Wisconsin Life

- The following program is a PBS Wisconsin original production.

[bright music] - Angela Fitzgerald: Coming up on Wisconsin Life: meet an urban farmer planting seeds of change.

A bike enthusiast fixing up two-wheelers for a good cause.

A crew restoring a historic German housebarn, and an artist using alcohol ink to create vivid paintings.

That's all ahead on Wisconsin Life!

[bright music] - Announcer: Funding for Wisconsin Life is provided by Lowell and Mary Peterson, Alliant Energy, A.C.V.

and Mary Elston Family, Focus Fund for Wisconsin Programs, and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.

- Hi, I'm Angela Fitzgerald, and this is Wisconsin Life .

Vegetables are cropping up as we visit the Native Wellness Garden, an urban growing space dedicated to preserving traditional indigenous practices.

This lush garden is located in Milwaukee and run by the Gerald L. Ignace Indian Health Center, in partnership with UW-Extension, all with the intention of helping the community prevent and manage chronic diseases while living a healthy lifestyle.

It's a bountiful garden rooted in indigenous agriculture, and everything's organic.

Volunteers help things thrive by keeping the gardens weed-free without harsh chemicals.

Each week, fresh produce is harvested, and more than 800 pounds of food is given away annually.

That means a lot grows here including the Three Sisters Garden, the Medicine Wheel, and even an orchard.

Throughout the summer, classes or lessons from the garden are offered, welcoming visitors to engage and learn about indigenous foodways.

It's a space run for and by the community.

Now, let's meet another grower to see what's sprouting.

As we travel to Fitchburg, where a longtime farmer and his family work to bring fresh food to the city.

[upbeat music] When it comes to organic farming, Robert Pierce has the answers.

- I believe that if you eat healthy food, you get a healthy mind.

– Shellie Meier: He's very important to, not just our community, but to anyone that wants to know how to grow, whether it's their own farm or their own garden.

– Robert: You getting in?

Okay.

– Angela: Robert learned about food at an early age.

- Yes.

Then them's the turnips, mustards.

– Angela: He grew up in the '50s on Madison's South side.

– Robert: My grandmother, she had a big garden, so we were always in her garden.

– Angela: Today, this is just one of several gardens Robert tends to.

- When you think of farming, you don't think of your traditional African American family.

You don't think Robert Pierce, farmer, Madison, Wisconsin.

– Angela: Robert has nurtured this homegrown idea since coming back from Vietnam, quitting school, and setting out to become a certified organic farmer.

– Robert Pierce: It was like 1983.

They had discerned that South Madison was a food desert, and that there was not enough fresh, safe, affordable food in the area.

I wanted that help out by bringing that healthy food back to South Madison.

– Angela: As one of the few African American farmers in Wisconsin, it hasn't been easy.

- Lonely.

[chuckles] It's been a hard road, but I'm still here.

You know, grace of God.

– Angela: Robert's secrets aren't found buried in the soil.

The seeds of success are found in his heart, along with the three p's of planting.

– Robert: Patience is number one, that you can put the seed in the ground, but you can't make it come up.

Being persistent.

If this doesn't work, then maybe this'll work.

Not to put all of your tomatoes in one basket.

[laughs] Passion.

If you love what you do, then do what you love.

You can't lose that way.

– Angela: Sharing the love often happens at the South Madison Farmer's Market.

– Robert: Whatever is in season, we usually have.

– Angela: Robert, along with his daughter, Shellie, have run the market for more than 20 years.

- South Madison Market is a hub of love as I call it.

When he's there, it's like a little celebrity.

Everybody wants to talk to him.

- Interesting part is growing stuff and then having people tell me how great it is.

– Angela: For many years, Robert has also planted a lifeline for those coming out of prison in a program called FAIR, Farming After Incarceration Release.

– Robert: It's a program that was put together to help learn how to do a farming operation for themselves and how to become self-sufficient.

Well, it gives 'em a sense of hope.

[people laughing] How can I help you?

It's also a sense of giving back to society.

How do you check the soil?

Being able to say, "Let's do this together."

You should be dry enough out here for you to do something with your tilling today.

- He doesn't just teach you how to farm, but he also teaches you kindness, love, a little, sometimes stern, you know?

How to be your own.

[gentle music] - Robert: We're helping right now to get African Americans back into this.

We're building our own farmers.

– Angela: Convincing others to follow his lead has been a challenge.

- Most African Americans associate farming with slavery so they gotta get out of that.

