Encounters: Blog

How the Wisconsin Farms Project Influenced Me

7/30/2018

Stephanie Hoff

I’ve always liked interviewing people. From my high school internship with my small town newspaper to interviewing people for papers and projects in my college classes. I was so fortunate to have earned the opportunity to work for the Wisconsin Farms Oral History Project where I still get to interview people and to make the matter even better: I get to interview people involved in agriculture and food systems!

This type of interviewing isn’t just writing down answers on a paper just to rewrite it again. Oral history interviews are done with a recorder, and a prepared list of talking points after hours of research. Not only does this interview provide us with knowledge of a specific time or someone’s life – it’s a chance to document exactly how something was said: tone of voice, laughter, sighs, pauses, a crack of a voice… feeling.

I enjoy stories on paper too, and talented writers put feeling into words with descriptors, but if you’ve ever listened to a well done recorded interview – it doesn’t compare.

That’s what I love about oral history. That’s also what gives this project so much meaning. Listening to documented stories from farmers around Wisconsin is an educational tool, an eye opener, something that we walk away thinking about therefore influencing our thoughts or actions.

After conducting several oral histories and listening to many, I find myself a better listener and question-asker. This has helped me build self-confidence, professionalism, and open-mindedness. It’s also increased my performance in classes and in my other internship. This project is something I am proud to be a part of and represent.

I am excited for the Lands We Share initiative to start its debut in October and showcase our work to the public. As they look and listen, I hope that the Wisconsin Farms Oral History Project influences them as it did me.

A New Intern's Learning Experience

7/2/2018

Linda Vang

In my fifth year of college, a professor told me about the Wisconsin Farms Oral History Project and said that he could not think of a better candidate than me. He explained that it would involve interviews with an older Hmong couple and translating their interviews to English. It really sparked my interest and I decided to contact Dr. Levy, the project's founder, to join. As time went by, I was also assigned to work on a Hmong research bibliography. I contacted Dr. Vang to help me. He has led me to wonderful resources and books that have contributed to the research I've done thus far. Within the past few weeks, I've gone to the campus library to look into more books to read on Hmong history, agriculture, agricultural history, and culture. So far, I've found it fascinating that Hmong people used to be embarrassed of their hunting and gathering practices in the '90s. I remember my uncles, aunts, and parents gathering greens on the sides of the roads and they were not embarrassed at all; but I was. It was really interesting reading about the gathering because I've experienced it firsthand. It's so great to be reading in depth about where my people come from and how they get their food, as food is a VERY important aspect to the Hmong people and our culture. Our food is how we pass down our history to our children, as the language is dying out slowly for the Hmong Americans.

I've also been listening to the Vang interviews again so I can prep to interview their daughter, Sheng. Recently, I interviewed Hailey Paulson, a fellow member on this team, and I don't think I did very well. It was choppy, I could not come up with many questions, and I was not speaking loudly. I'm more of a listener and don't like to interrupt or ask questions in the first place and I usually just nod in agreement; in short, I am not a conversationalist. I definitely need lots more practice interviewing and I do plan to interview Hailey again. I think this time around, I'll prep more questions before I meet with her and make sure I get a good night's rest so that I can think clearly. Knowing that I'm new to interviewing makes me nervous about interviewing Sheng, or anyone else for that matter. But I'm sure that with the opportunity that the project has given me to practice my skills, I will become a lot better at interviewing and coming up with questions as the conversation goes on.

Avoiding Bias, Discrimination, and Over-Generalization in Cultural and Historical Research

6/25/2018

Madeline Hass

Recently, I have been working to find secondary sources to help us contextualize the stories that we hear within the oral histories we have collected for the Lands We Share initiative. My focus has been on finding secondary sources that discuss the history of the Oneida Nation, their relocation from New York state, their relationship with land and farming, and the history of Native American farming in general. I have been aiming to find sources that provide context at multiple levels, from the very specific details of Oneida farming and the Nation’s past to broader questions about Native American agriculture and food production.

