Rooted in community: Browns open their farm for agritainment events

Leah Brown grew up with her hands in the dirt, watching her mother can and her uncle tend the garden on the same Pine River property where she was raised. Decades later, she is doing the same thing on her own land off Highway G east of Merrill, and she is seldom happier than when she has dirty hands, totally immersed in life on their hobby farm. This spring and summer, she and her husband Craig are inviting the community to come out to their farm to learn more about rural life.
The couple operates Brown’s Farm and Countryside Booth at W2460 Altenburger Road, a working farmstead where they raise beef cattle, meat chickens, pigs, ducks, laying hens, and sheep. The property includes a farm stand stocked with homemade breads, canned goods, crafts and handmade decor and gifts, baked goods, and meats, as well as a greenhouse Leah added last year. This spring, she will also be offering starter plants and flowers, which she started from seed.
What they are doing is being dubbed agritainment, a term that blends agriculture with entertainment that Leah stumbled onto while researching liability coverage for the farm.
In the Browns’ case this year, it means opening their land to the public through a series of seasonal events that tie food, farming demonstrations, local vendors, and community gathering into each experience.

Love of community

None of what the Browns are doing feels new to Leah. It feels like coming home. “My uncle lived on the same property as us. He did the garden. My mom and dad did the canning,” she said. “We shared, we lived as a community. We helped each other. We’re just losing so much of that. And it’s important to me.”
“Craig and I, as a couple, have always loved to be a part of our community, and agriculture is in our bones.”
“My husband grew up across the road,” Leah said, pointing to the farm across the road from Brown’s Farm and Countryside Booth. “He grew up on a dairy farm.”
Craig Brown, who manages Tomahawk Bus and serves as a Town Supervisor for the Town of Schley, spent years away from farming after taking over the family dairy operation at 21 when his father died unexpectedly.
But after Craig and Leah’s children were grown, the couple began leaning back into the agricultural roots they both share.
For Leah, the path back to the farm came via a winding road. Before returning to her agricultural roots, she spent 17 years running a dance studio in Merrill, building a community of students and families around a shared love of movement and the arts. After COVID, Leah closed the studio and stood at a turning point. As a dance teacher, she had spent nearly two decades creating a space where people came together, and she found she was not ready to give that up. She just needed a new stage. She now works from home as an underwriter for a rural mutual insurance company, which, she noted with a laugh, has taken on the farm itself as a client and covers the agritainment events for liability. The family farmstead now sets the stage for Leah to host events to foster community, have fun on the farm, and educate others about rural lifestyles. In a world that is changing so quickly, the Browns are creating opportunities for people to reconnect with the land and with each other, instead of with electronic devices, Leah said.
Last year was a quiet start to events on the farmstead. The farm stand and greenhouse were put up last June, and the gatherings were small and new. “This is our second year doing some events,” she said, adding that last year “was pretty small and very new.” But what struck her most in those early gatherings was something she has been thinking about ever since. “One of my favorite things last year was seeing people out here sitting and just talking as neighbors,” she said. “I just loved it.”
That desire to bring neighbors together is at the heart of everything the Browns are planning for 2026. This year’s events will be on a larger scale.
“This is only our first year really focusing on the entertainment and bringing people together,” she said. When asked about her goals for the events, Leah did not hesitate. “I just want to see people seeing the gardens, seeing the animals, and then getting together, being able to eat, being able to just talk,” she said.

Ewe-nique Lambing Celebration

The first event of the season is the Ewe-nique Lambing Celebration on May 9, 2026, running from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Demonstrations will include sheep shearing, carding wool, spinning wool, knitting, felting, and more. Craft and food vendors will be on site, along with both adult and children’s crafts. JB’s Catering Food Truck will serve lamb specials and other items. Jon Aumann will provide demonstrations of Rappa Fencing.
Attendees will be able to watch the Browns’ own sheep get shorn that day, while carded wool brought in by demonstrators will be used for hands-on activities, including a wool-felting demonstration. “The wool that we get that day, I will be able to wash and card and use for my wool balls,” Leah said. Classes will also be offered, including one on how to turn a heel and other knitting techniques. Kids can make their own cotton ball sheep and participate in a sheep-herding balloon game. FFA students from Merrill are expected to be on hand to help with animals and activities. If the weather is uncooperative, vendors will set up inside the pole building, so attendees are encouraged to come regardless of conditions.
“We bring together sheep products vendors to run product showcases so that we can highlight sustainable craftsmanship, connect consumers with quality goods, and boost local food and market knowledge,” Leah said.
“By bringing in our neighbor JB who has the food truck, bringing in some of these other people ... it honestly gives me chills,” Leah said. Supporting other local and rural businesses while drawing people to the farm is not just a side benefit. It is the whole point. “We all have something to share,” she said. This, too, is another aspect of their focus on community.

