Dutchman's Britches

Nora and I are fortunate to live in the Driftless Area of Southwest Wisconsin, a rugged area of bluffs and valleys, relatively few people, and incredible scenery. Not only do we get to live in this wonderful place, but we also can greet and host hundreds of guests each year at our Bed and Breakfast, the Inn at Lonesome Hollow. Our B&B offers 160 acres of mostly wooded hill and valley, many gardens, a large pond, and a completely undeveloped ridgetop woods/prairie.

Spring Beauty

On Sunday afternoon the temperature was in the mid 60s, the sun was shining brilliantly, and we found ourselves in the midst of the earliest spring either of us can remember. Temperatures have been above average ever since the beginning of March. Trees are leafing out at least two weeks ahead of schedule. Maple syrup season has come and gone and the morels will undoubtedly be here early this spring. We decided it was time to seriously check out the wildflowers in the woods on our ridge. We left the coziness of our valley and headed upward 300 ft in elevation to our ridgetop 80 acres. We are not expert at plant identification, but with the help of a Wisconsin Wildflower Guide we noted purple and yellow violets, bellwort, spring beauty, wood anemone, dutchmens’ britches, bloodroot, pussytoes, and Greek valerian.

Crabapple Blossoms

We saw at least 20 flowering crabapple trees that were absolutely loaded with blooms. A few small trees were flowering, we think they are northern-hearty dogwood that mange to eek out an existence this far north. Mayapples were prolific in some places, but not yet flowering. 

Down the Ridge Road

The paths through our woods no longer had the black and brown and gray coloring of winter, but were instead softened by an array of green hues on the newly emerging leaves. Turkeys were gobbling in the not-to-far distance. We walked past the quarter acre vineyard that John and Jamee planted with such loving care last spring and found it to be patiently waiting for warmer weather.

It’s a great time for hiking in Wisconsin woods. Turn off the TV, put on some comfortable walking shoes, and enjoy the best spring in a long, long time!

The Inn at Lonesome Hollow is delighted to announce three culinary workshops this year featuring  chef Monique Jamet Hooker.  Participants in any of the 3 culinary workshops staying  2 nights at the Inn at Lonesome Hollow will get a $50 discount on their stay.  The first workshop this year is April 17th and 18th, and will be “Pates and Sausages”.  Learn how to make Pate de Campagne, garlic sausage, onion brats and more!

 Culinary workshop attendants can choose several ways to participate: from a full weekend, starting Friday night through Sunday, which includes 2 dinners, lunch, and Sunday brunch, to a shortened workshop on Saturday, which includes lunch.  The workshop will be located at Monique’s kitchen at her log home, which is nestled in the woods on a bluff above the Mississippi River.  Included with the workshop will be Monique’s award winning book,  Cooking with the Seasons, which introduces readers to over 200 recipes that emphasize seasonal distinctions of taste, texture, and color.

Monique Presents her Delicious Fare

Acclaimed chef Monique  came to the US from France in the sixties and took a position in her brother’s restaurant in New York state before moving to Chicago where she made a name for herself as a food stylist and caterer.  She also began teaching classes for people eager to recreate her art in their own kitchen. In 1983 she opened Monique’s Cafe’ in Chicago’s North River district which has since become the premier dining area in the city.

Since Monique has “retired” to the hills of Southwest Wisconsin,  she has been a spokesperson and chef with Organic Valley Cooperative, and is a frequent guest on “WPR’s “Here on Earth” and continues to teach, lecture and demonstrate the “art of seasonal cooking”.

Additional Lonesome Hollow workshops with Chef Monique Hooker will be November 5th-7th:  “All About Duck”-Roasted, Confit, Foie Gras, and more;  December 3rd-5th: “Chocolate and More Chocolate”-Cake, Truffles, Glaze, Dipping and more.

Photo by Jerry Quebe

In southwest Wisconsin, in the heart of the Kickapoo Valley, in the heart Wisconsin’s famed Driftless Area – lies a wonderfully rural and elegant bed and breakfast – the Inn at Lonesome Hollow. Lonesome Hollow is 160 mostly forested acres; it is one of the quietest and most peaceful settings you will ever find; it is a place of rugged landscape and abundant wildlife; it is the perfect setting for a romantic getaway.

