Rural peace blesses young family
By Agri-View via TN Content Exchange
Many are sure that success is measured in size. Big is best.
So we strive to attain a big career, a large estate and lots of money. With big comes prestige, many think. And to grow big, sacrifice is necessary. So those folks give up time, health and relationships. They speak of selling their soul to grow big – and some do.
And with their big success the amount of happiness and fulfillment they might have is astonishing to see. Certainly it may give one pause for thought. But at first glance of something, we often misjudge the size of it.
In far-northern Wisconsin between the little hamlets of Sanborn and Marengo, the Marengo River twists and turns. Large trees overhang river banks. Most of the time those sharp bends in the small river slow its flow. Farm fields and forest patches along the river cooperate to comprise farms and farmsteads. Plentiful turkeys, cranes, crows and deer catch the attention of many while a multitude of more-secretive wild creatures go about their business. Much here moves at nature’s pace – not too fast, not too slow.
A little farmstead near the river catches the eye. It may be the surprisingly-small Highland cattle or the goats. The farm seems to be well-ordered, though at first the reason why is difficult to place.
It was a crisp winter morning; Joshua Van Low had just finished chores. With a hearty handshake and a welcoming greeting, he bade his visitor to come indoors and meet his wife, Rachel Van Low, and their daughter, Attie-mae.
“We’re on 8 acres,” he said. “We both are garlic farmers full-time. We have a variety of other things that support our garlic farming, but garlic is our thing. We have mini-cows and goats. The goats we have for our personal benefit for things like milk – similar for the cows. We sell their offspring. (And) we have ducks and geese.
“We look at this as a closed-loop system. Every day we go out to clean pens and compost manure; we make our own compost. That’s how we improve our soil, which is mostly clay. Our compost helps us grow bigger garlic.
“Our ducks, geese and chickens provide food, and we sell some eggs at farm markets. In the winter the ducks and geese are in our high-tunnel greenhouse to scratch, turn over and fertilize the soil. We go out in spring to grow herbs in our high tunnel, and we have freshly fertilized soil. We keep costs low by not buying chemicals or fertilizers. We let our animals do the work for us.
“We sell garlic, and pretty much anything we can make with garlic; garlic is versatile. Here is a garlic-bread candle. There is a garlic lollipop, fire cider, hot sauce (and) fermented honey garlic.”
Josh Van Low said, “We try to keep waste down so there is as little waste as possible. We use the garlic stalks to make braids, and also to cover the garlic in the soil for the next year. If we have an imperfect bulb we get rid of cloves with blemishes. The rest goes into the dehydrator and we make garlic powder with it. We try to get a high yield with less waste. We’ve been at this for four years.”
The Van Low Family Farm has quickly become known for excellent-quality garlic and specialty products like black garlic.
“Black garlic has a unique flavor, very much like molasses,” he said. “It takes a long time to make; it’s slowly fermented from 30 to 60 days. As it’s fermenting the dynamics of the flavor change. Sugars compress to make a sweet garlic flavor.”
Rachel Van Low said, “It makes a kind of gummy consistency almost like garlic gummy bears. Black garlic is really good for you because of the added antioxidants from the fermentation process. Regular garlic is already good for you, but black garlic is twice as good. It’s the caviar of the garlic world. It takes a long time to prepare and you cannot get it just anywhere.
“Chefs really like it. It goes really well with chocolate. We make chocolates this time of year; we have truffles in the refrigerator. For those who are more adventurous, (they) really take to our black garlic.”
Josh Van Low said, “Black garlic is our garlic delicacy.”
Chocolate-black-garlic truffles have a rich delightful flavor. Those who try them will yearn for more as it’s likely the best chocolate they have eaten.
Rachel Van Low said, “We dehydrate some of our garlic. That makes it very potent. Hardneck garlic is more flavorful and robust compared to a lot of garlic in the store that’s imported from Mexico or China. Ours is grown organically here on our farm in one big sustainable circle.
“Our hardneck garlic has a lot of flavor in each clove. It goes a long way compared to the garlic one finds in the store. It has bold flavor from the cold. We’re not the only ones who grow garlic here, but we are now known as the garlic people – the garlic people of the North Woods.”
Josh Van Low said, “We’re lucky here to have cold temperatures because hardneck garlic likes it. The temperature gives the garlic grown here a great flavor.
