By BRIAN LEAHY
of The Gazette
Two divergent paths have emerged for farmers in recent years. They can either increase the size of their operations to become agricultural producers for a global economy, or they can focus on meeting the farm-products need of their neighbors.
TAZ Family Farm and Friends has taken the second route. TAZ Family Farm and a dozen other providers have been offering "green" products for sale on Saturdays and Sundays of the Christmas season in a converted storage facility on the north side of Highway 66, just east of Rosholt and Highway A.
"Our vision is to be a place where the presence of nature, family and work ethic is obvious and we will build from that theme," said Trish Zdroik, who along with her husband, Tom, and three children, A.J., Alex and Abe, make their home at the family farm.
Merchandise available includes natural meats, fruits and vegetables; home-spun woolen garments; handmade quilts, candles and soaps; jams, honey, syrup, beads, candies and bovine growth hormone-free cheesecakes; hand-painted birdhouses and toy boxes; and Christmas trees, wreaths and decorations. An open house was held Saturday, Dec. 1, complete with a visit from Santa and horse-drawn wagon rides.
"Our rewards have been beyond measure as our family has fallen into the notion of developing old-fashioned relationships with our community," said Trish Zdroik. "We've been blessed with the opportunity to really know our customers and other local green-intentioned, small-scale family farmers. Our family was handed a chance to 'get back to the basics' when simultaneously challenged with serious health affliction and the reality of the destructive U.S. agricultural economy."
The agricultural economy has fewer farms producing higher yields, but often with greater chemical inputs and reduced financial returns.
In 1950 Wisconsin had 174,000 farms, according to the Wisconsin Agricultural Statistics Service (WASS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The average size of a Wisconsin farm 50 years ago was 136 acres and 23.6 million acres of the state was farmland.
By 1990 the number of Wisconsin farms had dropped to 80,000, with an average size of 220 acres per farm, according to WASS. Farmland covered 17.6 million acres of the state.
The number of farms is continuing to decline. There were 77,000 Wisconsin farms in 2000, according to WASS. Less of the state is now in farmland - only 16.2 million acres - and the average Wisconsin farm is now 210 acres.
Changes to the farm economy have sent more people looking for additional work off the family farm. Zdroik's income from a job off the farm supported the third-generation farm until their third child, Abe, was born.
"We were living 'on the go' with fast food and seldom found time to express family values," Zdroik said. "We were buying things we thought we needed, gaining educational and career credentials we thought we wanted and farming the way the seed and chemical companies told us we would make more money. And then our third child came, and our lives were changed forever."
Abe, who just turned 3, suffered from serious health problems - heart, lung and gastrointestinal diseases. He has recovered, but it was a "long road," Zdroik said.
"We believe the most important thing we learned from our experience was the value for affordable access to an environment and nutrition source not massacred by chemicals," Zdroik said. "We knew we needed to convert the farm into one where the efficiencies of chemicals, hormones and medicines would not be needed, and that we would be able to use traditional distribution channels to get our nutritional value to our community. The higher value gets lost in the system."
Organically-grown foods can be more expensive than foods grown under the current predominant agricultural pattern, but TAZ Family Farm and Friends keeps the costs to the consumer down by eliminating the middlemen and selling directly to the consumer.
"If we are going to do it on a small scale we really do need the direct market to remain economically feasible," Zdroik said. "By remaining community-focused we make it affordable for all classes … Good food is truly nutritious. It's worth the time to cook it ourselves, to harvest it and to use it as whole food."
Including rented land, the Zdroiks farm 500 acres. Nothing they grow is genetically engineered and the berries, soybeans, flaxseed and a few other "U-pick" crops on the farm receive no chemical spray treatments. The farm animals receive no hormones and growth supplements, with their feed coming mainly from pastures and homegrown grains. The animals are healthier, and their meat tastier, as a result, Zdroik said.
TAZ Family Farm and Friends have also gained energy through its relationships with customers and other family farmers.
"In the process of establishing friendship networks and the display of committed work ethic, we've been graced with improved family health and captured a farm atmosphere full of energy," Zdroik said. "We've discovered we don't need or desire 'cute and fancy' and that chemical disposal is a process. We came close (to be a big success) this year, but gained necessary wisdom - as we now understand that we have much to learn. We know that some of the ground remains un-traveled for many years - if only our grandfathers were still alive!"