Warm Belly Farm employs high-tech farming, offers year-round berry picking

By Kim McDarison

Editor’s note: Francis Wisniewski, owner of Warm Belly Farm, said he wanted to say ‘thank you’ to Vern Zech for posting information about his new Fort Atkinson-based, high-tech agricultural business on his online community page, so he invited Zech to pick some farm-fresh, hydroponically-grown strawberries. Zech, who visited the farm on Friday, invited Fort Atkinson Online to come along and share in the experience. We were delighted! 

Francis Wisniewski, a Chicago trader, said he never envisioned himself as a farmer. Today, he owns Warm Belly Farm, a 90-acre facility located in Oakland on County Highway C, where he offers pick-your-own strawberries in a heated greenhouse by appointment year-round. 

One thing led to another, Wisniewski said, and before he knew it, a hobby farm vacation spot had become his permanent home and his new business. 

“I just kept staying longer and longer,” Wisniewski said, adding that he sold his home in Chicago two years ago. 

As for the farming part, he said, it all started with three trees. 

From three trees to farming

Wisniewski purchased the farm in 2016 from a cabinetmaker, he said, adding that several large pole buildings were already on the property. 

Still, he said, he had no intention of farming. Instead, his attention was drawn to three apple trees he inherited that seemed to be in distress.

“I thought I might resurrect them,” he said. He signed up for a class at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The subject: establishing an orchard. 

Describing the class, Wisiewski said: “It intrigued me so much I planted 300 trees about three months later. I was still thinking it was a hobby, and then I built the greenhouse and planted more trees.” 

Today the farm has 1,800 apple trees of several varieties and in various stages of maturity. 

He began planting the trees in 2017, and built the greenhouse in 2018, he said, “because I thought a farm should have a greenhouse.” 

Driven by an interest in hydroponic gardening, his first greenhouse experiment began using a hydroponic system to grow lettuce and tomatoes, he said. 

As a trader and investor, he said, he has invested in aquaponics, an agricultural science devoted to raising fish in tanks combined with hydroponics, which, in turn, is a science revolving around raising plants without soil, for the last 10 years. Those investments never did very well, Wisniewski said, but, he added, he was intrigued by the science, and he’s a risk taker. 

“It was just always a hobby. I would have said, ‘I’m not a farmer,’ but the future of farming seems to be in science and vertical farms and I’m interested in that. So now I’m doing my own,” he added.

Wisniewski said after he built his 4,000-square-foot greenhouse, the following year, he went to Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, on a hydroponic fact-finding mission. 

In Amsterdam, he said, he learned about the system he uses today to grow strawberries. Upon his return, he changed his greenhouse crop from lettuce and tomatoes to strawberries, because he thought the crop would be “more interesting and profitable.” 

Today, some 1,200 strawberry plants grow in rows of raised tables in a peat moss and coco coir mixture. Coco coir is a medium made of ground up coconut shells, Wisniewski said. The mixture is particularly good at holding moisture. For sustenance, the plants are fed a nutrient through a water delivery system. 

The greenhouse is heated, and provides a thriving habituate for strawberry plant growth year-round. 

The indoor facility makes it easier to pick. Plants are grown on elevated four-foot-high tables so there is no bending down, which can make conventional picking harder, and the aisles are wide enough to accommodate wheelchairs, Wisniewski said.  

The greenhouse is also home to free-roaming bumblebees used to pollinate the plants. 

“It’s a common thing to have bees in greenhouses. We get a box of them every six weeks. They have an eight-week lifespan. We have bumblebees which were chosen because they are good at pollinating indoor strawberries and they are not aggressive. 

“We also have five hives of honey bees for our apples outside. We have a local beekeeper who takes care of them throughout the year and he collects the honey and processes it. We need the bees to cultivate the apples,” Wisniewski said. 

With the greenhouse up and running, Wisniewski said Warm Belly Farm opened to the public, providing pick-your-own-strawberries, last fall. 

The opportunity was and continues to be offered by appointment only and is currently booked out for the next month, he said. 

“That way, we can make sure there are strawberries available to be picked. We want the experience here to be of a high quality,” he said. 

