Saturday, September 5, 2:00-5:00 with potluck to follow
Little Platte Community Work Day

Our September work day is going to be a little bit different than usual; our goal is to work on some small construction projects inside the house, as we continue to transition our kitchen to a wood-burning stove in an effort to eliminate our use of fossil fuels on the farm. While kids are usually welcome at these days, this month we ask for no kids. If you would like details, to RSVP, or have questions, contact Lincoln directly or reply here.

And finally, a reminder to get your tickets for our October 3 fundraising concert, Big Show at Little Platte!

Get your Big Show tickets today!

TICKETS & DETAILS HERE

TICKETS & DETAILS HERE, pay-as-you-can with a suggested donation of $10

This year’s event will start with a farm happy hour, featuring pay-as-you-can wood-fired pizza, snacks, and drinks hand-crafted at the farm. There will be a farm tour (come see the veggie gardens, see our projects-in-progress, and meet the goats, ducks, chickens, & other critters), and bid at our silent auction featuring local art, experiences, and more.

The music portion of the evening will begin with a set by Little Platte’s own Lincoln Winter, followed by performances by dear friends-of-the-farm Turtledoves and Phabies (music and details below!) The evening will end with an encore performance by the Little Platte Family Band, and some brief sharing about our farm and work.

The show will be held in our “studio barn” with a large garage door open to the outdoors, featuring both indoor and outdoor seating options. If needed, there will be a wood-burning stove inside, and a large bonfire outdoors. Please dress appropriately!

There is limited camping space available at the farm the nights before and after the show; if you are interested in staying here, please reach out personally and let us know! Please bring lawn chairs or other seating if you are able.

5:00 Farm Happy Hour

• Featuring drinks, snacks, and wood-fired pizza with farm-fresh ingredients, all available for sale with pay-as-you-can pricing to directly support the farm

• Farm tour

• Silent auction featuring local art, experiences, and more

6:30-9:30 MUSIC

• Lincoln Winter

• Phabies (Michigan, friends of Little Platte!)

• Turtledoves (Michigan, friends of Little Platte!)

• Encore Performance to the end the night by The Little Platte Family Band

By attending this event, you will be supporting the ongoing work of the farm as we seek to continue to live io our values of spirtuality, community, hospitality, right relationship with the land, simplicity and homemaking, non-violence, education, decolonization and anti-racism, and creativity. You can learn more about our work here.

Phabies:

Bandcamp: https://phabies.bandcamp.com/

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/phabies/1438142682

Spotify:

Turtledoves:

Bandcamp: https://turtledoves.bandcamp.com/

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/turtledoves/1439089121

Spotify:

First, a quick dive back into July. We were so grateful to partner once again this year with the Dubuque Rescue Mission to cater their annual fundraising dinner. Allyson planned and headed preparation for a beautiful 3-course Mediterranean feast, featuring lots of fresh produce from Little Platte. A special thanks to Maggie, who happened to be visiting from Mustard Seed Catholic Worker Farm and jumped right into helping us with several long days of prep in the kitchen!

Saturday, August 8, 2:00-5:00
Groundswell Joy Collective at DBQfest, Dubuque

Lyric and Allyson will be heading up community puppet and art-making at DBQfest at Washington Park in Dubuque this weekend. Come say hello! More information here.

Saturday, August 29 2:00-5:00
Natural Dyeing: A hands-on workshop (with LaKiah) at Little Platte
A reminder about this workshop, which is almost full! Register today if you’d like a spot.

Plants can create a wide range of lasting colors to dye your clothes and more! Learn about dyeing with plants grown here on the farm or in your garden. We will learn about how dyes bond with natural fibers and try several dying techniques. Bring a 100% natural material item (wool, silk, cotton, or linen) to dye a shade of light blue with fresh indigo! We will also provide fabric pretreated to absorb natural dyes so you can experiment with other dye methods such as dye baths and eco-printing.

Tuesday, September 15, 6:30-8:00 pm
"The World Will Be Saved By Beauty”, Shalom Spirituality Center, Dubuque

Allyson will be co-facilitating this “evening of participatory song, story, movement, and reflection that invites us to explore how creativity and shared ritual can become pathways toward peace.” RSVPs are encouraged, but walk-ins are welcome. RSVP and more information here.