We have put together a special winter romantic getaway for the months of January through March, 2010. Enjoy our newest, most spacious, and most private suite, the Upper Homestead Suite. This suite is located in the back of our private valley, out of view of any other building. The views are spectacular, with 300 ft high hills surrounding the Homestead house on three sides. The winter landscape is gorgeous. This suite offers a king bed, a large living room with fireplace, a spacious bath with separate whirlpool room, and a full kitchen. The living room’s floor-to-ceiling picture window looks out over the wooded, winter hillsides. 

Built in 2005, The Homestead Offers Deluxe Accomodations

This special package includes: a dozen red roses, full country breakfasts served either at the main Inn or at your suite; one wine and cheese appetizer;  one catered dinner – your choice of six entree items from a great local restaurant – served in your suite; and complimentary use of snow shoes for those winter days when snow conditions allow.

Enjoy Breakfast and Dinner in Your Suite

If you so desire, you never have to leave the suite for your stay. Celebrate your special day – birthday, anniversary, engagement, …  and stay warm and cozy in magnificent surroundings. The price for this special romantic stay is $349 for a one night stay or $499 for a very relaxed two night stay. 

We will do everything possible to make this an unforgettable time of peace and love.

Pete and Nora

The Kickapoo Valley Reserve is located in the heart of southwest Wisconsin’s Driftless Area. The Reserve offers more than 8000 acres of rugged landscape, a succession of ridges and valleys that predate the last ice age. If you are anywhere near LaCrosse, Wisconsin on January 9, 2010 take the time to drive the 30-40 minutes southeast into the Kickapoo Reserve. The 2010 Kickapoo Reserve Winter Festival includes chain saw scuplture demonstrations, guided ice cave tours, a birds of prey demonstration, horse-drawn wagon and bobsled rides, chili and bread contests, and a candlelight hike & ski.

The Kickapoo Reserve encompasses about a 20 mile section of Wisconsin’s “crookedest” river, the Kickapoo River. You will find the Reserve’s landscapes to be natural, dramatic, and near pristine. More than 20 miles of hiking and cross country ski trails are offered. The Reserve has a wonderful Visitor’s Center that relates much of the history of the Kickapoo Valley, including the failed La Farge dam project.

The Inn at Lonesome Hollow, www.lonesomehollow.com, offers super lodging options (whirlpools, fireplaces, hearty breakfasts) just 30 minutes south of the Reserve. Lonesome Hollow itself offers four miles of private trails through 160 mostly wooded acres. The Reserve and Lonesome Hollow currently both enjoy a solid snow cover (10-14 inches) and more snow along with cold temps are predicted for the week of December 21.

The Inn at Lonesome Hollow

Why be a couch potato in winter when you have great recreation at your doorstep!

On Friday and Saturday nights, July 24 and 25, the Inn at Lonesome Hollow (www.lonesomehollow.com) hosted a group of eleven friends from the Milwaukee area. Lonesome Hollow hosts many family get togethers and group outings, but this one was very special – the group drove here from Milwaukee in six vintage MG-B convertibles. Tim and Kathy Bradley organized this outing for the group.

On Friday evening the group enjoyed dinner at Country Gardens restaurant in Soldiers Grove, only a five mile drive from the Inn. On Saturday the group visited Vernon Vineyards and tasted the wine out on the scenic vineyard grounds near Chaseburg. Dinner on Saturday was cooked at the Homestead suites of Lonesome Hollow and included steaks purchased from Kickapoo Locker in Gays Mills. A Saturday night campfire capped the day for this fun group.

In the heart of Southwest Wisconsin’s Driftless Area, in a landscape of continuous hills and valleys, surrounded by farm fields and hardwood forests, sitting on a ridge above the Bad Axe River, waiting to be visited and enjoyed by midwest wine lovers – is Vernon Vineyards (www.vernonvineyards.com). The vineyard has more than 10 acres of grapes that hug the ridge contours more than 300 feet above the river below. A very comfortable tasting room opens to a wide. two-sided porch that offers wonderful views of the vineyard and the valley below. Bob and Loren, the owners, are gracious hosts who will make you feel right at home as they walk you through the tasting of their wines. If you want to talk grape growing, they will answer any questions you have and have actively supported other local grape growers in Vernon and Crawford Counties. 

Vernon Vineyard

The winery, the first ever in Vernon County, now offers nine different table wines and two dessert wines. These wines are a delight to drink, and are so consistently tasty that Vernon Vineyard wine is now exclusively offered to guests staying at the Inn at Lonesome Hollow (www.lonesomehollow.com), a  beautiful, rural Bed and Breakfast near Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin. Pete and Nora, owners at Lonesome Hollow regularly offer Vernon Vineyards Ridge Red and La Crosse White wines. They consider it a very special treat for visiting guests to relax over a glass of locally produced wine.

