Pizza Farms Exist, and Here’s Everything You Need to Know
Huffington Post just found out pizza farms exist, so there’s no keeping this thing a secret anymore. As a proud Upper Midwesterner, I know pizza farms. I love pizza farms. I even got engaged at one of the pizza farms. Pizza farms are essentially a dream come true, and here’s why: They are farms that make you pizza. Do you even need further explanation?!
Okay, maybe a little more… You go over the river and through the woods, but not to grandma’s house. You’re going out to the middle of a field to eat wood-fired pizza made from locally harvested wheat, homemade pepperoni and farm-fresh mozzarella — oh, and maybe some of that basil and fennel and those mushrooms you see growing over there on a log. If farm-to-table is your thing, this is beyond your thing.
Every pizza farm is different, but one of the most well-known is A to Z Produce in Stockholm, Wisconsin (about 1.5 hours from Minneapolis). It’s open Tuesday evenings from February through October — rain, snow or shine. In the summer, hundreds of other diners will be making the pilgrimage with you, while winter tends to be cozier, and the snowy barn fills with a smaller, hardier group of pizza fiends. It’s BYO-everything but the ‘za, so that means plates, cups and even seating. In the summer, picnic quilts dot the grounds of the farm, while others diners go as far as setting up fully styled tables for candlelit dinners.
The menu changes based on what’s in season at the farm, so you order from a selection on a hand-written chalkboard. While your pizza is being fired in the huge brick oven, grab a Wisconsin beer and take in the scenery. There’s nothing but little red barns, goats, cows and fields of farmland for miles. Once your order is called, you’ll be hungry enough to eat a horse (fortunately, there are no horses for you to bother at A to Z). With an experience like this, it’s almost unfair when the food is good, too, but it really is. If you ever see cilantro pesto on the menu (pic below), don’t hesitate. It is the ultimate.
At the end of the night, stuffed with pizza (and likely pie from the nearby bakery), you bring all your gear and garbage with you and leave your picnic spot exactly as you found it (kinda like Burning Man, but with pizza).
A to Z Produce is just one of several amazing pizza farms in the Upper Midwest, concentrated in Wisconsin and Minnesota. There are also a couple others scattered around the United States that you’ll be able to sleuth out in upstate New York, California and more.
Have you been to a pizza farm? Let us know which one is your favorite in the comments!
(images via The Midwestival)