Mac and Moo

The second event, Mac and Moo, is set for June 27, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Three food trucks will compete for the title of best mac and cheese, with the community welcome to purchase from each. The competing trucks are Derrie’s Foodworks Catering, Wisco, and Kasuns. Three judges will evaluate the entries: Jenna Breitenfeldt, a fourth-generation dairy farmer from Wausau; Holly Hartwig, FFA advisor and agriculture teacher in Merrill; and Tim Klimek, Chairman of the Town of Schley and operator of his own family farm.
The Pesobic Pathfinders 4-H group will be on site selling ice cream, including an award-winning flavor they imagined and invented as part of a Cedar Crest Ice Cream competition, and Journey the Cow, a hands-on educational display from the Partnership for Progressive Agriculture out of Marathon County, will be available so kids can try their hand at milking. Cow-themed crafts, games, and the farm stand will round out the day.

Barnyard Brunch
The third event, Barnyard Brunch, is scheduled for July 26, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Craig will be making his homemade yeast doughnuts, which have developed something of a following, according to Leah. “A lot of people raved about the donuts,” Leah said. “They’re made with my homemade jam.” Bagels, breakfast meal kits available for purchase, games, and crafts will also be part of the morning. Leah said the Caffeine Cruiser truck will be on site for the event, as well.

Dinner and a Movie

Closing out the season, the Browns will host Dinner and a Movie on September 12, starting at 4:30 p.m. with the movie beginning at dusk. Sheep Detectives is the farm-based movie selected for this year, and the film will be projected onto the pole building, with sound also available for those who want to stay in their vehicles. A food truck will serve dinner, barnyard animal treats will be available for purchase, and games and crafts will be on hand. “It’s always a farm-based movie,” Leah said. Last year the evening turned unexpectedly chilly. “We ended up having a little fire for people to sit around,” she said. That remains an option for this year’s event, as well.

Agritainment with a little education
Visitors to the farm during events will find that learning is woven into the experience in ways that go beyond the demonstrations. Leah has been placing educational signs at various points around the property for guests to discover as they walk around, with a focus on Wisconsin foods and agriculture. “I’ve just been working on getting some different facts about things put up throughout the farm,” she said. Those signs tie directly into both a physical farm scavenger hunt, with cards guests can pick up on arrival, and a digital version. “I put it on my Facebook page, but you won’t get the link until that day, because I don’t want anyone trying to do it early,” she said.
One of the more personal touches will be a large display placed near a piece of family history. “I have a bigger one that will be put up by my grandpa’s very first tractor,” she said. The display will include a photograph of the original handwritten purchase receipt, a photo of her grandparents, and an image of what the tractor would look like restored. “That’s something meaningful to me,” she said, “that hopefully will kind of tie some things in too.”
“I think the best way to learn is to get your hands dirty, just to do it,” she said, describing her approach to all of it. “I’m a self-taught homesteader. That’s what I call myself.”

Seasonal farm stand and year-round sales
Beyond the specific agritainment events, the Browns’ farm stand is open by appointment and sometimes during pop-up sales announced on the Brown’s Farm and Countryside Booth Facebook page when produce is available.
The farm stand itself is stocked with what Leah grows and makes herself, including homemade breads, jams, pickles, dry mixes, and meal kits that bundle together a cut of meat, fresh vegetables, bread, and a dessert mix. This year one of Leah’s former dance students, Anna Schlegel, a trained pastry professional who recently returned to the area from Minneapolis, will be expanding the baked goods available at the stand. Schlegel studied dance with Leah from the time she was three years old through age 18. “She was a student of mine,” Leah said. “Now she’s coming back and we’re kind of partnering up that way. What I can’t do, she’ll do.”
The Browns take orders for beef, pork, and chicken raised on the farm and processed locally, and they are straightforward about where they fit in the market. “If you’re looking for a cheaper option, we’re not it,” Leah said. “If you want to know where your meat comes from, this is a great option for you.”
The stand also features handcrafted items, farm-fresh eggs, and specialty cuts of meat.

For more information or to schedule a visit to Brown’s Farm and Countryside Booth, contact Leah Brown at 715.551.0537 or leah.brown2460@gmail.com.