Celebrating local

We’ve been to Viroqua. We’ve explored fishing in the Driftless Area. The world would be a much better place if there were more communities like Viroqua. That’s all for today. Enjoy the poem.

Driftless Area farms

Photo by J. Harrington

Driftless Cafe Celebrates the Food Wealth and Rural Identity of Viroqua, Wisconsin

Named for the Midwest’s ‘Driftless Region,’ the Driftless Cafe—headed by chef and Wisconsin TV personality Luke Zahm—carries on the area’s rich tradition of local food.

Driftless Terroir: ‘Regionalism’

By Grace Vosen

Geologists will call this place “Driftless,”
But it defies term, time, and space, Driftless.

A death below the ice hath no sting here,
The absence leaving its own trace: Driftless.

Knotted oak holding court upon the bluff,
Trout stream free of any millrace: Driftless.

Deep spirituality of nations
Carved into the soft sandstone face: Driftless.

Now, agricultural centers decline,
But we cultivate our home base, Driftless.

Here, we are living the examined life;
No better word for this pace than “Driftless.”

(Summer’s arrived for good this time, we think,
But we’ll split more wood just in case, Driftless.)

The city dwellers drive quixotically
Westward in their Audis to chase Driftless.

Meanwhile, I’m barefoot in the river.
With my whole being, I embrace Driftless.

Living here, I become one with all things.
I am not myself: I am Grace, Driftless.

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Thanks for visiting. Come again when you can.
Please be kind to each other while you can.