Customers arriving to pick their own strawberries are provided with a five-gallon bucket and a small scissors. 

“We encourage people to cut rather than pick because it is easier on the plants,” Wisniewski said, adding: “People quickly get the hang of it.”  

The company also is currently selling to an Oconomowoc baker. 

“He makes our strawberries into pastries,” Wisniewski said. 

All of the farm’s available appointments were booked over the winter, and so far, the farm has been able to sell everything it produces, Wisniewski said. Strawberries cost about $5 a pound or $25 a bucket. 

Minor to major leagues

It might have been a humble beginning, but like strawberries, the farm is growing. 

“This is warmup stage. It is like we are in the minor leagues and the major leagues start this summer,” Wisniewski said. His plans include expanding the indoor strawberry-picking operation into a 30,000-square-foot greenhouse that is currently under construction, and offering pick-your-own apples.  

“We built the larger greenhouse last fall and we had a few plants in it, but this will be the first year that it will be full,” he said. He anticipates making 10,000 strawberry plants available for customers to harvest.  

“Every time we did something, we said, ‘OK, what do we do next?’” Wisniewski said. He operates the farm with the help of four employees. 

Valerie McGoldrick and Erin Warner share the obligations of farm management, maintaining sustainable farming activities and monitoring plant health. They are aided by production assistant Emily Hebbe and property manager Todd Gladem. Most of the employees were hired within the last 12 months, Wisniewski said. 

Together the team has embraced expansion, with plans to continue expanding the apple orchard. The farm will also one-day offer blueberry picking, although those bushes are newly planted and not yet ready to bear fruit, Wisniewski said. 

The larger greenhouse will not be heated so picking within that building will only be offered between the months of May and November, he said. Plants within the buildings are annuals. 

Plants have been purchased from Canada, and the farm is now working to propagate its own. 

“I’ve got an engineering background so I’m interested in the higher tech version of farming. It’s more sustainable and I think it is the next step in farming. It will be how the next 50 years of farming looks,” Winsiewski said, adding, “I consider this farm my legacy. I’m planning to leave it to my kids.” 

While he admits his daughters are “city kids,” he said, “lots of sons-in-law take over farms. You never know. 

“Hopefully it’s profitable. It’s a risk, but as a trader, I’m a risk taker. I take calculated risks and it seemed like a good risk to take.”  

As Wisniewski shared his farming concepts, Vern Zech easily worked his way down the aisles inside the 4,000-square-foot greenhouse. Plump, red strawberries filled his five-gallon bucket in no time. 

Wisniewski expressed his happiness in hosting Zech on his farm. It was a way to say “thanks,” he said, noting that over the last year, every time Zech posted on his community Facebook page about the farm, he received appointments made by customers on his website. He even hired one of his employees after Zech made a post, he said. 

Zech quietly made his way down the aisles. After his bucket was filled, he was treated to a tour of the farm. 

“I had fun,” he said. 

This season

Looking ahead to this growing season, Wisniewski said he continues to recommend that people visit his website and make appointments to pick fruit. 

Opportunities for picking strawberries and apples are announced through the website and on social media. 

While planting fruit-bearing plants, bushes and trees is ongoing, many must mature before they are ready for harvesting. The blueberries are in that process, Wisniewski said. 

On the farm, there are currently 1,800 apple trees, 20,000 strawberry plants, 1,000 blueberry bushes and 100 cherry trees. 

Among plants that are being considered for the farm is a line of white strawberries that are said to taste like pineapples, Wisniewski said. 

At the farm, he said, “it’s all about using technology to create sustainable farming to provide the highest quality products for customers and a high-quality experience for visitors.” 

Those interested in learning more or scheduling a strawberry-picking appointment can visit the website: https://warmbellyfarm.com.

For those interested in apple picking, Wisniewski suggests following social media to learn about select apple-picking days that will be made available in the fall of 2021 and 2022. In 2023, the website states, the farm will be “officially opening to apple picking.” 

Appointments guarantee berries are available for those who come to pick and keep groups safe while following COVID-19 protocols, Wisniewski added.