UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #1446
MORTIMORE, LAURA 

MORTIMORE, Laura 
Owner of Orange Cat Community Farm (Lyndon Station, WI).  It is a FairShare CSA Coalition endorsed farm.  By the time the interview was conducted, there is a total of 53 farms endorsed by FairShare.

Website: http://www.orangecatcommunityfarm.com/Site/Welcome.html 

Interviewed: February 9, 2015
Interviewers: Dadit Hidayat and Erika Jones
Length: 1 hour and 39 minutes

Partnership: This oral history interview is conducted as part of the Public Humanities Fellowship partnership between the FairShare CSA Coalition and the Center for the Humanities, University of Wisconsin-Madison.  The Fellowship is part of Engaging the Humanities, a multiyear project generously supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation that creates opportunities for UW-Madison graduate students and faculty to broaden the impact of their research through workshops, seminars, programs, and visiting scholars, in addition to the fellowships.

Description: Background; Community Supported Agriculture, CSA, sustainable agriculture; 
Farming at “home” and alone; Growing, Wisconsin landscape, and native plants; Connecting through communications and stories; Outdoor community.

00:00:00	Start of Interview

DH:	Today is the 9th of February, 2015. And this is the start of an interview with Laura Mortimore, at her home in Reedsburg in the State of Wisconsin. My name is Dadit Hidayat and I will be the interviewer, I am a public humanities fellow with FairShare CSA Coalition and the Center for the Humanities, University of Wisconsin-Madison. With me also, Erika Jones, a staff member from FairShare CSA Coalition. This interview is being done in connection with the documentation of the life story of Community Supported Agriculture farmers in Wisconsin. We will mainly be talking about CSA farmers recollection of their CSA practices in Wisconsin. Now can you please introduce yourself with this, those points [as presented on a piece of paper]?	
LM:	Yeah, um, Hello, My name is Laura Mortimore, I was born in 1981. I am the owner of Orange Cat Community Farm, in Reedsburg, Wisconsin. My role in the farm is that I, I'm the sole owner and manager at the farm. There is other labor here, but I am the only one managing all of the activities that happen here at the farm. The start year of farming of Orange Cat Community Farm, began marketing produce in 2010. I never know how to answer that question because I had 5 years of experience of working on other farms, so my personal farming career sort of started in 2004. But, Orange Cat Community Farm started in 2010, we just, 2014 is season number 5. It seems like a good milestone. The approximate farm size is, the actual farm itself is 20 acres, the whole property. But, about 15 acres of that is tillable. When I started the farm in 2010 I farmed about 1 acre of vegetables. And then over the last 5 years, well actually probably 2011, I increased the acreage to about 2 acres. Year 1 was kind of trial year, year 2 that went okay, so I doubled production in order to make any money doing it. And since then, in the following 3 years after that production has increased a little bit. I started with, well production has increased a little bit but nothing drastic, no, you know real scale changes in the size of the operation. I currently grow about 2.3 acres of vegetables. Should I describe progression of, like, my number of CSA shares or just a little overview? 	
DH	Overview and then we will talk about that later.	
LM	Okay. So.	
DH	But you can mention that.	
LM	Okay. Yeah, so now I am farming 2.3 acres of vegetables but I have another, I have another 2.5 acres that is in cover crop that I'm rotating out of vegetables. And then the rest of that 15 acres of tillable, I'm still using as hay for mulch on the vegetable farm. So, anyway it's a small vegetable farm. And, um, I'm growing primarily just vegetables, um, I am not diversified in the animal realm. I keep a couple of pigs for personal use, and that's about it, that's about all I can do to focus just on growing all of the vegetables. Let's see, I mostly market everything through CSA, although I do a small amount of farmers' markets in Baraboo and a very, a small amount of extra sales of storage crops throughout the winter that aren't really fitting into a CSA model, it's just kind of extra produce sales - winter market but not really, I just take orders. But I don't have, I don't have any restaurant accounts or many other wholesale accounts. The number of shares, 2015, I plan on packing 110 CSA shares every week. About half of those are standard shares and half of those are every other week shares. So, I will probably have about 170 families that are signed up in total. 	

00:05:32

DH	Where did you grow up, Laura?	
LM	I grew up in Reedsburg, Wisconsin. Downtown Reedsburg, Wisconsin. 	
DH	You were here!	
LM	So, I am back home which is a good thing. I'm happy to be farming, being back home, my parents still live in town. I think that's part of the big reason I do manage everything by myself. I - but really for my - for me personally I can't imagine having started the farm without that familial support. It would have been impossible. 	
DH	So, can you elaborate more on that, what familial support means? Are they farmers?	
LM	Um, well both, both my parents thoroughly enjoy the farm, and what I'm doing. They think it's great. They like this sort of activity, they have always avid gardeners. My dad is actually once removed from being a farmer. My dad grew up on a farm in Illinois, and um, he, there wasn't room for him to stay at the farm. He said he would have liked to stay, and have been a farmer in Illinois, but there wasn't room for him at the time because he was the oldest. So instead, he went off to medical school and did that, and raised me in Reedsburg. But I think it's just, sort of, but you know his family back on, it's in my veins to love growing plants and doing this sort of thing. So anyway, so both my parents are really interested in being out here and helping -- but you know, support, well, familial support and just community support -- because coming back into the community, just any time I needed, I mean just starting the farm you need just a big trailer to go pick up lumber from the hardware store and I don't have a truck, or, like if I didn't have like an existing community where my dad would will just, “well you know … so-and-so, I'll just call Kurt and he has a really big trailer and we'll just go get those 20 foot 4 by 4's for your hoop house, don't worry about it.” You know, just things that would have been, unnecessarily challenging in a place where you didn't have some other support. Of course, they help with the labor which is always good. But, yeah I don't know. 	
DH	Those connections. The roots.	
LM	Yeah, and I feel kind of lucky because my folks were received, really respected in the community here and have, you know, and me growing up here, you know, everyone knew me. So if I did need a favor for something, you know, everyone was there to offer help in whatever form I needed. Labor or equipment, yeah, the very first year I was here my dentist is really into like growing vegetables, and I didn't have a rototiller, so I borrowed all of his equipment to like plant my garlic in the fall. It just, just, I don't know. What I would have done if I wasn't somewhere where I had some of that in place, that support system? 	
DH	Were you out of Wisconsin before, when you also said to be back in Wisconsin? Or maybe I misunderstood. 	
LM	No. Briefly. I spent most of my life here, I grew up in Reedsburg. I studied horticulture at UW-Madison and then when I was done with that, I decided that I wanted to put some of that, my degree to, you know, real world use a little bit. So I got an internship on an organic vegetable farm in Minnesota, which, you know, that's comparable to Wisconsin as far as being somewhere else. And then after that, I spent a year working on, as an intern again, on a small-scale vegetable farm out near Seattle, Washington. And then, but that was kind of a good experience, it was a good experience. But I knew I missed Wisconsin, and that I would really like to be back in Wisconsin. I missed the people, I missed the community, it's different. I like being in Wisconsin, and the landscape, I am really connected with the landscape here. And then, once I moved back to Wisconsin, I worked a -- I got a position at a larger vegetable farm in the Madison area. So then I lived in the Madison area for 3 years, and then finally made my way back home to Sauk County, which is, yeah, I am happy to be back here.	
EJ	Is that when you were at Vermont Valley Farm, for those 3 years?	
LM	Yeah	
EJ	Nice, cool.	
LM	Yeah I lived in downtown Blue Mounds. 	
EJ	3 years at Vermont Valley? 	
LM	Mhm.	
DH	That was long enough!	
LM	It's uhm, you know, it was a great experience. You know, when I was an intern I was definitely interning at smaller scale farms. One of them was very small and it was, you know, zero mechanization even though there was one rototiller, but lots of hand, everything by hand. And the farm that I worked at in Minnesota, it was a little bit more moderate in size, a little bit more like what I am doing, you know, just a little bit bigger, and still utilizing some equipment but mostly hand, hand work. But then it was, it [was] really, you know, eye opening and, you know, educational and informative to work then at a larger farm, you know, that was growing 30 acres of vegetables, and packing 1000 CSA boxes. I got a lot of opportunity to like learn how to manage worker crews and, you know, I got to manage labor and really had to work efficiently. Packing 11 hundred boxes a week, you have to be efficient about it! So anyway, all of my previous farming experiences I think were really helpful in … in formulating how my own personal farm runs and providing me. 	