- I don't see it as like a slave work.

I see this as work that needs to be done because this is beautiful.

I'm connected to the ground.

I'm connected to the earth out here, and it's healing.

I call myself "the dirty diva."

[Shellie laughs] - Angela: For Robert, his mission of teaching others to farm has been a long road of toil and torment.

– Robert: We still gotta put more, some more lettuce, rest of that lettuce there, too.

– Angela: And the path to success is still a work in progress.

– Robert: That's gonna be a good one.

- He's a community patriarch.

He's Robert; he's my dad.

[Shellie laughs] - There's a satisfaction knowing that I'm helping somebody to help themselves.

Yeah, I see progress happening - Angela: And progress on this farm, always comes with a smile.

[Robert laughs] - Yeah, life is great, man.

[chuckles warmly] [upbeat music] - Angela: Next up, we meet a bike mechanic in Chippewa Falls, fixing up recycled bikes and giving them new life for a good cause.

[upbeat music] [gears chiming] Many times in life, things start out of necessity.

Mike Van Dusseldorp began fixing bicycles in his garage because of just that.

– Mike Van Dusseldorp: My wife and I had some bikes that we rode, and little things would break on the way, so I'd start carrying tools and stuff and tweaking on 'em and it was just kind of something that I enjoyed - Angela: Soon, what started because of a need shifted gears to become a hobby and then once more, to become a passion.

[upbeat music] - Got your road bikes, your BMX bikes.

You got jump bikes, and gravel bikes, and racing bikes, and they're all designed for a different purpose.

– Angela: It was this chain of events that moved Mike to meet a different kind of need.

[upbeat music] - There's so many people that are homeless that I've kind of always had a passion for helping the homeless and so forth.

I've done it pretty much my whole life and I realized that there was a lot of people that needed bikes.

It just made sense to me that that was something that I needed to do, so.

[bike handles rattle] - Angela: Mike fixes and donates bicycles to people experiencing homelessness or lacking transportation.

- I put out a notice online, basically, on Facebook just saying, "This is what I want to do."

And it was three, four days and I had probably 40, 50 bikes show up and it just kind of started piling up from there.

– Angela: His message spoke volumes.

Literally, his yard became a hub for old, donated bikes creating a surplus of used parts and materials that would otherwise remain stationary.

– Mike: I mean, I have some that, basically, just need a chain or need to have something adjusted that might take me 15 minutes.

And then I have others that are completely shot and some of those, you know, I might spend four, or five, six hours on.

– Angela: Each bike serves a purpose.

- So, that's the thing that says it's a 26" but this rim is for a 24".

– Angela: Even if that purpose takes a little figuring out to fit into place.

- Half of what I'm doing now, I had to learn myself, and I had no clue as to what I was doing.

I had people that would donate tools or something.

I didn't even know what they were, so I'd have to look it up and find out, "What is this for?"

And I think that that's really what I love about it.

I hate puzzles, but I like mechanics and I think this is kind of a meshing of that.

It's a puzzling mechanic.

– Angela: Mike has cycled through countless pairs of handlebars, cassettes, and pedals, giving away close to 500 bicycles to people simply needing a ride.

- It's not so much about just helping people, but it kind of helps you, too, in a way.

It gives you that sense of belonging and that sense of, "I matter," and you're doing something that's not just for you.

You're helping other people and by giving them joy, that's kind of what keeps you going.

– Angela: His giving has expanded, adding non-perishable food items to the list.

All are supplied through donations, either from the community or himself.

It's a chance to further help people find a better path in life.

- Life is like riding a bicycle.

If you wanna keep your balance, you have to keep moving.

And I think that's the biggest thing is just don't give up and give people hope.

Keep 'em moving.

[gentle music] - Angela: For some, these stacks of broken-down bikes might look a bit overwhelming or deflating.

– Mike: That's better.

– Angela: But to Mike, he sees something different: kindness.

- Yes, it's a lot to look at and it's kind of tacky looking, sure, but at the same time, every time that somebody looks at it, I can just say, "No, this is beautiful because this is human kindness."

And I think that that to me is really what it embodies is just kindness and loving one another and being there to help each other.

[gentle music] What greater thing is there than being able to do that?

I mean, I love it.

[laughs] [wind chimes] - I'm touring the Native Wellness Garden in Milwaukee learning about indigenous foodways and the people maintaining this beautiful space.

