MONROE - Lisa Kivirist, a self-described recipe-forager, is tapped into what she calls a "perpetual pipeline" of ingredients from neighbors and the land, so making a cookbook came naturally.
It was also the logical next step for her and her husband John Ivanko, who launched their "Farmstead Chef" at the Wisconsin Book Festival this fall. It's available to order through the authors directly at farmsteadchef.com and as an e-book at booku.com.
Ivanko and Kivirist have lived 15 years in Green County on a five-and-a-half-acre farmstead near Browntown and established themselves as promoters of sustainable living, through the books they've authored - such as "Rural Renaissance: Renewing the Quest for the Good Life" and "ECOpreneuring: Putting Purpose and the Planet before Profits" - and their bed & breakfast, Inn Serendipity.
"Farmstead Chef," though inspired by Wisconsin produce, is aimed at cooks everywhere and draws on influences from Swiss to Japanese dishes. It features profiles of the farmers and food activists around the country the couple has met through the organic farming and sustainability movement, including Phil and Judy Welty of Welty's Sugar Bush in Browntown and Brenda and Luis Carus of Monroe.
The book itself is an international effort. It was published by New Society Publishers, located on an island off British Columbia, and has a cover illustration by a Canadian artist. Ivanko found a musician in France via Creative Cow, an online community for media-production professionals, to compose music for the book's video trailer.
Two of their recipes are featured on Page B6 of today's edition.
When it comes to the ingredients, Ivanko and Kivirist are localists and say it's possible to "eat Green County" year-round.
"This is not radical," Ivanko said. "This is how everybody ate in Green County 80 years ago."
They do make exceptions for certain ingredients not available in the Midwest. Coffee, tea, spices, seaweed for sushi, coconut and chocolate make this list. It's all about "knowing your sourcing," Kivirist said, and when possible, choosing the less-processed ingredient (baking cocoa) over the alternative (chocolate chips).
Butter, bacon, cheese and booze aren't banished from these recipes, either.
"The 'Farmstead Chef' doesn't portray a diet of deprivation," she said. "We wrote the book for any kitchen."
Cooking and eating locally does take forethought and preparation. Having strawberries in February means canning or freezing them in June, for example. At the back of the book, the authors list pantry-stocking basics.
In their pre-farm existence, Ivanko, 45, developed advertising for Super Nintendo and Kivirist, 44, also worked in marketing. They decided in 1996 to ditch their corporate careers for rural Green County, even though they didn't know a perennial from a weed, and bought their farmstead, on County P between Allen Road and Ullom Road, from retiring farmers Delbert and Joy Rohde.
In mid-December, the fields in these rolling hills of farmland are barren and the grass withered by frost, but it's still beautiful. Ivanko and Kivirist imagine this land enticed Swiss immigrants the same way it enticed them 150 years later.
They've outfitted the farm to run exclusively on power from the sun and wind. On a sunny afternoon last week, the silence behind their barn was broken only by the mechanical swishing of their wind turbine and a soft breeze blowing through the dry grass.
As recently as three weeks ago, Ivanko was pulling carrots from their garden. That's a whole month more of growing season than when they first gardened on the farm, he said, and is the result of warmer temperatures driven by climate change. It's the same trend that causes spinach now to "bolt" - flower and seed prematurely - in the summer heat.
"So we needed to select varietals that are hardy against the heat," he said.
Ivanko and Kivirist say they're surrounded by like-minded farmers, growers and cooks in Green County, so there's always a community where they can swap stories and tips.
"Green County is like a food encyclopedia of knowledge," Kivirist said.
For anyone who doesn't have access to a garden or doesn't know where to find locally grown produce, the "Farmstead Chef" authors suggest searching on localharvest.org or localdirt.com to find farmers in the area who are selling.
It was also the logical next step for her and her husband John Ivanko, who launched their "Farmstead Chef" at the Wisconsin Book Festival this fall. It's available to order through the authors directly at farmsteadchef.com and as an e-book at booku.com.
Ivanko and Kivirist have lived 15 years in Green County on a five-and-a-half-acre farmstead near Browntown and established themselves as promoters of sustainable living, through the books they've authored - such as "Rural Renaissance: Renewing the Quest for the Good Life" and "ECOpreneuring: Putting Purpose and the Planet before Profits" - and their bed & breakfast, Inn Serendipity.
"Farmstead Chef," though inspired by Wisconsin produce, is aimed at cooks everywhere and draws on influences from Swiss to Japanese dishes. It features profiles of the farmers and food activists around the country the couple has met through the organic farming and sustainability movement, including Phil and Judy Welty of Welty's Sugar Bush in Browntown and Brenda and Luis Carus of Monroe.
The book itself is an international effort. It was published by New Society Publishers, located on an island off British Columbia, and has a cover illustration by a Canadian artist. Ivanko found a musician in France via Creative Cow, an online community for media-production professionals, to compose music for the book's video trailer.
Two of their recipes are featured on Page B6 of today's edition.
When it comes to the ingredients, Ivanko and Kivirist are localists and say it's possible to "eat Green County" year-round.
"This is not radical," Ivanko said. "This is how everybody ate in Green County 80 years ago."
They do make exceptions for certain ingredients not available in the Midwest. Coffee, tea, spices, seaweed for sushi, coconut and chocolate make this list. It's all about "knowing your sourcing," Kivirist said, and when possible, choosing the less-processed ingredient (baking cocoa) over the alternative (chocolate chips).
Butter, bacon, cheese and booze aren't banished from these recipes, either.
"The 'Farmstead Chef' doesn't portray a diet of deprivation," she said. "We wrote the book for any kitchen."
Cooking and eating locally does take forethought and preparation. Having strawberries in February means canning or freezing them in June, for example. At the back of the book, the authors list pantry-stocking basics.
In their pre-farm existence, Ivanko, 45, developed advertising for Super Nintendo and Kivirist, 44, also worked in marketing. They decided in 1996 to ditch their corporate careers for rural Green County, even though they didn't know a perennial from a weed, and bought their farmstead, on County P between Allen Road and Ullom Road, from retiring farmers Delbert and Joy Rohde.
In mid-December, the fields in these rolling hills of farmland are barren and the grass withered by frost, but it's still beautiful. Ivanko and Kivirist imagine this land enticed Swiss immigrants the same way it enticed them 150 years later.
They've outfitted the farm to run exclusively on power from the sun and wind. On a sunny afternoon last week, the silence behind their barn was broken only by the mechanical swishing of their wind turbine and a soft breeze blowing through the dry grass.
As recently as three weeks ago, Ivanko was pulling carrots from their garden. That's a whole month more of growing season than when they first gardened on the farm, he said, and is the result of warmer temperatures driven by climate change. It's the same trend that causes spinach now to "bolt" - flower and seed prematurely - in the summer heat.
"So we needed to select varietals that are hardy against the heat," he said.
Ivanko and Kivirist say they're surrounded by like-minded farmers, growers and cooks in Green County, so there's always a community where they can swap stories and tips.
"Green County is like a food encyclopedia of knowledge," Kivirist said.
For anyone who doesn't have access to a garden or doesn't know where to find locally grown produce, the "Farmstead Chef" authors suggest searching on localharvest.org or localdirt.com to find farmers in the area who are selling.