00:12:27 

DH	Do you wanna, so you say you have some mechanization, is it important to you to be hands-scale at all or to kind of have that mix?	
LM	That is, it's, um, right now it's sort of, it's what works for me. I, important, I mean it's important, I like to be involved, I like that I am involved, you know, in every level of what's happening and there's … there's something to that. But when I think about, you know, I have already been working on, you know, like farming for like 10 years, and when I think about being ... it's more like physically and physically my body and the body of my workers, you know, it would be nice to be a bit more mechanized. But I have to say that hasn't been a real strength or a place I have a lot of knowledge. So sort of, like, staring my farm, I still feel like I am really at the beginning of things, um, 5 years is not that long, and getting comfortable where I am at now. But yeah, there could be more mechanization in the future. I need more!	
DH	How many workers, sorry, go ahead.	
LM	It would just involve, you know, like changing my systems a little bit, is one thing. When you get all your systems set up, and to ... with the equipment you have, and, you know, so it's more that with just me managing everything … it's just, I know that I kind of would, I can envision my farm being just a little more mechanized maybe a little bit bigger, and you know, a little more evolution in that direction. But it's a challenge when I am the only one managing, managing things to, you know, change the whole system and make that leap, it's a lot of work.	
EJ	Putting whole set of processes in place.	
LM	It's more about, like, figuring out how to make it happen, less than ... but what I am doing right now is working for what I need.	

00:14:48

DH	How many workers do you have?	
LM	This year I have, I am hiring 2 full-time interns, um, who will also live at the farm. Then I have, a 1 part-time hired employee who is working 20 hours a week. And then I will hire about 10 worker shares, which is about the equivalent of another full-time worker. And then my parents are the equivalent of another, they really, they come both of them now that my dad retired, they come out about 20 hours a week. So they, I mean, they are coming out less this year because they want to take more vacations because they are retired. So actually we, I'm hiring, I'm working into my budget and the farm, you know a little bit more income in hired labor to compensate for some of the free labor that I have had over the past 5 years. That's enabled me also to kind of establish myself. So, yeah, about 4 full-time equivalence. Plus me. 	
DH	So, when comparing, you said earlier about making a decision as to everything by hand, if you were to choose which one you want to maximize, which one you prefer?	
LM	You mean ...	
DH	You want more mechanization or you want more workers, so that you can spend more of your work by hand? Will that be part of your philosophy or just practicality.	
LM	No that, that would be part of the consideration absolutely. I personally enjoy managing the labor at the farm, or I enjoy like the day-to-day processes, so I am not thinking, oh gosh, I want to get mechanized because I really, I don't like, I don't like managing all of this labor. That said, it takes up a lot of my time and energy managing all the labor. So I think, the smart side of my brain says how should you move forward with your business, says mechanize a little more, or have a little less, because there is still going to be labor to manage even if I am a little more mechanized. I don't' think I am like just not going to have workers to manage. So, it's a balance, it's a balance I guess to figure out. But that's part of the challenge too, right? Is that … I enjoy the day-to-day operations, but then I spend a lot of my energy and time managing my day-to-day operations which takes away from me sort of managing some of the overall business, you know, larger picture issues at the farm, and then ... so you kind of get stuck in a little ... in a grove there that it's hard to move on to the next, at least for me. These are all my own personal, which has a lot to do with my personality, and not just  ...	

