architecture

November Means Working Together (Pro-Bono)

November 19, 2015

Here it is November and we still have sandhill cranes. If you look closely in this zoomed-to-the-max iPhone shot, you see two of them enhancing the otherwise desolate cornfield. They caught my attention a few mornings ago as they gaggled away in response to another pair far in the distance. This weekend we’re supposed to get several inches of snow so these snowbirds will likely say to heck with this and take off for warmer temps.

Aren’t the migratory habits of birds amazing?

For example, for several months in autumn the sandhills gather in wetlands before heading south. These are called staging areas and here in Wisconsin there are several where thousands of cranes assemble at a time. I like to imagine this is a time of preparation and joining together of forces for the arduous journey ahead.

You probably knew migrating birds fly in the V-Formation, officially known as the echelon formation. They do this for its aerodynamic advantage, obviously. But did you know birds take turns flying the front helm of this V, a very strenuous task? And did you know the mortality rate for birds is six times higher during the migration season? Given this, isn’t it interesting that even though survival favors the selfish—those that promote their own well-being before that of others—the God-given nature of birds is to selflessly share the responsibility?

This author makes a good point when he says, “If migrating birds work together, the flock has a greater chance of having all of its feathered brethren make the long trip to their destination.”

Working together. For the good of all.

With this caring concept in mind and because November is the month of giving, let me announce it’s my season for pro-bono applications. Each year Adunate accepts two pro-bono projects for greatly reduced or no cost. These are projects I strongly support and believe will positively impact God’s creation, his people, or his ministry.

My interests include, but aren’t limited to:

Architecture
Arts
Children
Faith
History
Humanity
Natural Food & Living
Nature & Animals
Preservation & Sustainability

If your organization needs creative assistance in the upcoming year, click here for an application. Then, to guarantee your project’s success, be sure to click here!

Deadline for submissions is December 31, 2015. I will let applicants know of my decision in January.

Fermentation Fest Converges Once Again

November 6, 2015

It’s been a full month, but I’m still sighing with warm reminiscings of our Octoberfest Brewery Tour. The culmination of this glorious trip was Fermentation Fest in Reedsburg, Wis. We couldn’t have had a more flavorful or beautiful encore to our week than this.

In case you’ve missed my incessant promotions—deservedly so—Fermentation Fest is an annual, 10-day blending of agriculture, arts, food and appreciation of the land. Initially one considers this a rather eclectic mix, but once you experience everything the festival has to offer it all melds together in the most appreciative of ways. I find it especially exciting because in designing the event guide, I have the honor of being part of the event’s promotional team.

Disregarding the well-worn travelers, check out this stunning entryway to the Fermentation Fest Headquarters. The building is a historic railway station and it otherwise serves as the Reedsburg Chamber of Commerce.

Yes, these are the details of the entryway. It’s a collage of wine corks, seeds and beans all converging to represent the delightful elements of Fermentation Fest. Imagine the work put into this!

This year our schedule didn’t allow us to participate in any of the food fermenting classes but we instead did the 50-mile Farm/Art DTour. The weather was glorious, the scenery stunning and the art installments were divine. Lucky 13: Elephant in the Room, by Erika Nelson, celebrates the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey’s announcement to discontinue using elephants in circus performances.

There’s something truly heartfelt about art displayed in the middle of such beautiful land. With her Monday is Wash Day, artist Brenda Baker pays kudos to the “historical and undervalued part of rural life.” I live in the country. I hang clothes to dry. So of course, I loved the story-telling thoughtfulness of this piece.

With meandering backroads, rolling hillsides and idyllic farm scenes, Sauk County is a magical place. When we came upon Amish children riding home from their one-room school, my heart simply melted.

Art comes in many forms: Music, architecture and storytelling. This story, Flood, by Molly Rideout, really hits home, given our fragile state of human relations. Must history always repeat itself? Can we ever learn to love one another?

