My guest for this episode is Kat Becker, who farms with her husband, Tony Schultz, at Stoney Acres Farm. Stoney Acres is located on the edge of the north woods in Wisconsin, at the border between zones 3 and 4. Managing 150 acres, Kat and Tony raise ten acres of vegetables and fruit, rotationally grazed cows, pork, maple syrup, small grains, and mushrooms. And they host on-farm pizza night every Friday night during the warm season, featuring their own farm ingredients – including the wheat – baked in one of their two wood-fired ovens. We talk about the challenges of managing this diversity, how pizza has helped them integrate into their community, family dynamics, and Kat’s transition to focusing on the farm full time.
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Show Links
Inc. Magazine’s Balancing Acts, a series on relationships for entrepreneurs.
Farm Commons is the organization run by Rachel Armstrong the woman who was Kat and Tony’s waitress the night they decided to get married. Farm Commons has tons of resources for the legal situations that farmers encounter as they conduct their business.
Because so many circles are small and intersecting, Kat and I talked about our connection through the Telluride Association and Deep Springs College.
Lisa Kivirist’s In Her Boots project was mentioned, as were the certification organization, MOSA (the Midwest Organic Service Association) and the Wisconsin Farmers Union, all of which are worth checking out.
Kat’s favorite tool on the farm is the Shuffle Hoe – she didn’t name a brand, but I’m a big fan of the Real Stirrup Hoe from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. (Shuffle, scuffle, and stirrup hoes are all the same thing in most regions.)