Winterfell Acres
Bethanee Wright with daughter Tillee on her back, gathering strawberries.
To Bethanee Wright, owner and solo farmer at Winterfell Acres, farming has always felt like home. She remembers pulling bean plants from her mother’s garden at a young age, learning from the woman she calls her greatest influence. Now, as she builds a career in agriculture, she carries her own daughter on her back.
Wright started Winterfell Acres, a CSA farm in Brooklyn, Wisconsin, in 2014. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because Winterfell is the capital of the kingdom of the North in the hit book and HBO series Game of Thrones. Wright says her inspiration came from the book and she never imagined the name would become so mainstream.
The 45-acre certified organic CSA farm is workplace and home for Wright. In 2017, she and her husband, Travis, built a house on the farm. Nearly a year later, they welcomed a baby girl named Tillee.
For Wright, farming goes beyond the traditional idea of riding a tractor and tending to animals. She says farming means sharing her passion for food and community with others. She does this through her CSA program that this year will provide 114 families in Dane and Green counties with seasonal vegetables, up from 20 families when the program first started.
Each week, Wright packs her CSA boxes with a leafy crop (head lettuce or spinach), an allium crop (onions or garlic), a root crop (beets or potatoes), and a quick snack crop (peas or peppers).
Wright says she is fulfilling her “farm dream” by working as a solo farmer on her own land. Her husband works off the farm, and she runs the CSA program herself.
She cares for Tillee while doing so. Balancing the two responsibilities can be overwhelming at times, but Wright, 28, says it’s all in a day’s work: “I just keep reminding myself that millions of women have done this before me and that always gives me solace.” She puts her role in historical context, noting that “Women were the first people to notice and actually start cultivating crops. We’re the original farmers — we have always been foraging and growing food for our families.”
According to the 2017 Census of Agriculture, 36 percent of farm operators nationally are female and 64 percent are male. A farm operator is someone who directs a farm, ranch, greenhouse or other agricultural establishment. Even though agriculture is still a male-dominated industry, Wright says she’s never felt disadvantaged. “As a woman, I have felt very supported in becoming a CSA farmer. It’s nice to see many people from different walks of life in support of good food.”
Since the birth of her daughter, Wright has had to adjust her schedule around child care.
She works primarily in the mornings, carrying Tillee on her back in a sling. In the afternoons, when it gets too hot for Tillee to be outside, the two spend time indoors, with Tillee napping and Wright working on paperwork for the farm. In the evenings, Wright often finishes outside work she didn’t have time to do in the morning.
While this change has posed a challenge during the busy summer harvest months, Wright says having a baby has allowed her to reflect on her career and shift her priorities. “Now that I look back on my farming career I realize I overworked myself. Being pregnant made me take a step back and realize I need to take better care of my body, so I can continue farming for a long time.”
Shifting her priorities also included accepting help from her family, other local women farmers and her CSA members. “I rely on my mom a lot, and I have people who come and care for Tillee in exchange for their vegetable share. It’s been really helpful to get a couple of hours to work without the baby when she’s watched by trusted CSA members.” This brings the original cooperative nature of CSA shares to a new level.
Involvement in local organizations like Soil Sisters, a collective of women focused on sustainable-agriculture, has also helped Wright balance work and home life: “Having that support network is amazing.”
Winterfell Acres will be one of three New Glarus-area farms participating in a bus tour organized by Soil Sisters (“A Celebration of Wisconsin Farms and Rural Life”), Aug. 2-4. The Winterfell tour takes place Aug. 4. For more information, see soilsisterswi.org; tickets ($60) are through brownpapertickets.com (“Bus Tour: Know Your Farmer!”).
Wright hopes her daughter can grow up with strong women influences and the same encouragement to pursue whatever makes her happy. And with the community she has built through Winterfell Acres, Wright says she is confident that she, her family and her passion for agriculture will be supported for years to come.
