Farm Beginnings

In Baraboo, Wisconsin, a short walk outside of Devil’s Lake State Park, lives Little Society Farm, a farm started in 2017 by Brad Wissmueller and Eleanor Johnson. Inspired by the ending of Voltaire’s Candide--which concludes with a small group of people realizing life is better with 20 acres and cooperation among everyone--Brad and Eleanor bought 20 acres and began work on making their dreams of being full-time farmers come true.

Neither Brad or Eleanor grew up around farming or studied it in college. It was an interest they picked up later in life. Brad’s former workplace had...

I drive out to a remote part of the City of Beloit, Wisconsin one breezy summer evening to talk to Ben and Meghan Snare. I walk into their house—a renovated farm house—and begin setting up my gear while they get their children ready for bed. We sit down at their kitchen table, the warm glow of a cloudy sunset pouring into their home.

Despite growing up around farms, they didn’t have much experience in farming; in fact both went on to take full-time jobs in the tech industry located in the suburbs of...

AJ Weis’ farm story begins at an early age. He grew up on his family’s farm, a conventional row crop farm in Burlington, WI, before attending University of Wisconsin-Madison...