Saturday, September 5, 2:00-5:00 with potluck to follow
Little Platte Community Work Day

Our September work day is going to be a little bit different than usual; our goal is to work on some small construction projects inside the house, as we continue to transition our kitchen to a wood-burning stove in an effort to eliminate our use of fossil fuels on the farm. While kids are usually welcome at these days, this month we ask for no kids. If you would like details, to RSVP, or have questions, contact Lincoln directly or reply here.

In the vein of this project, does anyone have a floor jack or two we might be able to borrow?

And a couple of future save-the-date reminders:

Saturday, October 3
Big Show at Little Platte
Our second annual fundraising concert at the farm! Details coming later this week.

November 14 2:00-5:00
Handmade Advent Wreath Workshop (with Lyric & Allyson)

Cast Iron Care & Cooking: A hands-on workshop (with Matt)

Saturday, July 11 2:00-4:00
REGISTER HERE

Join us to debunk the myths and embrace the science and story of cast iron pans. Hands on cleaning, seasoning, cooking demonstrations, and tastings in our outdoor kitchen. If you’d like, you are invited to bring a troublesome cast iron pan that we can troubleshoot together. Light drinks and snacks will be provided

Community Work Day

Sunday, July 12 2:00-5:00, potluck to follow at 5:30
1860 Stumptown Road, Platteville

Our monthly community farm work day will be happening this Sunday (rather than the usual first Saturday of the month). Join us for a TBD project, with tasks available for all ages and abilities. We’ll have a potluck to follow, so bring a dish to share. RSVPs are encouraged, but not required!

Farmers Markets

Dubuque Farmers Market
Saturdays 7-noon

Platteville Farmers Market
Saturdays 8-noon

As always, join us weekly at farmer’s market in either Dubuque or Platteville! Come early to get the best selection and say hello.

“Let us create a society in which it is easier for people to be good.”

As we continue to seek to understand (and create!) the world that Maurin refers to here, we are consistently drawn back to our stated community values: spirituality, community, hospitality, right relationship with the land, simplicity & homemaking, non-violence, education, decolonization and anti-racism, and creativity. It is in the ongoing spirit of these values that we’re thrilled to announce the remainder of our 2026 workshop lineup!

All of these hands-on workshops are offered at an affordable sliding scale, and take place here at Little Platte Catholic Worker Farm outside of Platteville. Registration for each class is limited and open now, at the links below. You can also find more details there! Come join us, and invite a friend. :)

July 11 2:00-4:00
Cast Iron Care & Cooking: A hands-on workshop (with Matt)
Join us to debunk the myths and embrace the science and story of cast iron pans. Hands on cleaning, seasoning, and cooking demonstrations. You are invited to bring a troublesome cast iron pan that we can troubleshoot together.

August 2 2:00-5:00
Pickling & Canning: A hands-on workshop (with Lyric & Allyson)
Lyric and Allyson will guide you through the process step by step, so you can confidently preserve your own pickles at home. We'll be using fresh, seasonal veggies grown right here on the farm, and you'll leave with your own cans to take home. Our exact project(s) will be determined closer to the workshop date when we have a better idea of what will be in season, but may include classic cucumber pickles, dilly beans, zucchini relish, or pickled beets!

August 29 2:00-5:00
Natural Dyeing: A hands-on workshop (with LaKiah)
Plants can create a wide range of lasting colors to dye your clothes and more! Learn about dyeing with plants grown here on the farm or in your garden. We will learn about how dyes bond with natural fibers and try several dying techniques. Bring a 100% natural material item (wool, silk, cotton, or linen) to dye a shade of light blue with fresh indigo! We will also provide fabric pretreated to absorb natural dyes so you can experiment with other dye methods such as dye baths and eco-printing.

November 14 2:00-5:00
Handmade Advent Wreath Workshop (with Lyric & Allyson)
Slow down and reconnect to the sacred this holiday season as we create a handmade Advent wreath to bring beauty and meaning to your holiday season. Lyric and Allyson will lead this two-part workshop, first learning to hand-dip beeswax candles and then learning to forage and create your very own natural wreath from our farm.

First, we wanted to notice that this is your very last chance to join our 18-week sliding scale payment CSA, which starts next week. You can learn more and sign up here.

