Pick-Your-Own Farm Coming to Cottage Grove

A Chicago transplant has set roots in Wisconsin, both literally and figuratively, as he embarks on his second agribusiness in Cottage Grove.

Francis Wisniewski, who began Warm Belly Farm a couple years ago in Fort Atkinson, has received approval for a second pick-your-own farm on Vilas Hope Road in the Town of Cottage Grove.

The Dane County Land Zoning and Natural Resources Committee on May 9 OK’d a conditional use permit for Wisniewski to host agricultural related tours and events for his second farm on the former America’s Best Flowers site.

He plans to grow hydroponic strawberries in an indoor greenhouse, and in the next week or so will plant pumpkins with an eye toward a fall festival.

“We’re going to have a pumpkin farm with sunflowers and a corn maze this September, hopefully, and then the garden center will kind of reopen at the same time,” Wisniewski said.

The strawberry greenhouse operation will be similar to the one at Warm Belly Farm in Fort Atkinson, he said.

There berries are grown 3 feet off the ground indoors, with a wheelchair accessible concrete floor; picking is by appointment only.

“In Fort, we have ages 2 to 94 come and pick because they’re easy picking,” he said, adding that few other growers in the United States have similar set-ups.

The Cottage Grove Warm Belly Farm sits on 34 acres, according to application materials filed with the county. They describe plans for a new 2,000 square-foot storage building, along with a 6,000-square-foot farm store with a commercial kitchen on the south side of the main building.

Existing parking would be resurfaced and restriped, with a gravel driveway widened to the back of the property where additional parking will be available.

The permit allows for up to 10 agricultural events per year, and Wisniewski envisions having about 12 employees in the summer months with up to 40 for events like the fall pumpkin festival, he said.

Parking for the events will not be permitted along Vilas Hope Road, and activities will take place in the farmfield, in the greenhouses or farm store buildings.

Source: hngnews.com