My primary strategy has been to look through the various databases available through the UW Oshkosh library--including the library’s own indexing system and WorldCat-–using search terms including “Oneida,” “Agriculture,” “Food Production,” “Farming,” and “History.” When I find a source that is relevant and significant, I then go through the source’s own bibliography to find additional sources that may contain more information than what was cited in the source itself. This has allowed me to build up a collection of sources that deal with the topic of interest.
There are several factors that complicate this research, however. Research that involves Native American history is complicated by a legacy of misinformed ethnography that has been conducted. Significant bias and obvious stereotypes blatantly influenced much of what was written about Native Americans from first contact in the 15th century even through the beginning of the 20th century and they have continued to influence research more subtly when researchers are not careful.

Researchers in the field of Native studies are still dealing with this legacy and the problems that it has caused. Even modern scholarship has to deal with this; scholars today have to remain conscious of this reality in order to avoid the pitfalls of stereotyped depictions of their research subjects. Even though people (mostly Europeans) have been writing about Native Americans since contact, the area of Native studies has really only been taken seriously within the past century, and sources that treat the topic rigorously are limited. While writings about Native Americans may be abundant, many of these writings do more harm than good because they spread misinformation, rumor, bias, stereotype, etc. and therefore need to be filtered out.

This research is additionally complicated by Native American history generalizing a vast number of disparate groups. Information that is relevant to the Indigenous peoples of the east coast is not necessarily going to apply to those of the plains regions or the west coast. Information about the cultural practices of the Cherokee does not necessarily say anything about the cultural practices of the Oneida or vice versa. The term Native American itself can lead to misunderstanding and over-generalization because it groups many different cultural groups together under one term. This means that only a limited amount of the already limited body of scholarly work on Native American history is going to be applicable to the culture we are studying.

This amounts to is a significant amount of time sifting through books and articles to find the limited number of relevant, reliable sources that exist. It means going through individual sources to find the small amounts of information that are on topic in a larger work that is primarily off topic. It means looking primarily for recent sources, since the older the source, the more likely it is to be a product of the overt bias and misunderstanding that dominated during the 18th, 19th, and even into the 20th century. It means being consciously aware of specific stereotypes that have been used, stereotypes like the Noble Savage that misrepresent reality by showing an oversimplified and romanticized version of the topic we are trying to portray with accuracy, nuance, and respect.

Highlighting Native Voices

6/18/2018

Jennifer Depew

Immediately upon completing newspaper research for the Allenville site, I shifted focus to a similar but much more daunting task: newspaper research for the Oneida Nation Farm. Contextual newspaper research is important in Oneida for the same reasons that it was important in Allenville: there are few better ways to get a sense of place’s history—the important people and events, and how the past might inform the present--than through newspaper research. In Oneida, however, there is an added complication. All historical research must be done with a careful eye toward bias and, when it comes to the Oneida Nation, this bias has been frequently racist and Eurocentric.

My initial methodology was the same as it was in Allenville. In order to uncover as much material as I could, I did keyword searches using NewspaperARCHIVE and Newspapers.com for four search terms: ”Oneida Nation,” “Oneida reservation,” “Oneida tribe,” and “Oneida Indian”. What I found was a collection of primary source newspaper articles reaching back to the 1840s that detailed the struggles, triumphs, and outside perceptions of the Oneida in Wisconsin. Everything from the initial forced relocation from New York to the impact of the Dawes Act (including advertisements for some dubious land sales) to the changes brought about by casino wealth was uncovered. These primary sources, along with a bulk of fantastic secondary sources gathered by my colleague, Madeline Hass, have given us a strong contextual framework in which to understand and place the narrative of the Oneida farm.

The problem with the narrative uncovered by my newspaper research is that it is, for lack of a better word, very white. The articles and editorials that I found were rarely written by Oneida writers and in many cases the sources were representative of a white editor or reporter looking in from the outside. The result was a narrative with a distinct lack of Native voices.

In order to remedy this situation, the Oshkosh team turned to newspapers and publications from the Oneida themselves. Since 1974, the Oneida Nation has published a newspaper called the Kalihwisaks, which means “she who looks for news.” Some issues are available digitally, but the bulk of the collection is only available in physical form from the Oneida Nation History Department’s Archives in Oneida. With the help of the staff at the department, especially archivist Reggie Doxtater, I have spent many long afternoons pouring over the paper. Starting as a reservation newsletter four years before the founding of the Oneida Nation Farm, the Kalihwisaks is an invaluable historical source that is still in circulation. Over the years, the paper has reflected on the challenges and changes within Oneida, including issues of food insecurity as well as efforts to move toward a more healthful, self-sufficient lifestyle based on the use of traditional foods and farming practices. Detailed and smartly written, the Kalihwisaks has been one of many efforts to ensure that an Oneida perspective on food and farming have permeated the work done by the Oshkosh team.