And on another logistical note: while we generally have a community work day on the first Saturday of each month, we have decided to move this month’s back a week to Saturday, June 13 due to scheduling conflicts. We aren’t sure exactly what project we’ll be working on yet, but we’ll have tasks available for all ages and abilities. The details:

Community Work Day
Saturday, June 13 2:00-5:00
Bring water, sunscreen, and work clothes!
RSVP if possible for our planning
At the farm, 1860 Stumptown Road in Platteville

And now, a fun roundup of photos and updates from May!

Farmers’ Markets!

Saturday, May 2, 7:00-noon (Dubuque) and 8:00-noon (Platteville)

This weekend kicks off both the Platteville, WI and Dubuque, IA Farmers’ Markets, both of which you’ll find us at weekly for the rest of the season.

This week, we’ll have a variety of seedlings for your gardens available, grown right here on the farm in our newly-built greenhouse! Either this week or next the seedlings will be joined by earliest-season produce, possibly including spinach and radishes.

Community Work Day

Saturday, May 2, 2026 2:00-5:00 PM

A reminder that on the first Saturday of each month we host a community workday. This Saturday, we’ll be working on a small area of the land where we’re implementing a food forest. design If you aren’t familiar, a food forest is a permaculture concept where edible and medicinal plants are planted in a way that mimics the way plants naturally grow and interact together in a forest landscape, with varying layers (canopy, ground cover, etc.).

We’ll be doing a bit of clearing/weeding, and a bit of planting. Please dress appropriately for the weather, and bring water! We have a few pairs of work gloves, but it’s probably a good idea to bring your own if you have them and know you’ll want them. RSVPs are always appreciated for planning, but certainly not required.

May Day/Beltane Celebration with Church of the Oak

Saturday, May 2, 2026 5-7:00 PM

Little Platte CW Farm- 1860 Stumptown Rd. Platteville, WI 53818

Join the Church of the Oak community to celebrate Beltane and May Day! Potluck at 5 (bring a dish to pass as well as your own dishware), followed by dancing around the Maypole from 5:30-7! Dress for the weather and bring a chair!

May Day/Beltane falls at the midway point between the Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice, a cross-quarter day. Beltane is a time of increase: as the days continue to lengthen, flora and fauna grow and multiply. On Beltane, we mark the transition from winter’s cold and darkness to spring’s warmth and light.

Maypoles use colors to represent the season and the harvest to come: gold for the sun, green for the leaves and vines and purple for grapes. As the dancers weave the ribbons together, it’s hoped they act as a prayer for all these elements to work together in harmony and produce a good crop. The dance itself is a symbol of the farmers/gardeners working together as they will work later in the year to bring the harvest in. A tall pole in the center serves as a totem for spring renewal, bringing life back to the land.

Save the Dates

May 23, 2026
Did you miss our last email about our dandelion workshop? See details and register here

May 30, 2026

Our collaborators at the Driftless Neighbors Network are hosing a community clothing swap! Details (including donation details) here

REGISTER HERE!

Local friends,

We’re excited to announce our first of many workshops and classes happening at the farm this summer: Dandelion Day!

What are the first words that you think of when you think of dandelions? Weed? Nuisance?

Well, did you know that dandelions were considered such an important food and medicinal source by Europeans that they were brought to North America onboard the Mayflower? Or that their greens are more nutritionally dense than kale? Or that their taproots play an important environmental role in breaking up compacted soil?

In this workshop, we’ll aim to “build relationship” with these often-forgotten plant neighbors, through hands-on foraging, cooking demos, a dandelion wine tutorial and tasting, history and folklore, and tastings.

REGISTER HERE!

We wanted to send out a couple of timely updates and announcements:

First and foremost, our CSA is almost full! If you’ve been meaning to secure your box for the year, now is the time. Our 18-week sliding-scale CSA program is at the heart of what we do here at the farm - healing relationships between people and the land, their communities, and the sacred. We grow delicious, seasonal produce for folks in the Platteville/Dubuque area using “beyond organic” practices to nourish the living soil. In 2026, we aim to donate thousands of pounds of food to various organizations.

You can find everything you need to know about our 2026 CSA at this registration link:

CSA SIGN-UP HERE

Join us April 11 for a community clean up day at the farm!

Over our time getting settled here at the farm over the past 2 years, we’ve accumulated a decent amount of trash (🙁) through clearing out outbuildings on the farm and some renovation projects. On April 11, we’ll be renting a dumpster, and are looking for hands to help us clean up the farm. This will be pretty physical labor, so dress accordingly and please bring work gloves if you have them!