You can’t celebrate agriculture without appreciating its heritage. Farmhenge, created by Harlan Ferstl and the McCluskey Brothers was an arrangement of new and old farm machinery pieces. The artistry of old iron is beautiful, isn’t it?

So there you have it—my favorites of the Farm/Art DTour. You can see more beautiful shots posted by some of the 20,000 festival-goers who made this year’s Fermentation Fest the biggest and best yet. Check them out here!

Our previous Octoberfest stop: Leinenkugel’s Brewing Company

Our Vanishing Wisconsin Barns

July 13, 2015

Not like I’ve ever mentioned it before, but my work gets me out of the office in so many interesting ways. Like this past weekend when my husband and I roamed the countryside in search of the perfect “weathered, red barn” to illustrate an author’s article (more in the upcoming Fermentation Fest event guide).

In the meantime, here are some of the glorious barns we founding gracing our area of rural Wisconsin. This, my cover photo, I shot from a farm near Lake Mills.

First, let’s go back and start with…my barn!

Shot from the hill below, the cornfield is hiding the two eras of our barn’s foundation—the original fieldstone built in the second half of the 19th century and a cinder block addition built in the 1940s. According to a visitor from Old World Wisconsin, the original barn is a Pomeranian German style of architecture.

And yes, those are lightning rod balls. It’s amazing how they’ve survived generations of thunderstorms and young boys’ BB guns.

Old Wisconsin dairy barn

Here is my neighbor’s barn. It’s an example of what was old and new back in the 70s, when farmers added pole barns to their existing barns in order to increase their dairy herds.

As history goes, Wisconsin was “America’s breadbasket” before it was its dairyland. In the 1860s, however, an infestation destroyed the wheat industry and farmers were challenged to take on something new—dairy farming. Taking the barns they previously used for threshing, farmers raised them up and built a foundation underneath to house the cattle. Thus the “barn hill” was born, a landscaped incline had by nearly every historic barn in south central Wisconsin.

Such a pretty roadside view! Note the gambrel roof of this and my neighbor’s barn, compared to the gabled lines of mine. According to state historian Jerry Apps, the gambled roof became popular because it allowed for more hay storage under the eaves. I’ve always favored the gambrel as a traditional dairy barn, but interestingly, in this area we found more gabled roofs like ours.

A few miles down the road from us is the corner community of Farmington and this very unique barn. Imagine the hay that was loaded through these doors back in the day.

Here’s an idyllic dairy scene! Located near Lake Mills, this obviously doesn’t fit my requirements for a weathered photo. From the road, this barn looks like it may have a poured concrete foundation, making it a much newer barn than others in the area.

I think this one is the cutest, little thing ever. Old, yes. Weathered, no. Back in the day, farms had a multitude of small buildings in addition to the main barn. This barn is located near Milford and may have served as a granary or to house small livestock.

We wanted weathered? Well, here it is. This barn, now forgotten and without purpose, embodies the vanishing of our heritage as we once knew it. Maintaining old barns is horrendously expensive so they are left to decay. Paying taxes on them seems counterproductive, so they’re often torn down. My husband and I were amazed at how few farmsteads actually still have barns.

When one recognizes the brilliance of a barn’s architectural form and the stories it has to tell, even the old and weathered maintains an artistic beauty.

Okay, folks, here’s my last photo. No, this barn isn’t red. And no, I can’t use it for my project. But it’s a weathered treasure and it’s on our farm. This is a pre-1850 Fachwerk barn, a German style of timber frame, or half-timber, originating from northern Germany. According to those in the know, there are many barns and homes in this area of southcentral Wisconsin built as Fachwerk but now covered with siding. My husband uses this barn for his woodworking shop, where in my opinion, he crafts with the same heart men did long ago as they hand-hewed these beams.

So, what can we do to preserve our barns? What new purposes can we find for them so they don’t stand empty? Organizations such as the Wisconsin Barn Preservation Program are working to address these issues. And, of course, watch for Fermentation Fest‘s upcoming event guide. There will be many such interesting articles!

