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Pearl Forge Conservancy, S54W31502 State Road 59, North Prairie, WI (2026)

10/11/2026

A week at Pearl Forge, with a little of everything.

Alliums planted in the hoop house for next spring. Black walnuts gathered, beginning their long journey from husk to table. Fall meals made with harvests from the land, new cookbooks to inspire us, and mushrooms popping up everywhere we look.

A day spent clearing buckthorn with The Prairie Enthusiasts. Repairs to old buildings. Work beginning on the stairwell connecting the two floors of the farmhouse. And another reminder that the conservation easement we've been working toward will require a little more patience.

There is always something to plant, something to repair, something to learn, or something to look forward to. So much of life here is about tending to things and imagining what they might become.

But this week has also brought a kind of sadness we weren't expecting.

On Friday night, we lost our sweet Sammie after she was hit on the road. Some of you may remember her from our walks to the pond, where she often followed along, always looking for an adventure. She was woven into the ordinary rhythms of our days, and we miss her already.

We've also been missing Stella, another one of our cats. She was a quieter soul who kept mostly to the upstairs of the farmhouse with her sister, Coco. She wasn't often part of the farm's adventures, but she was very much part of our home. We're still hoping she'll find her way back to us.

This week has been a reminder that a place isn't just the land we care for or the things we build. It's also the lives woven into our days, the familiar faces and little routines we might not realize how much we treasure until they're gone.

We'll keep planting, tending, cooking, and finding our way through the seasons. But this week, we're also making room for sadness and reminding ourselves to be more intentional with the lives we're living, to notice and appreciate the ordinary moments and the little souls who make this place home. Because none of it is guaranteed, and so much of what matters most is happening right in front of us. ❤️

10/04/2026

As the seasons change, I’ve been thinking a lot about rest.

Not the kind of rest that comes after a long day of physical work, but the deeper kind — the feeling that comes when you’ve been moving, planning, building, and tending for months and finally realize you need some space to slow down and recalibrate.

The land has its own rhythms. There are seasons for growing and doing, and seasons for letting go, becoming quieter, and preparing for what comes next.

Maybe we need those seasons, too.

This month’s Pearl Forge Journal is about learning to pay attention to those rhythms — and wondering what might happen if we stopped seeing rest as something separate from living, and instead recognized it as part of the rhythm itself.

What If We Lived by the Seasons?

Read this month’s Journal through the link below.
https://thepearlforgejournal.substack.com/p/what-if-we-lived-by-the-seasons

09/27/2026

The signs of fall are starting to show up everywhere at Pearl Forge.

Cooler mornings. Dew-covered spider webs along the paths. Soup simmering on the stove — this week, white bean green chili with homemade hominy, green salsa, and pickled chard stems. The final hay cut of the season. A milkweed seed floating above the freshly cut fields.

We scared off the heron again walking to the pond, spotted a little snake sunning itself, and discovered a lesser fringed gentian blooming near the bridge — a species of special concern in Wisconsin. 🌸 And along the tree line, a flock of bluebirds have been gathering, preparing for their journey south.

The Autumn Equinox has me thinking about paying closer attention to these seasonal shifts — not just marking the change on the calendar, but noticing what the land is telling us.

A little slower. A little quieter. A little more observant.

09/13/2026

Every September, the asters and goldenrod bloom along the creek at Pearl Forge.

There are many ways to know a place.

We can study its plants and animals. We can work its soil. We can restore its wetlands. We can walk through it slowly enough to notice the flowers blooming along the creek.

And sometimes, we can make art.

Last year, artist and sheep farmer Rachel Catlett spent a year at Pearl Forge as part of the ARTservancy residency, a program connecting artists with conserved land.

Rachel spent that year walking the fields and wetlands, participating in restoration days, cataloging flora and fauna, sketching and painting, talking with our family, and simply listening to the rhythms of the land.

The result is Family Farm Bed — a multimedia installation that brings together her life as a farmer and artist with the story of this place.

The quilt became, in Rachel's words, part field journal, part family album, and part ecological map.

Wool from her own sheep. Salvaged textiles. Cattails from the wetlands shared by our two farms. Images of the plants, animals, people, and places she encountered here.