Clean Up 9:30-12:30
Potluck to follow! Bring a dish to share
1860 Stumptown Road Platteville, WI

If you plan to attend, it would be great if you could send us a message to RSVP just so we have an idea of how many folks to expect.

Monthly community work days

The April 11 clean up is the first of our monthly community work days at the farm, which will be happening on the first Saturday of each month May-October! Exact times TBD, but they will be in the afternoon after our Saturday morning farmer’s markets. Feel free to add these dates to your calendar now.

April 15 Tax Day Bike Ride

Whew! Has there ever been a more relevant moment for us to gather to say “NO” to the way our tax dollars are spent? There seems to be more public support than ever to stop our money from paying for the expansion of ICE and kidnapping our immigrant neighbors, ongoing genocide in Gaza, and now the senseless war in Iran. Our work at the farm focuses on healing relationships, and for us that is inextricably tied to ending all violence and oppression, not just selling folks delicious food.

WHAT: Second Annual Dubuque Tax Day Bike Ride

WHEN: Wednesday April 15, 4-6 PM

WHERE: Dubuque, exact location TBD

If you’d like to be on the email list to receive details for this event, please let us know!

If you can’t attend but are interested in learning more about the way your tax dollars fund war and options for resisting, please visit the website of our friends at the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee!

And now, the really fun stuff!

Here’s a little roundup of some early spring photos at the farm!

Our herd of goats expanded dramatically a few weeks ago when our dear friend LaKiah welcomed a pregnant Nigerion Dwarf doe, Jane, to the farm. And soon after we welcomed her 4 kids: Valentine, Star, Lizzy, and Francis! They are super friendly, unbelievably tiny, and follow us all around the farm like puppies.

Lincoln is also continuing work on our new recycled glass greenhouse, funded by a generous grant from the Food, Faith, and Farming Network. The greenhouse is filling up with plants for the season, and the farm work has picked up dramatically in recent weeks. This week we planted onions, as well as direct seeding peas and carrots. Garlic and rhubarb are up, and we’re excited to plant some willow at the farm in coming days.

CSA Sign Ups are Open!

In case you missed it, registration is now open for our 2026 CSA membership.

We are excited to announce that registration for our 2026 CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is LIVE! Our 18-week sliding-scale CSA program is at the heart of what we do here at the farm - healing relationships between people and the land, their communities, and the sacred. We grow delicious, seasonal produce for folks in the Platteville/Dubuque area using “beyond organic” practices to nourish the living soil. In 2026, we aim to donate thousands of pounds of food to various organizations.

You can find everything you need to know about our 2026 CSA at this registration link:

CSA SIGN-UP HERE

Lenten Wild Church Series

“There are no unsacred places. There are only sacred places and desecrated places.” — Wendell Berry

Join the Church of the Oak — a community within the Wild Church network that our farm is a part of helping host — as we settle into Lent’s call to lament, grieve, pray, prune, honor the lengthening days, listen more deeply, and explore sacred and desecrated places within this driftless region of the Mississippi River valley. All of these events will take place fully outside, so please bring chairs and dress for the weather.

• Ash Wednesday, February 18, 4:30-6, O’Leary Lake, Keiler, WI

• Saturday, March 7, 3-4:30, Mines of Spain Kayak Launch, Dubuque

• Saturday, March 14, 3-4:30, Bee Branch, Dubuque

• Saturday, March 21 (Spring Equinox), 3-4:30, Swiss Valley Green Ash Pavilion, Peosta. Potluck to follow. Please bring a dish to share as well as your own dishware.

• Saturday, March 28, 3-4:30 Hardscrabble Prairie, Hazel Green, WI

• Good Friday Contemporary Way of the Cross, April 3rd, 9:30am, St. Raphael Cathedral, Dubuque

Singing Resistance Dubuque

Join our friends who are organizing this beautiful event!

There are songs for these times. Simple and powerful songs that uplift our collective vision and voice. Songs that ground us in courage and care. Come sing. Come as you are – hopeful, heartbroken, fearful, determined. We’ll use our voices to weave a net that can hold it all. All songs are simple and strong and taught by ear. No experience needed. Singing is for everyone!

We are excited to announce that registration for our 2026 CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is LIVE! Our 18-week sliding-scale CSA program is at the heart of what we do here at the farm - healing relationships between people and the land, their communities, and the sacred. We grow delicious, seasonal produce for folks in the Platteville/Dubuque area using “beyond organic” practices to nourish the living soil. In 2026, we aim to donate thousands of pounds of food to various organizations.

