A Farm-Home with a Focus on Sustainability and Community

Wisconsin

25 reviews • Updated 7 months ago

Hello Everyone, We are a small family owned farm that specializes in organic fruits, vegetables and chickens - with the newly added addition of pigs now as well! We have plenty of acreage, 5 greenhouses, newly upgraded resident rooms, and years of experience growing vegetables. We are looking for like-minded, easy-going, and hard-working individuals to help us have a successful growing season. We will operate 5 greenhouses, a chicken coop, 2 - 3 acres of fruit, and 4 – 10 acres of vegetables. Location - Our 80 acres are located just outside of Madison, WI. Only a 15 minute drive to the State Capital building, but we are still surrounded by all farmland. Our farm is surrounded by rolling green hills, pockets of forest, and neighbouring farms. On the horizon one can observe the spinning towers of a small wind farm, and at night, the state capitol building illuminated above a distant tree line. We have the benefit of being next to Pheasant Branch conservancy, a nature preserve that offers hiking, sight-seeing, and bird-watching. Description - Our farm is used in a combination of farming, gardening, orchard-growing, and natural activities. We have some large fields of alfalfa, some medium sized organic vegetable drip irrigation operations, an established organic chicken egg operation, a thriving bee operation (50+ hives this summer), a mature orchard with apples, cherries, pears, plums, and peaches, and so much more. We will be harvesting and replanting an acre of garlic, raspberries, and strawberries this Summer. We also have a prairie restoration, a private wood lot, as well as a community garden on site. We have 5 active greenhouses and - if time permits - would like to erect two more yet this year. Some wildlife makes its home on our farm - we get lots of rabbit, deer, squirrels, groundhogs, racoons, birdlife, and an occasional celebrity wildlife such as coyotes, turkeys, cranes, turtles, pheasants - even a mink once in a while. We have small forest and orchard. Most of the fruit trees are heavy producers. We also have a small area for grapes. Our farm has several buildings - a barn & silo, and two houses on it. The farm house is over 100 years old and so are some of our farm buildings. Other buildings are brand new and some will be built this Summer. Activities and Recreation - After the good day in the field or orchard, we like to shift gears by either completely relaxing around a campfire or at least decompress with some frisbee, swimming, canoeing, hiking, biking, attending a festival, or playing music. We will organize couple of day long canoe trips over the summer on the Wisconsin River and barbecue or even camp on the sand bars. Expectation/Stay - We ask the Woofer to stay a minimum of one week, but will give preference to guests that want to stay longer, and we prefer to have most of our guests stay for long periods of time, but a mixture of long term guests and long term guests is good too. Pets are welcome. We expect the Woofer to work a few hours each day, but plenty of time will be devoted to recreation and education. Our greatest expectation is that you enjoy your stay with us and learn about organic gardening. Meals/Diets - As part of the WWOOFer arrangement, we provide room and board in exchange for 5.5 hours per day for 5.5 days per week. We have a dedicated in-door WWOOFer facility, with lofts, bunks, shower facility, kitchen, and hang out areas. Good camping spots and trailer parking is also available. We cook a wide variety of dishes, including meat dishes, but if you happen to be vegetarian we will absolutely accommodate! The quality of our meals varies depending on whose cooking and time of year. During the harvest, we are kings; during other times, we eat the best that our opportunities provide, which is generally pretty good. There may be some occasions where you be responsible for cooking some of your own meals but all food will be provided and we have a kitchen available. Projects - It is difficult to know what you will be working on when you get here, but you can expect to be doing a variety of tasks each week including: working in the greenhouse, working in the vegetable field, working in the orchards, assisting with our local farmers' market activities, taking care of animals, building fences, restoration carpentry, working on our catchment/irrigation system. Goals – We are committed to the production of the highest quality food with the least negative impact on the environment. We intend to be a role model for other agricultural operations.