00:18:15

DH	How did you decide like CSA farming was for you and maybe that has to do with your personality too, I don't know?	
LM	Yeah, some of it. I mean the, I mean do you like CSA or just vegetable farming? 	
DH	Farming in general?	
LM	Farming in general. I mean, at an intu ... I mean at purely an intuitive base level, I love plants and growing plants. I don't know, that's just in me somewhere. It's always been there. I can't like ... think about a time when I didn't love growing plants, you know, we always had a garden even though … [where] we lived we had a big garden, big flower garden, and then we always had vegetables. I always, I love the squash and they would vine out into the lawn, they'd just be so big and I would just be like, “Dad don't mow, don't mow, let's see how big they're going to get,” because you know he would want to mow the lawn, and like mow the ends of the squash vines off and. And ... and going out and picking out cherry tomatoes, like it wasn't a chore, like my mom didn't have to say, like, “go pick the tomatoes Laur,” … it's like I would just go out and do it, and you know and pick a bouquet of flowers, and you know, like … since a kid and I think that's what lead me to studying horticulture in school. I sort of thought of some of other things, like landscape architecture, and I was like, meh, that seems really ... I did it my freshman year, I took a couple of classes in that. And it's interesting but it involves a lot of ... it just wasn't hands-on enough, like with the plants. So, I just then ... so when I went to work at a farm the first year I was an intern, you know, it was just so awesome to see. It was so much work, but I don't know, I mean just to see ... like the first time I ever say an onion grow, like a big onion, I just thought it was like the coolest thing ever. You know, there's no, there's no reason that's how I am, I like growing things. And I like the, I like the hard work, I have always been that sort of person. I have always done, even like in High School I marched in a drum and bugle corp, which is harder than farming I have to say, like the endurance and like the stuff, I would say is more physically kind of, like demanding and like, “No, don't put your horn down!” I know it's hot, and like, kind of like, militant sort of like, so when I started farming I like just being out like working hard in the sun, you know, I just kind of like it. I just like that hard work. So it just, it just fits. It's  just all, every step of the way that I have made a choice, or continued making the choice to keep farming. It's just, it's never felt like there is something else I ... something different I should be doing. 	
	And then the CSA just fits right in. I mean the business model just makes so much sense, all the other farms I worked at focused on CSA as a, you know, as a model. And honestly, you know maybe if I were near a larger city I could contemplate, you know just going to a farmers' market to make it. The reality, to sell my produce. But coming here to Reedsburg where the farmers' markets are just too small or even when I go to the farmers' market in Baraboo, you know, the max about what I can move there isn't enough to support me. In that, I wouldn't have enough farmers' markets to go to. So you know, I need another outlet, I need another marketing outlet, to market my produce. And that's if I want to be marketing locally, if I want to drive an hour to Madison, and I guess La Crosse is an hour and a half away, but that, that seems like a challenge. I mean CSA seems like a better idea, right? I, you can find, maybe you don't have a lot of good markets, but you can find 25 people that want to sign up for your farm. I don't think I could have come back to Reedsburg and started the farm that I started, and I don't think I would be now like not having to work off of the farm and having this be my only source of income, if I didn't have that CSA component. I think it was just a really great way to get started, and then maybe once you develop the markets and your skills you could, you know, decide a different avenue is easier or better, but, I think it was pivotal for me being able to even farm vegetables.	
EJ	Where is the organic confidence fit it?	
LM	Oh yeah, you know, every farm I've worked at has been an organic farm. And I just can't, I just couldn't understand why, like, you would want to spray, when you could just … I didn't want, I didn't wanna to spray anything. I wanted to, you know, maintain healthy soil and, you know, honestly, I'd had the training in how to do that, in all these other farms. Well this is how you grow tomatoes without having to, you know, spray, you know, mulching and all those, row cover barriers for insects and I was just … I was trained that way and it just makes sense, and I don't really wanna, you know, I want to take care of the soil that I have here and nurture it, and provide healthy food for my community and … yeah … I think everyone responds well to it too. They are excited that my farm is here and that it's organic. Community's on board with it too. That's important.	
EJ	And then people, wondering what it is or asking questions about it or are people pretty knowledgeable?	
LM	About organic?	
EJ	Organic and CSA. Especially because you may be, I don't know if you can actually explain who are people around you. Are they farmers?	
LM	Well, so I would say. Well CSA I think the marketing concept, or the little … I do have to explain a lot. So my, I market pretty much in Sauk County which does have, it's kind of a nice mix. There's several larger cities, larger not that big, Reedsburg is about 10,000 people, Baraboo is about 20 minutes away and their, I don't know, they may be 15,000 or somewhere in that range. There is quite a large population in the [Wisconsin] Dells, I mean there is a lot of tourists that come through but there's, that's another area that I market to. I do go over to Portage, a little bit too, which is mostly … but mostly it's Reedsburg and Baraboo. And I get people coming down a little bit from the Mauston area, a little bit north of the farm who come pick up at the farm. So there's quite a bit of a population base, but at the same time, it's, there is, there's still a very rural component to Sauk County. So, I think it's just a perfect mix, I really like living here. Because there's enough people that I can market it to, yet, yet, my, it still feels like a rural community. And there's a lot of people with those values in my area. So, a lot of education I had to do still about CSA and what it was, I still get the, you know, what is that. But more and more people know what it is, I still have to do a lot education. 	
	Organically, you know I haven't, I haven't personally felt like people don't understand, some of my neighbors don't, right off the back, don't understand what I am doing. And I can see that some in working like with them, or like trying to get them to you know come cut my hay, or see what I was doing and you know, don't understand why I am just sitting there with like hay bales that are worth so much money, when I'm like, “I need to mulch my tomatoes,” which are also worth a lot of money. You know and like, I'm putting like, because I'm like “it's organic” and I want, and I am like it's really good for it, it's this alfalfa hay, and it's really great for fertilizer too, like it's got all that nitrogen from the alfalfa in there, like this is good stuff and you know, I'm keeping it all on the farm. So, you know, at some level, it's hard some of the other conventional farmers in the area, it's not so much that they don't understand like, they think I'm weird or something. But economically speaking some of the things I do, I don't think understand, but I don't think they understand. 	
	It's also probably vegetable farm, that they, you know, that I am producing such a high value on such a small acreage that it's worth a bale hay. So it's worth it to me to put a bale of hay on the, on the, on the crops. But as far as the people who are coming to maybe actually becoming members in my farm, I think a lot of them are seeking it out because it's organic as well. You know, I came back to the area thinking there's, there are still several farms in the Sauk County area, but not as many in the Madison area, and they were all a lot smaller, so a little less awareness when I came back. And I thought, well “this is great, this is something fresh, organic produce, and CSA, I can really bring this to my community and really share with them, this really good thing.” Maybe I will have a hard time finding like-minded people in the area, I know it's not as you know as hip of a place as some other areas, but man, you know, starting an organic vegetable farm, and they flock to you. And there's a lot of people that are looking for organic produce, and they're, you know, really grateful and thankful that, you know, that I'm doing what I'm doing. And so that really, a pleasant surprise in, in starting the farm.	

00:30:00

EJ	Well and the Fermentation Fest is Reedsburg right? Is kind of the head of that. So has there been some good like synergy between other unconventional people, I guess? 	
LM	Yeah, you know, I just feel like, yeah that, I don't feel the big rift between organic and nonorganic in the community. I'm, I understand that it's there, and I understand that. I think part of it might be, that I just, I don't know I just like everybody. I don't know, I'm so personable, that, I personally try and relate to, you know, other farmers and in the area. I mean like, I understand you're a conventional farmer, I don't, like, come, like, right up. I don't know, I try not to make assumptions about that. I feel like, you know what, there's good farmers and there's, sometimes there's not so good farmers and there's probably not so good organic farmers and not so good conventional farmers, and really good conventional farmers and, you know, that really care about their conservation and their land, and you know, so, so, I try not to make assumptions when I [am] interacting with someone, that they don't care, that they're not a farmer with just as much connection to their land as I have. And so, I hope that kind of bridges a gap sometime I feel that I like representing, you know, my organic community in that way, and help, helping people see, like, oh, like, “oh they're all just people too, and you know, they appreciate, they love what they're doing and love the land and this is how they're, you know, expressing it.” So, that's, and I try and get them to go to the Farmer D-Tour and the Fermentation Fest, and I talk about it. But that's been a positive thing in the community, I think it really has made a lot of good bonds between our art and culture, and agriculture, and it's fun to see that, and have that happening in the community.	

00:32:42

EJ	That's my only other, like, what happens in Reedsburg reference? I don't know much about Reedsburg?	
LM	It's the, you know, butter capitol of the world? At some point. We have a Butter Fest every June, and, yeah, but what else happens. There's lots of cool things that happen here. Um, we have a little brew pub downtown. That's where I go Friday night. Drink a beer.	
EJ	What brew pub is that?	
LM	Narrator: Oh, the corner pub in Reedsburg, Wisconsin. It's always a nice place to go. You know, people, no, I really enjoy living here, there's lots of good stuff.	

00:33:36

DH	So it just happened to be,  everything just falling into one just place here. You, you have your parents, you have your community that's very supportive, even those people who may not necessarily know about organic farming or CSA, they just fit well. What else, you choose, you have a natural connection even when you were a kid, and then you choose to learn about this because you like this, and then eventually just work on it. So there seems like there's nothing, something that you envision from when you were a kid. You have this all coming in to supporting you.	
LM	Yes. That's how it feels too. That's very, you're very good at taking all that information and analyzing. Yeah, and that's how it feels, when people, yeah, and that's how it feels. I sort of feel like it's just, like I'm just sort of following the path that … 	
DH	That, you even made that decision early. I mean like unconsciously made that decision.	
LM	Yeah. Right, or I just sort of, yeah, it really is, it just kept, you know, moving forward and doing what I loved doing. And now, here I am, I run my own farm, and I'm like, “how did I get here, what?” Yeah, it was a lot less, it really wasn't, and this is partly, this has a lot to do with just, you know, with my personality and just my own personal way that I operate. But yeah, there wasn't a real goal or huge vision in my life, like I'm going to be a farmer and then working like towards it to like finally fulfill it in some way. It just kind of … have always been, been there, and I just have tried to stay, keep, keep heading on the path that felt right to me and it still feels that way. It still feels great. 	
	It was actually a very big stretch, if you want to know the truth actually, to start the farm. I think, if, in the reality,  I'm very, very anxious, you know, fearful person. Very much so. And I actually kind of resisted starting my own farm. I always, I liked working on the farm, there was never a question of, of enjoying or not enjoying the work. But it seems like, you know, sort of crazy to try and start a farm myself. Or just scary and, like you never have all knowledge and information that you need when you start an endeavor like this, you can't, you can't, there's no, you can't know everything. But then that's what makes it so, you know, leap, you just have to kind of just leap in and do it and keep learning and just pushing through all of the fear and the things you don't know and, you know, the unknown future. You know, I don't know what's going, I don't know what's going to happen so it's just … I was actually quite anxious the first couple of years that I was, began running my own organic vegetable farm. And, I did it because, even though I was so fearful of doing it and it caused me so much anxiety to make, to take the leap, to do it, like I knew, I'm not that out there like, it was just like the universe was, it's what, the universe laid it all out in front of me, and I'm like okay, okay I'll take the leap and I jumped in and really start my own business. So.	