You can find everything you need to know about our 2026 CSA at this registration link:

CSA SIGN-UP HERE

Exciting changes to our CSA this year include:

• The addition of a new box size - half-shares (4-5 produce items) in addition to our full-shares (7-9 produce items)

• The ability to slightly customize produce boxes on a weekly basis

• The option to pay for produce with labor via our work-share program

• In addition to other returning highlights - sliding-scale payment options to increase food access and weekly hand-illustrated newsletters with recipes

Additionally, TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE FOR BRIGID’S FLAME (which you can read more about here)! We’re less than a month away from opening night! Have you reserved your tickets? We’ve made ticket pricing accessible for all. Choose the pricing that works for you! Tickets HERE

Spark- $15

We need lots of sparks to start a fire! Consider purchasing a ticket at this price if you would not be able to access this offering without a discounted payment option.

Ember- $30

Embers keep the eternal flame alive! Consider purchasing a ticket at this price to help sustain the work of Groundswell Joy Collective.

Neid Fire- $50

Neid Fires are lit in times of community need! Consider purchasing a ticket at this price if you have the means to assist us in keeping our offerings accessible to people in our community from all economic situations.

The Way Knows the Way- Free

This show is a work of love and we want the joy to be accessible to all! Consider purchasing a ticket here and donating any amount below that is within your means.

Can’t attend the show this year but want to support Brigid’s Flame and the ongoing mission of Groundswell Joy Collective to reawaken a sense of belonging, wonder, and connection to the earth through the participatory experiences of storytelling, song, dance, and silence? Donate HERE

We are so grateful for your support!

Hi friends!

Greetings from the snowy winter wonderland of Little Platte Catholic Worker Farm. We have had a beautiful few months resting after the end of the farming season. Last night, Grace led our community in an Advent liturgy around a fire up in our pine grove, and it was a beautiful reminder of the dark, anticipatory beauty of this season.

We hope to send a longer winter update in the near future, but today want to make a few special announcements.

First, a very last minute invitation to local friends to join us tonight for We Will Remain Here: Palestinian Nonviolent Resistance in a Time of Genocide. Tuesday, December 16, 6-8pm, Little Platte Catholic Worker Farm, 1860 Stumptown Rd., Platteville, WI - please bring snacks to share.

We will be hearing from our dear friend Brenna Cussen Anglada, who just returned from five weeks in the West Bank with a team trained in unarmed civilian accompaniment, or “protective presence.” Through photos and stories of courageous and steadfast nonviolent resistance, Brenna will share how Palestinians, indigenous to the West Bank, are committed to remaining on their land. She will also share what Palestinians are asking of internationals who wish to support them.

AND FINALLY, ANNOUNCING BRIGID’S FLAME!

For much of the past year, the Little Platters (especially Allyson and Lyric) have been pouring much of our creative imagination into an organization our friend Mary Kay has founded called the Groundswell Joy Collective. In January, our emerging Groundswell Joy Collective is launching “Brigid’s Flame: A Tale of Spring” – our first annual participatory theatrical celebration featuring community singing, dancing, storytelling, silence, and puppetry! Our celebration, held on January 30 and 31 at Steeple Square in Dubuque - will incorporate Irish myth and tradition centered on welcoming the Spring, the growing light, and the feminine connection to the land. We are so grateful to be collaborating with community song leader Lyndsey Scott on the project, and were recently granted a generous grant from the Iowa Arts Council to fund the project. Beautiful things are coalescing!

We plan to make Brigid’s Flame an annual touchstone in Dubuque to which the wider community looks forward every year! This central annual event will support our growing collective to more regularly weave community song, story, dance, and silence – what some call the “four universal healing salves” – into our community year round.

The whole farm will be involved in the production, and tickets are on sale now! We’ll send more photos and updates on the project as it approaches, including photos of the beautiful puppet and art/set making workdays we’ve been having at the farm every couple of weeks!

purchase tickets here!

