Vogelmanns' Rural Campbellsport Organic Farm Business Growing Fast
By Joann Schrauth
Special to The Reporter
CAMPBELLSPORT — While most gardeners are peering at the ground, watching for those first tiny shoots, the Vogelmanns have been harvesting table-ready spinach the past few weeks.
Steve and Kath Vogelmann and their sons, Kyle and Darryl, own HighCross Farm at W2292 Rustic Road, south of Campbells- port.
They are living a lifelong dream of running an organic garden and farm.
The Vogelmanns sell their homegrown vegetables at the Campbellsport Farmers Market 8 to 11 a.m. Saturdays throughout the summer months (beginning June 16), and by private contract to subscribers to their CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program.
"We eat the same things we sell," Steve said.
Direct from the grower to you
The organic market is one of the fastest growing in agriculture, said Mike Rankin, University of Wisconsin-Extension crops and soils agent for Fond du Lac County.
“There clearly is a market out there,” he said. “Not only are you able to buy organic products, you know who grew them, their practices and values.”
He said community organizations such as the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) allow consumers to have more control over the food they serve and eat.
The Vogelmanns began growing vegetables for their family and sold the excess at local farmers markets.
“Families sought us out,” Steve said.
So they added the produce that customers requested. The CSA contract program followed.
Food by the box
Customers throughout a six-county area, from Fond du Lac to Milwaukee, contract for weekly delivery of one of three sizes of fresh produce boxes. Customers pay upfront for 20 weeks of produce.
The small size box is for a one- or two-person household.
“The ultra deluxe (largest size box) is for those who crave the total vegetable extravaganza,” Kath said.
The boxes contain less produce early in the season, but overflow in fall when winter squash and root vegetables are at their peak.
Steve said it’s a challenge to have lettuce throughout the summer, but they continue to experiment with varieties to extend the season for their customers. They have also added a variety of berry plants. The deluxe boxes receive the first raspberries of the season.
“There were raspberries in at least nine of the 20 boxes in the 2006 season,” he said.
Produce is harvested early in the day when it’s at its peak, and the boxes are filled for customers or Farmers Markets. Perishables such as berries are added and the boxes are topped off with freshly bundled delicate herbs to be delivered to customers.
Organic
Steve and Kath said customers range in age from young families with small children to retired people, with most concerned about the quality of their food.
“They want to eat food that has not been sprayed with pesticides or fertilized with chemicals but food that has been raised organically,” Steve said.
Kath added, “And they want to try new things. Some want that five-(vegetables)per-day or the antioxidants.”
As the variety of their offerings has grown, the Vogelmanns added a newsletter to the weekly boxes and created a Web site with recipes and tips on preparing items.
Following the CSA philosophy, the Vogelmanns have expanded their customer offerings to include potluck get-togethers on the farm for “food and fellowship,” as Steve put it. They have sponsored Pick a Fresh Tomato Day, and a fall Take Down the Garden Day, that includes hay rides to and from the fields and hot apple cider.
Steve said for many city people, it’s an opportunity to get back to the farm life that their ancestors experienced — a way to adopt a farm and take ownership of the food they eat.
In His hands
The Vogelmanns also have the MacEwen Flock (named for Kath’s Scottish ancestors) their purebred Scottish Highland sheep, and goats, beef and chickens. They sell wool for spinning and direct market meat from their animals. Milk from the goats feeds their young, as well as providing milk for the Vogelmanns’ table.
Their organically grown vegetables are composted and mulched, requiring little or no washing from field to market.
“Who likes spinach with grit on it?” Steve asked.
While some preach about carbon footprints and global warming, the Vogelmanns bring the philosophy home by offering food produced close to the consumer instead of shipped across the country.
The Vogelmanns work the fields, add compost and organic fertilizer from their animals, mulch, and plant seeds and plants. Steve said sunshine and rain are added, and “God does the rest.”