Emily (left) and Ana Maria (right) enjoying the fall colors in Wisconsin’s Northwoods, 2018.
Emily Martorano
Emily has been running Hazel Hill Farm since 2015 and will continue to raise delicious pork, mushrooms, garlic, eggs, and more. With the move to The Birdhouse, she’s looking forward to bringing her bacon and eggs all the way to the breakfast table. Emily was raised in Grayslake, IL, studied anthropology at Harvard, and fell into farming while working in Italy, Scotland, and Ireland for nine months. She fell in love with Spring Green through many visits over the years, and when her aunt and uncle offered a short-term farm rental, she happily jumped on the opportunity. While farming, Emily can be found giggling at the many comedy podcasts she loves. While not farming, she enjoys a walk in the woods, a leisurely bike ride, a good book, and classic movies. She has long been threatening to take up tap dancing and has gotten so far as to buy tap shoes at a thrift store.
Ana Maria Vascan
Ana Maria has called the east side of Madison home for the last few years after living throughout the Upper Midwest and a lifetime ago, Romania. She first moved there to earn her quadruple-pronged BS in Neurobiology, Linguistics, Zoology, and Environmental History from the University of Wisconsin before setting off into the wider world to learn some more. Eventually, Madison called her back. As the inveterate night owl, Ana Maria enjoys the perfect “day job” conducting neuroscience sleep research at the UW School of Medicine. When she’s not watching brain waves, you can find Ana with a pot of tea, ten new projects, and at least one rather large cat. She’s a talented visual artist and loves figuring out how things work. Other favorite pastimes include feeding large groups of people, supporting local history efforts, and requesting far too many things from her favorite library.
Very fittingly, Emily and Ana Maria met at a book club in 2017 when Emily brought a giant tray of roasted heirloom garlic and Ana enthusiastically accepted the leftovers.
Rita “Cat” Hayworth
Rita met Emily at the Iowa County Humane Society when the latter was searching for a feisty little mouser to join her in a 100-year-old farmhouse. Ever self-assured, Rita climbed onto Emily’s lap right away and came home later that day. She’s a small cat, but don’t tell her that! Her short little legs, stubby raccoon tail, and funny squashed face somehow add up to a very cute and clever little feline. Rita likes to use her claws to pick things up and bat them about. She takes much joy in deftly emptying a pen jar one by one. When Rita is not chasing mice or pens or corks, you can find her snoozing on her favorite chair in the dining room or patiently waiting for you to notice her.
Humphrey “Bogey” Bogart
Bogey spent the first few months of his life in Central Minnesota surrounded by many other white balls of fluff such as himself. When he arrived at Hazel Hill Farm in the fall of 2015, he looked like a tiny teddy bear. Now he’s over 100lbs, a much larger teddy bear, but he still enjoys sitting on Emily’s lap when the opportunity presents itself. Bogey is a Maremma, a livestock guardian dog breed from Italy. He lives with the pigs and makes sure the coyotes keep a wide berth. He thinks he is a pig, and likes to flip his breakfast over so he can move his food around with his nose like his friends do. He enjoys receiving a good ear scratch, meeting new people, loping through the grass, and rolling around in straw.