Groundswell Joy Collective is a fiscally sponsored affiliate of the Dubuque County Fine Arts Society, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization

There is a lot going on at the farm this fall, and we thought a photo update would be a fun way to share-

THE FARM:

Starting with the most beautiful group of photos! The growing season is coming to a close, and we are rooted in deep gratitude for the abundance that this first year at Little Platte has brought. Here are a couple of CSA shares and farmer’s market setups from the past month, as well as photos from our Tomato Canning Workshops. We had a lot of guests in September (Hiiii Brandyn, Leen, Constance, Elli, and Lyd!), and were so grateful for their help on the farm.

PUPPET MAKING:

We haven’t shared much about this here yet (details coming soon!) but we are currently working with friends at the Groundswell Joy Collective on preparing for a January “participatory theatrical celebration” in Dubuque called Brigid’s Flame. This weekend, we had a community set, art, and puppet building day out in our “studio” space. We had over 20 friends in attendance, and were blown away by the creativity and imagination everyone brought to the project!
SUGAR CREEK:

Earlier this month we all attended the annual Sugar Creek Midwest Catholic Worker Gathering in Preston, Iowa! Allyson describes it as a big Catholic Worker “family reunion”, and it was a great chance to catch up with old and new friends and hear about what other communities have been up to. Highlights included annual traditions of an afternoon soccer game, variety show (including a skit where Lincoln and Allyson imagined what Damian and Misha might be doing up in their bedroom after bedtime each night), community song circle, and roundtable discussions about topics including war tax resistance, Palestine, and the “duty of delight AND resistance.”

And a final snapshot below! We were honored to cater a farm-to-table fundraiser dinner for our friends at the Dubuque Rescue Mission last month. Here is part of the catering crew who made this evening a reality.

See you all soon at the farm!

TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE

Friend-of-the-farm and acclaimed country blues & folk slide guitarist and vocalist Mike Munson will be performing! With opening acts by Little Platte’s own Grace Marshall and Lincoln Morris-Winter.

There is limited camping space available at the farm the nights before and after the show; if you are interested in staying here, please reach out and let us know!

We will be sharing a bit about our first year on the farm and ongoing work, as well as serving pay-as-you-can desserts (Allyson is making fried hand pies!! among other things) and hot drinks. Tickets are available by donation, with a suggested price of $10.

The show will be held in a pole barn with a large garage door open to the outdoors, featuring both indoor and outdoor seating options. There will be a wood-burning stove inside, and a large fire outdoors. Please dress appropriately! And please bring lawn chairs or other seating if you are able.

By attending this event, you will be supporting the ongoing work of the farm as we seek to continue to live into our values of spirituality, community, hospitality, right relationship with the land, simplicity and homemaking, non-violence, education, decolonization and anti-racism, and creativity. Specifically, we are currently fundraising to install solar panels at the farm and to transition our home to use wood burning stoves for both heat and cooking, both in a continued effort to eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels.

TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE

See you at the farm!

<3 The Little Platte Farmers

Events

In the next week and a half, we have a handful of events at the farm!

• Thursday, Sept 4, 5:00-8:00 PM
  TOMATO CANNING WORKSHOP
  register & get more info here

• Saturday, Sept 6, 2:00-5:00 workday, 5:30 potluck
  MONTHLY COMMUNITY WORK DAY
  A great way to get to know the farm while getting your hands in the dirt! We always have tasks for people of all ages and ability levels. We ask you to dress appropriately for the weather, and bring water and sunscreen as needed. Bring a potluck dish to share. PLEASE RSVP!
  

• Sunday, September 7, 5:00-8:00 PM
  TOMATO CANNING WORKSHOP
  register & get more info here
  

• And as a bit of an outlier, are there any local artist or puppeteers out there? Lyric and Allyson are currently working on creating props, sets, art, and puppets for a production that we are working on with friends at St. Isidore Catholic Worker Farm and the Groundswell Joy Collective. We we be sharing more details about the show soon, but in the meantime are looking for people who might be interested in joining us for monthly puppet and art work days at the farm. The first will be this Saturday, August 30 from 2-6 PM. If you’d like to be included in future communications about this project, please let us know! Here is a mood board that might help you envision the types of projects we’ll be working on.

Seconds Tomatoes

Local friends! We are offering #2 ("seconds") tomatoes (tomatoes that are slightly bruised, damaged, have wet spots, incomplete ripeness, etc.) at a bulk price of $.75/lb. These tomatoes will be a random mix of heirlooms/slicers/canning tomatoes. If you are interested, please respond with the qty. of tomatoes you are interested in, and we will coordinate with you individually to set up a dropoff/pickup plan and payment arrangement.

