In 1968 with hopes of raising a family in the country, Weenonah and Harold Brattset left urban Chicago and bought a 250 acre farm in Jefferson, WI. It was a unique mix of productive farmland, woodland, and wetland. With nothing but a barn and a modest house they got busy raising beef cattle and a family with 3 children. Harold continued to work as a fireman in Chicago, while Weenonah took on most of the tasks of the farm growing corn, soy, and hay.
In 2006, their daughter Kirsten and her husband Pat, moved out to the farm. Kirsten took over the business of cattle and started direct marketing the beef with great success. She converted the cropland to pasture and started rotationally grazing. Weenonah continues to live on the farm with her family today, staying active with farm tasks.
In 2012, Weenonah was an active board member in the Jefferson County Land Trust (Now DALT). She went to seminars with American Farmland Trust and learned of the staggering amount of loss of farmland. She had grown up in Southern Ohio and saw the rapid urbanization. She describes it as “heartbreaking”. This motivated her decision to pursue an easement to keep the land in farm use for perpetuity.
The entire cropland portion of the farm has been converted to permanent sod now and rotated with cattle. “Rotational grazing, it's phenomenal what it does. One of the things I really notice, the plant species that come back in”. Wenonah explains. She noticed after so many years of not breaking the sod, the red clover came back - they had never seeded it. They have seen other species appear that they haven’t planted. And they see many-many more birds. “There are meadowlarks like crazy," Wenonah says. “The entire ecosystem is improving!” she gleams. “There are lots of different bird species I’ve not seen in the past. Last week I saw a Harrier Hawk.”
Kirsten regularly tests the soil and has seen the organic matter going up as well. The beekeeper says it is the best site for bees he has anywhere. "We’ve got to the point where there is no need to spray anything. Everything is fitting together in a cooperative way." For extra conservation, every year they leave a field fallow. They don’t do anything with it. “That’s for the birds.” The whole web of life fits together and this 250 acres if anything else can be a microcosm of that."
The beginning was intense, but not overwhelming. The entire process took 1.5 to 2 years. She got appraisals done and followed a step by step process but it was well worth the time spent.
With the easement proceeds, the family was able to pay off the mortgage on the farm. Even better, Kirsten's family was able to purchase the farm from Weenonah. They upgraded equipment and could finally make improvements that were always needed.
In 1864, Glenn's great grandfather bought the 157 acre farm in Dodge County which lies next to the Rock River. They cleared what they could and raised grains such as barley. It was farmed through the family. In 1980, Glenn & Mary had an opportunity to buy the family farm. Glenn was working for the Dodge County Nature Education Center as a naturalist. They both liked the country and the outdoors and were both avid bird watchers. There they raised their daughter Melanie while improving the land with several wildlife plantings. Glenn sadly passed in 2000, but his love for the land will continue as the easement ensures it will always be kept in its natural state.
Mary explains, "Glenn wanted to protect he land. He did not want the area developed. We value the birds and the wildlife. There are over 140 species of birds here. It is a very special place. Whoever buys it will have restrictions. Will continue easement, prairie and plant some more trees. Whoever lives here will have to feed birds. We don’t care about the money."
About 30 acres of the 157 acre property are rented out for cropland. Mary has found a renter that does not work the land and leaves the soil undisturbed. The soil is also fertilized with cattle manure. A crop rotation is followed which is important to her. Winter rye is planted into the corn stubble as a cover crop. She looks out onto the Rock River from her home, and sees the importance of keeping the waterbodies clean from farm run off.
Since Mary & Glenn acquired the farm, they've created 15 acres of prairie, planted windbreaks, planted evergreens, dogwood and cleared invasive shrubs. Birdfeeders stay filled all year. They installed wood duck houses along the river. The health of the farm ecosystem has and will always be a strong priority.
Glenn was the treasurer of DALT. Mary recalls that he had met with the lawyer in Madison to put the paperwork together. She did not remember the process to be difficult.
In 1997, when Peter found out he'd be moving to Whitewater for a job with the University, he started looking for farms for sale. It was a lifetime goal for him to get back to the country where he had grown up. He also had an undergraduate degree in Agronomy and wanted to apply that to the land. He was teaching soils and soil formation, and having a farm just made sense.
As luck would have it, 91 acres came up for sale. Of that, 35 acres were row crop and the rest was hay, natural areas, and a few acres of farmstead.
Growing up in Indiana, the country that he once called home turned into all 5 acre lots - this country Peter fell in love with was parceled out and he saw that as wrong. He saw the easement as an opportunity to keep his farm intact when he was gone so history would not repeat itself.
Peter is convinced the land will retain its value and sell competitively with land not in an easement. He saw the same thing happen in Pennsylvania.
Peter wants to see the land intact and productive while he is here and long after he is gone. Productive means fixing and storing carbon, allowing water to soak into the soil rather than run off, and preserving the microbiome in the soil.
To that end, Peter makes sure to find the right renter for the farm that will work with him to keep the soil in place and healthy. The crop ground has been no till planted since 2007 and the hay ground has always been unbroken. They make sure a sustainable crop rotation is followed of corn, soybean and wheat. This allows time for a cover crop to be planted to further improve the soil.
One thing Peter has noticed is the snow melt - the water is clear leaving his farm. The amount of soil in the ditches has greatly decreased and his waterways don't silt in like they did when the farm was tilled.
Peter's goal is to always see something green on this farm going from early spring and into late fall. He knows this keeps life going both in the soil and above.
Peter was part of the Land Trust as a member but the easement process was new. He wisely sought the council of a lawyer that spoke to the Trust about the process. It was a success. Together, they came up with a process that was applied to future easements.
In his case he donated 25% of the value.
Peter believes someone interested in an easement should donate a portion as land prices have skyrocketed since inception of the program.
Sawyer & Louise Genges bought the 92 acre farm in 1972. They lived in the Chicago area and wanted to raise their family somewhere with more space to roam. They had a son who wanted a horse, and later would have a total of 3 children. They didn't know how to farm and there was a real learning curve where they made mistakes. Eventually they successfully raised beef cattle and grew crops such as corn, soy, and hay. They ran the farm organically as they preferred not to use chemicals. Sawyer has since passed away sadly, but Louise continues to enjoy living on the farm, raising chickens and turkeys.
Louise comments, "I see a lot of land is being used up by roads, highways, and housing." This loss of ag land to development was concerning to the Genges' so they went to an educational meeting about conservation easements in 2006. "It didn't take much convincing," Louise says. "I just wanted to protect the land." Her kids have now moved away out of the area, but it is also important to them that the land remains protected.
The Genges' made sure to find a like-minded renter that is also an organic farmer. The farm had been that way since 1992. The renter runs an organic dairy follows a crop rotation of corn and hay. This year the entire farm is in hay with the soil firmly held in place. Hay is always at least 2/3rds of the farm. Chicken manure is used as fertilizer.
Louise emphasizes that "We want to see our legacy be that we were good stewards of the land. We'd love to see cattle on it gain grazing like we used to do as we know that is good for the animals and the land. "
She continues, "With all the loss of farmland, keeping our soil healthy and productive is important. We need to be able to grow our own food and I am glad we are keeping the land productive."
"DALT really helped with the process. We had a lawyer draft things up. It was several years ago now, but I don't remember it being a difficult process," Louise recalls.
Contact: Sue Marx, Board President
(262) 582-3020
W5016 Florine Ln,
Fort Atkinson, WI 53538
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