Viroqua Food Co+op Blog

In 2014, the P6 Microlending Committee decided to fund two projects from local producers. We are pleased to announce that Wisco Pop! of Viroqua, Wisconsin is the second of two 2014 VFC P6 Microlending recipients. The VFC Microlending Committee is happy to fulfill their request of $1,500 to help get their craft brewed soda into bottles.

Cate and Mat Eddy of Ridgeland Harvest (RH) grow certified organic produce on their farm, located 12 miles south of Viroqua. They started farming in 2000 with a half acre of vegetables and full time jobs. Fourteen years later, they are full time farmers raising 25 acres of certified organic produce along with two busy boys. But what hasn’t changed over the years, is their commitment to providing a diverse selection of healthy and affordable vegetables.

Cedar Grove Cheese, located in Plain, Wisconsin, is a dedicated 135 year old family-owned creamery. They specialize in producing a variety of traditional Wisconsin (farmers, mozzarella, cheddar, jack, Butterkäse, etc.) and specialty artisan cheeses. Current owner and operator Bob Wills married into the Cedar Grove family at 35 and had no prior experience cheesemaking. Today, Wills is an award winning certified Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker for cheddar and Butterkäse.

Lonesome Stone Milling of Lone Rock, WI (located along the Wisconsin River between Viroqua and Madison) is doing their darndest to fill the void that many locavores find when it comes to eating a local diet: grains.

The beginning of Uplands Cheese dates back to 1994 just north of Dodgeville, Wisconsin. Farming neighbors for many years, Mike and Carol Gingrich and Dan and Jeanne Patenaude found a beautiful ridge top farm nearby and they decided to purchase it together. The two families merged their small dairy herds and began rotationally grazing the cows on the farm’s 20 verdant pastures. They also sought to produce milk in a different way. Rather than milking their cows year round, they wanted their dairy to be seasonal – they only milked the cows from May-October. This type of schedule allowed the cows, and farmers, a little time to rest during the winter.

Four Elements Organic Herbals is located on Jane Hawley Stevens and David Steven’s 130-acre farm, set in the pristine Baraboo Bluffs of Wisconsin. The farm is surrounded by 9,000 acres protected by the Nature Conservancy—an international, environmental conservation NPO. Certified organic since 1990, she grows diverse species from which plants are carefully selected to produce herbal products from the fields, prairies and woodlands of the farm.

Holland’s Family Cheese strives to make the most delicious farmstead raw aged Gouda you’ve ever tasted in Thorp, Wisconsin. The story of this award winning farmstead cheese company began when Marieke and Rolf Penterman, both of who grew up on small dairies in Holland, moved from the Netherlands to Wisconsin in 2002 with dreams of starting their own dairy farm. They were attracted to Wisconsin due to our vast dairy farming background, friendly people, and cheap farmland (when compared to Holland).

VFC has a long standing partnership with Kickapoo Honey. We began purchasing and selling their honey in 2001 and they are now our primary honey supplier. As spring brings warmer weather and plenty of flowers, we thought it was a natural choice to share the story of who is behind sweet and local Kickapoo Honey.