Fondy Farm Project

08/20/2026

We welcome CHEF ASHLEY to the 2026 Fondy Farm Feast!

A third generation chef and restaurateur, Ashley Turner was raised in the kitchens of her parents and grandparents from a very young age, learning southern food principles from childhood. “Lots of love, and more butter” is one of her favorite family sayings. Her family began to focus on Texas BBQ in the early ‘90’s, opening food trucks, a catering business, and an eventual brick-and-mortar BBQ café in north Texas.

As a young adult, Chef Ashley traveled and studied Classics and literature, putting herself through college working in and learning many styles of restaurant and hospitality. She would eventually join Rio Concho Catering, a young start-up catering company in West Texas, which she helped grow to be one of the largest food operators in the region. During that time, Chef focused on personal culinary growth, learning a wide array of food styles and techniques for both small-batch and to scale in order to
meet the diverse needs of their growing client base.

Chef Ashley would go on to operate multiple award-winning craft bar and restaurant concepts as an owner/operator within Rio Restaurant Group, before making the decision to move her family to her husband’s beloved hometown of Milwaukee in 2019.

During her time in the Milwaukee area, Chef Ashley has worked with several developing restaurants, such as East Troy Brewery, Hacienda Taproom, Door County Brewing, The Miller Lite Sports Bar & Grill at WI State Fair, and collaborating with local chefs and businesses in the area. Since moving to Milwaukee, Chef Ashley began accumulating accolades in the area, even placing in the State Fair ‘Sporkie’ awards each year she competed, taking home first and second place in 2021 and 2022 respectively. Chef Ashley continues to blend her Texas-centric style of cooking with Wisconsin favorites, even winning Best Fish Fry in Walworth County and a reputation for some of the best cheese curds in Southeastern Wisconsin. Before long, her unique style and love of food
attracted notice of Food Network, where she competed on shows such as ‘Chopped’ and most recently, season 5 of Bobby Flay’s BBQ Brawl.

Chef Ashley is currently the Executive Chef for the Milwaukee County Zoo; she also owns Belle Starr BBQ, which does catering and pop-up events in southeastern Wisconsin.

The link to purchase FEAST tickets is in the comments!

08/18/2026

We're looking for a few extra hands to help us at this Volunteer Morning at The Table next Wednesday! The Table is where the Fondy offices are housed and we are so grateful for the space. Let us know if you're able to help out!

08/12/2026

The 2026 Fondy Farm Feast will be held on the Fondy Farm Project at the Mequon Nature Preserve on Sunday, September 20th. We are grateful for the sponsors who have already come on board. If you or your organization would like to learn more about becoming a Feast sponsor, please email Fondy Food Center Director of Development, Glenna Holstein, at [email protected].

07/29/2026

Were you looking for somewhere to talk about winter radishes this Monday?

Look no further!

Do you grow Daikon? Beauty Heart? Nero Tondo?

Are you curious about growing a radish that can be picked in the fall and stored until early summer? Eaten raw or fermented to perfection? Join us for a hands-on afternoon in the field!

Monday, Aug 03, 2026, 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Fondy Farm at Mequon Nature Preserve, 9011 W Donges Bay Rd, Mequon, WI

Christine Johnson of Michael Fields Agricultural Institute and Stephen Petro of Fondy Farmers Market will facilitate a lively conversation about our beautifully round and oblong friends in the brassica family. We will cover everything from seeds and w**ds to harvesting, cleaning, storage, and sales.

Story-telling and personal experience will be encouraged! We will w**d radishes in the field with different tools, plant radishes (because we believe in the future), and celebrate attendees’ perspectives on how to talk the roots home. We will also be having some delicious TASTE TESTS with raw and fermented radishes.

RSVP at www.michaelfields.org/event-details/growing-tasting-storage-radishes

06/12/2026

06/08/2026

One of the wettest Aprils on record combined with one of the driest Mays has brought many challenges to farmers in SE Wisconsin!

Seeds and plants were late to get in the ground, and now many are struggling to stay alive! Some seeds have not germinated at all and will need to be replanted.

Please send good energy to the farmers who feed your community, and be patient with a slow spring and early summer harvest.

Being part of a local foodshed means celebrating bumper harvests when they come. It also means sticking together when times are tough.

💚💚🩵🩵💚💚

06/05/2026

High drama on the farm yesterday! Stephen was helping prepare one of our farmer's fields for planting and looked down just in time to save this sweet little robin's nest!

If you look closely, you can actually see one of the eggs moving -- these babies are coming out any moment!

05/20/2026

Hey growers—does this sound familiar?

Every spring, you till your beds, add compost or fertilizer, pull out all the w**ds, and yet…

💦 The soil dries out fast, even when you water regularly.
🥴 Nutrients don't seem to "stick" or last as long as you expect.
🌿 W**ds bounce back, seemingly worse than before.

It's probably not for lack of hard work on your part. W**d pressure, water and nutrient retention, and other big challenges faced by growers are all influenced by how the soil is disturbed—and when.

Join us for this free workshop as we learn how to choose the right tillage methods and equipment (or tillage alternatives) for our goals. Plus, head home with free cover crop seed from !

Thursday, May 28th | 12-3 PM
Kohl Farm: 8483 W County Line Rd
Milwaukee, WI 53223

Reserve your spot at go.wisc.edu/m05978

05/02/2026

Join us on the farm two weeks from today to help us get ready for the growing season!

Sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0448AEAA2EABF9C25-63540580-fondy

04/29/2026

Did you know that the space adjacent to the Fondy Farm Project site on the Mequon Nature Preserve is home to Wisconsin's first and only rice farm?

Yesterday our collaborator Michael Schappi of Red Stone Rice welcomed some aweome students from Germantown High School to seed dozens of flats of rice! We were lucky enough to get a little bit of the process on video. 💚

Growing season has begun!!