Tasting Room at Vernon Vineyards

If you are a wine lover, visit southwest Wisconsin to taste the product of other local wineries as well: Wegge Winery in Richland Center, Wisconsin; Spurgeon Valley Winery in Highland, Wisconsin; and Eagles Landing Winery in Marquette, Iowa. The Inn at Lonesome Hollow is centrally located to all four of these wineries, and the beautiful Driftless Area landscapes will provide rustic, scenic drives as you travel to any or all of these wineries.

The Inn at Lonesome Hollow, www.lonesomehollow.com, a rural bed and breakfast located on 160 forested acres in Southwest Wisconsin, is happy to announce the scheduling of a scrapbooking workshop at the Inn from Apr 17-19, 2009. The workshop will be led by Creative Memories consultant Wendy Einsweiler. Workshop attendees will learn the newest and the best techniques for preserving and organizing print and digital photographs. Wendy will demonstrate the use of many different formats for collecting and presenting your keepsake photos in attractive and affordable albums.

Enjoy a great scrapbooking weekend in the rural ambience of the Driftless Area of Wisconsin. Our trees will be budding and the earliest of the forest wildflowers will be blooming. Bring a camera, stretch your legs with a walk in our woods, and look for some early wildflower picture opportunities. A wide range of accomodations are available for workshop attendees. For information on workshop content email Wendy at wendyeins@yahoo.com. For lodging information at the Inn at Lonesome Hollow, email Pete or Nora at info@lonesomehollow.com, or phone at 608-624-3429.

Here are a couple of great places for hiking in Southwest Wisconsin. They are only a half hour’s drive north of our B&B, the Inn at Lonesome Hollow, www.lonesomehollow.com, which is located near Soldiers Grove, WI.

Riding in Wildcat

Just south of Ontario, WI is Wildcat Mountain State Park. If you are looking for undeveloped, natural hiking then you’ll like Wildcat. The park has 3600 acres of very hilly Driftless Area terrain, 25 miles of hiking trails, 15 miles of horse trails, and a neat 1.3 mile interpretive trail. Much of the park is forested, including areas of large pine and hemlock trees. There are ferns throughout Wildcat Mountain’s forest, including walking and maidenhair ferns.  Mount Pisgah State Natural Area is included in the park. The website offers much information - http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/parks/specific/wildcat. 

Canoeing in the Reserve

On the weekend of January 17th and 18th fourteen people attended a fantastic cheesemaking workshop at the Inn at Lonesome Hollow conducted by The Cheesemaker, Steve Shapson, from Cedarburg, Wisconsin.  The weekend started with a visit to Mount Sterling Co-op Creamery to see the cutting, milling, and pressing of the cheese made in the early hours.

Making Cheese

After a hearty brunch, The Cheesemaker, Steve, began the intensive workshop, where the participants learned the craft of cheesemaking.  They learned to make Camembert/Brie, Chevre and Feta cheeses, which they each took home to finish aging and to enjoy at home.

Steve and MJ Shapson

After the workshop, a wine and cheese social was held sampling various local, homemade, and imported gourmet hard, soft and rind ripened cheeses on French baquettes, served with other hors d’oervres.

Because this workshop was very successful and fun, the Inn at Lonesome Hollow is hosting a Spring Cheesemaking Workshop.  Sign up now, as space is already limited.

Inn at Lonesome Hollow Cheesemakers

In 2008 the Inn at Lonesome Hollow earned its Travel Green Wisconsin certification. This certification recognizes that ILH has undertaken a significant number of recycling and energy saving practices, and that it promises to lay out a yearly plan for continued progress in these critical areas.

The Hills at Lonesome Hollow

Our objective is to continue to provide first class lodging and recreation to our guests while at the same time lessening our impact on the environment. We have committed  to purchase more expensive but environmentally friendly cleaners and detergents; we are replacing lighting with lower energy options; we continue to look for ways to minimize our purchase of plastic food and drink containers; we are reducing our use of fuel used for our vehicles and our landscape maintenance equipment; we are using more locally produced food and drink; and perhaps most important, we maintain more than one hundred acres of forest that absorbs carbon dioxide from the environment for six months of the year, and incorporates much of it into valuable hardwoods used by furniture makers.

We will continue to look for new ways of being greener. Your suggestions are most welcome.