Link - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel -- May 9, 2010
Asparagus farmer lives the dream she had with late husband
By Karen Herzog of the Journal Sentinel
Cottage Grove - People die, but dreams don't have to.
Allen's Asparagus Acres is proof of that.
Mark Hoffman
Barney Lambert (right) bundles freshly picked asparagus at a rotating table invented by Kathy Allen.
After Dan Allen died unexpectedly last Christmas from an aggressive lung disease, his wife, Kathy, spent the winter agonizing over what to do with their 15-acre field of dreams - an asparagus farm the couple meticulously planned, and finally planted three years ago, to provide for their retirement.
Winter eventually turned to spring. And 90,000 wispy asparagus crowns began sprouting from the ground.
That's when Kathy, 59, saw her future in front of her.
"It was such a fantastic dream," she said. "The closer we got to spring, the more I felt it: This is our dream, and it's still here."
She remembered her mother's advice for her and Dan when they married: " 'You've gotta do what you're good at. And you don't give up, no matter what. You make it happen.' "
The asparagus harvest began a few days ago.
Kathy, a mother of three and grandmother of three, said she still felt Dan beside her on the sunny hillside while a picking contraption resembling a Wright brothers airplane slowly taxied down the field with three pickers aboard, snapping asparagus spears at their tender breaking points.
Cap Runge (left), Matthew Thiefs and Rachel Bronson pick asparagus Wednesday at the asparagus farm. The motorized vehicle gives the pickers an easier way to harvest one of the Midwest's favorite spring treats.
Credit: Mark Hoffman
More photos at link
Link - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel -- May 9, 2010
A farm devoted entirely to asparagus is a rare vision in Wisconsin. The state produced only about 250 acres of asparagus on 225 farms in 2007, the last count of the U.S. Census of Agriculture.
It's a fleeting season; asparagus goes to seed the end of June. And you can't plant another vegetable in its place because asparagus is a perennial that will return every spring for 10 to 15 years, as long as you take care of it.
Family farm
Kathy and Dan took over this farm, which had been in Dan's family for 50 years, after his parents died in 1999. It was a hobby farm with a house, a few cows and pigs, and row crops to feed the animals.
The couple wanted something different for their retirement. They thought about planting grapes.
"But there are lots of wineries in Wisconsin," Kathy said.
"Through our research, the light bulb came on. Asparagus was already here. And we understood it."
It grew wild along the fence lines. Dan's mother loved it, and cultivated her own asparagus patch where the farm store now stands.
Kathy even went into labor with daughter Brenda while picking wild asparagus 31 years ago. Brenda Johnsrud, who works in the farm store, jokes that she was born with an affinity for the tender stalks that taste like sweet peas fresh from the field.
They decided asparagus was the perfect retirement crop because once you plant it, it comes back. It produces for two months and can grow up to 6 inches a day to replenish itself. The harvest from 15 acres averages 600 pounds a day.
Asparagus is a money-maker, bringing $3.50 a pound at the family's farm store, with discounts for volume purchases. The dozen supermarkets in the Madison area that sell it set their own prices.
Kathy and Dan did their homework. They traveled to Michigan - a major asparagus producer - and gathered valuable advice from asparagus growers, including how to market it: "Take 20 pounds of free asparagus to a store, ask them to see how it sells, then sit back and wait for the order."
The right mind-set
Resourcefulness came naturally. Dan was a biochemist, and Kathy has degrees in nursing and architectural drafting.
The family doesn't need to attend farmers markets because they sell every stalk through grocery store accounts and their own farm store, Kathy said.
All three kids play a role, as do the grandkids, whether it's keeping the books or picking dandelion bouquets. They employ 15 full-time and part-time local seasonal employees.
Kathy and Dan together designed and built the contraption that employees use to sort the tall asparagus spears from the short ones. Kathy calls it their "Wheel of Fortune" because it's spun to move asparagus from sorting to banding. Sorters stand at stations around the circle, facing each other, which Kathy likes because it allows them to talk. "It's like a family around the table," she says.
A plastic cutting board forms the base for each work station. PVC tubes on top of the cutting board form the cups that hold asparagus spears of different lengths. Uniform sizes then can be banded together.
Spears with tips starting to sprout are discarded. Kathy's brother-in-law comes every few days during the harvest to pick up the rejects to feed to his pigs.
When they first planted the field, Kathy came up with a back-saving tool to help them drop 90,000 asparagus roots in furrows exactly 10 inches apart while walking backward. It's a PVC tube with sticks at the top and bottom - one for a handle and one to quickly measure the distance between plants.
Today, the asparagus stalks stand tall and straight, saluting the sun. Kathy affectionately refers to them as her babies.
Pickers drop off asparagus to be washed, sorted and bundled.
The farm is not certified organic. But once asparagus pops out of the ground, "we don't touch the field with any chemicals," she said.
Tomato and basil plants hug the field's borders because they give off a scent that repels nasty bugs, Kathy said. The family doesn't sell the tomatoes or basil. What Kathy doesn't use for canning, she donates to a local homeless shelter.
Dan is deeply missed. You can see it in Kathy's eyes.
But the couple's dream survives, inspired by words Kathy's 92-year-old mother gave them to get through tough times, when they married 38 years ago.
There's no time for sorrow in springtime on an asparagus farm. Customers await the season's first prized vegetables.
"We both planned to live to be 100," Kathy says matter-of-factly. "But it didn't work out that way. That's a part of life."
***If you go Allen's Asparagus Acres (allensasparagusacres.com), 2337 Schadel Road near Cottage Grove, is about 2 miles south of I-94 and six miles east of Madison.
The farm store will be open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., seven days a week, until the crop is done around the end of June.
Owner Kathy Allen welcomes families. Picking occurs through the weekend, unless it's stormy. When in doubt, call first: (608) 873-8437.