Week 20: 2 BOTWs, New music + doing our best

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September 12, 2025

Burger Night is open, rain or shine
Thursday & Friday 4pm-8pm
Saturday noon-8pm
Sunday noon-7p

It's Week 21 of 23 for the 2025 Burger Night season! 🤯 This warm weather has me so confused, how can there be only 2 weeks left?!

What I'm not confused about with the weather is if we're going to be open - so reminder that we are open if it's:

sunny
hot
cold
humid
windy
foggy
perfect (it happened once! honest!)
snowy
misting
raining in Eau Claire*
thunderstorming (though if there's a lot of lightning the music might be cancelled - we never want to disappoint anyone that might come out for the music (see below 🤩) plus we pay a cancellation fee so we do try really hard to not cancel music whenever possible)
mostly cloudy
tornadoing (though we may move the party into the farm store's basement 🤣)
hailing
flooding
mostly sunny OR partly cloudy
less than ideal
sleeting
or some combination of the above.

What I'm saying is that sometimes you're going to get more than just a burger when you come out. :)

Why do we do this? (to quote my children every time the weather is anything less than perfect) Because otherwise we'd be closed every other 15 minutes....it's so unpredictable and it's never constant so we just roll with it.

Can you imagine me trying to post our hours on google or facebook:

Thursday: open 4-4:15, 4:45-5:05ish, 5:32-5:35, 6:01-6:02, 6:30-6:55, 7:30-7:40, 7:44-8:00.

Why am I bringing this up? No reason!

If you could please just close your window blinds and don't even check or worry about what the weather is doing and join us on the farm because who knows what the next two weeks might bring? Tropical cyclone perhaps? That's NOT on the list above sooooo 😬 I wouldn't chance it.

*or wherever you are, REMINDER: check the radar because it may NOT be raining here; however, if it's beautiful in EC or wherever you are do NOT check the radar, just assume it's also awesome here.

Oh geez, I made more mistakes again. You'd think they'd just fire me already, but, nope.

This mistake = TWO Burgers of the Week for you again! So, see? Not all mistakes are bad for everyone. 😂

Screw up #1: Last week's burger with the blueberry ketchup was supposed to be the week before when Joyann Parker was playing (she does some blues styles) but not only did I mix that up, I also (mistake #2) showed you the WRONG picture for the BB's BBlue's one - that was actually a picture of THIS week's We Brie Jammin' BOTW.

Mistake #3 - there was only supposed to be one blueberry-involved BOTW for the whole year, in my mind I was actually thinking about the Beez Kneez BOTW. But! I wrote down We Brie Jammin...? 🤔 Or at least I think that's what happened? No idea. [Send Help!]

So this is where we're at for Week 21 of 23 (the one where Steph loses her mind):

Beez Kneez, will be featuring:

100% grassfed beef patty
a pear, honey & ginger compote from Quince & Apple
melted brie
ginger-infused honey drizzle 🍯
uncured applewood smoked bacon
a brioche (not ciabatta) bun to hold all that sweet deliciousness together

We Brie Jammin' (pictured below):

100% grassfed beef patty
uncured applewood smoked bacon
lemon-infused brie
Avenue Orchard's blueberry-habanero jam
on a toasted brioche bun.

We do not have a ton of the actual We Brie Jammin's so that may see a jam swap later this weekend or it may be sold out - we weren't exactly planning on doing this one. 🤪 (I mean, I got the brie, bacon, brioche and beef parts right though.)

(Note that we have about 15 other main meal options on the menu, not just whatever the BOTW special is; you can see the menus on the website.)

Behold! This is actually the We Brie Jammin' BOTW! Not many though so hurry!

The Beez Kneez BOTW (plus bacon and on brioche now, not ciabatta)! It's so delicious....highly recommend!
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Thursday, Sept 25th (next week)

Trivia at 6:30pm: Mixed Bag

TV
Monopoly
Picture: mountains
Audio: campfire songs
Famous women
Comic book characters

Remember, we give prizes to 1st place, 2nd place and Last place! So bring your friends (use the info above to help you decide who to bring) and let's have some Thursday night fun!

Grab your friends (different ages/generations is always a wise choice) and play trivia with us at 6:30pm Thursdays!

