Melissa Todd of Wool & Feather Farm in Colfax attends to her sheep in the pasture in a scene from the upcoming PBS Wisconsin broadcast special Around the Farm Table Celebrates Small Farms. (Photos courtesy PBS Wisconsin)

The latest special from Around the Farm Table is even more Chippewa Valley-flavored than most episodes of the long-running PBS Wisconsin favorite.

In front of the camera, as usual, is Inga Witscher, who operates St. Isadore’s Dairy near Osseo, where she makes cheese and milks Jerseys when she’s not hosting a TV show.

Behind the camera, where he’s been for about five years, is producer and director Colin Crowley, a UW-Eau Claire alum.

And soon to be showcased on the statewide special are more than half a dozen small Badger State farms that are succeeding in the 21st century with traditional agricultural practices – including several from the Chippewa Valley.

If you’re a regular at farmer’s markets or vendor fairs in the Valley, you may recognize some of the show’s subjects, including Kaiserson Bee Co. of Eau Claire, Wheatfield Hill Organics of Durand, and Wool & Feather Farm of Colfax.

Drew Kaiser of Kaiserson Bee Co. in Eau Claire inspects a frame from one of his beehives.

Crowley, who became the series’s managing producer in 2019, said the program is trying to combat the conventional wisdom that farmers have no choice but to “get big or get out” if they want to succeed in agriculture. “All of these farmers are having a certain level of success, a different kind of success that’s not necessarily measured in money … but it’s measured in community relationships,” Crowley said in an interview. “What we want people to take away is the value that these small farms and food producers add to our community.”

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All of these farmers are having a certain level of success, a different kind of success that’s not necessarily measured in money.

COLIN CROWLEY
AROUND THE FARM TABLE PRODUCER & DIRECTOR

And the vibrancy of that community is clear from the one-hour special, Around the Farm Table Celebrates Small Farms, which premieres at 7pm on Thursday, Dec. 7, on PBS Wisconsin. The program follows these Wisconsin farmers throughout the seasons, from frigid wintertime preparations for the maple syrup harvest to sweltering summertime beekeeping and melon-harvesting.

“It’s an absolute joy to be out here with family, relatives, neighbors, and friends,” Helen Kees of Wheatfield Hill Organics says during the program, referring to the harvest. “That feeds me: it feeds my soul.”

Helen Kees of Wheatfield Hill Organics in Durand talks with some young friends at a market she hosted on her farm.

Outsiders may think of farming as a boring activity, so Crowley and the rest of the crew have tried to make their filmmaking as dynamic as possible to show the beauty and drama to be found on the farm. For instance, they used a special probe macro lens that allowed them to literally film inside Eau Claire beekeeper Drew Kaiser’s hives.

“We’re trying to match (farmers’) level of commitment and passion with our level of photography and production,” said Crowley, though receiving a degree in French from UWEC says he spent a great deal of time in Hibbard Hall’s darkroom developing his love of photography.

In a promotional interview with PBS Wisconsin, Witscher said she hopes viewers come away with a deeper appreciation of Wisconsin’s diverse agricultural community. “I hope people will be inspired to visit a makers market, to visit a farmers market, and really get to know the people who are growing their food,” she said.

Around the Farm Table Celebrates Small Farms will premiere at 7pm Thursday, Dec. 7, on PBS Wisconsin (locally, that’s on the airwaves at WHWC-TV). The show will be available to stream online as well as on the free PBS App shortly after its broadcast debut.