Learning opportunities

Vegetable farming

Fruit or nut farming

Cattle farming

Wild foraging

Seed saving or production

Vegetable or fruit preservation

Bakery

Traditional crafts

Green Building

Food justice / sovereignty

Methods or systems

Holistic management

Permaculture

Regenerative agriculture

Host type

Nonprofit / Community

Certified organic

32.4 Hectares | 80 Acres

Accommodation

4+ WWOOFers

Bedroom

Campsite

Cabin / Mobile-home

Children not accepted

Pets not accepted

Meals

Omnivore

Vegetarian

Length of stay

Over a month

Elliott

Member since 2014

Languages spoken: English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish Response rate: 100% Response time: typically within 3 days

November 2025

Open

Planned visit

Closed

MapLibre | Protomaps | © OpenStreetMap

Wisconsin

Madison, Wisconsin Airport

Reviews

Hadi

United States • September 2025

A little late on the review, but here it goes. In the village town of Waunakee, Wisconsin, you are greeted by miles of farmland, endless plains of corn, cow farming operations, and off the side of road, a small sign that says the name of the farm. The first thing you notice is the landscape, the feeling of being within the farms topography is described by Elliot Long through a story, "snorkeling in the coral reefs, gazing while suspended in the water, down at the corals and the beautiful shapes and textures of the bank and the biodiversity". The landscape is wildly, and I mean that literally, different than everything around. From the beautiful natural tunnel of trees that lead to the hip camping sites which host curious characters weekly. The large plots of land, boasting chickens, and pigs, (atleast while I was there), gardens, farming lines, + indigenous trees of every type. It is not like the cash crop landscape around it. This is a little breath of nature in a age of smoke. What will be remembered the most though, is not going to be the beautiful landscape, the farm to plate food I got to cook, the volleyball net Elliot let me set up, the Dungeons and Dragons campaign, or the karaoke nights. My body will remember, and my brain will remember, the feelings of community, of alignment with nature, of growth, especially through friction that will come, of helping others, and asking for help when I need it. People I will cherish for the rest of my life I met here :D

Randy

United States • July 2025

This was my first Wwoof experience. It was a very good experience. The breadth of opportunities to participate in a variety of organic farming activities was notable. The activities included cultivating a variety of crops, harvesting fruit and some vegies, harvesting eggs cleaning and packaging eggs, feeding pigs, etc. The structure of the work was reasonable with consideration of the weather, labor in the morning hours, break during high heat hours, then other activities during cooler afternoon hours. The owners, Elliot and Jolenta were wonderful. Elliot guided much of the work with colorful story telling and agriculture educational insights. Their vision of what they want to accomplish is an ideal for the organic farming community, i.e., creating a sustainable, organic, aesthetic, and regenerative farming operation. Any woofer would benefit by spending time here

Monica

United States • June 2025

What a great place for my first wwoofing experience! Elliott and the whole crew made me feel very, very welcome! They let me jump right in and do everything there was to do in a busy June, from pig and chicken tending to hog fencing to planting and transplanting, to greenhouse upkeep, to garden bed maintenance, to various farm upkeep. In just my short 10-day stay, I became a better farmer. I plan to come back and work whenever I can!

Simon

United States • June 2025

The immediate joy I think about when it comes to Terra is Elliott. He is the lead host, a great teacher, who communicates thoughtfully and honestly. He's also just fun to be around and as good for a conversation on no-till farming as he is on the world. There are many varieties of growing plants, fruits and animals to nurture like the description says. Many of the workflows are works in progress, so I'd particularly recommend this experience for go-getters and those who enjoy looking for ways to improve or participate in evolving systems. Again, Elliott is very knowledgable, so it is also a great place for those who want to learn about everything from bees to trees.

Matthew

United States • May 2025

I originally planned a five month stay, but extended it to six because I was enjoying it so much. Hosts are very patient, supportive, and understanding. I learned a lot in my time at the farm, and grew a lot as a person alongside the plants and animals. I will cherish the memories forever.

Justin

United States • December 2024

Our stay was excellent! We will be coming back :)