A Grain of Truth Elena Byrne
W
illiam and Alma Gasser are fourth-generation Wisconsin farmers. Their 300 acres of land have been in William’s family since 1873, with a consistent eye towards conservation that led to practices like a focus on crop rotations—William’s great grandfather grew wheat as forage and kept horses working on the farm long after many others switched to tractors. This hilly farm in the Driftless Region with an impressive rock formation as a backdrop also established some of the first contour strips in the area, back in 1950, to manage water. “They’re still laid out in that pattern,” explains William. “It goes well with the art tour because it’s attractive.”
“We tore down an old two-car garage built for Model T’s and put up a 2-story bakery with a garage in its place, where we can easily load up vehicles for the market.” —Alma Gasser currently practice rotational grazing and grow non-GMO corn, rye, and barley along with alfalfa and wheat. “It’s a good relationship having dairy cows with the land, having access to manure,” William says. “The alfalfa-wheat rotation also works really well, because the dying alfalfa provides sufficient nitrogen for the wheat. We don’t use any herbicide or fungicides.” Lately they’ve been growing a new variety of wheat, Lang, developed out of the University of Minnesota. “We previously used Glenn wheat, which was nice but difficult to thresh, and was developed in North Dakota where it’s more arid.” Environmental artist Tory Tepp first approached the Gassers about growing
They started growing food-grade wheat 15 years ago, and Alma says her four sons get credit for helping her develop her baking skills. Initially she baked for family and friends, with the grain milled to sell at farmers’ markets. “A lot of people said they’d rather have the finished product [than flour], so in 2010 we started planning a bakery.” Tower Rock Bakery opened in 2014. It is now a popular vendor at the Baraboo Farmers’ Market and open on the farm Fridays and Saturdays. “We tore down an old two-car garage built for Model T’s and put up a 2-story bakery with a garage in its place, where we can easily load up vehicles for the market.” Looking towards the farm’s 150th anniversary next year, their second eldest son is working with them to increase efficiencies for their 75 dairy cows and cropping plan. They
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wormfarminstitute.org
Field of Kernza® at Gasser Farm.
a new type of crop, introducing them to Kernza® perennial grain. As Wormfarm Institute’s Artist Residency Manager in 2019, Tory had been working at the organic farm every day, thinking about soil, sustainability, and the inherent legacy of land stewardship. Connections to UW-Madison Agronomy Professor Valentín Picasso Risso led to his discovery of Kernza, a cousin of wheat with roots that grow 12 feet down into the subsoil, offering myriad environmental benefits. “I always knew I was going to do an earthwork,” Tory says of the thought process that led him to build the Sauk County ARK on the Gassers’ farm for the 2020 Farm/Art DTour. “It would