SEPTEMBER 11-20: Down On The Farm

Ever since we started fulltime RV living in 2012, we've talked about workamping. Our other plans always got in the way of setting aside time to do this. Three weeks ago we saw a request for workampers on a farm near Grand Marsh, WI for a 4-6 week period. This location was only 110 miles southeast of Osseo, WI, and we had no definite plans for that time period. A long phone call with Meaghan, co-owner of the farm, convinced us to give this opportunity a try.

Grand Marsh itself is a very small unincorporated town (2010 population was 127) and is east of La Crosse, and north of Madison.  The town has Myrt's Handi-Mart with gas pumps, a post office (only open a few hours a day), an elementary school, fire deparmtent, The Wooden Nickel Bar,  and  some homes.  Adams, about 15 minutes from us, is the nearest town with shopping, restaurants and other services.

 Three miles from Grand Marsh is Wallendal Farms, a 3100 acre family farm growing many different crops and Wisconsin's largest pumpkin grower. Now is the time for the pumpkin and squash harvest. Hank's job is to drive the various farm vehicles back and forth from the fields as well as operating a fork lift in the packing shed. Selene works part-time as needed with shipping paperwork and office data entry. Our campsite is a spot about 1/4 mile away next to some short grain silos on the edge of corn fields. We have a 50 amp electrical hookup and non-potable water available.  Verizon phone and data signals are strong.

Here is a link to a satellite view of the farm headquarter, the owner's house across the road, and on the right side are the grain elevators where we're camped next to cornfields.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Wallendal+Farms/@43.9089272,-89.6753594,546m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m7!3m6!1s0x8800c84bec95da9f:0x35c2efecc49cbe4d!8m2!3d43.9087261!4d-89.6778491!9m1!1b1

When we arrived on the  afternoon of Tuesday, Sept. 11, we were warmly welcomed by the various family members and other workers, had a short tour of the facility and took care of paper work. On Wednesday, Sept. 12, we clocked in and received food-safety education, then started our first day of training which lasted about 4 hours. Hank learned to operate the 3 tractors, pickup truck, the forklift, and gutted school buses (for hauling pumpkins).



 Selene learned the shipping data entry protocol.  Hank's work day can start before dawn and can last until dusk depending on shipping needs. They will try to give us 2 days off per week, but  that is dependent on shipping orders.  The actual field picking and packing is done by migrant workers, mostly from Mexico.

They've harvested the corn since we've been here, and they were right beside our rig - a harvester and semi truck with open trailer driving side by side down several rows at a time with more semi's falling into place as the loaded one departed. They worked until after dark several nights. Since we're both born and raised city folks, this was something new to see close up.



There was another workamping couple parked at our location until 2 days ago when they left for an event, but they'll be back sometime next week.  The farm owner's home is the storm shelter for all workers during work hours,  and for us after hours.  The daytime temperatures were hot the first part of this week, but after the last two rainy days, there might be frost on some of those pumpkins Saturday morning and there should be much cooler days next week.

We'll share some more details of our life on the farm in the days ahead.