Rachel describes Family Farm Bed as “a portrait, not of a single person, but of a relationship” between a family and the land, between a farmer and an ecosystem.

That's also something we're thinking about at Pearl Forge: what does it mean to be in relationship with a place?

Conservation is often described as protecting land.

But perhaps it can also be about learning to see a place more deeply. Paying attention. Listening. Learning its rhythms. Understanding the many lives intertwined within it. And finding new ways to share what we've learned with others.

The asters and goldenrod will keep blooming along the creek whether we notice them or not.

But when we slow down enough to really see them, perhaps we begin to know this place a little differently.

And perhaps that's what art can do, too.

We're grateful that Rachel spent a year here looking closely — and that she turned some of what she found into something we can now share with others.

Family Farm Bed is currently on exhibit at Gallery 224 as part of the exhibition.

09/06/2026

What if we stopped designing our lives around independence and focused more on interdependence?

We've been thinking a lot about what happens when we make more room for the people we love—not just fitting them into the lives we've already built, but actually shaping our lives with one another in mind.

For us, that has meant rethinking some pretty deeply held ideas about independence, productivity, and what it means to build a successful life.

What if needing one another isn't a weakness?
What if making decisions around each other isn't a limitation?
What if having more time, connection, and shared purpose matters more than having everything figured out on our own?

What if we designed our lives around each other?

I explored that question in this month's Pearl Forge Journal:
https://thepearlforgejournal.substack.com/p/what-if-we-designed-our-lives-around

08/30/2026

Lately, our mornings have included walks to the pond with the pups. Sometimes, one or more of the cats tags along, too.

I've traded my usual morning workout for that walk. Not because I've decided exercise isn't important, but because right now, this feels like a better use of that hour.

And I think that's something we are learning about the life we're trying to build here. There are trade-offs.

Time is finite. Choosing one thing usually means choosing not to do something else.

A morning walk to the pond is, in some ways, a luxury. Not everyone has a pond to walk to or the flexibility to rearrange their mornings. But it's also not really about having more time. It's about deciding how and where we want to spend the time we have.

And lately, we've been choosing this.

The walks themselves are rarely remarkable. We talk. The dogs wander. The cats sometimes join in the fun. We watch the seasons change around us.

Recently, that includes noticing the mushrooms that seem to appear overnight in the morning dew. They're like tiny fairy gardens scattered across the ground.

None of this was on our list of things we needed to accomplish for the week. And, maybe that's part of why we value it so much.

We're still working on the garden. Still mowing the prairie. Still figuring out how to keep the weeds from taking over. Still moving through the endless list of things that come with caring for this place.

But we're also trying to make room for the things that make us want this life in the first place.

Sometimes, that means doing less.

And sometimes it just means choosing differently.

08/23/2026

𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝘄𝗲'𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘁 𝗣𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲. 𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲.

A lot of our meals this week started in the garden — tomatoes, peppers, herbs, and whatever else was ready to pick. There is something deeply satisfying about walking outside, gathering what is being offered, and turning it into a delicious meal.

Of course, the garden isn't always generous. We have lost almost all of our squash plants this year to vine borers, despite our best efforts. That's gardening.

And while we're still harvesting this year's food, we're already thinking about the next season. We're starting to plan fall cover crops for several of the garden beds — things that will help manage competing growth, protect the soil, and leave the beds ready for planting next spring.

That's one of the things we're coming to appreciate about life here: the seasons overlap. Growing food leads to caring for the soil. Caring for the soil means thinking about what's coming next. And sometimes preparing for next year's harvest starts before this year's is finished.

We're still figuring out exactly what we mean when we talk about creating a "rich life." But more and more, we think it has something to do with:

Knowing where some of our food comes from.
Having our hands in the work.
Eating something we grew together.
Paying attention to the seasons.
And noticing how much is already here.

Maybe that's abundance, too.

08/16/2026

Sometimes the land gives you little signs that you're on the right track.

Grass of Parnassus is blooming again at Pearl Forge.

It might not look like much to someone passing by, but this little flower has become something of a milestone for us. It was one of the first signs we noticed that the restoration work Pete was doing along the creek was beginning to make a difference.

