I preferred this over the Madison Children's Museum. It was way cheaper- $6 per person versus $18…read moreand although it was smaller, it seemed like there was more to do. More themed little nooks for my boys to explore. They especially loved the vet clinic.

This is the first Children's museum that I have been to, so note that my review is without…read morecomparison. I wasn't sure what to expect, given that Black Earth is a small town, but I was blown away! What a cool little space, only 15 minutes west of Middleton, WI. There is plenty for kids to do from ages 1-10 years. The museum is divided into small activity rooms with different themes. There is a cave, night sky room, food market and kitchen, farm/tractor theme and rock wall with balance stones to name a few. It appears that they are currently working on building a veterinary clinic too. The main space had a large climbing/play structure as well as a music stage and my absolute favorite, flying squirrel exhibit with a suction tube to make the brown scarf "squirrels" fly off the tree! There is also 0-18 month old room for the littles and a cool art space. The upstairs was closed, but from what I could see it looks like there is a toy library (what a great idea)! Admission is $6 per person, and memberships are also available. Free street parking is available as well. We ended up spending and hour and a half and only left because it was getting close to nap time. Such a fun way to spend the morning. If you have a child, I highly recommend checking it out!

OMG! What an amazing place!! My friend and I went to Baraboo to visit a Lavender Farm. We chose…read morethis location because it offered a relaxing environment access a variety of activities write on the farm. We had no idea what to expect but good grief ... We were blown away! Upon arriving, we were not even sure we were in the right place. This was a very small family-owned farm and we thought we were going to a large commercial business. I was further confused because I had previously visited Provence France where the lavender Fields are miles and miles of purple in every direction. I was sure we were in the wrong place. However, we walked up to a small building and said hello to a young lady standing out front. It turned out we were in the right place and the young lady was the owner's daughter. This young lady, who appeared to be a young adult, stood and talk to us for a while. She welcomed us to the farm and told us we were free to roam around until they were ready with our activities. In the background, we could see someone busy moving around the property as if she relate for an important date. We happily walked off onto the property to get a good view of what was available. What an amazing property! There were miles and miles acres and acres (more than 40 acres of farmland). Every visitor is free to roam the farm until they are ready to leave, but many, we were told never take advantage of the opportunity. Unknown to us, when we first arrived, the farm is still recovering from a major flood 5 years ago where 90% of its lavender fields were wiped out. Our wonderful host explained their efforts to restore their lavender fields. Let me tell you about the amazing host. She calls herself MJ. She hails from Hawaii and says that most people do not correctly pronounce her name so she just shortened it as a kid to MJ. After our wonderful experience on her property, I will dub her Lady MJ, " The Amazing." During the off season, Lady MJ, her husband, and family tend to this farm to get it ready for the very short tourist season. She never knows until March. What the land will yield. Because she is a naturalist, she honors the land and uses holistic practices. Some of her offerings include a lavender facial, a lavender foot, soak, a lavender charcuterie lunch, a lavender picnic basket, and lavender spritzers. She has so many other things to offer on her property. This is a small family business so the entire family is involved. Currently, she is down a chef because her eldest daughter is away on a mission. The rest of the family, however, including the dog seems to be involved in the business. Lady MJ is the spark that keeps the business running. When you arrive you immediately experience time slowing down. There's no rush. There's no push to buy products. Everything just stops and you start to relax. My friend and I chose to do a foot soak, a facial, and the charcuterie board. Board. It was a package deal and we loved every minute of it. When we received our receipt, the time indicated was 1.5 hours for the entire package. Once we got there however, we ended up staying almost 7 hours. We actually wished there was a hotel on the property that we could have just stayed in. I might have even been willing to stay in a tent! If you have a chance to take a trip to a lavender field in Baraboo, Wisconsin, you absolutely must give up going to the larger commercial farms. Support this family! Lady MJ has an amazing product. However, her season is very short. We were lucky enough to be among the last visitors to the farm this season. She warned us to book next year and March. That's when she knows what her season will be and trust us, we will be looking for another wonderful experience at Rowley Creek Lavender Farm! When you come, plan to stay. Abandon your cares. Abandon your plans. Just relax and enjoy the stay. Lady MJ and her family will make you feel welcome just by being there with you. She is truly an amazing woman. I have no idea how she does all the things she does but I'm super glad that she does! Thank you lady MJ! We can't wait to come back next year! We wish your whole family a restorative off season. You're amazing people are we're glad we chose Rowley Creek Lavender Farm! See you next year!!!

Visited during the lavender season for the U-pick lavender bouquet. My husband and I were warmly…read moregreeted in the parking area by one of their roaming chickens. Made a quick walk to the storefront where they gave us scissors and instructed us where to gather from. They showed me how much was considered a bouquet, and when I came back they graciously added to my bouquet as I had not picked enough. The store itself has so many lavender products and a good number of items direct from the farm. I also highly recommend the homemade lavender scones which are freshly baked and so delicious. I believe they require/recommend purchasing a farm visit pass prior to going, it's $5 per car and can be used towards your purchase of $10 or more in the store. It's a small price to pay for an hour or two of enjoying the views and the scents. We walked around the farm a bit and they have a handful of animals you can see from afar and a cute area near the namesake creek. I think they also offer tours and picnics and other events, I highly recommend checking out their website for details but definitely make your way over to the farm after.

