Whitewater family wins ‘Life on the Farm’ contest

The Wisconsin Historical Society membership team selected a Whitewater family as the winner of its “Life on the Farm Extreme” contest.

      The Tom and Amy Ziolkowski family will spend May 18 working on an Old World Wisconsin farm after being picked at random from 190 entrants.

      All Wisconsin Historical Society members, new and existing, were eligible to win.

      Amy Ziolkowski said her family entered the contest hoping to gain real-life experience of what “a day in the life” really meant for early Wisconsin settlers.

      “Our hope for the experience is that our family will gain a greater appreciation for our ancestors who settled here in Wisconsin, the struggles they overcame, and the labor involved in every daily chore,” she said.

      The Ziolkowski family will dress in period apparel as they experience 19th-century farm-related activities for the day. They’ll prepare and enjoy a 19th-century meal cooked on a wood-fired stove and help with chores indoors and outdoors, including feeding the farm animals, working in the garden, barn or carpenter shop, grinding flour, gathering eggs and assisting with kitchen work.

      Life on the Farm at Old World Wisconsin was launched as a new daily experience in 2012.

      Guests to the historic site gave it excellent reviews in its inaugural season, according to Lisa McGovern, Old World Wisconsin Communications.

       “The experience, located at the Koepsell farm, offers hands-on opportunities to try the chores of Midwestern farmers, farm wives and children in the late 1800s,” McGovern said.

      Old World Wisconsin is located at W372 S9727 Highway 67, Eagle.

      For more information, call  (262) 594-6300 or visit www.oldworldwisconsin.org.