“Most people love garlic. It’s in nearly all food that’s good. Different cultures all over the world use garlic.
“I’m from an Italian family. We’ve had our homemade spaghetti sauce (recipe) passed down for generations. It’s all about garlic. It has to have a lot of good garlic in it.
“We met in Seattle. We moved all over the country. We wanted to raise a family. Our peers out there, to maintain the lifestyle, work a lot. We worked extreme hours. So it would not be possible to be around our kids much. Many use nannies. Rachel and I had great careers, corporate jobs, well-paying jobs. But we loved growing stuff. We love the outdoors. We love foraging for mushrooms, fishing, those kinds of things. If there was a way to spend more time growing food and also do it with our children that was our goal. So our dream was to find the way to spend more time outdoors, more time with our kids, and work in the dirt. People where we were had different priorities. For us our dream was to have a farm and raise our kids outside where they can be in the forests.
“We lived from Miami to Denver, Boston, Los Angeles, all over the country. Every time we were in a new place a weird thing would happen. We would talk to people and try to make friends. For some reason every time we tried to connect with people, the nicest people we met were from Wisconsin. We kept meeting these really nice people from Wisconsin.
“In the middle of a forest in Washington (state) I met a guy fly-fishing. He was from Wisconsin. He and his wife are now our daughter’s godparents.
“So I said to Rachel five years ago, ‘We are going to Wisconsin and buy a place to live.’”
Rachel Van Low said, “I drove here with my brother. We came to Ashland (Wisconsin) and I fell in love with it. I fell in love with the big lake. Coming from the West Coast I was nervous coming to the Midwest because there’s no ocean. But the big lake (Lake Superior) is our ocean.
“The environment here is similar to the Pacific Northwest. We had a homestead out there before we left; it was maybe an acre packed with berries and fruit trees. But we outgrew it. If we were going to take this seriously we needed more space to farm.”
Josh Van Low said, “I grew up in Kansas. Midwest-nice is a big thing. The people here have been extremely welcoming. People in the north woods are still very genuine; that’s a rare thing. People here are good people. People here are still weird in a fun way. They prioritize or cherish different things. If I drove a Ferrari through town a couple of people might look at it, but not really care. But drive an old Volkswagen truck like ours and people’s heads turn. They come running to look at our old truck.
“People here are strange like us, and like us they appreciate different things like an old truck instead of something new and flashy.”
“We’re very goal-oriented people. Our drive to be outdoors was big for us. We hear our peers saying all the time that what we have done is great. They say, ‘Oh it’s so great you escaped. It’s so cool. I wish I could do that.’ We hear over and over, ‘I’d like to quit my job and do what you guys do.’
“Well, financially what we do is not easy. But the benefit to our mental health alone from being here and being outside makes it worth it. Raising garlic is hard; it’s the hardest job we’ve ever had. It pays less money than anything else we’ve ever done.
“(But) at the end of the day when we come inside our brains feel clear, like when you get done with a nice workout. Some would have a hard time without certain amenities. But the need for those amenities fades with time – and they cost a lot of money. Now we talk about what kind of animal we should raise next.
“Anyone wanting to take a leap like we did should just do it now because there is always going to be another reason not to. You never know what the world will be like or where you might be, or how your health will be in the future. For us the best thing we could do for ourselves was to go back to growing food the right way, taking every opportunity to be out in nature and getting away from the city.”
Rachel Van Low said, “It’s the best decision we have ever made, and we are healthier and better off for it. We live a very humble life and we would not trade it for anything. It really puts things into perspective regarding priorities and what is important in life. We live the best life out here. We have great riches.”
It turns out that a young couple, Joshua and Rachel Van Low, made some big decisions. They didn’t trade down; they traded up. They left fast-paced careers to build a little farm and a humble life on the land. The intentional decisions to raise a family on land that’s treated well, to become part of a small community and raise healthy food for it, are very important. Their work is difficult but the rewards are great. They’ve committed to really big jobs.
Finally we and our choices are all weighed in the balance. Many of us will be found wanting. But because of the important work they are now doing, and the career they have on their farm, it’s likely the endeavors of the Van Low family will measure up very well indeed.
Visit vanlowfamilyfarm.com and www.facebook.com/vanlowfamilyfarm for more information.
