One of Wisconsin's best eco inns

We were thrilled to be promoted this past year as one of the best “eco-elegant” inns in the state by the Wisconsin Department of Tourism. It was very gratifying to have our efforts for our accomplishments recognized.

But even if we had not been recognized we would still be doing everything the same way we do. We were “green” long before Travel Green Wisconsin was ever created. Conserving resources and saving money have always been a part of both of our lives, even growing up.

Because we grew up on farms, living off the land, we are much more connected to the land than people in town or in the city. You have to be a good steward of your land and its resources if it is to remain productive and sustainable. Our farm B&B is one of the most diversified if not THE most diversified in Wisconsin. We raise pigs, sheep and Highland beef using natural, organic methods. We grow and harvest crops to feed these animals. We also direct market slaughter lambs.

Our one-acre fruit and vegetable garden produces most of our family’s food as well as the B&B in summer. We’re the only B&B in the state that offers homegrown harvest dinners throughout the growing season.

Late winter we produce maple syrup on the farm, in between delivering newborn lambs. We’ve established a home vineyard for winemaking in addition to our strawberry, blackberry, raspberry and rhubarb country wines.

This year we added an energy efficient heat pump for air conditioning. We heat our B&B using dead trees harvested from our woodlands – a 100 percent renewable resource. Our lovely nature trails teeming with wildlife provide the ultimate green experience for guests.

We also do things everyone – even people without land – can do, such as: using energy efficient lighting, turning lights off when not in use, recycling garbage, using energy efficient appliances, larger but fewer loads of laundry, mulching gardens, combining errands to cut down on auto mileage, install energy efficient doors, windows, siding and insulation. Eat healthier. Shop local. Buy used when possible – shop thrift and resale shops. Don’t use paper plates and disposable Styrofoam cups. Wash your dishes instead. Shut your computer off when not in use. To save more, unplug appliances not in use when it’s practical to do so. Compost non-meat food scraps.

Being ecologically green leads to savings of another important $green$.

There be Highlands here!

Running a farm is expensive. Equipment costs are outrageous. Fuel is costly and is needed to run tractors, to plant corn and cut, rake and bale hay. Little by little we have invested in fencing, livestock shelters, water pipes and a pump near the animals and buying sheep and pigs.

As an English/Scottish style B&B, we thought our Suffolk and purebred Scottish Blackface sheep were great additions to the farm. For a few years we’ve wanted to add grass-fed beef to our operation. More specifically, Scottish Highland cattle. These beautiful, shaggy beasties are rugged and largely self-sufficient. They will eat scrub brush and less than ideal hay other animals would turn their nose up at. The animals grow slower and take longer to mature than other beef breeds. Their meat is leaner and healthier than other beef.

This fall we took the leap. We located a small herd for sale a reasonable distance from us. It took a month to find a trucker that was able to transport the cows for us. We bought three pregnant cows and a bull calf, which we plan on selling or trading for another bull.

The cows arrived at night, after dark. We had waited for these animals for several weeks and had desired them for a few years. We were excited that they were finally here. It was like the scene in the movie “Star Trek IV” where Scotty beams the whales and the water into the makeshift aquarium in the cargo bay of the stolen Klingon spaceship. He excitedly declares to Admiral Kirk and the bridge crew: “There be whales here!” With the same enthusiasm we thought “There be Highlands here!”

Horror of horror, only one minute later they were GONE! As they stepped off the cattle truck, Lucky, the very naughty farm dog, couldn’t resist chasing them. Immediately they spooked and burst through the barnyard’s barbed wire fence, which they could not see in the dark. We were sickened. Those poor animals were wandering the 600 acres of the farm at large, not familiar with the lay of the land. We prayed they wouldn’t breech the fences of the perimeter of the farm.

A neighbor had other cattle grazing on the farm as well. We hoped they would hang out with them, eat at their feed bunk and be sorted out when the other animals left for their own home after the pastures froze. Alas, they did not.

We drove around the farm, looking for them without success. Chris and his dad walked the fence lines, looking for signs of escape. We distributed fliers throughout the neighborhood. Finally, 10 days later we sighted them in a heavily wooded valley. Since there are numerous springs and a creek on the property they had water.

Deer hunting week we managed to contain them in a fenced corn field where they could eat corn stalks and be safe from gunfire. It proved impossible for the two of us to move them to a series of lanes and corrals leading to the barn. They just wouldn’t go through the right gate without circling back around us.

Now that we have snow cover, we are feeding hay bales, bringing them closer to the corrals and buildings each day. These are skittish Scottish!

But soon we will have them close enough that with the help of several other people we can get them through the series of pens and gates and finally to the safety of the small barn, where they were unloaded. From there we can also observe them from the house. The bull calf will be removed and share digs with the sheep until he is needed, leaving the cows to have their calves in the safety of the barn and barnyard this spring.

In the summer they will graze the ridgetop nature trail. We will continue to keep the female offspring of Flora, Skye and Heather, slowly growing our herd. Most of the bull calves will be destined to become gourmet beef on our dinner table or marketed directly to consumer.

A magical winter wonderland

It's definitely winter at Brambleberry Bed and Breakfast. Large, heavy snowflakes fell the first weekend of December and coated the trees on our farm. With little wind and cold temperatures, for several days just looking out the window gave you a sense of being in a magical winter wonderland.
Guests sometimes ask us what winters are like since we live at the end of the road and we can get snowed in. We tell them it's wonderful.
With a four-wheel drive truck and a town that plows the road, we're never snowed up for long. But when you have four freezers full of food and a crackling log fire to keep you warm, watching the snow fall is very peaceful.
Here are some photos of our farm after the recent snow.

The road leading to Brambleberry Bed and Breakfast.




A bald eagle perched in a tree doesn't seem to mind the snow.

 

Our bluff hiking trail (above and below) was a path less traveled.



Brambleberry framed by snow-covered trees.





Mr. Bingley, our Suffolk wether, stands beside Pixie, a crossbred ewe lamb.

 

A hillside winter scene.