Hooray! This spring, we broke ground on a well for Pasley’s Swan Creek Farm. Groundswell leases the farm to Neighborhood Food Solutions, who has had to use chlorinated municipal water for the past five growing seasons. Well water is preferred for a variety of reasons, including how it is financially sustainable for farmers and Groundswell.

We would like to thank the Mayor of Fitchburg, Julia Arata-Fratta; Alder Gabriella Gerhardt; and Fitchburg’s Resource Conservation Commission for championing a city ordinance amendment that made it possible to drill the well. We are also grateful for support from Dane County Supervisor Dana Pellebon and Representative Samba Baldeh. The project was sponsored by nearly $50,000 in generous grants from the American Family Insurance Institute for Community and Social Impact, the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, and the Alliant Energy Foundation.