– Angela: Nestled just off a busy road on the south side of Milwaukee, is a gardener's paradise, the Native Wellness Garden.

I'm meeting up with Lisa, the Community Outreach Coordinator, to get a tour of the growing space and learn how the garden supports the work of the Gerald L. Ignace Indian Health Center.

– Lisa Albright: So, this area of the garden where we grow our medicinal medicines.

There are four: there's sweet grass, there's sage, there is tobacco, and then, over there, we have our cedar trees.

- I notice that on the signs, too, you have the plant type written out in more than one language.

- That is correct.

So, it's written in English and as well as in Ojibwe.

That was an art project that was taken on a few years ago by the native youth.

They put these signs together and painted them for our medicinal plants.

- All right.

So, we've talked about tobacco, cedar, sweet grass, sage, and I think a medicine wheel is up next that we may be able to check out.

- That's right.

We can head right over and check out the medicine wheel.

- Okay, perfect.

- Thank you.

[gentle music] It was created by a UWM intern.

It took him two seasons to create it.

- Oh.

- And he has broken up the entire circle into four different quadrants.

The plants that are within that quadrant are representative of what is medicinal in that area of the country.

– Angela: Very nice.

– Lisa: We do have a binder that he put together for us and labeled each and every plant, what they do, what their medicinal purposes are.

So we have found that through this garden, we are able to grow healthy food, where they're able to come out pick the produce, or they can come to our health center, and they can get free produce which helps with your overall diet.

– Angela: Yes.

- So many chronic diseases, it all comes back to your diet.

And so if we can make healthy food more accessible for our patients as well as our community, that's just a win-win for all of us.

– Angela: Absolutely.

It's a win for everyone, including the community gardeners with plots here.

I met with one of those growers volunteering in the garden.

- I've been a member for four years now, and I started out growing zucchini, and just different plants that I have never tried before.

– Tammy: This year, we're doing onions and green beans and such, and I'm really enjoying it.

- Awesome.

And is there anything significant about this particular space for you as a gardener?

- I just like the atmosphere, in general.

You've seen the beautiful trees and just the setting, just very peaceful and relaxing, and it just makes you feel, like you said, like a community and everybody learns from each other and it's just a very rewarding experience for me.

- A plentiful garden with a deeply rooted purpose.

Now let's traverse the state and meet someone else sharing their life with us.

– Angela: We go to Centerville to connect with volunteers working to preserve a building that's more than 170 years old.

– Richard: It kinda looks like a factory from the road.

– Angela: It's designated as one of Wisconsin's 10 most endangered buildings.

– Richard: It's unique in the fact that it's still standing.

– Angela: And it sits on the National Registry of Historic Buildings.

– Richard: And the size is phenomenal.

It's over 110 feet long and it's 30 feet wide.

- It is the Lutze housebarn near Centerville.

- It's one family unit, a house and a barn together.

[gentle music] A living quarters on one end and the cattle living quarters on the other end.

It is convenient, especially in the northern climates like Wisconsin has that when the winters are harsh you just go from bed, have your breakfast, your frhstck in the morning and then you go, and you take care of the cattle.

– Angela: Richard Lutze's great grandparents built this housebarn in 1849, after immigrating from Saxony, Germany.

- They bought the land from the lighthouse keeper in Sheboygan.

This was a land of opportunity and still it is.

– Sarah Lutze: My husband is fifth generation, and my son is sixth generation, so it went Gottlieb, August, Richard, Roland, Richard.

– Angela: Sarah married into the Lutze family and it's the resident historian.

- I think they were very stout German people.

Very good German stock, as they say.

I think they both worked very, very hard.

– Angela: Besides the German work ethic, the Lutzes envisioned a housebarn for their eight children.

– Richard: Upstairs, directly above the barn, the small cattle and chickens were kept.

The eastern side was bedrooms.

There's at least three bedrooms and a big hallway in the middle.

– Angela: After nearly 175 years, the Lutzes needed a plan to preserve this piece of German heritage.

– Richard: And that was the beginning of Centreville Settlement.

At the time, it was in very bad repair.

– Angela: The Centreville Settlement is a non-profit group dedicated to restoring the housebarn while preserving original tools and techniques.

- I'm jack of all trades and master of none.

– Angela: Chris Kuehnel is in charge of guiding this restoration and understands old world trades.

- Well, I've been Restoration Director since we decided to restore it really, and that's involved learning the different trades.

It was all new for me.

– Angela: The traditional German architecture makes this housebarn unique.