00:38:01

DH	What was the key driver at the time? This was when you were at Vermont Valley. So can you tell us what happened during that time?	
LM	Yeah, sure.	
DH	Was it your anxiety?	
LM	Well... anxiety.	
DH	Well, you said something about your [being] anxious … 	
LM	Well	
DH	Here.	
LM	I don't know. When you wake up in the middle of the night. Well, so, what really … I knew I had all the skills to, to do this, and the, both the knowledge of the vegetables, and you know, you know, and the farming, at least enough knowledge to begin, like, the journey of having my own farm. Yeah, I don't, I don't know, I was born anxious or something. 	
	But what happened, I was working at the farm and then I just, you know, the, the stock market, you know, crashed or whatever. It was right around then, and you're like, oh, you know, it's kind of a buyer's' market, and I was just, so I just … anyway then it had been 3 years renting a place, and I was just curious to investigate what it would even mean to purchase a farm. But, you know, I wasn't also purely just looking at a farm like to farm myself, but you know, I sort of thought, well I have this good job, I'll look around and, you know, and maybe southern Sauk County, because you know maybe there'll be a place I could, you know, own, maybe with the potential of starting a farm, but I still had this job that I could commute to and, you know, maybe grow into something. 	
	So basically, it started just by being curious about real estate. What does it mean to get a mortgage? What would that, you know... you know, what would a budget be for me if I was just real basic. What if questions, and going out to look at stuff, and I see stuff. And one of my parents good close friends is a realtor, and she's like, “well, why don't you go out with Jeanie and for a day and just go look at some of these things and maybe you will get an idea, just for even what it, you know, even what it feels like to go look at a farm and see.” We looked at all of these places in Southern, kind of Central Sauk County and I'm like, “ah I don't think that, no, no, that's, something just wasn't right.” And then she's like, “oh I have, I have the place Laura.” So the last place she brought me, you know, driving out here. A road I had driven down like a million times as a kid, because it's right off the main county highway. And then she turned up Cherry Lane and I was just like, “I've never come down this road before,” and I'm like, “I didn't know existed.” And she drove down the Lane and pulled in the driveway and just like my first instinct, like, like at a gut level was like, oh “this is perfect.” And … 	
DH	And there is this house already too?	
LM	Yep. This, that, that was just this. And it was, and it is and I'm, the more I'm here the more I realize, how, really perfect this place is for me, and what I'm doing. And I love my soil, it's like, I love it. So, it's just, I love my soil, I love the place, I love my location, I love my community, I love like the physical landscape of the farm, it's really well suited to like what I'm doing with the vegetables. There's plenty of space and flat ground, to put up hoophouses and greenhouses and, you know, packing sheds and grow stuff. So, it was just like, I drove in the driveway and I was like, okay! I, then, anyway. 	
	So I knew I was suppose to come here and start a farm, but I hadn't really, I wasn't coming straight at it like, like I said, “well I'm ready to start a farm now, so I'm gonna, I'm gonna research exactly, you know, what I need.” Like I said, I knew enough, I had been involved enough to, you know, to know, but and actually I, I turned down buying the place because, I just wasn't, I just, I wasn't coming at it from that angle and it seemed a little rash and overwhelming, like I was, I don't know, I'm just sort of window shopping and I, I turned it down and I felt fine about that decision and I sort of felt excited because I felt like, “wow there's places that exist out there would be great and maybe now I'm ready to start like the process of really like maybe I really should.” Like, yeah, you know what I could do this, self-confident, just self-confidence and, you know. 	
	So I made the decision to not purchase the farm, and then, and felt good then about proceeding forward with envisioning, envisioning what I, what I'd, what I would want in an actual farming business. And then like 2 months later my parents bought it, like, without telling me. Like, I got a message on the phone, on the answering machine, ah, “we put an offer in on that farm Laura.” I'm like, so, probably won't but … so this all just happening, I don't know. The universe just made this all like, like happen for me and I just sort of, I'm just like “okay how can I not like go take advantage of what the situation is.” 	
	My parents, I don't know what they were thinking, if they wanted to bring me back home or what, but they wanted to farm, so they were like, buy that farm. So actually they own the farm right now, and I, there's a rental situation but they bought the farm and then, and then I still had to decide again, well am I going to quit my job at, and you know, go move up here and, and you know, see where it's going to go. See, so that's, there was just plenty of time to be like anxious and like worried and like not knowing what I wanted and what to do. But then I just, I didn't want to let those feelings rule my, because it just felt like, honestly I love growing the vegetables, I like stewarding the land in an organic fashion but the actual starting of my business was much more for a personal reason, it was really to kind of get over my, you know, you kind of, the only way to get past those, like all that fear and anxiety in your life is to just like jump into it. So I did, and, and I don't feel so anxious anymore. 	

00:45:34

DH	Yeah, how long was [it] when your parents told you that they bought this farm and then you started [farming]?	
LM	Well I think that all happened, like, I was looking, it was probably February, it was like you know, late winter, early spring when I when I was like looking around at all these places and stuff, and, so I think, yeah, they bought the place probably in late March or something, sometime in the spring of 2009. There was a year in between where I didn't market, anyway … 	
DH	To make the soil healthier.	
LM	Yeah. and just live up here and yeah, I worked off the farm for 1 year but I wasn't. I had a really big garden, there was 1 year in my life where all I had was a gigantic garden. It wasn't a market farm, although I did have 2 CSA members. Yeah the year before Orange Cat actually, you know, really began. 	
	So, yeah my parents purchased the farm in the very early spring of 2009, and then I, then I made that, then I had to, I sort of spent the summer or the spring and summer, you know, deciding to, deciding to quit my job and move up here the following year and so that's what I did. I finished out my work for the season at Vermont Valley in the fall, and then, then I moved up here that winter. No it must have been 2008, because I moved up here 2009, and then I lived here for the 2009, yeah under severe anxiety. It's fine. And then, I worked off the farm for a year and had a very large garden just seeing what the soil was like and how it grew, and I had a neighbor put the rest of the acreage into an alfalfa hay crop, so that I could start, yeah, working towards having it be farmed organically and not being sprayed anything. And yeah and all the crops grew well and then, and then I just making, you know, just kept leaping forward, you know, starting. And then the following year I started the CSA with 25 members and went to the farmers' market. Yeah, it's been good, it's only been positive. I really, I have, I have no regrets, it's only been a positive, you know, influence in my life to have taken on this sort of insane endeavor. Kind of, it is kind of, by myself. I think some of the anxiety and fear was doing it by myself and not having a lot of other, you know, technical support right at hand. I was sure to join FairShare.
	