Gratitude of Great Proportions

December 2, 2014

Two weeks ago I went with friends to the Christkindlmarket in Milwaukee. It was a super fun time. Just so you know, the market pictured in the link is from Nuremberg, Germany, not Milwaukee—our Milwaukee market was at the former Pabst Brewery, a community of 25 well-worn corporate and manufacturing structures like the one pictured above. Even though our market wasn’t of Nuremberg standards, it was fascinating to see the buildings that make up this historic district.

We’re now past Thanksgiving but I’m still thinking about these buildings. Maybe because over the holiday weekend we started a major renovation ruckus in our house (I always say we so I sound involved, but really I mean my husband—more on that another time). Or maybe because lately this has been the harsh, wintery scene out my office window. Anyway, I’ve been wondering what it was like to work in these cavernous warehouses back in the day.

From 1844, when the brewery was founded by Jacob Best, until 1996, when the Pabst line was contracted out to Stroh Brewing Company in LaCrosse, thousands of hardworking Milwaukeeans spent the majority of their days in buildings similar to these. Wouldn’t you think it must have been super cold in winter? And hot in summer? It must have been dirty, laborious and sometimes unsafe. And yet for over a hundred years the heart of Milwaukee’s culture was this neighborhood of Cream City Bricks, now blackened with production and time.

Pabst Brewing Company is now owned by a Russian beverage distributor and, sadly, is no longer headquartered in Milwaukee. But one of the many gazillion obscure things for which I’m thankful is that the high architectural and historical integrity of these buildings has not been lost. They haven’t been demolished and replaced with characterless, poor construction.

In 2006, Joseph Zilber’s investment group Brewery Project LLC purchased the complex for $13 million and is renovating it for residential, office and retail use. It’s called The Brewery. The old Mill House, aka Building 21, is now the Brewhouse Inn & Suites and Jackson’s Blue Ribbon Pub. Don’t these sound like a fun places to visit?

So, even though I’m totally thankful I get to work from home in a warm, toasty office, I do sort of fantasize moving my office to this building. Isn’t it the most Gothically gorgeous thing ever?

A Recap of Fermentation Fest 2014

October 28, 2014

Six months ago when I traveled to Sauk County to meet Donna Neuwirth and the Fermentation Fest planners, winter was only beginning to leave the land. Everything was stark, barren and brown. Back then we were just planting seeds of ideas for the festival’s promotional materials and the fruition of this project seemed so very far away.

Two weeks ago, I was once again in Sauk County, this time for the big event. As my husband and I drove through the countryside I couldn’t help contemplating this full cycle of seasons. Just as I’d seen my Fermentation Fest project from start to finish, so I was seeing Sauk County’s agricultural season from start to finish. I feel really blessed to be part of these rural rhythms.

This year, my husband and I did the Fermentation Fest Art D’Tour, a 50-mile, self guided extravaganza through the winding backroads of Sauk County. Along the way was this corn maze, complete with meditative phrases to serve as guides. We wound our way through the field to a lookout with an over-the-corn view of the scenic hillside.

I did say meditative, didn’t I?

For many people, a lineup of tractors is beautiful art. There was a great exchange of stories going on at this stop.

“Is that an F-20 over there?” I overheard a woman ask. “I learned to drive on one of those.”

Drift is a large-scale floating sculpture that, according to the artists, “functions both as an autonomous intervention in the landscape and a site for exchange with residents and visitors.”

Standing inside this gently rocking raft and looking to the sky through its pieced seams was quite mesmerizing. I started thinking I’d should lay down and float through the dreamy pond just like Lady of Sharlott (or should I say Anne of Green Gables).

We’d be driving along and suddenly out of nowhere a Roadside Culture Stand would appear. These mobile food stands are works of art in themselves. So are the products they were selling.

