Stewarding a Vision at Hillside Pastures in Spring Green, Wisconsin

Stewarding a Vision at Hillside Pastures in Spring Green, Wisconsin

With Daniel and Linda Marquardt, Savanna Institute donors

When Daniel and Linda Marquardt purchased their first farm in Spring Green, Wisconsin in the mid 1990s, the 40-acres of land was not in good shape. “It was heavily eroded – pretty much destroyed,” said Daniel. 

At the time, the Marquardts were living and working full-time in Chicago. Drawn by their love of the Driftless Area landscape, they came to Spring Green on weekends to work on restoring the farmland and stabilizing the soil. 

“We worked with a hydrologist and put in some water control systems. [The erosion] was controlled – except in heavy rains, which at the time were just devastating.” After years of effort to bring the prairie back to the land, the Marquardts decided to sell. “We sold it to someone who wasn’t remotely interested in what we were doing. That was a severe disappointment,” said Daniel.

Originally from central Iowa, Daniel had spent his adolescence working on farms. “From probably 11 years old, I was driving tractors, raking hay – I just loved it.” At that time, most agriculture was small and diversified compared to current standards – milking cows, hogs, sheep, beef, and chickens were all raised on the farms.

Daniel didn’t consider becoming a farmer until later in life. He worked as a structural engineer in Chicago. Linda worked at the International Symposium at the Chicago Academy of Sciences. But Daniel’s nostalgia for farming and their deep appreciation for the Driftless Area kept him and Linda coming back to Spring Green. They decided to take on an even bigger project, one that would allow them to live out their retirement years on a farm caring for the landscape they loved.

There was no shortage of land that needed to be restored in the area, and the Marquardts purchased another farm near Spring Green in 2011. Daniel and Linda retired early to move to Spring Green full-time and manage a small herd of grass-fed beef at Hillside Pastures.

“Just being around the cattle – literally the smell of these cattle – got me. It took me back to my childhood in Iowa when I worked on farms. We really wanted to use cattle to actually improve the environment, and I had read enough to know that it can be done – it has been done,” said Daniel.

Daniel and Linda became more involved with the grazing community and joined the Lowry Creek Watershed Initiative to help with stream monitoring. They were introduced to the Savanna Institute at a Perennial Farm Gathering and immediately saw a partner with a shared commitment to agriculture that heals the land.

The Marquardts were able to live their retirement dream for several years in Spring Green, but ultimately, life had other plans for them. In 2019, they made the decision to sell Hillside Pastures in order to move closer to family. This time, they wanted to sell to a buyer who would continue their work of long-term land restoration. “We really wanted to find an organization that could actually lay out a 20, 40, 50-year plan.”

The Marquardts approached the Savanna Institute with a vision: to use the farm for agroforestry education and silvopasture demonstrations, and to turn the house into a gathering space for the community. It took several years, ample conversation and creativity, and, crucially, the generous support of Savanna Institute’s community of donors in Spring Green and beyond. But in the end, the Savanna Institute was able to add Hillside Pastures to the cluster of farms that make up the Spring Green Campus. 

The Savanna Institute has since partnered with a local farmer and the Natural Resources Conservation Service to maintain Hillside Pastures as a silvopasture demonstration farm, and continues the Marquardts’ water quality improvement work with the Lowry Creek Watershed Initiative. In 2023, under the leadership of Erin Crooks Lynch, the Savanna Institute debuted the Elderflower Retreat at Hillside Pastures, a vibrant community space where people can gather to reimagine our relationships with each other and with the land.

Daniel reflected on the couple’s decision to trust the Savanna Institute with their land.

“For us, it was a great honor to be able to sell it to the Savanna Institute. I’ll never regret it…unless you guys screw it up, which I don’t expect to happen in my lifetime.”