Wisconsin Pizza Farm

 Nelson, WI

Stone Barn Pizza

Back when we were thinking about moving to Minneapolis, Donna was researching things and reading the local newspaper and found out about Pizza Farms.  A Pizza Farm is a normal farm that sells pizzas during the summer made from local ingredients.  These pizza farms come in all ranges from rustic where you eat pizza on your own chair or blanket with your own utensils and pack out your own trash to more fancy where it actually feels like a restaurant.  Stone Barn Pizza is on the fancier end.  You park in a grass field, walk up to a barn and place your order and then sit at one of their picnic tables, or tables in the barn or out in the field and wait for a very friendly person to bring you your pizza or pizzas and beverages.  

The entrance just off a nicely paved county road was obvious.

You can see our van and Donna getting Francis out of the car off in the distance.

This particular pizza farm will be open until late October weather permitting.

Donna and I had already decided on which pizzas we would get.

The staff was incredibly friendly and efficient.  I had some questions about the beers and they brought the bottles over for me to inspect.  There are also beers on tap.

They have merch too.

Francis loves his bed but prefers sun so we moved him to the sun shortly after this photo was taken.

We sat down with our New Glarus Beers that are only available in Wisconsin.

I got the New Glarus Octoberfest beer on tap.

We sat on their beautiful patio in the shade and waited for our pizzas.

We ordered a Greek with locally raised Lamb, sweet onions, artichoke hearts, feta cheese and olives with an olive oil base.  It was very good but not as good as...

The Supreme with Italian Sausage, pepperoni, sweet onions, green peppers, mushrooms, black olives, and green olives with a red sauce and mozzarella and provolone cheese.  This pizza was fantastic!

Somebody wanted a lot of toppings so they took a square from the center.

Francis could not contain himself.  Look at his little nails digging into my thigh.

The grounds were beautiful and everyone there seemed to be having a great time on this lovely Sunday.

We knew that each pizza was made for 2 or 3 people but we didn't drive almost 2 hours to not have leftovers.

We also saved room for ice cream from Madison WI.  Donna got the most colorful one and it was delicious.

We took our ice creams for a hike and showed them some birds and insects.  We saw some beautiful butterflies.

The farm's herb garden was looking good.

Donna found the goat feeder and had quarters on hand thanks to our pinball habit.

Ross, the white goat, got excited when he heard the goat feeder getting fed a quarter.

And went to the fence to meet Donna.

I had to stay 10 feet away because I was with Francis so this is the best I could do.  Norman, the black goat, activated as Donna approached with the goat food.

Donna ended up buying a few handfuls of goat feed so everyone could have some.

We ended up picking up 3 new counties in light purple.  We drove almost 200 miles round trip and we picked up a lot of new highway miles.

That's it for today.  If you missed, Minne Golf, check it out.  We played free mini golf downtown.

A Few Creatures Great and Small

Princeton, TX

Tomatoes are coming in nicely despite the crazy (aka normal) heat

Visiting family and their pets

This morning we drove out to Sharon's place near here to visit with her while she did some pet chores.  We got to visit her chickens and garden (a garden isn't really a pet, or is it?) and I got to see a new bird for Texas, The Eastern Bluebird.  Next we drove out to Princeton to visit the stable where she keeps Simon.  It's a huge property and there are a few lakes so we birded there too.  We went from 25 species in Texas yesterday to 37 today adding birds including Little Blue Heron, Green Heron, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Cattle Egret, and Killdeer.  

After birding for about a half and hour we accompanies Sharon while she visited Simon her horse and gave him some meds and cleaned his hoofs of mud and not mud.  I was taken back to the days of working on My Horse, not a horse that I owned but My Horse the iPhone and Android App.  After the horse chores were done it was time to head back to Sharon's and see her other pets. We got to meet Sharon's rabbit and all of her Guinea pigs that she and her daughter Erika breed and show.  This coming weekend we are going to a Guinea pig show with Sharon and Erika and will be able to experience and then report on the pageantry that takes place.

Oh the chickens!

We don't get to meet chickens very often

A free range horse on the farm we visited

Baby cow!

Donna and Sharon contributing to the wire waggon

This horse must be a super hero by night

Donna fed the stable kitty 

Even stables have legalese.

Don't touch my Red Bull

This saddle blanket gives you +5 energy I think

Sharon leading Simon out

Donna got to give Simon treats

Hoof cleaning

Donna was excited to hold a Guinea pig

Fun Fact! When Guinea pigs have babies they aren't called New Guinea pigs

Water water water water

Sharon took this one of us hamming it up in the field

After our farm and family visit we headed back to the Airbnb and I figured out some adventure days for us.  

If you didn't read about yesterday's adventure, you can get to it here.