EJ	Had you been, well you knew about from working at Vermont Valley, and stuff?	
LM	Yeah. Yeah. So I knew there was a supportive, you know, growers community in, you know, southern Wisconsin. So that was, you know, always, was a good support tool for me too to make the decisions to start my own farm. And know there's people I could ask questions to, you know, and that are going through the same, some of the same emotions about, about farming and the lifestyle and it's a challenge, so. 	

00:49:41

DH	So, yeah, CSA you mentioned is a business model. Yeah, everything is, it's just, sometimes you probably feel like it's just unconscious decision it just feels right, everything just there. You don't have to make, other than your anxiety, you don't have to make it quickly, most of it were a pretty smooth experience.	
LM	Yes. I think, I think that that's a good summation. Yeah, part of that I think I gained from working at 3 other farms too. Like I had seen a lot of different ways that people approached both doing their CSA, you know, there's, there were like 3 different ways that I, you know, picked tomatoes and 3 different ways that I, you know, bunched, you know, swiss chard, like everyone. So I had like a lot of different experiences to sort of formulate through, you know, I already had a good data base, you know, of possible ways to go about doing, doing things, and, and a lot of them good ways, so, you know. 	
	When I first started, just the act of creating the business was a lot of work and, you know, the labor and marketing everything and figuring out, you know, my own systems and soils and equipment and tools, like it was nice to have that base knowledge of already, you know, of working for other people, and you know, like I don't have to figure out how to punch things, like I know, there's a lot of stuff I already know and feel comfortable with.	

00:51:41

DH	You also said that there's still a lot of education you still need to do with your community and I know that your, your entry to CSA initially, you also say, that it's just the right business model for me, for you. So then what kind of education do you do, I guess the part of education that would be what is CSA? and then, for you, other than business. What Community Supported Agriculture means for you?	
LM	Um, you know, for me, you know for me, it really is I, I really am just so passionate about, like, the vegetables and growing them and I'm really passionate about my Wisconsin landscape, and it's native plant communities and, I just feel like, the CSA is such a great way for me to share that with other people, you know, that I'm, that I'm direct marketing to people, I suppose, you know. 	
	When I'm at the farmers' market I'm direct marketing and I'm sharing a lot of this enthusiasm and, and joy for the food as well. But you know, through the CSA I get to invite all these people out to my farm every week. I'm taking pictures, and saying, “oh look at this little bug” and I feel like it's a great way for me to share my enthusiasm about these things with other people. And then I feel like, maybe that will, maybe that will make them just start to care just a little bit, you know. I don't know that I can go out there and, or as it's maybe not as in my personality to. I'm not a real, I'm not really, I'm not a real polarized kind of person in my views. But you know, if you just have a little bit of exposure and understanding of where your food is coming from and just, something basic like, like you get peas in the spring and not in the fall, you know, that I can just have that little bit of education with my community members and share my joy and enthusiasm so that they might just have a little bit of interest and a little bit of care might make them make one, even one small decision in their lives or as they look out at their community and see that things are changing or say, “hey maybe, maybe I do like this rural landscape that I live, maybe I do want to make sure that, you know, I like that about my community, maybe when I'm voting for my representatives, maybe, maybe I'll care what they have to say about, you know, the natural landscape and how we're, you know, you know, interacting with, interacting with our county and our land here.” So that's, I like the CSA just because I think that, yeah, it provides me with that direct connection to share, to share with people.	
DH	So when, when people talk about local food movement, they, that may not really be your key framing of this whole activity, it just also naturally fit in? It's actually more about your passion of this natural landscape of Wisconsin. Is that fair to say that?	
LM	I'm not sure if I understand, understood.	
DH	Let me [re]frame it, okay. Yes, you're passionate about natural landscape, you're passionate about what the natural landscape can provide you, and make conversation and have conversation about it. Earlier you also mentioned that, I think that's how I try to understand, how when you are not as polarized as, that you don't really try to make this distinction with farming. And like, I'm sorry, organic farming and non-organic farming, or non conventional or conventional farming. It's just that they love what they do, and just try to respect each other. And maybe local food movement is also, may not be really because, because it is food. Some people care that, that they know it from locally, locally fresh source or locally grown but some other people don't really care about it but that's fine, and for you is that accurate?	
LM	Well. I guess I feel like, I mean as far as the local food movement goes I mean I'm, I'm totally supportive of it and I also want that, I guess that's just one more facet of it, there are so many facets to it all, you know … 	
DH	Is that what resonates with people, is that what you're getting at?	
LM	Yeah.	
DH	Or maybe it's more of the land connection.	
LM	Oh I think the local, you know, local food absolutely. I think that's resonating with people too. You know what I find in this area, well a couple of things, the local food movement resonates with people and I think that and I do, I'm really proud that I'm like part of the community and I'm like a business in the community and I do use that as a, I do like to discuss that with people when I am recruiting CSA members. I say, like, part of what I love about living in a small community is that, I know the people that are doing things for me like, “don't you love it?,” I always say like, “don't you love it when you, like, like you know your mechanic and like you can go in and you like, hey Joe, and like, and you trust them.” And you know, it's kind of like a small, maybe you can find that in larger communities too. But even like, I remember I went to get this picture framed at the frameworks and I went in like hey, and I didn't really know the guy but he knew who I was and my mom goes, and I was like, “well this is for my mom,” and he's like, well, and I'm like, well I want to pick out a mat, and he goes, oh well, “I know just what she'd want, I think you should go with this one, I think your mom likes these kind of things better.” And I'm like, “alright thank you very much.” You know like that, just those relationships with the people you, that your doing business with and that are providing services and things in your community and your food is, you eat 3 meals a day, you go to the grocery, like what place do you shop at like more than any other place in your community, you know, your grocery store. And, hi, I'm part, like look, here, here's another option and I can be another local, what an important part of your … not just the money you’re spending but of your life and your community and yeah. So I, I totally support the local food movement and, and I do try and, yeah, emphasize that to people when I'm educating them about CSA and even how … just not like, you know, I don't often bring in like your foods coming from so far away, that's true. More for me it's like support your community, look what you have here, look at the potential. But part of what I find in, in this sort of area is so many of my CSA members have a lot of elderly people that are CSA members, and I love that, and they call and they say, that you know, “we've only ever eaten fresh vegetables out of our garden, you know, that's what we've, for our lives, but now we're, we can't, we can't do it anymore, and we want to buy a share from you and this is just the best thing ever, thank you for providing me with just like, fresh produce, you know, like good food.” So I think that in this, I think it resonates a lot with people that I also just have even that it's organic, it's awesome, and it's fresh, it's just good, high quality food. Like in Reedsburg you don't wanna bash any grocery stores. But it's a difficult thing. You can't go to the grocery store and buy the produce there is no where near the quality, organic or inorganic in the grocery store as what you can be purchasing from me. So, I think they appreciate that too, just that it's fresh and good and wholesome and it's something that they're familiar with too in this area. Sometimes I think there's the question, like, “if you're in a rural area can you really market all these vegetables, doesn't everyone just have their own garden?” They don't want, you know … some of my most, you know, returning customers and diligent CSA members are people that have their own gardens as well. They say, “oh I have this big garden too and I want your produce” because they understand the value of the … of just eating good, fresh, wholesome food. And you know, they think that the CSA is a great compliment to even what they're doing in their own gardens because they can't. You know, they're not growing, they're not out there planting successions of lettuce heads and carrots and beets, and having like leeks and bok choy. And you know, like, they're growing tomatoes and peppers and, you know, which is reasonable. And then, like, they can come to the CSA and be all, and get all the onions and little bit og everything. So, no I think the local food aspect of it is very important. Yeah. It all just fits in, you know, yeah.	

