Marieke Gouda
After picking up breakfast, our first stop of the day was Marieke Gouda. Marieke Gouda is located in Thorp, WI and is the home to several award-winning types of gouda. The gouda has won over 150 awards since 2006, including winning the U.S. Grand Champion in 2013 with the Marieke Gouda MAture aged 6-9 months. Marieke Gouda is owned by Rolf and Marieke Penterman and was started due to Marieke making the cheese due to missing the cheese that she was used to back home in the Netherlands. There are over 23 available flavors of gouda and the cheese is sold across the United States. On the same property that the Marieke Gouda store lies on, there are also the cheesemaking facility and the Penterman farm.
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45 x 90 Geographical Marker
45° x 90° W is the halfway point between north pole and the equator as well as London, UK to 180° Meridian Located about 10 km (6 miles) southeast of Athens, Wisconsin. The park is small, only 20 feet (6 meters wide) by ¼ mile (400 meters) long and the hours are 24/7. Currently a thousand a month are visiting. There are four other points 45°/ 90°, the two south of equator are both in Oceans. The other one in the Northern Hemisphere is in mountainous Northwest China. Therefore, this makes the one near Athens, Wisconsin the easiest 45x90 location to get to. GPS units might be tad off, depending on the model and year of your GPS.
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Stoney Acres farm, Athens, WI
The day progressed with a visit at Stoney Acres farm near Athens, Wisconsin where we were enlightened about an innovative way to farm that simultaneously benefits the community. At the farm, Tony Schultz, the owner, explained how Stoney Acres operated as a Community Supported Agricultural Farm (CSA) where members in the community could purchase a share of the farm. By purchasing this share, members in the community fund the operations on the farm where they will personally receive a bountiful, weekly package of organic vegetables and fruits during the growing season. The purpose behind this program is to increase awareness and engagement in the farming process while enjoying locally harvested, delicious food. After the educational talk, the class was offered to feast on the fresh, delectable produce and vegetables in the form of a pizza lunch. All it took was one taste of the pizza for us to realize the importance and superb quality of locally grown community funded farms.
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River bend vineyard & winery, Chippewa Falls, WI
On October 3rd, 2020 our class took a trip to the Riverbend Winery located in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. This was the last stop of the day where we were able to test taste (if not driving) locally made and sourced wine. They had many flavors ranging from sweet to dry wines. We were also able to walk through the vineyard and look at the different types of grapes that are grown in order to make the wine. We spent a majority of the time walking up and down the vineyards using our Plantnet App to try to identify the different grape types. Riverbend was a great and relaxing way to end our long day full of traveling.
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