Signed in as:
filler@godaddy.com
From Rescue to Regenerative Farming: Our Story
Our History
Saving the vision of a forest farm and creating a sustainable and diversified agroforestry demonstration farm
The Legacy of Misty Dawn Farm
The farmhouse, built before 1858, is a testament to the enduring spirit of Rock County's earliest pioneers. In an act of visionary stewardship, the previous owners planted nearly 4,000 sugar maple trees, a diverse orchard, and windbreak pines on just over 19 acres, laying the foundation for an agroforestry oasis. Because sugar maple trees take 40-50 years to mature, they knew that the task and the opportunity to tap those trees and taste their syrup would be left to future generations. And yet, to their enduring credit, they planted them.
I bought the farm in 2021, to preserve its ecological and historical value and prevent it from becoming a salvage yard. I am resolved to nurture the vision of Rock County’s original settlers, who set an example of resilience and tenacity, ensuring that the farm not only survives but thrives in the face of climatic and other unforeseen challenges.
Meet the Farmer
Come join me on this wild new adventure with all its ups and downs in the 3rd quarter of my life! Its never to late to follow your dreams and passions.
I (Ingrid Daudert) graduated with a BS in environmental science from the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point in water resource management and an environmental education minor. I was the only woman to graduate in Fisheries that year. I worked on the Great Lakes, on inland lakes and streams and schlepted canoes through wetlands. My last formal job was for UW Extension, where I developed a wide range of training programs for conservation professionals that work with farmers.
While working with farmers, I became interested in soil health and learned about the hidden and poorly understood life in soil and mycelium. After my divorce I took the plunge and decided to follow my dreams of animal rescue and non-traditional farming. Hence buying an abandoned agroforestry farm.
So begins this new adventures as an older single woman beginning farmer.
" find the courage to be you"
A New Chapter and a Farm's Rescue
In 2021 I had the opportunity to purchase a 19.1-acre farm in south Janesville at a farm auction. This started a new chapter in my life in forest farming. This website is an invitation to you to join me learning and sharing the ins and outs of farming a diversified agroforestry farm.
The farm is host to:
- A diversified food forest
- Log grown shiitake mushrooms
- Maple syrup production
- Woodland herbs
- Agrotourism events
- Processing kitchen
- A variety of rescued and workding farm animals - Chickens, ducks, sheep, pygora goats, a burro and a horse.
Future Sustainability and Maple Syrup
What makes Misty Dawn Farm Unique
Our location - we are much further south than the usual maple syrup producers. So, there isn't alot of local competition . We are near major metropolitan areas.
Log grown Shiitake mushrooms are body builder mushrooms compared to indoor grown. They work hard to decompose oak logs in the elements and take about 12 to 18 months to grow a mushroom.
Food Forests - a small space orchard, using vertical spaces where trees, shrubs, vines and ground fuits grow together and birds and bees are used for pollination and pest management.
Animals provide another element to the farm providing food, egs, fiber and manur as well as an agrotourism opportunities.