A Harvestore silo turned serendipitous stage—is this cool, or what? The Harvestore Bandshell was designed by photographers John Shimon and Julie Lindemann, and staged a variety of Pasture Performances. We missed Shimon’s We Go From Where We Know, but enjoyed hearing this guitar trio instead.

What a beautiful day to stand in a farm field and listen to music!

As the afternoon wound its way down, our last stop was this old, abandoned farmhouse. It’s part of the artwork called Invasive Species, by Isabelle Garbani. Her colorful leaves crocheted from plastic shopping bags are shown creeping along this beautiful house. They’re “slowly choking it with their invasive growth,” according to the artist’s statement, just as our world is being invaded and choked by synthetically produced plastics.

You can’t see it here, but this house has great architectural lines and original character. I was so happy to see a building permit in the window and signs of restoration work inside.

The best way to wrap up an inspiring Art D’Tour is a dinner at the Food/Drink D’Tour. Which we did. What a tasty evening of culinary delights, put on by the finest foodies the region has to offer.

This is something I want to do all over again next year. Sauk County in spring—I’ll be back!

Day #7: Our Final Discovery, Reads Landing

October 27, 2014

Fortuitous discoveries make for fun traveling. This was certainly true for us as we meandered through southwestern Wisconsin and up the Mississippi River on our Octoberfest Beer Tour.

And since it was a brewery tour, of course it’s only appropriate to say we learned a lot about the beer industry (as we partook in some mighty fine sipping).

For example, I know a lot of corporate brand buying and selling occurs in today’s monopolized beer industry. But I didn’t realize this exchange has gone on for generations, even among small breweries. Take Berghoff, an authentic German style beer with a great Midwestern heritage: Since it’s beginnings in 1887, it’s been brewed by the Herman Berghoff Brewing Company, Fort Wayne, Ind., the Falstaff Brewing Company, St. Louis, Mo., the Joseph Huber Brewery (now Minhas), Monroe, Wis., the Walter Brewing Company, Eau Claire, Wis., and now the Berghoff Brewing Company in Chicago.

Imagine the diversity of deals settled throughout history, all in the name of fermented grains!

Another bit of beer history we learned was the extent to which ales were brewed, especially in Wisconsin and other Germanic-influenced states. According to this article, in the late 1800s breweries were as much a part of Wisconsin communities as churches and schools. My own town of Watertown has record of nine different breweries and we’ve all heard stories of the underground tunnels, some of which still exist.

So, as we wrapped up our tour, my husband and I were especially excited to share the fun of new discoveries. For our last stop we hopped across the river and, together with my dear aunt and uncle, checked out Reads Landing Brewing Company in Reads Landing, Minn.

Even though my aunt and uncle live a short jaunt up the road, and even though they’d driven through Reads Landing many times, they never knew this little gem existed. We had a great time and the food and drinks were delicious.

Ratings

Beer
It was a full house when we visited yet owner/brewer Bob Nihart took the time to chat with us about his beer, which he brews three barrels at a time. He didn’t have any Oktoberfest on the menu, but we liked his Cap’n Amber and American House Pale Ale.

Ambiance
Gorgeous! According to Reads Landing’s website, its 1869 building was formerly a dry goods store and has been in the family since the 1930s. They’ve done a fabulous job preserving its character and structural soundness. The restaurant overlooks the Mississippi River and the large storefront windows offer a beautiful view. The décor was fun and fitting.

Food
The food was good, hearty bar fare.

Community
I’m extending the Reads Landing community to include the surrounding river towns, since the whole area is truly beautiful. Although Reads Landing is unincorporated and I can’t even find a population, its neighboring towns are much larger. We spent several hours in Red Wing, which is just 30 minutes away and we attended church at Salem Lutheran, Woodbury, another 30 minutes beyond that.

Copy and Design
I’ve previously mentioned how much I like Read Landing’s logo. After visiting, I love it even more. Everything about it fits the business’s brand perfectly. It’s website is also well done, with lots of good information on the restaurant, beer and the area.

