Taking their name from designated parts of a field where crops and agricultural techniques are trialed, Test Plots are nimble projects used as research for the biennial Farm/Art DTour. The two-year cycle (Test Plots to DTour) gives time for these experiments to lead to new discoveries, build community friendships, and spark conviviality & joy as we gather artists, farmers and community leaders from southern Wisconsin and further afield.

Artists in bubble costumes dance at Witwen Park during the 2021 Ferm Fest.
Ellie Erickson carving wood with a chainsaw for the DISCover Art Golf Disc Golf course in Reedsburg, WI.
Sauk County ARK is an artwork by Tory Tepp installed in Sauk County, Wisconsin. Kernza, a perennial grain, radiates from an earthwork in the shape of a landlocked ship: a field station for scientific research, meditation & agricultural play.
Artists installed wood carvings made with natural fibers in a disc golf course along the Baraboo River in downtown Reedsburg, Wisconsin.
Witwen Park Tabernacle Caitlin Vitale-Sullivan music performance presented by Wormfarm Institute at the 2021 Fermentation Fest
collaboration between artist Tory Tepp and a local farming family to plant & harvest Kernza, a new perennial grain, in a field anchored by evolving earthworks created with students from a local school.
Large letters in a farm field spell out H E A L T H a person is holding a sign that reads "Human".
Witwen Park tabernacle along the river at sunset.

2021 growing season Test Plots included:

  • An exciting collaboration between artist Tory Tepp and a local farming family to plant & harvest Kernza, a new perennial grain, in a field anchored by evolving earthworks created with students from a local school
  • DISCover Art Golf: nine artists installed sculpture, wood carvings and weavings made with cleared buckthorn & other natural fibers in a disc golf course along the Baraboo River in downtown Reedsburg
  • Rural Urban FLOW seed exchanges, shared meals with farmers, artists & chefs, and a zine that invited regional poets to write odes that were composted and planted with vegetable seeds grown by CSA farmers
  • Fermentation Fest teamed up with Grassland 2.0 for a rural revival & grazing renaissance, welcoming 2,000 visitors to the historic Witwen Park for delicious food, music in the tabernacle, bubble dancers, cow callers, cattail weavers and fermented concoctions… with more to come.
  • Fundraising for Witwen Park and more behind-the-scenes efforts.