[soft music] - Chris: In the German style, "fachwerk" literally translates to "framework."

So in the early design, we had opted to cut out the most rotten portions, which was the lower part here, and bolt in the new timbers just with a simple joint.

– Angela: The work is laborsome and time-consuming.

– Chris: But there are two 47-foot-long white oak timbers that were hand-hewn with broad ax, which was primarily me.

The one had 52 joints cut into it.

That all had to be positioned properly in order to fit in to the rest of the building.

– Richard: Everything has to fit exactly so that it leans on itself.

It's almost indestructible.

– Angela: One of those indestructible features: a root cellar buried beneath the housebarn.

- The hooks and the ceiling are for hanging their meat, their pork, or their beef, which would've been salted and hung down here to either dry or age.

It stayed about 56 degrees in here year-round.

– Angela: Year after year, volunteers have been the weekend workforce.

- It was always something to do.

At times, it was always something to dread.

People do get dirty.

They do get sweaty.

They're called work days.

- Oh, we couldn't do anything without the volunteers.

I mean this place would've been flat years ago.

– Richard: Good morning.

– Angela: Volunteers are more than 30 years into the renovations and estimating another 10 to go.

– Chris: Boy, it's gonna shred the cup.

– Richard: Anyway, I admit I still see a lot of tarps and it would be nice to not seeing the tarps on the side.

– Chris: At this time of year, we're buttoning stuff up making sure all the tarps are tight.

Okay, once we get done putting the siding on, it'll be stable for another a hundred and some years.

- All right.

- The end game is to have it be a place where people can walk through.

– Angela: In the spirit of their German ancestors, the Lutzes are bringing the housebarn back to life.

– Richard: All too many people forget where they came from, who their relatives are.

It's all right here in the buildings.

It's been my family for the entire time.

– Sarah: I think there's something really worthy here.

It's a testimony to the time and how well things were built, and I think it should be saved.

[soft music] - Angela: Our last story takes us to Cumberland, where an artist is using alcohol ink to create vivid animal paintings.

[sentimental music] - Jan Killian: Ever since I was little, I loved animals.

It is just in me, through and through.

I was the kid that somebody would find a bug in our house and say, "Oh, there's a beetle here," and I'd yell, "Don't kill it."

And I'd be running over, and I'd grab it and I'd put it outside.

I've always been that way.

So, I can't explain it.

[Jan laughs] [upbeat music] I am Jan Killian.

I'm a full-time artist.

I live in Cumberland, Wisconsin.

I paint wildlife.

I love painting birds, and frogs, and turtles.

I take my own pictures and paint from that.

[upbeat music] Okay.

I paint with alcohol ink.

Alcohol ink is just a dye-based ink in an alcohol solution.

[soft music] I'm not much of an abstract artist.

I paint more realism.

A lot of alcohol ink is done with just abstract because it is so hard to control.

It's like painting with water basically, but it moves on its own.

It dries within probably seven seconds.

I did a lot of research online and looked for other people that were painting with it and I couldn't find anybody.

It was basically abstract.

Just the difficulty in it, it was such a challenge and I just love challenges.

Finally, just through my own determination, I figured out a way to control it.

When I wanna start a painting, I start with the eye.

If I can get that eye perfect so it draws people in.

You can basically do anything else you want with the rest of the painting because the eye is telling this story and it, yeah, the rest of it just comes along.

I do my best to wrangle it to get control.

It just depends upon the subject and the detail and how the ink is flowing that day.

'Cause it definitely has a mind of its own.

I've known a lot of other artists that have said, they see my work and they think, "Oh, this would be so much fun to try."

And then, they buy the inks, and they say, "There's no way I just, this is crazy.

I can't do it."

So, but a lot of it is just determination.

[soft music] I love doing the process from taking the pictures [birds chirping] to creating the artwork and having my soul go into each piece.

[upbeat music] It's just-- yeah, I couldn't be happier.

[Jan laughs] [gentle music] - We dug in at the Native Wellness Garden all while visiting people from around Wisconsin.

Check out more by visiting WisconsinLife.org.

And reach out on social media or by emailing [email protected].

I'm Angela Fitzgerald, and this is our Wisconsin Life!

Happy planting!

Bye.

[upbeat music] - Announcer: Funding for Wisconsin Life is provided by Lowell and Mary Peterson, Alliant Energy, A.C.V.

and Mary Elston Family, Focus Funds for Wisconsin Programs, and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.