01:02:11

EJ	I feel like you have a, you mentioned kind of knowing all the members of your CSA, and you feel like you have like a really strong connection with all the members or most of the members?	
LM	You know, it's hard with 100, you know, 100 boxes going out and then having a, you know, 150, or 70 actually, families with those every other week shares. I try. I try. I invite people out, I invite people out to the farm. I feel like there could be more action, and I always, this last couple of years I, I, or last year I had a, a worker do, come help me, 2 of my workers actually help me with the farm events and help in planning them, and organizing them, like I want more people out at the farm because not enough people, not enough people come out. I would like everyone to have more interaction, but I think that the people that do really, I know I was just writing invoices out for orders that people were, and I knew, oh I recognize that person, they pick up in Baraboo. So, yeah there's, there's, there's connection, I get a lot of nice emails throughout the summer which is always nice. Keeps you going, you know, to get that, oh that box was so great Laura, thank you so much for everything you and your workers do. I'm like, okay, wooh.	
EJ	How many pick-up points do you have? So you have the, they don't pick up here, right?	
LM	The farm is 1 site, but I have multiple others. I have, I actually have 2 sites in Reedsburg, 1 of them is a small swimming pool, gym, health club and they, and it's right on my way, and she asked me to be a site from year 1, I went in, I grew up with her, she was my swimming teacher when I was a kid.	
EJ	She's your connection.	
LM	Mhm, mhm. So there's a pick up site at Reedsburg. And then there is one, actually my parents' house in town, which they recently sold and moved but the people that bought the house were, were previous CSA members in a previous town, and their … so they've already signed up for the CSA and they're also going to continue host the pick-up site at my parents old house. So, Reedsburg and then I have a pick-up in Baraboo, those 2 sites probably have the most combined, Reedsburg and Baraboo. And then I have a pick-up site in Lake Delton and one in Wisconsin Dells, and one in Portage and one here at the farm. Yeah, it kind of works, it sort of just works well on the route, the Reedsburg. I mean you can look at a map, but the Reedsburg route I usually have 2 delivery routes so someone runs the boxes into Reedsburg because it's the other way, and then I go to Baraboo, Portage, or Lake Delton, Baraboo, Portage and then just Wisconsin Dells is on the way home. I would only have 1 site there but, but it was a logistically, it was an issue with one of our sites they had to cap their numbers so.	

01:05:52

DH	Building on Erika's last question earlier, do you feel like you have more connection with those who pick up here or some other locations?	
LM	I have, I wouldn't say picking up here necessarily, that I personally, like I, like I personally have more connection with them. Because I often don't see them pick-up, because I'm off and even out, where I'm not standing. Sometimes I don't even hear people pulling in, which I don't, [it doesn’t] surprise me. I'll be out like in the field or maybe I went in and maybe I'm eating some dinner or something because, you gotta do that. Then I go out and I'm like, “oh 5 people were here” and I didn't even like notice. But I think those people just from coming here, I know that they have more. And I do, I do end up interacting with them more, cause there's some point in the season that I catch, you know, catch people coming and going and, you know, or I'm out there doing something and they see me, you know, washing carrots in the afternoon or finishing up something in the packing shed, so yeah they definitely have a good connection picking up here.	
DH	But what is your big strategy? I mean you are very socialized, definitely, I can see that because CSA, the entry, you want to have this, you want to be reconnected with your, where you grew up. But what is your key strategy in making that connection? Through this business.	
LM	Well, I mean, I mean the key, I mean I'm [a] direct market and I do all the newsletter, I guess the … mostly through, newsletters and member communications that way, and the farm events. I do get a nice big turnout for the pumpkin pick in the fall. And I, you know, I put out a newsletter. That's probably the biggest way that I'm connecting, you know, directly with the, with the people. I also put notes in the box. Not like, “oh hi, how are you doing, I hope you enjoy.”	
EJ	“I have these carrots just for you.”	
LM	But, like, you know, but “what is this vegetable,” and, you know, “this is carrots,” or you know, “the beans are, you know, it was really wet this week, so we, so the beans are a little muddy.” But, so, you know, I like to communicate, I like to do as much communication as I can. You know, it's hard to know how much you are connecting unless, until you get feedback back. Although my end of the year surveys, people make a lot of good comments. But yeah, I try, I try in mostly that in everything that I do to really just be myself and honest, and really be myself and I really try and focus on, yeah just sharing, sharing what I love and what I love about it. So that's sort of like my strategy and I'm hoping that that connects people. And I think, I think it does. Because, isn't that what it means, to really connect with people. Like I'm me, you know. Here I am, connect with me please. Yeah because I don't if I do, I don't know that. 	
	If I do anything that is different from what a lot of other CSAs do, if that's what you are asking, I mean I send out newsletters, I email everyone, every week to go, when I do e-mail the newsletters I will also put together all sorts of recipes, you know, some of my favorites and information in the boxes, photos. I like to take, I like to, when I say I share, what I really like taking, like there's a lot of pictures in the newsletters. And I like to, I like going around on the farm and taking the pictures of everything. Not like “here's a couple of snapshots.” I really go around and there's always a lot of really zoomed in macro photos of like the morphology of your little, tiny baby eggplant growing, and like “isn't that really cool you guys,” you know, and then I just like to share that in my newsletter and be like, “this is, this is, look at this, this is an awesome little thing, look what I found.” You know, so, I really try and make it personal. And it's both, it's both because I don't, it's a lot of work running the farm. And I don't want to, it could just be work and if I don't like stop and just be like, oh why do I love doing this and, you know, sometimes those pictures of crazy workers or big piles of vegetables too, and about the actual work that we've done or sometimes it's about just the, you know, the beauty of the plants themselves. So I really like to make sure I put that, that that's what I am putting out there in a lot of my newsletters is as much … 	
DH	Stories of your journey	
LM	Personal, yeah. yep, yep, yep, yeah things of stuff that just happened at the farm. All a bit personal. Angst. So,	

01:11:31

DH	Yeah, I was asking if as a farm, there are many, multiple farms who deliberately decide that “I'm not going to have a pick-up point, they will have to come here, so that they can see what I'm doing here and experience what the farming is.”	
LM	Yeah, that's, that would be nice, I know, I know some people that strive for that as well, but it's difficult to get, it's difficult to get all the members to come out to the farm.	

