Wisconsin in August

The perfect hostess talked me out of visiting Wisconsin in June, instead recommending August, a nice time to leave the heat of Northern Virginia. Little did I know that it was also the peak week to go for cherry picking, and of course the weather was delightful. My destination was Sister Bay, a small village that is filled with tourists in the summer and located on a narrow peninsula that extends into the waters of Green Bay and Lake Michigan. At its narrowest point it's not even four miles wide so one can walk to the beach either way with fresh water that extends as far as the eye can see. 

The summer gardens there are gorgeous; hollyhocks don't get rust, you can grow lettuce in the summer, and there is even an indigenous primrose (primula). My explorations included wild areas, art galleries with sculpture gardens, and cherry orchards, (which are everywhere).  I met artists, goats, honeybees and sailors, blues singers, hard cider makers, and wayside farm owners. All in just four days. 

My favorite artist was Pamela Murphy, not only is she a painter but she grows 90% of her own food with everything from goats for milk and cheese, chickens, geese, and all sorts of fruits and vegetables. 

Pamela Murphy with Karla (the perfect hostess)

Pamela's art studio is in an old dairy barn where she hangs her canvases to coat with gesso which is liberally added layer by layer to create texture. Silver and gold leaf are a large part of her process and they are also added, often in a random fashion. 

I met my first goats here, one was an escape artist and loved chewing on my clothes.

Steven Woodward was another artist that creates very large installation pieces. His studios are in rental units, where he can store pieces that were larger than the height of any standard house ceiling. Made of wood, metal, and fabric, they were incredible. This is a museum piece that utilizes braided rugs, unbraided and recreated.

Karla's maiden name is Grasse so we visited her cousin who has a vineyard and is bottling wine. They also have goats and Karla keeps her honeybees there so I was able to suit up and learn a bit about how to take care of them.

There was a sunset sail on Lake Michigan from Sister Bay, and we had to help with the riggings, or the sails, or whatever he was talking about (the jargon was lost on me).

I was also treated to a native plant walk at The Ridges Sanctuary with is a bay that has been washed over by the waters of Lake Michigan where they are dumped in ridges that can be narrow or very large. The plant diversity was incredible with wetlands and dry ridges. There are pockets of boreal forest, mostly black spruce. A mistletoe species parasitizes the younger trees which causes them to develop witches brooms, which are clusters of branches growing from a tight junction. The small red growths are the mistletoe.

a black spruce with multiple witches brooms

Jens Jensen, the famous landscape architect from Denmark created a school at the tip of the peninsula which is called The Clearing Folk School. Well known for his council rings, there is one there but I also noticed many in surrounding gardens. 

Nearby are the bluffs where the terrain rises very high and the trees grab onto the rocky soil and their roots are exposed. 

As Karla pointed out, imagine this with a light coating of snow?

The cherries were picked on my second day there, $53. worth. The picking was simple, lift your hand and fill it full of dangling cherries which detach from their stem with such ease that you wonder if it's a function of hybridization or just how cherries work? The Ballantine cherries were ripe and Karla's favorite for Cherry Bounce, so they're mine too. I have tried repeatedly to imitate her recipe only to figure out that it's all about the cherry. 

We drove to the nearest Piggly Wiggly to choose our alcohol, I prefer mine with brandy and Karla likes bourbon or whiskey, and we had them in jars by nights end. Her plan is to mail them to me, and you cannot open the jars until Thanksgiving. I know it will be extra special, and I'm already planning my trip back.

Cheers!   

 

Comments

[Scott]

Always nosy, I checked Google maps to see where you went. There are aren't a lot of volcanoes in Wisconsin, so how did that peninsula form? Sure enough, it's part of the Niagara Escarpment. (For a little clue, check out Niagara Escarpment, Brussels, WI.) There's an explanation of the formation in the URL below.

So there, you've been on both sides of the Escarpment. I wonder if it's possible to walk from The Falls to Wisconsin...?

[Karen Rexrode]

Wow, it looks like you may have to boat or swim parts of it, but it's certainly part of the escarpment. As you pointed out when I visited you, in Cambridge you are south of Sister Bay, Wisconsin. You grow tobacco, they grow cherries. I noticed the big, squarish rocks and commented on them. It's beautiful countryside, especially the bluffs which are the high point of Door County.
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escarpement_du_Niagara

[Scott]

It would be worth the walk/swim. There's the Bruce Trail from Niagara to Tobermory and a ferry across to Manitoulin Island (the world's largest freshwater island I've heard.) After that it's a bit dicey.

An interesting thing about cherries; across the lake Traverse City, MI is the largest producer of tart cherries. (Not sure how many tarts that would be.) What is it about the region that favors cherry growing, climate, soil, established infrastructure?

One more point, there's too much in this blog post. Jens Jensen probably deserves his own post... just sayin'. ;-) Going back soon?

[Karen Rexrode]

From what I understand the soil in that part of Wisconsin is limestone beneath (high pH) with acidic conifer debris on top and very little topsoil. Perhaps the reason so many tart (more tarts in Michigan???)cherries grow there. As for The Clearing Folk School and Jens Jensen, we were there late, they had closed, but we snooped around anyway. I do hope to go back and definitely spend more time at his former home. Next year!