Vagabond Tales- Wisconsin Homesteading

Aug 20-21, 2026 Gresser/Polli 40 acres in Hatley, WI

We stopped in to visit my sister and family…Two years ago Laurie and Craig, in their retirement, along with their daughter, Kelly, her husband, Erik and their three children embarked upon a new adventure. They would move from Illinois and settle on 40 acres of fertile farmland and deeply forested land upon the Plover River!

They are presently all living in a restored farmhouse. Once Eric and Kelly complete their project of living space office combo they will still be neighbors but just not so close!😄

Top- My baby sister, Laurie and I in her pond room. Bottom left- Laurie and Craig, and right-the Polli’s.
They have planted this old barn foundation on their property with flowers and vegetables!
We hiked to get to their bubbly spring-fed pond.

Then, we headed to out to their dock on Plover River. Due to the low rain fall, the river is down this summer but it still a lot of fun for the children!

This is the Polli Project! They have hopes of being in this fall! You can see they will be off grid with Solar electricity!
We were gifted this delicious bottle of Maple Syrup from the Pollis! This is mainly Kelly’s project but the whole family pitches in! Delicious! It replenishes our Maple Syrup disaster earlier.
Laurie has always worked with the release of Monarchs in the late summer. This year is no different! This pond is over 9 feet deep so the fish can winter over in the Wisconsin winter!

August 21- Wilderness Campground close to Mackinaw City

Here we are going over the Mackinaw Bridge. Lake Michigan

We had a surprise when we arrived at our campground. Some guy had parked his electric vehicle in our site and was charging it. He left a phone number on his car so we called and he came to move it 10 minutes after we called. He was somewhere else in the park! More tomorrow on our escapades!
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4 thoughts on “Vagabond Tales- Wisconsin Homesteading”

  1. I’m glad that you got to visit with your family! The Pollis are brave to go off grid and depend only on solar energy. I wish them good luck on completing their home.

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    1. I’m worried for their completion, only because I know how quickly winter comes to Wisconsin. If Erik can get a wood stove in, perhaps it could lengthen their work time! Hangin all of that Sheetrock so high was a bear! He has a full time engineering job, to boot!
      A lot of pressure! Love to you! K.❤️

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