Washington County Weekend Post e-edition
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/153558
Gone Gardening Wellsprings: Food. Education. Community Written By: Karol Habersetzer The founder of Wellspring, Mary Ann Ihm. A n excerpt from her book by Mary Ann Ihm, The Wellspring Story, The First Thirty Years. Prologue 1972-1982 Nestled in a peaceful valley in Wisconsin Kettle Moraine country, Wellspring is home to a small garden community, to a rich variety of wildlife and to visiting guests who come for a day, a week-end or sometimes longer. Wellspring is an organic farm, a retreat and conference center, a bed and breakfast and an international hostel. The Wellspring story starts with Mary Ann Ihm, its founder, and unfolds over the course of thirty years. A simple dream of a community rooted in peace and wholeness. But as all good stories go, they grow, they change, they get embellished and eventually they become communal property. This story is already growing. Here is Mary Ann's version: "I was having a recurring dream between 1971 and 1972 about refurbishing an old house. It reminded me of St. Francis' admonition to rebuild Portiuncula, a small crumbling church near Assisi, Italy a symbol for rebuilding the people of God. So I interpreted my dream as being called to build a peace community." Gardening 1990-2012 "In 1990 I realized I needed help with the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). I put out the word that I was looking for an intern. After many interviews I still had no one. She then realized she needed to raise the bar. Besides the skill sets I was looking for in a candidate, I desired someone who could share my spiritual journey with me. Then I remembered Joslyn who was in my monthly spiritual growth class at Transformations in Milwaukee. I knew she had walked the Appalachian Trail and was an outdoor person. So I would seek her out during a lunch break on a Sunday in April, 1990. Now Joslyn was manifest- 14 • Washington County Post Retail •8 - 18 - 13 ing, too. She had just quit her job two days before and was asking the universe for an opportunity to work outdoors, for someone to seek her out and for the job to be available when she returned from a two-week visit to her home in Ohio. When I approached Joslyn over lunch, she was speechless. It was exactly what she was looking for. After class we both drove out to the farm. Gardening had been such a joy this season. Joslyn could perform not only in the garden, but in the kitchen and in people's hearts. Because of this year's success, we are expanding the Wellspring team to two more interns for the 1991 season. During the summer of 1990 we continued to form the Mandela garden (a raised garden bed using a keyhole pattern). That garden became Wellsprings main garden for many years to come. Seventeen of the twenty garden members having Wellspring deliver fresh garden produce to their neighborhoods each week. We deliver to Bayside, Grafton, Shorewood and Bay View on Tuesdays and to New Berlin and Milwaukee's near west side on Fridays. Joslyn and Mary Ann pick the produce in the early morning dew, sort it, and pack it for delivery. Locals pick up their produce at the farm. With the building of the greenhouse we plan to experiment with raising salad greens and fresh herbs for our winter garden members. Folks are already signing up for the unique offer and soon the hope to experiment growing fruits and vegetables as time went on". Wellspring seasonal Newsletter, Summer 1992. "There is a direct link between what we eat, our health, and the process of growing and producing food. More and more people are seeing the results of improved nutrition in their lives. Commercials stress fiber content, that part removed in the processing of whole foods. Responsible consumers need to know where their food is coming from and how it is grown Some of the 3 1/2 acres of vegetable gardens. and prepared. They need to see the link between their desired good health and the health of the soil wherein their food is grown. When a healthy environment is found, they do well to buy their food directly from such a grower, especially if it's a local source. Consumers can make a great impact on world health by their wise choice of food buying". "Wellspring Gardens are supported primarily by the households that buy over forty shares of fresh produce per week. That support makes possible the planting and maintaining of the gardens and the growing, harvesting, and marketing of fresh, organic produce throughout the growing season. Two gardeners are partially sustained by the garden memberships, and all the cost of food production is covered. To meet costs while keeping consumer prices down, Wellspring will need scholarship funds to subsidize garden intern training in the future." Interns "We have been training interns since 1990. They are in residence at Wellspring for the duration of the growing season. Their internship training covers many topics such as": Soil Fertility-soil testing, composting, making potting soil, vermiculture Bed/Field Preparationtillage, incorporating organic matter, hand work, cover-cropping Plants-crop diversity, crop planning, succession planting, crop rotation, yields Greenhouse Managementdirect seeding, transplanting, watering, hardening off, labeling Plant Care-irrigation, compost and plant tea application, support structures, pruning Weed/Pest Managementweed identification, hand tool and mechanical cultivation, mulching, insect and disease monitoring, pest control Harvest/Post Managementjudging readiness for harvest, harvesting, washing and packing for market and CSA shares, dry and cool storage, collecting and processing seed Poultry-starting chicks, type and quantity of feed, movable coops, egg collecting Equipment Use- hand tool use and maintenance, tractor and power equipment safety, basic operation, routine maintenance, tractor attachments Farm Design/managementwhole farm planning, land use, financing, markets, seasonal planning and planting strategies, recordkeeping, organic certification, computer literacy, water drainage and management, construction and woodworking Marketing-direct to CSA and farmers' markets, restaurants, customer service, newsletter Community Living and Life Skills-nutrition meal preparation, food preservation, living in community, communication, conflict resolution Conservation Practicesbuffer zones, woodlot management, permaculture,