Approaching 50?  60? 70? Stuck in boring job?

What’s next?

Same old, same old?

Does your “bucket list” include: Move to the country, grow veggies, milk goats, sell handcrafted thingamabobs?

Linda Dee has done all that. After a successful business career (Sunporch Cafe & Art Gallery, Madison), she segued to a 90-acre farm, then a 5-acre B & B, then 150-acre Meat/Wool CSA farm. Her last move was for downsizing to 15 acres where she builds fences, tends organic gardens and raises rare sheep.

Learn pitfalls, what to expect, and a realistic view which may puncture your balloon or encourage you… to move to the country.

Workshop fee:  $50.00

BONUS: Registration includes a free copy of the book Renewing the Countryside: WISCONSIN Stories of Sustainable Living, Working & Playing (a $26.95 value) will be made available to every couple, household or family participating in this workshop (one free copy per address).

For more information on other Soil Sisters Aug. 5-7 weekend workshops, culinary events, lodging and more, see www.soilsisterswi.org

Soil Sisters Event Policies:

• This is a workshop designed for adults 18 and older and everyone needs to have their own paid registration. If childcare is an issue and you need to bring your children in order to attend the workshop, please let us know in advance.

• All Soil Sisters events will be fully outdoors with space for social distancing. Masks are not required.

• Dress for the weather. Bring sunscreen, sun hat and good walking shoes.

• Leave your pets at home as these are working farms with other animals.

• All Soil Sisters event tickets are non-refundable.

About LindaDee Derrickson

LindaDee has worn many hats in 70+ years: UW grad, Peace Corps, Broom Street Theater, Linda’s Lakeside Grocery, Sunporch Cafe & Art Gallery, Dane Co. business Woman of the Year, treaty rights activist, witness for non-violence, B&B innkeeper, teacher, master gardener, town treasurer, political activist and regenerative farmer for nearly 30 years. She brings all that to her classes at Bluffwood, a 15-acre organic sheep/wool farm. When not tending sheep, spinning wool, or teaching, LindaDee bounces around her riotous gardens belting out original songs. Sheep mow lawn, soil flourishes, diversity reigns, hobbits lurk & miracles happen. In 2020, covid didn’t stop her activism. She founded Heartland Threads Fibershed, (heartland threads.org) a non-profit organization promoting local, natural fiber and creating awareness of the detrimental health, environmental, and community consequences of synthetic fiber consumption.

About Bluffwood Landing Farm
Bluffwood Landing Farm is an organic homestead in the Driftless of South Central Wisconsin – 25 miles south of Madison, between New Glarus and Monticello. Located on a woodsy bluff near the Little Sugar River, Bluffwood is home to 4 breeds of endangered heritage sheep (Jacobs, Tunis, Gotlands and CVM/Romeldales). Animals on this farm are lovingly cared for with organic/biodynamic principles of herbal, homeopathic & spiritual wellness. There’s a harmonious blend and nurturing of wild and tame eco-systems of gardens, livestock, birds, insects, rocks, forest, pastures, worms, fungi, bacteria and microbes – all interwoven in an intricate bio-web of eating, pollinating, composting, soil building, living & dying that makes this a sustainable, regenerative farmstead.

Soil Sisters is an award-winning project of the non-profit Renewing the Countryside, bringing together women championing local food, community building, sustainable and organic agriculture and vibrant rural communities for collaboration, networking and cooking up change. The founding Soil Sisters in southern Wisconsin organize the annual Soil Sisters event the first weekend in August, the largest women-farmer led event of its kind in the country. Since 2012, the Soil Sisters open their barn doors and farms for various workshops, culinary events and more.