 members, and thought we could easily double that number, but instead, got only half as many members.

So I have 3 acres of organic land with a lot of vegetables and not many places to sell it all.

How are you both doing? I frequently make reference back to things I observed and learned at Wellspring. I'll never forget the intensive amount of seed starting you did that spring. There were flats everywhere, I recall. Did that year's production work out well? I recall it was a nasty cold and wet spring most everywhere in the state. This year, it's a cold, dry summer, like living inthe high desert. At least I have an irrigation pivot over the land I rented, so can request watering when it's needed.

Take care,

Bobby G.

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Permalink Reply by kevin mcgraw on August 4, 2009 at 8:32pm

that really is a coincidence!! you farming in rosholt!

we are doing well. we are up north here because joni's brother is under hospice care in a nursing home in the twin cities. so we moved up here to be closer to him.

that season was a good season at wellspring,after all the flooding was over that is.do you have a place to start your seedlings? did you ever try selling anything to the chez marche in waupaca? we used to go there to eat all the time. we lived on that land near rosholt for 10 months and we worked for dave peterson in elderon ,but we quit,which i kinda feel bad about now.

anyway stay in touch. maybe we can stop by when we are in the area again!

kevin

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Permalink Reply by kevin mcgraw on January 11, 2010 at 4:13pm

hey bob,

i recently saw your biodiversecity website. you have a lot of nice links there and some cool things happening it seems. joni and i have this land over on linden rd. just southeast of rosholt. it's amherst junction postal route though. anyway, we are seriously thinking of putting it up for sale. we don't get there much and we want some extra money to fund our business down here in richland center where we've just moved and are thinking we might like to stay. if you know anyone who might be interested, we could be into working out some kind of agreeable land contract/ rent-to-own situation with the right person/persons. there is electric on site but it would have to be turned on again. we've also tapped into the land line as well and had a culvert put in. i had a soil test done years ago. 5.7 ph it's not the best soil,but it's not the worst i've seen either. it could be improved before too long. we were actually going to lower the ph more and try planting blueberries there. anyway, if you know of anyone you could give them our contact info.
thanks, kevin kevmcgraw@yahoo.com 608)692-8691

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Permalink Reply by Melissa North on February 11, 2010 at 11:50am

Hi there, sorry to jump in on the conversation. My parents live in Wausau and i'm keen to catch up with the transition scene in the area there. I'm sorry to hear the CSA venture didn't go to plan. Are there some alternative venues for selling lots of vegetables? I've certainly heard of people providing for local restaurants but I've always thought supplying a school or nursing home would be a really positive thing.

Is it too bold to ask how much it costs to rent the land? My husband and I will probably have to rent for a while as we resettle in WI, but it would be nice to have the option open to do something until we buy.

Great to see some locals on here anyways :)
-- Mel

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Permalink Reply by kevin mcgraw on February 18, 2010 at 12:01pm

mel,

just replied to your reply to my other posting. please get in touch if you'd like so joni and i can get a better sense of what you guys are looking for. we do plan to put this land on the market even though we are not holding out much luck for it selling. we need to get the full market value for it, but it is priced low enough to encourage someone to build on it. we want to concentrate all are energy on the future and not be helld to the past by this land that we probably will never develop.

get in touch! kevin

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