The story of Native farming, the Oneida Nation, and the Oneida Nation Farms is complex and rich, and in order to tell it well it needs to showcase the voices (in this case, quite literally thanks to the oral histories!) and perspectives of the Oneida people themselves. The Kalihwisaks is just a small part of our efforts to treat Oneida with the respect that it deserves, but it is an important one.

My Journey with the Farm Project

6/4/2018

Ken Virden

It was the end of the fall semester at my second year at UW-Whitewater when I decided I was ready to find myself an internship. My career focus was on communications and public relations and I loved the idea of talking to people and listening to what they had to say. Whether this was through an individual, a brand, or an organization didn’t matter to me.

I was tipped by a trusted professor about another professor from the history department on the other side of campus who had established an expanding group called the Wisconsin Farms Oral History Project. My minor was in environmental and agriculture sciences, the secondary focus of my career goals, which peaked my interest in learning more about this project. Soon enough, I met with the projects team and liked what was presented to me during the first meeting.

In my early days of the project, I spent most of my time conducting research on farmers and land, taking photos, and networking at farmers markets and similar events. Days were either spent in the lab reading and writing or literally out in the field. A few months in and I wanted to learn more and do more for the project. James Levy, the project lead, gave me permission to take control of our social media pages and I began conducting interviews with new farmers and food industry pros. This lead to many wonderful memories and new friendships between the interested folks who would soon become contributors to our project’s goals of sustaining the knowledge and legacy of Wisconsin’s agriculture industry. This would become my personal ambition for staying with the project; the overdue gathering of Wisconsin’s farming voices telling the rich agriculture stories of our state.

Upon my graduation from UW-Whitewater in May of 2017, I took a small hiatus from the project for several months as I completed another internship in Madison. As I neared the end of the internship, with a new wealth of public relations skillsets added to my experience belt, I reached out to James Levy to proclaim my availability to once again become involved with project. James was happy to hear my interest and I officially rejoined the project as a media/communications advisor. I’d bring my new set of skills from my other internship to the team.

I quickly began making conversations with James and Stephanie, a social media intern with the project, on coming up with new goals and strategy plans to pursue. The three of us quickly realized that the upcoming Lands We Share initiative would be at the top of that priority list. Currently, I’m in the process of growing our website and social media presence in the online front while continuing to create partnerships with other organizations and significant community voices around Wisconsin in promotion of Lands We Share and the Farms Project as a whole. Come a few months from now when the Lands We Share initiative begins its exhibition, I hope to have more support and active media attention being brought towards the Wisconsin Farms Oral History Project.

Everything I’ve done with the project so far has brought a sense of meaning and virtue to my accomplishments. I cannot wait to see what comes next.

Inspiration from Jefferson County

5/28/2018

Sydney M. Rakestraw

My experience working with the Wisconsin Farms Oral History Project started in my sophomore year at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater when I heard about an opportunity for free pizza. What started as a desire to save myself a meal swipe on my student ID ended up in a prestigious and educational internship with the project. My tasks started with contextual research and administrative duties and evolved into management of the project’s blog and creation of our weekly newsletter, but throughout my time there, there has always been one job that I’ve consistently loved to do: transcription. That might come as a surprise to some since many people find transcription to be a slow and tedious task, but you would be shocked to find how thrilling transcription can be when you’re hearing lively and engrossing stories of people’s family histories and relationships with the land for the very first time.

Now that I’ve graduated from the university, I’ll be spending part of my summer helping the project prepare for their exciting Lands We Share exhibit that will occur in the fall. One of the ways in which I’ll be doing this is by transcribing interviews of people related to the six sites on which the exhibit will focus. These sites include Jefferson County, Milwaukee, and the Oshkosh-Green Bay area. After spending four years in Whitewater, Wisconsin, I became particularly familiar with the nearby Jefferson County and was excited to be able to hear the stories of farmers who were so close to home. One of the sites that the project is working with for the Lands We Share exhibit is the Dettmann Dairy Farms just outside of Johnson Creek. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve already heard of them. Not only are they a successful family operation, but they’ve become social media darlings in the Wisconsin agriculture circuit with over three thousand followers on Facebook thanks to endearing posts such as the one below.