01:12:07

DH	Did you find that your efforts with your worker shares to try and kind of coordinate the event, did that pan out, was that successful? Did you get more people?	
LM	Yeah, it was. Yeah, well I kind of had the, had the same events that I had before and at first it was short notice for the first event and it is challenging, at the farm events I would like to try and have something that people can do to actually interact with the farm, you know, like I did a little garlic harvest so that we can like, you know, pick a row of garlic and tie it all up, and hang it in the shed and you can like, you know, do something, participate, no one, no one comes out for that. I know, it's kind of sad actually, in the past, this year I'm having it be a pea pick, cause people come out to pick peas, but I like that there's something that can do at the farm to create a connection and, and be out there, but we always do a big farm tour. But the second event we did like a mid-summer we did in the evening, like a Sunday evening, and we did yoga at the farm and we found one of the CSA members was a yoga teacher and she came out and did yoga in the evening on the lawn and we went and had a bonfire and made pesto, we almost did too many things, we will have to pare it down for next year. But yeah, that was one of the better attended events over the last couple of years and a lot of that was my, my a, my worker shares, you know, I'm like alright do it. I'm like, you guys, sure, yes, sure, sounds good, sounds fun.	
EJ	Make it happen.	
LM	And, I also did a silent auction at the pumpkin pick. Usually get a lot of people out for the pumpkin pick, to raise money for the Partner Shares program, well that would be a fun way for people to engage a bit more with the farm too, as opposed to just , you know, another opportunity to engage and be educated that there's the Partner Shares program out there, or you know, or there might be people that, you know, might need help getting this fresh produce so opened up awareness about everything that's happening. Yeah, yeah it would be, it would be nice, yeah I don't know, maybe I should have a requirement that everyone comes out to the farm at least once. I don't know if.	
DH	I'm not pushing the idea. Just trying to illustrate why I ask that.	
LM	Why you ask that question? That there's more connection?	
      
01:14:49

DH	I'd like to move on to another question, if, unless you want to say something. I'm sorry, I interrupted you.	
LM	No, I talk a lot. So, please.	
DH	Which is our intention. 	
LM	Is that why you picked me? 	
DH	Well, I guess, no. It was a great decision.	
LM	Everyone knows I talk a lot. 	
DH	So you said earlier, too, that one of your anxieties was you do this alone, and of course as a woman in farming, you're not one of, you're not alone, there are other women farming alone too. But how do you see yourself in that situation? How do you picture yourself, like oh, I'm doing this alone as a woman? It is more about your social life.	
LM	My, I don't know if, how do I, like how do I self-identify? 	
DH	How do you think of yourself and is that something you think or just whatever I like farming, I don't care who I am? I don't care who I am!	
LM	You know, the, you know it varies it is a little mixed, sometimes I don't think twice about it because I'm so busy, there's nothing, that's not running through my brain most of the summer, that's just, what do we have to get done, this is how, you know, how are we going to get it all done, so.	
DH	But you have time to think in the winter?	
LM	Tell me about it. But then I just avoid it, because I'm an anxious person, so. I tend to avoid dealing with my troubles. I feel, you know, the, the farm out in Washington that I worked for, that was a woman farming, well, she was mostly farming by herself, she sort of had a partner, but I think she was the one who made all of the decisions. I don't think her partner was a decision making partner. The, I don't know how I identify myself, you know, I think about it a lot, I think about the farming by myself part more than the woman part because I have so many colleagues that are women farmers that, so it does not seem, I do not feel like a minority or that I don't have other people to relate to. There's some parts about, I don't know, it's not about being a woman, but there's certain skill sets that I don't have that are, you know, like a lot of the mechanical aspects of things or equipment knowledge, it's nothing I couldn't gain but it's nothing, you know, it's not something I was raised with, you know, I don't know if that was a gender issue. I don't really feel that, necessarily feel that way, because a lot of the women farmers I know are more apt at mechanical things than I am, and I might be more apt at, know you, day-to-day operations than someone else is, I sort of feel like that's, you know, we each have our strengths, I don't identify, I mean I, I do, I really like being a woman, but I don't know, I guess it's. But I think more of things that come up for me are about farming alone rather than farming as a, as a woman. That's the most challenging part, and for me, if you want to know the truth, that's the most challenging part about farming for me right now. And it's not so much, yeah, that for me right now that's the most challenging part about it. Partly because of my personality, because I'm a very external processor, so the horrible, so you know, I think out loud, out loud, I process out loud, that's just how it is. Which is what I've learned running this farm by myself, I have learned so much just about life, like who I am and how I function and what, but then you have to make the, you know, anyway it is a challenge for me to sit at my desk by myself, making all the decisions, not that I can't, there's nothing that ever, a decision that's more than I can handle or anything, it's just the way that I process, I often just wish that there was, you know, other, that, you know, I had a partner. Yeah, and it's less about being a confident too, it's not that I, gosh I wish there was someone else here to make all the decisions, it's just, I, I work a little better, I work well in, in, in, with other people and I feel amplified when I'm with otehr people. So, that's a challenge for me to be farming alone. And it can be really stressful, cause I tend to process things at a more emotional level often, which is fine, I embrace that about myself, but then, you know, then it's nice to have another balance in, in that process in making decisions. Both on a day-to-day basis, I'm pretty good at that, that's pretty easy, for me at least to get in there and see what needs to get done, and do it, but then there's just so much other, there's so much else to think about and just process, and like I said, you know, envision, and … 	
EJ	Is that something you see, where you think you see kind of going, do you see kind of having more year-round work or a partner down, like, someone helping with business and obviously you're growing a little bit each year. How do you sort of see things progressing, are you going to, do you have any goals, or more just seeing?	
LM	Do I have any goals? I do, I think, that that would be, that is, that is a goal of mine, or I, or I would like that, I would enjoy that in my farming if I, I would enjoy having a partner in the business. It's always a challenge to think about how that, how that would pan out, because right, it's, it's, some of these, these questions of what I want in the future and what are the goals of the farm and the progression of the farm are a challenge for me to answer at the level, I mean for what I, for what I got right now, it works for me, like the size of the farm and the income I'm making off the farm, you know, is, is adequate for me personally, I am a frugal person though, so. And I don't know, I don't know if it would be adequate forever in the long term, but it probably wouldn't be, where it is now wouldn't be enough for, like, a family if I were to have a family. So then I would think, well, if that happens in my life the farm will definitely have to evolve, in this, you know, there would have to be evolution, and probably, or I don't know if I were to, I don't know, there are just so many unknowns to the evolution of it. Because I feel pretty good about it, where it's at now, but I think as things change in my, in my personal life that it might push forward, you know, evolutions in size or scale, and you know, productivity on the farm. But, but regardless, regardless I would like to be farming with someone else, I can't, it seems to me that if that, if there were another partner in the business and it wasn't a, like a life partner as well in some way. Like how to support a whole 'nother household, that's the biggest question for me, is like, sure I'd take on another, you know, you know, partner or manager of some sorts, but it's, it's hard to see how someone in a separate household, how, how the farm, right now, couldn't support a second household. So I don't know, what is that. Just crunch the numbers and figure it out. But I would like to have that, I guess, because it's my biggest, it's my, it's a big challenge for me, I think, and I do it, it's not enough of a drawback in my entire life, both to make me stop what I'm doing, you know it's a challenge, I just feel like, like it would be more fun, I would enjoy it even more, you know, it would enhance, it would enhance my life I think even a little bit more if there was, if I shared some of the process, the farm process and vision with other people.	

