Food Web Farms Tour: Walk, Talk & Connect

Hosted by the Wisconsin Farmers Union South Central Chapter in partnership with:

Soil Sisters, the Women, Food & Agriculture Network & Renewing the Countryside 

Join Michelle Harrigan on a tour of Food Web Farms, a diversified family-run farm just west of Monroe on a beautiful piece of land surrounded with amazing views in every direction, Food Web Farms raises farm fresh, cage free, and free range eggs of various sizes and colors.  The farm also raises chickens, turkeys, ducks, and sheep along with a crop of home-schooled kids. 

Michelle will show and share her journey from conventional dairy farm upbringing to sustainable & conservation farming practices, as well as how she sees her land and story as part of the food web and the ways that plants and animals care for each other.

No RSVP needed.  Free and open to the public.   

Please bring a chair.  Dips and drinks will be served!

About  Michelle Harrigan

Michelle Harrigan, along with her husband Dan and her two children, started Food Web Farms in 2014. A small family farm committed to finding how we can best care for the land and provide fresh, homegrown, and well cared for meat and produce for our friends and neighbors. 

Michelle serves as a Stewardship Ambassador with the Women, Food & Agriculture Network/WFAN, a partnership project with Renewing the Countryside and Soil Sisters to empower other landowners to take conservation action and amplifying women landowners as powerful agents of change. With a passion to share what she has learned, Michelle serves as the assistant librarian for the Blanchardville and Argyle libraries. She is a strong advocate for building rural mental health resources and autism awareness and serves on the Wisconsin Farmers Union South Central Chapter Board.

Schedule of Event:

5:00-5:15 Arrival/Welcome

5:15-5:45 pm Tour of Farm by Michelle

5:45-6:15 Dips & Drinks & Socializing 

6:15-6:45 pm WFU South Central Chapter Meeting -- all welcome!

6:45-7pm Wrap Up

Questions?

Michelle Harrigan, foodwebfarms@gmail.com, 608-239-1822 (text)

More on Michelle’s Story:

Growing up on a small dairy farm, Michelle Harrigan’s approach to her own land in Wisconsin has changed over time.

“I had traditional practices in mind regarding the land when we first moved here. We started with, ‘How can we best make use of this small space?’, typically meaning how can we get the most out of it. The more we researched, the more I realized that we should be asking, ‘How can I best care for the land to keep it, and our family, healthy?’. From there our practices changed.”

Michelle and her family own 15 acres, and fill that space with sustainable practices and dozens of animals in all manner of size, each doing their part to move Food Web Farm in a sustainable direction. Michelle’s kids named the farm when they were little, and it stuck: “When we moved here and started raising animals and produce to sell, we needed a farm name to put on the permits. Our children had been watching a lot of nature shows and came up with Food Web Farm. We loved it and felt it showed what we wanted this place to be: an awareness that we don't control the land but are part of the web of nature and just one part of the intricate puzzle of life.”

Michelle’s curiosity and openness to learning about the land have resulted in sustainability projects that will nurture her family and the land for years to come. From their short-term projects like raising bees and using chicken tractors to move fertilizer around their produce fields, to their long term investments in trees and solar arrays on the property, Michelle and her family understand the importance of stewardship and are securing a place for generations to thrive.