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Friday, Sept 19th

LIVE MUSIC with John Gay 5-8pm

Singer-songwriter, John Gay’s, gritty contemplative sound ripened in prison while he served a nine-year sentence for marijuana that started in 2011. After his release in 2017 John started performing his solo acoustic set at various venues around Wisconsin playing original music he wrote in prison along with covers of his favorite artists such as Jason Isbell, The Lumineers, Chris Stapleton, and Zach Williams.

Gritty singer-songwriter from Jefferson, WI, with heartfelt originals and covers you’ll know. 🎵

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Saturday, Sept 20th

LIVE MUSIC with Corey Rae White 5-8pm

Corey Rae White is a seasoned singer-songwriter with music in his blood and over 4,000 performances under his belt. A former Guitar Player of the Year nominee (Minnesota Music Association), he's known for heartfelt songwriting, electric live shows, and a warm, humorous stage presence. A multiple award-winning artist, White has earned National Native-E Music Awards and Native American Music Awards nominations, including for his song “Dimmer” and collaborations “I Will Always Fight” and “Don’t Keep Me Waiting.” He’s performed with bands like The Johnny Holm Band, CRAE WHITE Band, and Girls Night Out, and opened for stars like Train, Miranda Lambert, Zac Brown Band, and Semisonic. Melody, experience, and soul define his sound - Corey Rae White is the full package!

Corey Rae White returns to the farm Saturday night, 5-8pm, after one of the most talked-about sets of the season! Come find out why Andy himself said he may be one of the best we've ever had! 🎵

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Sunday, Sept 21th

3pm: Free BINGO with Steph!

This Sunday we've got one $300 cash jackpot and one $10,000 one!

We play 9 games with a winner every game!

✨ If you wanna win, you gotta play! ✨

🏈 PACKER GAME at noon Sunday will be on behind the bar!

Bingo fun! It's free, the Packer game will be on behind the bar (starts at noon) so why not??

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Wednesday, September 24th 🍻

Beer Dinner with The Brewing Projekt and Chef Andrew!

The menu looks fantastic, the weather (crazy as it sounds) looks like it's going to be perfect and all the people are wonderful!

So we'd love to have you join us for the this last Wednesday night of food & farm fun.

Beer Dinner Tickets

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Farm Store Updates

We just received our pottery re-stock and we've got a few honey and bee-related items on sale in honor of the (actual) Burger of the Week (the Beez Kneez one 😂).

And we have everyone's favorite ice cream flavors right now too - including Adeyle's favorite Caramel Apple Pie! 🍨❤ (hence why an ice cream flight is an option.)

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Closing Thoughts

One last weather thought since we try so hard to never cancel live music and risk disappointing any fans that might come out and see them:

Come out and see them!

We do pay attention to which musicians have a following and get community support so:

--> if you want them to keep coming back,

--> if you want us to continue our pretty strict no cancel policy and

--> if you want them to really feel the love then

coming out when the weather is less than ideal is the #1 way to do that (right behind cash tips 🤣).

And never forget: There's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes! 😉

Thank you so much for all the love and support!! 💚
Your farmer & friend,
Steph

p.s. Yesterday was National Cheeseburger Day and I sent out a text for BOGO half off of any burgers or pulled pork sandwiches, if you missed it but don't want to miss the next one text

Burger Night to 715-200-8333

For farm/meat sales and updates text Together Farms to that same number.

If you already signed up and you aren't seeing the texts, check your texting spam folder (even Andy's were going there - I think it's because I talk about giving away 1,000s of dollars at bingo and the filters don't like that because usually it's a scam, but, lucky for you, we are an unusual bunch).

p.s. Only 3 more weeks after this one so don't delay because you never know what the weather might do for the rest of them.

Rachel left us an updated ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Google Review
What a beautiful place! Great food!

Celery in meat - more deception?