Well, that’s it folks—our 2014 Octoberfest Beer Tour (said with a melancholy sigh). It’s been so much fun, we’re thinking we could make it an annual event. Maybe we will!

Day #6: Trempealeau Food, Fountain City Brew and Good Company

October 22, 2014

I don’t know if you’ve noticed but cartoon Glen and Di are getting more robust with each post I write. That’s what happens when you spend a week feasting on Wisconsin’s savory fare and specialty brew.

No calories there whatsoever.

As we navigate our way up the Great River Road, each Mississippi town has been as quaint as the next and we’ve met some super nice people. Trempealeau and Fountain City are especially distinct.

Trempealeau

Hands down, our best meal has been dinner at the historic Trempealeau Hotel and Restaurant, overlooking the river and this beautiful sunset. Besides serving Spaten, my husband’s favorite Oktoberfest beer (which we won’t discuss because it’s a German import), the restaurant has an obvious appreciation of its vintage atmosphere and local farmers. My husband had the walleye with a heavenly kale-bacon-whatever sauté. I had a shrimp skewer drenched in butter and lightly crusted with a blend of herbs.

Getting hungry? I am, just reminiscing.

To work this off, the next day we hiked through Perrot State Park, another beautiful area with killer-bluffs overlooking the river. Actually, hiking the bluffs isn’t that hard, but be mindful that this week real Glen and Di are not a tight stretch from cartoon Glen and Di. At the top of one bluff, we met a lovely family with young boys whose infectious enthusiasm for nature reminded us of how blessed we all really are.

Fountain City

Further up the Mississippi we lunched at the Monarch Public House, a food and drink destination since 1894. We had fish because it was Friday and in Wisconsin you have fish on Fridays, even if the Monarch calls it fish ‘n chips, which it does because it’s Irish. It’s just what we do (along with run-on sentences).

Our server explained their heritage style of baking the fish at 600+ degrees instead of deep frying. It was delicious!

Isn’t this bar stunning? Our server said it’s original to the building. The pressed tin ceiling is also original and easily 16-feet high, if not more. The Monarch’s website shares an interesting history of the building—be sure to scroll all the way down.

In addition to being the longest running tavern in Wisconsin, the Monarch has also resurrected Fountain City Brewing Company. Long part of the community’s heritage, this brewery originated in 1862. When it closed in 1965 and the building later demolished, it seemed the local flavor would be lost forever.

That is, until 1997.

By then John Harrington owned the Monarch tavern and was guiding it through a loving restoration. One day a nearly 90-year-old, retired assistant brewmaster named Wilbert Schmitt came forward with the original recipes he had saved all these years. Harrington and Schmitty, as he’s known, collaborated and reintroduced Fountain City’s beloved brew.

Fascinating story, eh? The Monarch tells it in greater detail here. Again, be sure to scroll completely down the page.

Next year, according to our server, the Monarch will break ground for a brewery building right next to the tavern. Bucket list: Go back to Fountain City in two years and check it out!

While wandering Main Street, we met John Campbell of Gasoline Alley. One compliment on his car parked outside and he proudly brought us inside to see his latest work.

I like his business logo!

John shared fun stories of Fountain City. He also pointed out how the buildings on the town’s main streets are all veered to match the angle of the river. None of them were built square to the street. Intriguing!

Ratings

Beer
Fountain City doesn’t brew an Oktoberfest but we enjoyed their signature styles nonetheless. My husband had an Irish Valley Spring Bock and I went all historical with the original recipe Fountain Brew. Both were great!

Ambiance
Need I say more? I loved this building and its meticulous restoration.

Food
My husband had fish ‘n chips. I had a Caesar salad. We shared and were extremely happy travelers!

Community
An endearing little river town, where life seems slow and peaceful. With this list of things to do, we could have stayed longer than the one afternoon we did. Next time!