I had the honor of transcribing Mike Dettmann’s interview with our own Dr. James Levy and was inspired by Mike’s humility and his high regard for family and community. Early in the interview, Mike talks about the unfortunate experience of having their dairy facility catch fire and the humbling support he received from his community. “[...] it’s very touching, the support we received. [...] a few phone calls later, we had friends stepping up to take the cows in. And then after that, once the fire was out, we just had a train of trucks and trailers show up to help move cows and plenty of neighbors brought food that day to keep everybody fed. Warm food and beverages, everything. And nobody asked for anything in return.”

Another Jefferson County farm on which the Lands We Share exhibit will be focusing is C+C Farms run by the Vang family. While I didn’t have the opportunity to transcribe their interview myself and hear their story first hand, former intern and University of Wisconsin-Whitewater student Emily Lanigan was present for their interview and transcribed it herself. Last year, Emily let me interview her for our alma mater’s student-run newspaper, The Royal Purple, so that I could hear about her experience learning about the Vangs. Their farm was one of the first sites she was assigned to research as it was known for being the first organic Hmong farm in the state. Her research tracked the progression of the land’s ownership from German dairy farmers called the Hakes to the Vangs themselves. Emily described being moved by Cheu Vang’s philosophy on providing healthy, sustainable food for his family and ethical produce for his community, and his ultimate desire to return to Laos to teach sustainable farming as opposed to the region’s slash-and-burn methods.

It’s hard not to be uplifted by Mike Dettmann’s gratefulness in the face of hardship and humbled by Cheu Vang’s noble ambitions. I feel lucky every day that I get to sit down and learn the stories of all these interesting and diverse people, especially now that these interviews will be adding to the richness and fascination of the Lands We Share exhibit. Expect more highlights from the Lands We Share interviews right here on wisconsinfarms.org!

Brainstorming for the Autumn Exhibit

5/21/2018

Sydney M. Rakestraw

All University of Wisconsin campuses involved with the WFOHP (UW-Whitewater, UW-Madison, UW-Milwaukee, and UW-Oshkosh) joined forces a few weeks ago to discuss the rapidly approaching Lands We Share exhibit, in which six captivating and historical agricultural sites throughout Wisconsin will be featured. Faculty and student interns alike traveled to Milwaukee to visit a urban gardens and a few of the project’s farm sites, such as Metcalfe Park and Walker’s Square.

After brainstorming key themes and concepts for the exhibit over lunch, project members gathered at UW-Milwaukee’s Digital Humanities lab to have a more in-depth discussion. A particular theme and narrative that stuck out to many members was the progression through loss, persistence, revitalization, and hope that occurred through many of the histories of the farm sites. The meeting also involved a video conference with a new design firm with which the project hopes to partner. They hope to update the logo and the look of the website. All in all, many members considered it a productive meeting and left inspired and excited to create the upcoming exhibit.

It's Not What You Know, It's Who You Know

5/7/2018

Troy Reeves

I’ve found that some of the best experiences come not from what I know but who I know. For example, I went to graduate school at Utah State University with Jim Feldman, who now teaches at UW-Oshkosh and lives on Madison’s Eastside. He lives near and has become friends with James Levy. So, Jim Feldman brought James and me together.

James and I met on a summer evening at UW-Madison’s Memorial Union Terrace. (If you’ve never been there, put it on your list.) Over my almost eleven years in Madison, I’ve talked to many people interested in oral history (many of them at the aforementioned terrace). A fair number of those conversations have gone nowhere, meaning no oral history interviews or projects come from them, and that’s fine.

But I had a feeling as James and I finished up that this would be a conversation that would lead somewhere. He offered a well-thought through vision for what’s now the Wisconsin Farms Oral History Project. And even when he said something to this effect: “Well, my wife and I will be parents shortly, but I’ll get back in touch with you as soon after the baby’s birth as possible,” which could have ended this project before it started, I knew we’d meet again.

My hunch was right. James did get back in touch. We (really James) then recruited others to join us. For over 5.5 years, we have offered boot camps, proposed grants, and talked through WFOHP issues. We also have discussed other non-WFOHP issues (like the NBA … we’re both fans) and, most importantly for me, have enjoyed each other’s company.

