Small Farm In Waukesha County Works To Show Why Organic Food Matters

Environment

Linda Halley is general manager of Gwenyn Hill Farm in the Town of Delafield. "Gwenyn" means honeybee in Welsh. Halley says the name is a nod to generations of people who farmed this lush valley, starting back in 1842. “A Williams married the original farmer’s daughter, another Williams bought the land next door, and so this was just a valley of Williams farmers. [They] dairy farmed and one of them had sheep, [which is] a Welsh thing,” says Hawley. By the 2010s, most of the Williams family had moved on. It looked as though a subdivision would take the farm’s place. Instead, the farm's new owner hired Halley to revive the farm with a retro twist. “We’ve brought back the diversity of a 1950s or 1940s farm in Wisconsin with many different species of animals and some chickens for eggs. We’ve maintained small fields and, well, we even use horses once in a while,” Halley explains. Gwenyn's cows spend their days hanging out near the barn and munching on food. “They’re crossbred so that they