Author: Lee Bartnik

Last Monday evening, Fanni and I were notified of our exposure to a suspected coronavirus carrier. After some serious deliberation, we made the decision to self-quarantine ourselves to the best of our abilities, until...

It was Wednesday morning and I had the farm to myself. The day was gloomy, and my task was to cut the old barbed wire fences out of thorny brush. Shitty was the job,...

I bounced and slid up RSO’s slip’n’slide driveway Tuesday morning, thankfully making it up past the turnabout without getting stuck or flinging too much mud. I approached Logan, who was there hanging with the...

Pops walked into our home shop, Bartnik Trucking Incorporated (BTI), and eyed our 2006 E-150 conversion van with some degree of skepticism and amusement – his general regard for our intrepid, and somewhat decrepit,...

‘Tis the season. Now less than a week away from our first greenhouse plantings, half of me is powerless over my enthusiasm for our return to the sunshine and fields; the other half looks...

Saturday afternoon found me in the hoophouse. I assessed the situation, and my ambitions for the rest of the day. The end goal was to get a whole variety of beets planted in the...

I was on the phone with Oren, having just agreed to take on coordination of foodservice for a Conference that he, Polly, Danny and others are planning. The Conference’s name is CoopCon; the subject...

Last Saturday, I was awoken early by my alarm, alerting me it was time to get up and prepped for another long market day. The alarm was followed closely by a thought; the first...

I pulled into the Appleton milk plant at noon on Tuesday — tractor/tanker loaded with condensed skim, ready to be unloaded and crafted into low-fat mozzarella cheese. It had been a long couple of...

I texted Polly as Red and I left town Tuesday morning, later than I’d wanted. Be there in 15. We arrived around 8:00, however, to an empty parking area, and two puppy-eyed puppies. “Jeez, where...