We are so excited to be hosting two Tomato Canning Workshops at the farm in just a few weeks!

Come join us in person at Little Platte Catholic Worker Farm in Platteville for a fun and informative workshop on how to can tomatoes. Lyric and Allyson will guide you through the process step by step, so you can confidently preserve your own tomatoes at home. We'll be using fresh tomatoes grown right here on the farm, and will be focusing on classic stewed tomatoes, as well as sharing some information about preserving tomato sauce and tomato jam. You will leave with your very own jar of canned tomatoes! Light snacks and drinks will be provided.

This class is great for beginners, or experienced canners looking to expand your knowledge and skills!

You can register for the Thursday session here or the Sunday session here. You can also find many more details and FAQs at these links. Please help us spread the word by forwarding this message on to anyone in the area you know who might be interested!

August is upon us! We’re currently swimming in the abundance of summer produce and summer beauty, and trying to soak in every second of this fleeting season. The farm is absolutely swarming with bumblebees, tomatoes and cucumbers are ripening almost faster than we can pick them, and on a few cold evenings this week we even felt a taste of the fall weather to come. We also celebrated Otter’s 2nd birthday this past week- happy birthday, Otter Pup!

In honor of the glory of late summer, I wanted to share this poem that has been rolling through my head all week:

August of another summer, and once again
I am drinking the sun
and the lilies again are spread across the water.
I know now what they want is to touch each other.
I have not been here for many years
during which time I kept living my life.
Like the heron, who can only croak, who wishes he
could sing,
I wish I could sing.
A little thanks from every throat would be appropriate.
This is how it has been, and this is how it is:
All my life I have been able to feel happiness,
except whatever was not happiness,
which I also remember.
Each of us wears a shadow.
But just now it is summer again
and I am watching the lilies bow to each other,
then slide on the wind and the tug of desire,
close, close to one another,
Soon now, I'll turn and start for home.
And who knows, maybe I'll be singing.

-Mary Oliver

At the beginning of the month, our entire community was able to attend our dear friends Tom and Karen Wuests’ triennial farm gathering in Ohio. (Farmers traveling in August?? A very special THANK YOU to our dear friend Clarissa for helping tend to the farm and making this trip possible!). We were able to spend three beautiful days camping at Tom and Karen’s stunning farm, catching up with many old and new friends, making music, swimming in the Brush Creek, and feasting on delicious food. We left with new inspiration and full spirits. Tom and Karen have been meaningful mentors, and their life on the land has deeply inspired and influenced the vision for Little Platte over the years.

Dubuque Rescue Mission Farm-to-Table Fundraiser Dinner

You are invited to a very special event! We’re honored to be helping host the Dubuque Rescue Mission’s Farm-to-Table Fundraiser Dinner, happening next Saturday, August 23. The meal is a four-course Southern-inspired fine dining experience, imagined and cooked by our very own Allyson Polman-Winter. It will feature a wealth of produce from our farm, as well as from the Mission’s community garden in Dubuque.

Dubuque Rescue Mission is “a community offering hospitality, spiritual hope, food, shelter, clothing, and job development to those in need.” We think of them as a sister organization in the work of pursuing justice and reconciliation in the Tri-State area.

Tickets and more information here.

Save the date- tomato canning workshops!

We are excited to be hosting two tomato canning workshops here at the farm in early September. We’ll send out many more details here soon, but for now, please save the dates for the evening of Thursday, September 4 and the evening of Sunday, September 7.

This Saturday, July 5, we’ll be having our monthly workday at the farm from 2:00-5:00! Join us for any portion, or the whole afternoon. Lincoln will be leading, and we’ll be focusing on weeding and other field work up in the main gardens, as well as some possible firewood collection. Followed by a potluck at 5:30. There will be tasks for any ability level, and kids are welcome! Please RSVP.

SUMMER FORAGING WALK & WORKSHOP

On Tuesday, July 8 from 5-7 PM, Lyric will be leading a foraging walk and workshop at the farm. We’ll talk briefly about the ethics and best practices for foraging, spend most of the time walking the property looking for edible plants and talking through their uses, and close by gathering to share some light foraged snacks. Plants we’re likely to focus on are mulberry, wild grape, elder, mushrooms, and summer greens. Please bring water and good shoes for walking! Please RSVP. We’re suggesting a sliding scale payment of $10-20 for the workshop, but no one will be turned away!