Copy & Design
The Monarch has a great story to tell and does so very well on it’s website. It’s Facebook page shares the same enthusiasm and friendliness our server did. I’m looking forward to the promotions it puts out when they build the brewery.

Our next, and final, stop: Reads Landing Brewing Company, Reads Landing, Minnesota

Day #5: A Heart-Swooning Logo on Pearl St. (on St. Andrew St.)

October 22, 2014

One of the fascinating things about our Octoberfest Beer Tour has been the diversity of breweries. We’ve sampled beer from a boutique 100-barrels-a-year brewed in the Corner Pub’s basement, to the cranked 320,000-barrels-a-year at Minhas‘ updated, multi-structured complex.

We found our visit to Pearl Street Brewery on Saint Andrew Street, La Crosse, to be somewhere in the middle of those extremes. More importantly, it sports a logo I just love.

If you’re like us, you might find Pearl Street outwardly intimidating when you first manage to find it—a GPS comes in handy for this. Apparently, the brewery originated in a downtown Pearl Street location, thus the name, and later expanded to a space in this old warehouse.

(Hey, says my husband, this used to be La Crosse Footwear and they make my boots.)

Step inside and you’ll feel much more relaxed. It’s a big, open, no-nonsense, welcoming brewing space. There’s a taproom bar amongst the fermenting vats, along with tables and a funky stage for live music.

We stopped by after brewing hours on a quiet Wednesday afternoon, so we missed the Saturday tour. But, hey, we can entertain ourselves. We had fun sipping and browsing on our own.

Pearl Street Brewery is my kind of business—homegrown, hardworking and obviously a fun sense of humor. It’s recently expanded its distribution to Minnesota and, interestingly, it has its own Printasaurus Lex, as she’s referred to, designing and producing Pearl Street’s packaging from an in-house print shop.

(Did you know packaging is the most expensive detail of making and selling beer? We learned this on our Minhas tour.)

Pearl Street Brewery makes some mighty fine beer! My husband had the Rubber Mills Pils, which brought him smile of pleasure. I had a Pearl Street Pale Ale—smooth, full, and easy on the hops, just the way I like it.

Don’t you just love Pearl Street’s logo?

Ratings

Beer
Pearl Street’s version of Oktoberfest is its Lederhosen Lager Fest Bier, a malty and easy-to-drink seasonal. This would have been my first choice, but since it’s already October and most autumn seasonals come out in September, it was no longer on the menu.

So one stein for no Octoberfest. But five steins for the styles we sampled!

Ambiance
Fun place. I liked the unpretentious atmosphere and that Pearl Street is repurposing an old building.

Taproom
A taproom, or tasting room, typically distinguishes itself from a bar by only serving its own beer. Pearl Street is kind of hard to find, but it’s taproom worth getting to.

Community
La Crosse boasts the vibrancy and diversity that comes with being a multi-college town. It makes full use of the Mississippi River for its geographical interest. Think paddle boats, barges, locks and river walks. We took a 3-hour lunch cruise on this La Crosse Queen. Super fun!

Copy and Design
So, I’m forced to automatically deduct one stein because Pearl Street uses that cheesy “are you at least 21 years old?” entry into its website. It was fun, say, 15 years ago, but nowadays it’s outdated and a pain on the smart phone.

That aside, I LOVE everything else about Pearl Street’s marketing. The organic, hoppy flow of its logo—be still my heart—makes me swoon! Their website copy is fun, energetic and full of delightful stories. I love their labels. Hey, I love everything they’re putting out (except the website entry).

Next stop: Fountain City Brewing Company, Fountain City

Fermentation Fest Converges Once Again

Our Vanishing Wisconsin Barns

Gratitude of Great Proportions

A Recap of Fermentation Fest 2014

Day #7: Our Final Discovery, Reads Landing

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Day #5: A Heart-Swooning Logo on Pearl St. (on St. Andrew St.)

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