UPDATE, 12-19-2025: I just learned that synthetic nitrites, aka pink salt, are pink because red dye is added to it. But, since it's at such a low percentage it is not required to be labeled on the meat (more bs in my mind). So that would be a point for Team Celery; however, with red dyes being banned, all the red dyed pink curing salts are now being phased out. So point is nullified, Team Celery still loses. Today we're talking about something that really irks me, really gets my britches in a bunch, really makes my blood boil, really drives me up the wall....but I will do my best to not devolve into anger and name-calling, I am clearly a professional so we'll keep this educational and factual because that's what you're here for and I don't even know where to get knickers from to twist. I'm obviously in such a state of controlled rage because it's Easter and so up popsCELERY. 😡Obviously. The gist of it: My belief is that nitrates and nitrites in meat should be avoided due to the creation of nitrosamines and that this is created whether the nitrates/ites are from the chemically pure lab-created (aka synthetic) nitrate/ite or if they are from concentrated nitrates/ites derived from celery because the same reactions will occur and be treated by your body in exactly the same way and it's best avoided. To further confuse matters, "their [synthetic nitrate/ites compared to those derived from celery] chemical composition is absolutely the same, and so are the health effects," says Joseph Sebranek, Ph.D., Morrison Endowed Chair in meat science at Iowa State University. 1 Just like how my blood sugar will spike if I eat a spoonful of sugar or a hunk of sugar cane. 🥄🌿REGARDLESS of what the label on the raw sugar cane says - it could say "natural", it could say "organic", it could saw "raw", it could say "derived from natural locations".....my blood sugar will spike because my digestive system is 100% immune from marketing gimmicks or downright deceptions.A+ work digestive system....please teach the eyes. 👁👃👁 Finding smoked meats without any added nitrates/ites in ANY form from animals raised well and organically on a small farm and then processed by an animal-welfare approved butcher that cares about health is quite a feat! Congratulations! 🎺🎺🎺Pictured: our $99 March Bundle of the Month (not pictured: included recipe cards and all the transparency we offer, mostly because it's transparent).Now that it's Easter time, the SMALL FARMS I follow are out there telling their customers that their hams are "uncured" and contain NO nitrates/ites because they use "celery" and therefore it's healthy....either they are directly saying it's healthier or are very heavily implying it. But they are literally say "NO nitrates/ites included" in their emails and social posts.Which is actually 3 lies. ‼ Lie 1. It's not uncured. Celery-derived nitrates/ites are chemically the same BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE. No literally. There's more. Since the USDA will not classify celery-derived nitrates/ites as being a curing agent (which makes zero science-sense) they will also not regulate it's use and so it's basically it's like the wild wild west.Not only that, but I have had butchers personally tell me that they then use MORE just to be "safe"!And the fact that nitrate/ite levels in meats using celery-derived nitrate/ite compounds is at least the same as synthetically sourced nitrate/ite was actually found to be true by researchers. So again, the chemical will behave the same, like a curing agent, regardless of how it came to be. Chemistry. Lie 2. It's just some celery - you know, the green leafy vegetable that is good for you. Well, yes but no. That's just like saying high-fructose corn syrup or glucose syrup is corn. 🌽Yes, but no. Yes it was derived from corn but after extensive further processing and concentration. If you told me "here's some corn for you to eat", I would imagine a cob of corn or perhaps a bag of frozen corn, I wouldn't think you were handing me a spoonful of glucose syrup. Same with the celery.They are not rubbing the meat with a stalk of celery, they are highly refining and processing the celery to extract out the naturally-occurring nitrates/ites and concentrate them which they then use as a substitute for pure synthetic nitate/ite curing salts. The entire point of adding the celery-derived nitrate/ites is for the nitrates/ites, not for flavor or nutrients or color or anything else. Nobody is even pretending there is any other reason for it's use except to act as a cure. Lie 3. It's healthier. I feel like we proved the point as far as celery nitrates/ites are the same chemically as synthetic ones and your intestinal tract also can't read, so just like my intestinal tract, it is what it is.The nitrosamines are created and probably cause colorectal cancer. But, wait, the celery option itself actually gets even a little bit worse. Okay, so it's true that nitrates/ites naturally occur in foods - especially leafy vegetables or any veggies with higher water content (because nitrates/ites occur in water) so then the veggies themselves concentrate that, some a little more than others, and we eat it, but that is seemingly okay. Kind of like how nicotine is naturally occurring in some veggies and actually might be good for you in small doses of that raw form, but I'm doing my best to stay focused here. Just remember, the problem seems to be the heating up of the nitrates/ites in a protein-rich environment, not necessarily the nitrates/ites themselves.Okay so what else are veggies that are full of water going to be full of? That's right - pesticides, herbicides and whatever else is floating around in or dissolved in all that water they are drinking or being splashed with. Celery currently ranks #16 on the EWG's pesticide contamination list (again, they don't look at any of the other -ides) and, here's the kicker! Non-organic celery is used to make celery-derived nitrates/ites even for organic products! 