For the Bartling family, legacy is red. Cranberry red.
Becca and David own Bartling’s Manitowish Cranberry Co. and the Alderwood Resort — two businesses that have been in David’s family for generations. While they both grew up in Northern Wisconsin, each pursued engineering degrees in their early twenties before returning to Manitowish Waters to join the family business, now with daughter Lucy in tow.
Becca offers a glimpse into her family and their work.
Please tell us more about being fourth-generation cranberry farmers!
David’s great-grandparents came to Manitowish Waters in the 1940s to establish a cranberry farm, Bartling’s Manitowish Cranberry Co. They arrived to flat marsh land bountiful with trees and water with the promise of the area being great for growing cranberries. His great-grandparents were pioneers for their time and had to build the infrastructure needed using their hands. They slowly cleared the land for cranberry beds, brought in electricity and phone, built bridges and roads, created homes to live in and, finally, planted cranberry vines.
Our farm is part of Ocean Spray, a farmer-owned cooperative, that is owned by us and seven hundred other farmers. In mid-September to October, our cranberries are harvested and cleaned right on our farm before heading to an Ocean Spray freezer to be used in Ocean Spray cranberry juice and craisins.
As our farm continued to grow in size, so did the need for additional land. Our family purchased Alderwood Resort in the 1980s to develop more cranberry beds and to continue Alderwood Resort’s legacy. Over the last four generations, our farm has grown to just under two hundred acres of cranberries and we produce an average of five million pounds per year. It’s impressive to consider what David’s ancestors arrived to and how far we’ve come in the last seventy-five years.
What is it like to do cranberry farming, and what does it mean to be carrying on the tradition?
A quick cranberry farming lesson: Cranberries grow on a woody vine in a few-acre plot called a bed and are a perennial plant, which means they grow every year without the need to be replanted. After harvest, cranberry vines change color from green to purple and go dormant before continuing to grow in the spring. Cranberries are native to North America, meaning we are simply commercially growing a wild fruit. Cranberries grow dry in a cranberry bed and water is only used for frost protection and harvest. Wisconsin grows over fifty percent of the world’s cranberries.
We strive to be leaders in our industry by using our talent to innovate in the field and in our harvest and cleaning operations. We have to consider what would be best for the next generation so we are able to farm into the future and are able to leave the business in better shape than it was given to us. As we transitioned from the third to fourth generation, we made it a top priority to make our operations more efficient so we can grow more cranberries with less cost and less manual labor. Carrying on a tradition of growing the same berry on the same land as David’s ancestors is part of what keeps us waking up every day. Being a family business means we all take on many roles. David and his brother, Steven, manage all the farm operations, while I manage the resort and property rentals.
What led you to run Alderwood Resort?
When my parents in law decided to retire, we made the decision to continue the legacy of family vacation traditions at Alderwood Resort, which fits so well with our farming story. Airbnb and Instagram were just taking off at the time, which was the perfect opportunity to market our rentals in a fresh way and reach a growing market. Since taking over Alderwood, we have extensively remodeled our cabins, added a year-round rental property and tripled our business.
Please tell us more about the resort and why it’s such a special place.
One of our guests said it best: “Alderwood has a quaint, cozy magic.” Each cabin has an amazing lake view, some with a screened porch with old windows that swing open and let the breeze in off Alder Lake, part of the Manitowish Waters Chain of 10 Lakes. Our shoreline is quiet and peaceful, which is perfect for a fishing or a morning paddle in a kayak, but we also have with access to lake life across the entire chain.
Alderwood Resort is about tradition. For example, our four cabins do not have televisions. And our current guests always receive the first choice to return the following year, which means some of our families have been coming for four generations. Alderwood has become the thread that ties some families together year to year and generation to generation.
Within the past few years we have added an additional year-round rental property, The Brick House, which is located just down the shoreline from our resort property. The Brick House gives our guests the ability to return in the colder months and is larger for growing families.
What is it like owning the resort? What are the best parts and biggest challenges?
The most amazing part of owning a resort are the connections — the connection our guests have to our little slice of the Northwoods and the friendships I’ve made with them. There are so many beautiful places in the world, but some of our guests travel from as far as Louisiana and Alaska to enjoy the serenity of Alderwood Resort. And that makes me so proud of what we are doing.
The biggest challenges of having a resort are the amount of maintenance and the balance of trying to maintain the nostalgia while modernizing for the future.
Please tell us about your family! How old is Lucy and what is she into these days?
Our daughter, Lucy, just turned one! She’s such a joy! It has been such a blessing to be able to work close to home and include her in a lot of our projects so we can watch her grow. Lucy loves climbing on everything, playing tug of war with our golden retriever and pretending to read books. And of course, her first food was cranberry sauce — a little tart for her liking but it is growing on her.
What are your favorite things to do together as a family?
We love to be outside as family and each season brings new activities to get fresh air in northern Wisconsin. We have the mindset of buy the warmest winter jacket and the right gear and get outside no matter the weather. In the summer, we love to boat on the Manitowish Chain, tend to our large vegetable and sunflower garden and mountain bike at WinMan Trails. In the colder months, you’ll find us cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. Our favorite day trip is to Bayfield to go berry picking, apple picking and mountain biking. We have weekly traditions that help us set aside time in our busy seasons to spend time together as a family; we have a weekly coffee date and on Sunday, David makes pancakes.
What’s a typical winter weekend like for you guys?
We’ll buckle Lucy into her Thule Chariot (a must buy for northern parents!) and off we go with her behind us while we’re skiing or snowshoeing. We enjoy finding new trails to explore and a new restaurant to try along the way, even if they are a jaunt from our house. We also love to spend time in the kitchen baking or cooking new recipes. We try to spend our weekends together and include Lucy with us.
Why do you choose to live and raise your daughter in Wisconsin?
Living in northern Wisconsin gives us the opportunity to be stewards of our family legacy for the fifth generation. Through our family business we are able to pass on our values, expectations, responsibilities and cranberries. We’re able to enjoy life at a slower pace and live, work and play as a family.
What do you hope Lucy gets from seeing you do the work that you do?
I hope Lucy sees the satisfaction in carrying on a tradition, whether she chooses to be part of the day-to-day operation or pursues a different lifestyle. We’ve already had her in a tractor and a dump truck, so if she decides farming isn’t her life path, she’ll have a great toolbox of skills to use some day. Most importantly, I hope Lucy sees you are capable of anything if you put your head and your heart to it as she watches us overcome challenges.
What are you most looking forward to in this year ahead?
2021 is the year of details. We’re working to create a better brand to share our family business story and make our processes more efficient and effective. We’re looking to partner with other Midwest brands that similarly value tradition to continue to share our story in a more powerful manner. With spring on the horizon, we are definitely looking forward to warm summer days on the lake, biking on the bike trails and beautiful sunrises on the farm.
– Katie Vaughn
Photo (top) by Ruby Photography Studios.
Katie Vaughn is the editor and co-founder of Northerly. She is a University of Wisconsin-Madison and Stanford University-trained journalist with experience as a writer, reporter, editor, blogger and author. She lives in Madison with her husband, daughter and son, and is always up for an adventure.