So, in short: even when aspects of WFOHP’s Lands We Share initiative have caused me to age prematurely, I’ve never regretted being introduced to James and becoming involved in the WFOHP

Sugaring with Gramma and Grandpa

4/30/2018

Stephanie Hoff

Many people spent their spring breaks lying on a beach in the southern part of the U.S, taking in rays, and sipping on a cold drink. I, however, spent my spring break in Northern Wisconsin where the snow didn't budge even if the temperature rose above 32 degrees. It was a little heartbreaking missing out on some sunny, 75 degree weather that my friends were enjoying, but I had just as much fun in my Carhartt jacket and rubber boots.

My dad and I headed up north on a Thursday afternoon to help my grandparents collect sap from their trees. It's not a huge operation-- only about 85 trees-- but it's a lot for two retired folks to be trudging through the mud and snow every day. My grandparents have collected sap since my dad was little and, before that, over 45 years with some breaks in between, even when they were full time dairy farming.

They take the Gators to haul five gallon buckets into the woods along with two big milk cans. They use the buckets to dump bags of sap into and then dump the buckets into the milk cans strapped tightly to the back of the ATV. The milk cans have a paper strainer at the top to filter out bugs, dirt, or pieces of bark. When both milk cans are full, they head to the shed to unload.

My crafty grandfather made the process easier by hooking up a hose to a sump pump so that they wouldn’t have to pour any heavy buckets of sap; they’d just pump it from the cans to the vat. Then, he made a cattle tank into the heat source by cutting out a door and putting in hinges. That way, he could sit in his chair, load it with wood that was quartered next to him, light the fire while the syrup vat was already on top, close the door, and relax.

When the syrup is boiled down, Gramma hauls it into the house. The ratio of sap to syrup is 40 to 1: so you'd need 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup or 10 gallons to 1 quart. Gramma strains the reduced sap through a thick cloth that takes out fine sand and other elements that the tree has taken up with the ground water. After the sap has strained, she boils it over the stove until her thermometer floats which means the syrup has reached 219 degrees. Finally, she pours the syrup into jars and seals them with a hot lid. After that, the syrup is pancake ready!

Unearthing Jefferson County History

4/23/2018

Catherine Lee

For as long as I can remember I have been in love with history and continue to be beyond excited to work with the Wisconsin Farms Oral History Project. My work so far has mainly been focused on the history of Jefferson County. Plat maps and digital newspapers have become my new best friend, as I strive to map out stories and farms across the county.

I have had the tremendously fortunate opportunity to pour through various diaries written by E. J. Fleming, one of many farmers in the Fleming family that owned land in Jefferson County. Witnessing the stories unfold, I was able to link diary entries to advertisements and events published in the local newspapers. Fur sales, car races, and the annual county fair are only a handful of highlights that are intertwined into the Fleming family and those living in Jefferson in the early 1900’s. After an afternoon submerged in digitized newspapers and public records, I was able to connect people to people and stories to stories.

Plat maps have provided the route to connections between families and farmers. I have specifically been studying how a single plot of land has shifted over the decades, whether the land changes names or physical shape. This metamorphosis of land unveils not only generational relations, but a sense of community between neighbors and fellow farmers.

I continue to be astounded by the stories that I uncover. Utilizing diary entries, plat maps, and even grocery lists, I feel as though I get to walk in the shoes of those who lived a century ago. Looking forward into the coming months, I anticipate discovering even more stories and unearthing connections between families residing in communities. I plan on continuing my search through Watertown newspaper archives in an effort to build context around the Dettmann farm. I have learned and discovered so much about community, land, and location, and expect to continue!

Pictured below is a snapshot of a plat map of the city of Jefferson and the surrounding areas in 1899. I went to the Hoard Museum in Fort Atkinson to access a variety of plat maps. In addition to studying how plots of land have changed ownership, I also looked into the neighboring plots in an effort to compile a sense of community.

Sydney M. Rakestraw

Creative Writing Major, UW-Whitewater

Hailey Paulson
Communications Major, UW-Whitewater

Donovan Hemphill
UW-Whitewater

Shannon Columb

Wisconsin Farms Oral History Project Intern

Ken Virden

PR Major, UW-Whitewater
Wisconsin

Rhiannon Campbell

Wisconsinite and outdoor enthusiast

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