3So along with those celery nitrates/ites comes the concentration of whatever else was in that celery. I mean, at this point, if we didn't have this godsend of an option with our butcher of "D. None of the above".-------> we would choose synthetic over "celery". <------- Now at this point I should just leave well enough alone and send you on your merry way to digest all this info but I'm not really a professional like was indicated earlier so before we go, I'd like to show you this label and you tell me if it's telling you the truth and can be trusted or if it's deceiving you: It's hard to read but under the white banner it says "No Nitrates or Nitrites Added" and then in the asterisk at the very bottom in the white it says "except those naturally occurring in....celery powder" which you'll see below was added. 🤣 what?? so which is it? added or not added?That would be like if the Snickers or whatever candy bar said "no sugar added except for those naturally occurring in corn" instead of "high fructose corn syrup". 🤯And, of course, it says "uncured" in giant letters as part of the name, which it chemically is not Again, the back is hard to read though it does say you can have "peace of mind" eating this (more like, I'll give you a piece of my mind Applegate).A close-up of just the ingredients is included. Notice that the celery is not organic even though this is an organic product. It's not just celery. Some butchers will say "vegetable" or use carrots or beets or some other veggie or combo of veggies but it's all the same - a veggie being highly processed to extract and concentrate nitrates/ites to then be used as a better sounding cure. Could actually be worse depending on how much those other vegs concentrate bad stuff. Okay so they both said "no nitrates/ites added" but also then added the concentrated form of celery nitrates/ites which is chemically exactly the same as the synthetic nitrates/ites and behaves exactly the same way....as a cure.Okay and here's a picture of our label - what do you notice? The label says "uncured", the ingredient list does not include any vegetables or any asterisks that say "except for..." so it really is uncured and there really are no nitrates/ites added. Just good meat that was in a salt & sugar brine and then smoked the old-fashioned way using a smokehouse and hardwood chips! No water injections or reforming either. Just a smoked ham. That's right - actually no nitrates added. Congratulations! You have just unlocked a new set of decoder glasses complete with a ring! 👓💍This is a big deal, as the "Celery in Meat" ring + glasses are both are very hard to collect. This got much longer than I expected so I am going to save the butcher story for next week. I am also a little concerned I'm on the verge of starting a cult with all these secret super powers I am giving you so stay tuned for part 2 as to why and how we ended up here - clean meat, raised organically on our small farm and processed well. No way are we going to work so hard on raising the best meat we can (hand-fed pastured pigs!) only to have questionable ingredients added at the butcher! Hard pass. Of course if you want to eat meats with nitrates/ites in any form - great! If you aren't worried about nitrosamines, great! If you don't think I'm right or my references are not trustworthy, that's all fine. Of course, you probably shouldn't expect to be invited to present at the Annual Convention of Chemists, aka ChemCon, but that's fine, you've got better things to do anyway. 🧪 I just want you to be able to have the CORRECT and trustworthy information you need to make those decisions. And right now, "uncured" meats and "celery" are a huge pile of lies, deception and greenwashing. This really might be the worst example of greenwashing I can think of, specifically because we assume the word celery = better and we assume we can trust all these small farms. It's actually worse even than meat being able to be labelled "Product of USA" no matter where it's from because at least small farms aren't doing that to their blindly trusting customers. Ugh, it all just makes me so sad and frustrated. Also a small pro-tip, according to my chef friend, celery is best left out of broth making too as it brings some unpleasant flavors with it (nitrate is that you??). So keep celery in its place: Bloody Marys and we'll all be fine and live forever. Hmm, a drink actually sounds really good right now. Thanks for being a part of our little farm and I hope you really can trust us - I don't think we are self-deceived (although that's the thing about being self-deceived) and we do our best to be as transparent and honest as possible, but you'll never get the full story until our reality show becomes reality. ❤ Your farmer & founding-member-of-the-Church-of-the-Flying-Anticelery-Monster friend, Stephanie Schneider

Week 20: 2 BOTWs, New music + doing our best

Thursday, Sept 25th (next week)

Friday, Sept 19th

Saturday, Sept 20th

Sunday, Sept 21th

Wednesday, September 24th 🍻

Farm Store Updates

Closing Thoughts

More from the blog

Pricing Updates & Freezes

Celery in meat - more deception?

Holiday & Sale Updates & Deadlines

Local Farm • Grass-fed Beef • Meal Kits • Burger Nights • More