By Leah Penzkover
On my way to school from my apartment in Madison I pass many farms, but one in particular makes my day (if I’m traveling when the sun is out.) Busy Barns just west of Fort Atkinson on U.S. Highway 12 is a cute farm that hosts many seasonal events and school field trips during the fall.
The farm itself is visually appealing and looks like a place where you want to take your kids for some family fun. The bright red barns are well kept and everything is organized and kept to be in very nice condition. The farm goes out of its way to make hay bales characters like a Green Bay Packer during the football season, a cat and stacked pumpkins during fall, and an Easter bunny in the spring. During the spring, summer, and fall highway travelers can view the growing of food right near the road. After viewing corn for miles and miles Busy Barns becomes almost inspiring for travelers.
This farm is also important to me because it makes the arduous work of farming seem like fun and it then becomes accessible to the average urban dweller. Through the work I have done on this project I have been bitten by the gardening/ farming bug. I have spoken with small scale farmers and large scale gardeners and they have inspired me to grow a garden in my mom’s back yard and my own balcony. When I pass by Busy Barns I think about my future garden and plan what I will grow and how I will manage it. It is a wonderful break from school, work and other stresses.
Spiritually, I believe that every living thing in the universe is connected. Farms like Busy Barns that invite paying customers to play on their farm inspire a feeling of connectedness to the rural community for city folk like me. Being surrounded by plants, friends, family, and strangers can make a person feel connected to life outside of their daily routine. We all get into a pattern where we see the same people every week and we talk about the same things and we do the same actions, farming and gardening for me is and will be an entirely different experience that will force me to go outside and care for plants. It will force me to think about another being before myself. It will cause me to think different thoughts, do different actions, communicate with different people (for advice and directions), it will help me grow as a person and understand a little bit of what it takes to grow your own food.
Emotionally, the farm makes me feel happy and excited for the future. If I have children, I would like to take them to a farm like Busy Barns. Happiness overwhelms me when I think about the little kids running around and having fun on the farm. It’s a bright spot in my day when I get to see the cute barns, trellises, and hay bale characters. It also makes me feel safe in the rural country where I don’t know anyone. It’s the kind of place I hope I will be when something goes wrong with my car. I believe the feeling of safety comes from the way that the farm faces the road and that it is very open. I’m sure part of it also comes from the fact that little kids play on this farm and so a 20-something will be just fine if they need to talk to the owners.
Intellectually, Busy Barns makes me proud to live in Wisconsin. Making a farm profitable in more than one way is something that family farms have to do occasionally to stay “in the black” these days. Wisconsin industry is not booming and investors and companies are not rushing to Wisconsin to employ our citizens. Farming is a traditional way to get a lot of the food your family will need and also a way to make an income. If I am fortunate enough to get a job after I graduate in May, I plan to save some money in order to buy or rent land so that I may grow food for myself and family as part of a way spiritual connect to the earth and the life around me, humble me, feed me, and to remember where I’m from and that I should be proud to be a small part of the agricultural history of Wisconsin. Busy Barns is a constant reminder of those goals.
The farm itself is visually appealing and looks like a place where you want to take your kids for some family fun. The bright red barns are well kept and everything is organized and kept to be in very nice condition. The farm goes out of its way to make hay bales characters like a Green Bay Packer during the football season, a cat and stacked pumpkins during fall, and an Easter bunny in the spring. During the spring, summer, and fall highway travelers can view the growing of food right near the road. After viewing corn for miles and miles Busy Barns becomes almost inspiring for travelers.
This farm is also important to me because it makes the arduous work of farming seem like fun and it then becomes accessible to the average urban dweller. Through the work I have done on this project I have been bitten by the gardening/ farming bug. I have spoken with small scale farmers and large scale gardeners and they have inspired me to grow a garden in my mom’s back yard and my own balcony. When I pass by Busy Barns I think about my future garden and plan what I will grow and how I will manage it. It is a wonderful break from school, work and other stresses.
Spiritually, I believe that every living thing in the universe is connected. Farms like Busy Barns that invite paying customers to play on their farm inspire a feeling of connectedness to the rural community for city folk like me. Being surrounded by plants, friends, family, and strangers can make a person feel connected to life outside of their daily routine. We all get into a pattern where we see the same people every week and we talk about the same things and we do the same actions, farming and gardening for me is and will be an entirely different experience that will force me to go outside and care for plants. It will force me to think about another being before myself. It will cause me to think different thoughts, do different actions, communicate with different people (for advice and directions), it will help me grow as a person and understand a little bit of what it takes to grow your own food.
Emotionally, the farm makes me feel happy and excited for the future. If I have children, I would like to take them to a farm like Busy Barns. Happiness overwhelms me when I think about the little kids running around and having fun on the farm. It’s a bright spot in my day when I get to see the cute barns, trellises, and hay bale characters. It also makes me feel safe in the rural country where I don’t know anyone. It’s the kind of place I hope I will be when something goes wrong with my car. I believe the feeling of safety comes from the way that the farm faces the road and that it is very open. I’m sure part of it also comes from the fact that little kids play on this farm and so a 20-something will be just fine if they need to talk to the owners.
Intellectually, Busy Barns makes me proud to live in Wisconsin. Making a farm profitable in more than one way is something that family farms have to do occasionally to stay “in the black” these days. Wisconsin industry is not booming and investors and companies are not rushing to Wisconsin to employ our citizens. Farming is a traditional way to get a lot of the food your family will need and also a way to make an income. If I am fortunate enough to get a job after I graduate in May, I plan to save some money in order to buy or rent land so that I may grow food for myself and family as part of a way spiritual connect to the earth and the life around me, humble me, feed me, and to remember where I’m from and that I should be proud to be a small part of the agricultural history of Wisconsin. Busy Barns is a constant reminder of those goals.