TOWN OF JORDAN CENTER - A sign at the end of Randy and Iva Kaufmann's driveway on County M advertises their honey for sale, but specifies no sales on Sundays.
The Kaufmanns are Amish Mennonite and do not work on Sundays.
"We don't make hay on Sunday. We don't go out and till the ground, or plant corn," Randy said.
For the Kauffmans, taking a day of rest is a religious observance and a practical way of life.
"It's the way God intended," Iva said. "It shows in your health if you don't."
The Kauffmans and their six children - ranging in age from 10 to 24 - wear plain, homesewn clothing and heat their home with wood but otherwise their 256-acre dairy farm a few miles east of Argyle looks like any other in the area. Unlike Old Order Amish, the family drives motorized vehicles and farm machinery, uses electricity and has a landline telephone.
The organic-certified milk their cows produce the Kauffmans sell commercially. The rest of the farm's bounty they bring to the Monroe Farmers' Market, including clover and alfalfa honey, maple syrup, felted wool and sirloin steak, soup bones, bratwurst, short ribs and other beef cuts processed at Rackow Family Sausage in Juda and Lena Maid Meats in Lena.
They also sell to area stores, including Pilgrim's Pantry in South Wayne and Paoli Local Foods.
Everyone pitches in, from the couple's oldest, 24-year-old Randon, who tends the beehives, to their youngest, 10-year-old Thad, who waters and feeds the calves.
The syrup is boiled down from maple sap over a wood fire, with the steam directed out an open-air skylight, then it's filtered through diatomaceous earth.
The early spring in March, followed by a chilly April, stunted sap production.
"It quit early," Randy said. "Once the trees start budding, it changes flavor."
The bee population has been steady, however, and so is honey production. The Kauffmans sell most of the honey bottled, but they also cut squares of the raw comb to sell as-is in boxes. It's delicious to eat, wax and all.
"I like it on bread," Randy said.
The family tries to be as self-sustaining as possible. They keep the produce from the garden for themselves. Iva said she likes to "put up" 200 quarts of beans just for the family to eat or to take to fellowship dinners at the 11-family farm church near South Wayne they helped start about a decade ago.
"We bake our own bread. We make our own mayonnaise," she said, then joked, "We don't make our own salt or toilet paper." Her attempts at soap-making have been unsuccessful, she added, so soap and vinegar they also buy at a store.
The Kauffman farm teems with free-roaming animals, insects and birds. First to greet visitors are the two dogs, Blue and Mia, then a black cat named Molly, bees, pecking chickens and a trio of kittens on the hunt for trouble, plus a couple of rabbits, guinea fowl chicks and a tank of fish. Swallows nest on the underside of a cattle trailer and swoop in and out to feed six hungry babies.
The family also keeps about 30-some sheep and shears them for wool. The unprocessed wool is fluffy, soft and slightly sticky with the sheep's natural lanolin. Iva and her sons wash it with hot water and soap to felt it.
"It takes a lot of rubbing," she said. Out of this felt, she pieces together blankets, scarves, throws and bags. Some of the wool she spins into yarn. Wool is versatile, she added: "Use your imagination."
The Kauffmans welcome customers to buy directly at the farm (just not on Sundays) at N3858 County M. From Monroe, take Wisconsin 81 toward Argyle, turn south onto County M and look for the honey sign on the left side of the road, about one mile down. The phone number is (608) 966-1388.
The Kaufmanns are Amish Mennonite and do not work on Sundays.
"We don't make hay on Sunday. We don't go out and till the ground, or plant corn," Randy said.
For the Kauffmans, taking a day of rest is a religious observance and a practical way of life.
"It's the way God intended," Iva said. "It shows in your health if you don't."
The Kauffmans and their six children - ranging in age from 10 to 24 - wear plain, homesewn clothing and heat their home with wood but otherwise their 256-acre dairy farm a few miles east of Argyle looks like any other in the area. Unlike Old Order Amish, the family drives motorized vehicles and farm machinery, uses electricity and has a landline telephone.
The organic-certified milk their cows produce the Kauffmans sell commercially. The rest of the farm's bounty they bring to the Monroe Farmers' Market, including clover and alfalfa honey, maple syrup, felted wool and sirloin steak, soup bones, bratwurst, short ribs and other beef cuts processed at Rackow Family Sausage in Juda and Lena Maid Meats in Lena.
They also sell to area stores, including Pilgrim's Pantry in South Wayne and Paoli Local Foods.
Everyone pitches in, from the couple's oldest, 24-year-old Randon, who tends the beehives, to their youngest, 10-year-old Thad, who waters and feeds the calves.
The syrup is boiled down from maple sap over a wood fire, with the steam directed out an open-air skylight, then it's filtered through diatomaceous earth.
The early spring in March, followed by a chilly April, stunted sap production.
"It quit early," Randy said. "Once the trees start budding, it changes flavor."
The bee population has been steady, however, and so is honey production. The Kauffmans sell most of the honey bottled, but they also cut squares of the raw comb to sell as-is in boxes. It's delicious to eat, wax and all.
"I like it on bread," Randy said.
The family tries to be as self-sustaining as possible. They keep the produce from the garden for themselves. Iva said she likes to "put up" 200 quarts of beans just for the family to eat or to take to fellowship dinners at the 11-family farm church near South Wayne they helped start about a decade ago.
"We bake our own bread. We make our own mayonnaise," she said, then joked, "We don't make our own salt or toilet paper." Her attempts at soap-making have been unsuccessful, she added, so soap and vinegar they also buy at a store.
The Kauffman farm teems with free-roaming animals, insects and birds. First to greet visitors are the two dogs, Blue and Mia, then a black cat named Molly, bees, pecking chickens and a trio of kittens on the hunt for trouble, plus a couple of rabbits, guinea fowl chicks and a tank of fish. Swallows nest on the underside of a cattle trailer and swoop in and out to feed six hungry babies.
The family also keeps about 30-some sheep and shears them for wool. The unprocessed wool is fluffy, soft and slightly sticky with the sheep's natural lanolin. Iva and her sons wash it with hot water and soap to felt it.
"It takes a lot of rubbing," she said. Out of this felt, she pieces together blankets, scarves, throws and bags. Some of the wool she spins into yarn. Wool is versatile, she added: "Use your imagination."
The Kauffmans welcome customers to buy directly at the farm (just not on Sundays) at N3858 County M. From Monroe, take Wisconsin 81 toward Argyle, turn south onto County M and look for the honey sign on the left side of the road, about one mile down. The phone number is (608) 966-1388.