Yesterday I experienced a simple, compelling subculture an hour or so from La Crosse…Amish country in Vernon County. I’d been through the area before, but only on Highway 14. What I discovered on the back roads is a part of Wisconsin that ranges from a Jed Clampett ambience–narrow roads winding around steep, rocky hills with an abundance of small streams and wooden shacks–to Amish farms, complete with cows, corn and lots of horsepower.
Vernon County is famous for its round barns–many of them built by Alga Shivers, the son of a slave who came to Wisconsin via the underground railroad. According to Randy Leffingwell, author of The American Barn, Shivers typically harvested wood right from the farmers who placed barn orders, leaving it to dry for about a year before bringing in a small crew to build each round structure. You can pick up a booklet from the Chamber of Commerce in Viroqua with a map and directions to barns–more than one dozen still stand. Here are a couple I spotted yesterday:
Viroqua is also home to one of the state’s few winter farmers’ markets. It happens each Saturday morning, from November-April, in the Main Street Station Public Market–an old repurposed car dealership dating to 1912. Amish farmers sell winter vegetables such as kale, fingerling potatoes and romanesco, a spiky, cauliflower-like creation.
When it gets really cold, the veggies are grown in greenhouses.
The rest of the market is great for whiling away a few hours, too…you can hunt for your favorite records, then browse through antique cookbooks, art, jewelry and the like in main market, and finally, check out the cool cats hanging around one of the adjoining galleries.
The thing that impresses me most about Vernon County is the self-sufficient, yet cooperative, spirit. Horse-drawn buggies share the roads with motor vehicles; farmers do their work without the help of technology or chemicals; and customers are able to purchase high quality items that are grown, crafted or created by hand. It’s a good system.
Wisconsin and Beyond 