Grass of Parnassus is also a 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗪𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗻, and it’s closely tied to a very specific kind of wetland habitat called a 𝗳𝗲𝗻. A fen is a rare type of wetland that is fed not just by rain, but by 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗹𝘆 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗶𝗹, carrying minerals with it. Because of that, fens tend to stay consistently wet and slightly alkaline, which allows a very particular community of plants to thrive—many of which you won’t find in more common wetlands. The fen at Pearl Forge is a 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗳𝗲𝗻, meaning it’s especially influenced by calcium-rich groundwater, which shapes both the soil chemistry and the plant life in really distinctive ways.

We’re still learning how to explain fens in a way that does them justice, but part of what makes this flower so meaningful is that it only appears when those conditions are just right.

Seeing it bloom again feels like a quiet reminder that restoration is a long game.

You clear away years of dense, tangled growth. Light reaches the ground again. What was suppressed starts to stir—seeds that have been waiting, sometimes for decades, finally respond. You burn, mow, wait, and watch. And sometimes, if you’re lucky, the land begins to answer back.

This week we also noticed white-beaked rush in the wet meadow that The Prairie Enthusiasts - Glacial Prairie Chapter burned this spring, and grass-leaved goldenrod along the creek that we didn’t see last year.

We’re learning that some of the most meaningful moments at Pearl Forge aren’t the big ones.

Sometimes they’re a single flower, a plant we haven’t seen before, or a bird passing over the pond.

The land has its own timeline.

We're just learning how to pay attention.

08/09/2026

A few weeks ago, we shared that we were entering a new chapter at Pearl Forge, one where we're beginning to share more of the story behind this place and the questions we're exploring along the way.

Today, we're going back to the beginning.

Our first 𝗣𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲 𝗝𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗹 entry is now live:

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗣𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱
𝘖𝘯𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘺𝘤𝘭𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘦, 𝘢 𝘤𝘦𝘥𝘢𝘳 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘱 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨.

It turns out the story of Pearl Forge doesn't really begin with a farm.

It begins with a motorcycle ride during the first year of COVID, a beautiful piece of land we weren't planning to buy, and a question that slowly became impossible to ignore:

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗳 𝘄𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻'𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝘄𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴?

Five years later, that question has taken us from a comfortable subdivision to nearly 100 acres, ten months living in a camper, an unexpected journey into conservation, and a vision for creating a place where people can connect with land, food, creativity, and one another.

Along the way, another question has emerged, one we didn't necessarily know we were asking when we started:

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗮 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗹𝘆 𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲?

We don't have the answers. We're still figuring it out.

But those questions - about land, family, community, work, enough, and what makes a life fulfilling - are becoming part of what Pearl Forge is really about.

If you've been following along for a while, this is the story behind the story. If you're new to Pearl Forge, it's a good place to start.

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗣𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲 𝗝𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗹:
https://substack.com/home/post/p-209416602

And if you'd like to follow along, you can subscribe to the Journal. We'll share new stories and reflections about once a month.

08/02/2026

One of the things we're beginning to think more deeply about at Pearl Forge is what it means to share a place.

For nearly five years, this land has primarily been our home — a place where we've learned to live with the seasons, restore habitat, grow food, and slowly figure out what it means to care for nearly 100 acres.

Now we're entering a new chapter. We're beginning to open the property to others through gatherings, educational experiences, workshops, and opportunities to simply spend time on the land.

We know that sharing a rural place comes with responsibility. We want to be thoughtful about how people experience Pearl Forge, respectful of our neighbors, and intentional about protecting the qualities of this place that made us fall in love with it in the first place.

We're still figuring out what that looks like. But that's part of the experiment.

Next Saturday, we'll take another small step in that direction when Pearl Forge welcomes visitors as one of the stops on Tall Pines Conservancy's Bus to the Barns tour. We're looking forward to sharing the property and talking about conservation, working lands, and our journey to protect this place for the long term.

And as we reach the midpoint between the summer solstice and fall equinox, it feels fitting to pause and notice that the season is beginning to turn. There's still plenty of summer ahead, but the landscape is already quietly shifting.

We're grateful to be entering this next season of Pearl Forge — and to begin sharing this place a little more widely.

Want to join us?
Learn more about the Bus to the Barns tour and registration here: 👇
https://www.facebook.com/events/4323507131221818

Pearl Forge Conservancy

10/11/2026

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