01:25:43

DH	So of obviously you don't have an off-farm income? Because this is your work and then, do you have anything to do besides farming, maybe during winter you get to spend more on that, what are your other things to do?	
LM	That's the problem, I've started farming and I've become so much more, like, comfortable with my, myself and like, that I've, you know, expanded all, not like even really expanded but been like really, like, gotten into the other things that I do, and then so the farm has been good for me, like personally in that respect, it's really opened me up to just be open to my own life, but then I have all these other interests, but I'm like, oh I'm running a farm, I don't have time to, like, entertain all of my million other interests. What do I do, I'll probably be here except in key little times where, where there's little breaks, I play in the community band, I play the tuba in the community band, and that is, that's very important to me and I love doing that and it's very, it's a nice thing in my life that I can, basically I can work at, become better at, I've always played tuba in high school and college but that, that is, that is very important to me. 	
	And I've gotten into, I love, I know I've mentioned in multiple times, my Wisconsin landscape, and I love living in Sauk County and I feel like emotionally connected to like the landscape here, and the smells, anyway, I do a lot of canoeing in the summer as much as I can, I stopped going to the farmers' market in like June, July and August I have the CSA, but I do not go to the farmers' market because I need to go, you know, on the weekends. Like I canoe, I canoed the whole Baraboo River in one stretch every weekend, you know, still farming kind of constrained, I'm kind constrained trips, so I turn irrigation on in the morning and be home to switch it, you know, but, you know, but I'll take it, you know, cause I still, I get out a lot and go hiking and both, mostly in the area, because living in Sauk, there's so much stuff here, I really like, like knowing and like my, like my landscape in a detailed kind of way. I've gotten a little more into hunting, I've always done a little deer hunting in fall, picked up some squirrel hunting this winter, and that was a lot of fun.	
EJ	You're going to the event at the Aldo Leopold Center, right? 	
LM	Oh, well I‘m … 	
EJ	Is that happening? You're going to be tabling there. They're doing a …  	
LM	I'm providing some, They've bought some vegetables from me for their venison stew or whatever. And I kept meaning to like sign up, but I, I didn't right away and then it got filled out. So, I'm not technically, but I am participating in that online, the MOOC.	
DH	The Massive Open Online Course. 	
LM	Yeah. Do some hunting, which was, which has been on my, of interest to me in the last couple of months and then this last, it should be interesting to do online, it's just in the middle of it. It's week number 3 this week, yeah. Learning about the deer population, so, I do that a lot. So a lot of the outdoor, outdoors, or there's more that I do, you know after 5 years here, I have a nice community here, there's always people out, there's some neighbors that run an artist residency, and through the farmer detour, there's always artists that are around town all summer and people always end up at the farm, it's such a blessing to have you know that's part of the lifestyle I, I really enjoy about what I'm doing is how it brings people in, whether it's CSA, or even if they're not CSA members, but it just kind of draws people from the community and, and you know, through a, I have a really good, really fun 4th of July party last year. That was a blast. A lot of people over, cooking, I really like to cook food, it's hard to do all summer long sometimes, but on Sunday nights, I always try and make lunch for everyone on Monday, both because it's nice to have lunch made, but it's a good, I'm like oh good, I get to, I get to cook all this food! What I'm doing, oh my gosh! You know I raise some pigs, so I get to cook all that. Pork roasts and stuff like that, which is new to me because I never, I would never buy pork chops at the grocery store. I'm like, how do I cook this? So that's always, that's a lot of what I do when I try, when I try and get out, it's mostly natural stuff or community events.	
DH	And it goes on, it's just basically confirms your vision of doing farming CSA too. Everything about outdoor, natural landscape, community, being part of community, so initially I thought did I really need to ask that question, but then I'm glad I did. More to show that this is, this is you.	
LM	Oh yeah. That's me. I don't play any sports, I hate running, I like to go cross-country skiing and snowshoeing.	
EJ	Oh, well that's a sport.	
LM	That, sure. You know I was, we were, just yesterday, or Saturday I went with a friend, we went cross country skiing, and then I said, well let's go to the, I don't mean to sound like a gun enthusiast, but I just gotta, I just went squirrel hunting this year, but I said I wanted to be better at shooting and stuff, so I said, let's go to the range practice, so that I don't feel like I'm bad shot. But we went cross country skiing and then we went to the range, I'm like, Hey, I'm like a Decathlete. 	
EJ	Yeah, an olympic sport.	
LM	I'm on my way. That's going to be my next phase in life. 	
EJ	It's ski, shoot and that's it right.	
LM	I don't know, well is there one other aspect to that. I think it's just the two. I don't really know.	
EJ	It's multiple targets throughout the course, I know that much.	
LM	Yeah but, yeah I am not a competitive person, so the actual athletics is not on my. I do like to do things, and other sort of homesteading things that I do enjoy are all like, canning and putting stuff up, and spin, and yeah knitting and spinning, that's a hobby. It doesn't get as much time as it should, now in my life, cause I do get too busy.	

01:33:34

DH	Oh that's cool. Is there anything you wanted to talk, that we didn't get to ask. Anything we missed that you want to say? 	
LM	What has it been an hour and a half already? 	
DH	Yeah.	
LM	Oh gosh.	
EJ	That your farm is named after you cat.	
LM	Can we get little Anne on the video? She likes to curl up on my shoulder a little bit.	
EJ	Oh my brother's cat likes to do that too. 	
LM	Hey, little Anne. This is the, this is the, you didn't ask me why is my farm Orange Cat Community Farm? And what a goofy name. What a silly name. Okay now I'm looking crazy. 	
EJ	Because there's an orange cat on the farm.	
LM	There's an orange cat, and my cat was, she was born at the farm, the first farm I worked at so we always had a good bond, but at the first farm, well she always just really enjoyed the being, this is probably not you know foods gap certified, cats running around a vegetable farm. She always enjoyed you know being out there and all the other cats, and you know when I first moved back here I was thinking about, I mean at first I was thinking, maybe I'll name it Orange Cat Community Farm because I loved my cat so much, pretty much. But once I moved here and there was that year that I was here where I hadn't started farming yet, she, she just, it was, it's so fun to, it's just so nice to see her love being in a place, like running up and down the rows of potatoes, and she would, I would get up in the morning, I worked off the farm second shift, so I would get up in the morning and I'd like work in my garden for like 4 hours, but I would often start the morning but just getting up and walking down the, the garden was really long, so I would walk down the length of the garden, and little Anne would just come right along with me and I, I'd be stopping and looking and see what the vegetables were doing, and she'd just kind of doing her thing right along with me, and then you know, just really, and then at the end she would stop, and I would go back in the house, and eat breakfast or something and she would just stay out there at the end of the garden and because there was a gopher hole. So she'd be like, okay, see you later! She'd be like, I'm just going to sit here for a while. But, I really, you know, when I thought more about naming it Orange Cat Community Farm, it was like, you know, I wanted, you know, I wanted everyone to have that place where you, you know, you just felt like you were a part of it. And she was just running around, she was definitely part of it. And it sort of felt like some, some, some form of like, just like the joy I personally get from, from growing all the vegetables and it kind of, it's kind of a joyful, you know, expression, to name it something like that. I just think that's true to, true to myself too, and what I want, and what I hope people would take away from, from being a member.	
EJ	She's cute. She's really good. She's a good farm cat. How old is she now?	
LM	Almost 11, 10 and a half. I know, so old. 	
EJ	First farm you worked with? 	
LM	She'd, she crawled up. She also had anxiety issues, I think that's why we bonded. She would, she was with all the other kittens and she's like I'm so scared. I don't know what to do. And she ran up and she started licking, licking my nose. But it was like, I think, she'll still do it but now it's more, but I think when she was a kitten it was an anxious thing, she'd be like [licking noises] like okay! Anyway, that's probably TMI.	
EJ	No.	
LM	Yeah, I don't know if there's anything else. What else? I think we talked about a little bit of everything. 	
EJ	We can always come back and do a follow-up. 	
DH	Alright well, I have a script again. This is the end of the interview, Monday, February 9th, 2015, interview with Laura Mortimore. Thank you so much. Thank you.	

End of oral history #xxx.