Timbergreen
Farm is a family enterprise located in the driftless area of
southwestern Wisconsin some five miles from Spring Green. It is made up
of 300 acreas of hills and valleys, much of it wooded, through which
wind several miles of trails. Bill and Helen Birkemeier have owned the
property since 1973 but only moved there permanently upon Bill's
retirement in 1988. They have made sometimes less than successful
efforts at raising beef, corn, and hay, but currently are content to
sit back and watch others do the work.
One parcel of the farm was
originally deeded to one William and Mary Jarvis in 1855 with a
mortgage to the Watertown and Madison Rail Road Company and a second to
Parley and Harriet Eaton in 1857. Other early owners included Richard
and Helen Davis, J J. Hess, Miles and Francis White, William and Nancy
Ecker, and a score of others. Frank Schwartz purchased much of the
acreage in 1895 with adjoining lands owned by Joseph Soeldner. The
Soeldner homestead is a quarter mile up the road and was constructed
with logs from the farm, covered with cedar siding. One of Joseph's
sons told us of his brothers' favorite pastime of tormenting the
bachelor down the road at every opportunity. Other stories about Frank
told of his great strength, as he reportedly could lift a full-grown
Holstein cow. He burned down the house in the '40's rendering lard and
rebuilt with much difficulty during the war years when many supplies
were almost impossible to obtain. Frank died in 1960, and in 1962,
Donald and Betty Gabelt purchased the land and were the last to operate
it as a dairy farm. They sold to Edward Kolner, a Madison doctor, who
rented out the house, and the Birkemeier's bought it in 1973. Since
that time, the house has been remodeled and enlarged and a sawmill with
solar kilns has been added.
Bill spent thirty of his working
years as a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the
University of Wisconsin, following positions at the University of
Arkansas and Purdue. When he is not busy in the woodworking shop or
repairing the seemingly ever-present piece of equipment that is broken,
he enjoys hiking the trails with his collie, Sunny. Helen raised six
children, is an organist, gardener, and amatuer naturalist, watching
birds and bugs. She grows and propogates wildflowers for the farm,
selling many at openhouses held each spring (see Wildflowers) and
writes a weekly column for the Home News, Spring Green's newpaper (see
the current issue of Timbergreen
Trails and past issues of "Timbergreen
Trails"). Jim owns Timbergreen
Forestry, a firm dedicated to the
serving of landowners with property containing woodlands. He operates a
sawmill and lumber enterprise at the farm and installs custom flooring.
Jim is a graduate forester from the University of Wisconsin and a
consulting forester.
Other
members of the family
include:
-Richard
and Laurie Birkemeier of
Norwalk, California. Dick is a professor of trumpet at California State
University at Long Beach and is director of the Americus Brass Band, a
civil war recreation.
-Bill
and Christine Hansen of
Great Falls, Montana. Bill is an independent consulting geologist after
working for seventeen years with the United States Geological Survey
and the Bureau of Land Management. Chris is mother to five children,
Peter, Amber, Jacob, Billy, and Helen.
-Dianne
Smith and her son Josh of Kansas City, Kansas;