It was a drop-dead gorgeous Wednesday in mid-October during an otherwise pedestrian workweek when we piled the dogs in the car and pointed the Buick to points north and west; destination known but not yet imagined.
A little more than two hours later we were driving at a leisurely pace along the hilly farm roads of the Wisconsin Driftless Region. This is the land west of Madison that sprawls southerly into northwest Illinois (Galena Territory) and past the Mississippi River into northeast Iowa.
It’s called the driftless due to never being covered by ice during the last ice age. That means the land rises and falls without glacial deposits known as drift. Instead, the landscape is characterized by steep hills, forested ridges, deeply carved river valleys, limestone bluffs, small spring-fed waterfalls and cold-water streams teeming with the craftiest of trout.
It’s a region where cell towers don’t penetrate valleys. Birds of prey float on thermals spiraling up from black-dirt fields dotted with cows, goats and sheep. And once a year a pilgrimage is made by folks who want to see what happens when agriculture and art mash-up.
The colorfully-named Wormfarm Institute celebrates “tabula verde” every October to “acknowledge how for thousands of years farmers in cultures around the world have interwoven dance, music and art through rituals of planting and harvest in celebration of the land, soil and those who care for it.” So writes Donna Neuwirth, Executive Director of the institute. What does this mean in practical terms? Pilgrims take a 50-mile slow roll through a tiny part of the Driftless to see original works of art created on farmland set aside for just this week by local farmers.
Come hell or high water, no matter the weather, the route is marked, artwork is selected and installed by winning entrants, and the Farm/Art D’Tour is underway through verdant Sauk County farmland.
Since digital wayfaring is sketchy an old-fashioned paper map is the surest way to see the sights, including 15 different art installations. Visitors come for the art but get more than they bargained for since there are roadside markers that educate about the land, sky, water, geology and more. Included is a cheesemaker shop where the crew smiles broadly and mugs for photos as travelers see firsthand how cow juice is transformed into lots of deliciousness at Cedar Grove Cheese; try the 10-year aged cheddar.
Other stops are an old church camp, pottery shop, farm stands, one-room school & museum, farmstead bakery, and this being Wisconsin, an eclectic, good-times tavern (don’t ya know).
What made this year’s tour so special for SW Lake County folks is three of our own – Shari Gullo, Cathy McCauley and Pamela Self – were chosen to display their artwork titled “Preserve,” inspired by Aldo Leopold, considered by many to be the father of wildlife ecology and modern conservation.
As we reported in the November issue of SW Lake, with assistance from their families the trio of artists created an installation of reclaimed wood and chicken wire that included 1000 glass jars holding images and specimens of Sauk Co. species. A few jars were empty, an homage to creatures and plants no longer around. The artwork sat high above the road on a lonely plot of farmland providing a view down a long valley. The sound of the breeze whistling through the wire provided an eerie soundtrack to contemplate what’s occurred and might yet happen to this part of the midwest impacted by a changing earth.
Learn more by visiting WormFarmInstitute.org.
"Inspiring responses to the land by artists from across the country."