Peace and blessings to you all!

After a bit of a slow start to the season due to a cold spring and some nutrient lockup issues, the produce is really taking off! We’re excited to start our CSA in a few weeks, and have really loved the energy of the first month of farmer’s markets.

We welcomed four boisterous Nigerian Dwarf Goats to the farm this month - Miss Molly (10 yrs), and her doe, Zephyr (8 yrs), and two wethers, Henry and Oreo (8 yrs). They have already put in lots of work feasting on the opportunistic honeysuckle, multiflora rose, and wild parsnip that we’re working to minimize on the land. They’re incredibly social and have brought so much joy and life to the farm!

We also welcomed a hive of honeybees to the farm. Allyson has raised bees before, and they seemed to have settled right in under her care. We’re excited for their help with pollination, as well as eventually harvesting honey and beeswax for candle-making!

And last but certainly not least, we are delighted to say that our dear friend Grace Marshall will be living and working with us at the farm through at least the end of the growing season. It has been such a gift to all of us to have her rooted, playful, and intentional spirit here. We will let her introduce herself with this beautiful piece of writing she put together:

I landed in the Driftless region in March, just in time to celebrate my birthday, ringing in a new chapter alongside a new year of life. Having grown up in the flat lands of Indiana, the driftless region is new midwest terrain for me. I spent 10 years living in community and farming various urban plots in Cincinnati, Ohio, where I met and lived alongside Lyric, Matt, and Lincoln.
After a two year hiatus living and working at a remote mountain retreat center in the Northern Cascades of Washington, I am eager to be returning to working in the soil, familiarizing myself with the sounds of bird calls, reveling in the taste of freshly pulled radishes, sensing the voices of the indigenous people who walked this land before me. But mostly I am eager to be here at the Little Platte CW community to lean into the invitation toward, what might best be described as, embodied theology, “ora et labora”; community- based work and prayer and laughing with children and crying, my back aching in the embodied work, over a row of kale about the not-rightness of war and genocide and other baffling injustices. Because this is how I pray.
I’ve been enjoying lively dance parties with the kids, spontaneous conversations in the kitchen, the wild purple phlox standing tall, which remind me of the fire weed in the North Cascades, playing guitar on the back porch, trying to write songs inspired by the grand bur oaks and lush green everything, and pooping in our communal compost humanure bucket. And I’m beyond excited to have finally heard the barred owl pair living in the surrounding trees!

“Coffee with Catholic Workers” Podcast Interview

Lincoln and Allyson were interviewed on a recent episode of the “Coffee with Catholic Workers” podcast! They talk extensively about the farm, and you can listen below. And while you’re at it, check out their past episodes, especially if you’re curious about learning more about the diverse work of the CW movement. These friends are doing great work!

NO monthly community workday this Saturday

Mark your calendars now for next month, July 5! As always, first Saturday of the month, with work from 2-5 and a potluck at 5:30.

Gaza Fundraiser Update- thank you!

Last month we hosted a fundraiser screening Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land”, along with St. Isidore Catholic Worker Farm and the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Dubuque. The screening was a fundraiser for a young Palestinian human rights journalist named Yusuf El-Mobayed, who we were connected with through friends of friends. He lives with 22 immediate family members, and the fundraiser raised support to provide for their basic necessities, as well as help support Yusuf’s burgeoning journalism career.

At the screening, we were able to raise OVER $1300 for Yusuf and his family, and he sent the following message to everyone who attended:

“Dear friends in Wisconsin and Iowa,

I’m truly overwhelmed—tears of joy filled my eyes as I opened your heartwarming gift. What a beautiful surprise! I feel so lucky to know you and to have such kind souls in my life.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your boundless generosity and incredible sweetness. You’ve touched me more than words can say

I can’t wait for the day we finally meet in person—I'm counting down the moments!

This message felt like a gift from the sky—it truly brought happiness to my broken heart. It gave me a ray of hope in the midst of total darkness

With all my love and deepest gratitude,

Yusuf”

THANK YOU for your attendance and generosity! We continue to deeply grieve and oppose the ongoing genocide in Palestine, and we pray for our siblings there without ceasing. We ask you to continue to act, organize, and speak alongside us. You can donate directly to Yusuf’s family through this link.

Support our work!

If you’re interested in financially supporting our ongoing work at the farm, you can donate at this link.