The Sun Prairie Sweet Corn Festival is an annual event held for a few days each August. I lived…read morein nearby Madison for 4 years, and that was how I discovered and attended the Corn Festival. There are many attractions: (1) First, there is the sweet corn, which is cooked with steam, and which can be purchased in a small open-air building. Near this building is a rotating clothes hanger, where strings are tied to various parts of the clothes hanger, and at the end of each string is a salt shaker. This salt shaker "tree" is a novelty that is interesting and a little bit funny, and pictures of it have been published in the Wisconsin State Journal. Of course, the sweet corn is delicious. (2) Another attraction is being in the middle of a friendly crowd. Did you ever notice that the bigger the crowd, the more people there are ?!?!? (3) Next to the fairground is a museum where you can find exhibits relating to midget race cars, where the exhibits include trophies and photos. Next to the museum are parked midget race cars, and children and other visitors can touch them and admire them. See, my attached photographs of these race cars and of the exhibits in the museum. At the Corn Festival, you can watch these midget race cars racing on an oval track starting at seven o'clock in the evening. (4) The Corn Festival includes a carnival. See, my attached photographs of a boy and a girl, each holding a huge wooden mallet over their heads, and swinging it at the lever of the "high striker" game. This mallet is sometimes called a "carnival mallet," and the name for this game, which results in a bell going "DING," is the "high striker game." GENETICALLY MODIFIED CORN. The website of the Sun Prairie chamber of commerce states that, the "corn is not genetically modified." But this is not correct. It is a proven fact that about 9,000 years ago, farmers in Mexico created corn (also known as, maize). Corn does not exist naturally. Corn was created by the genetic modification of teosinte. Teosinte was modified to alter four genes, where the result of this modification was conversion of teosinte (not edible) into the abundantly edible and yummy genetically modified plant that is known as corn and maize. This is all explained in a video called, POPPED SECRET: THE MYSTERIOUS ORIGIN OF CORN. The video is narrated by Neil Losin, and we learn that the scientists responsible for discovering that corn is genetically modified teosinte were: Nobel Prize winner George Beadle, John Doebley of University of Wisconsin, and Delores Piperno of Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Additional info is available from, e.g., Yang, Holland, Doebley (2019) Proc. Nat'l. Acad. Sci. 116:5643-5652; Horowitz, Doebley (2004) Genetics. 166:1-10; Wang, Doebley (2015) Genetics. 200:965-974; Lukens, Doebley (2001) Mol. Biol. Evol. 18:627-638. CONCLUSION. And so, what I suggest while enjoying your day at the Sweet Corn Festival in Sun Prairie is spending a moment of silence to show respect for the farmers living 9,000 years ago in Mexico - - - they are the ones who created corn. Corn is the most famous and beloved of all of the genetically modified food crops.

As an out-of-stater, we heard how great the sweet corn is and had to check it out ourselves. We had…read moredesignated Saturday night to the festival, after hearing they only serve the corn on Sat-Sun from 12-7 due to the lengthy steaming process. We found free parking, very close to the entrance. It's $1 per person to enter, 6 and under free. Strategically, the rides and games are the very first things you see. I am quite impressed with this area, because there's so many options. Tickets were $1/piece and most rides were 3 tickets. My kiddo absolutely loved it and we only spent $20. Expensive but fair considering we are at a festival. Now, I had nooooo idea what I was getting into with the sweet corn. First off, I've never heard of a tote of corn but the two lines stretched faaaaar to grab a tote. We skipped the tote line and grabbed two single ears from a much shorter line. $2/piece gave us some quality corn. They sent us behind to the buttering station and I was all, "WTF IS THIS?" It's literally several tables stacked together where you shuck your corn and roll it into a huge pan of butter. So unsanitary but when in Rome.... Next was the salt tree. Salt. Tree. Again, what sort of redneck device is a salt tree? Idk but it was a-maz-ing. Shakers on shakers on shakers of salt. I'm still laughing about this crazy corn experience. The corn was great, rides were fun for the kiddo. We were very impressed! The festival seems to be pretty commercialized with lots of business booths but that's to be expected. I'm not opposed to going back if we happen to be in town!

They were so nice and helpful. We were taken to a row and they said that if we didn't find enough…read moreripe strawberries to let them know and they would give us a different row. That was not a problem at all! We found so many ripe strawberries we would have picked more if we weren't camping nearby and didn't have to eat them all:)

Lovely family farm in a beautiful location. Friendly folks and loads of berries…read more They don't use any chemicals, so my kids could snack as we picked.

I'm giving this specified because a lot of people dump on it and have never stepped foot inside…read more There's a lot of potential here and also a lot of really cool businesses that are settling down. It's definitely worth a stop to grab a bite to eat and just enjoy the atmosphere.

The Madison public market is just taking off but it already has a neat sampling of food and…read moreshopping! It's a great place to grab a bite with excellent people watching. Since about half of the shops are still not opened yet, I'm giving it four stars. I hope to come back soon when the full experience is ready and bump this review to 5!

I'm writing this in anger at myself... why haven't I come here sooner?…read more I grabbed lunch here. It's so spacious, I'm surprised it's not busier! They offer some cooking related goods, wine, meal kits, deli items, baked goods and other beverages. I ordered the prime rib sandwich with the horseradish cream on the side. The caramelized onions were fantastic! I loved the edges of the sandwich because they had some crunch to it. I'm not a fan of horseradish so I opted it on the side, adding it sparingly. The salad was refreshing. The side of potatoes were SOOOO good. I've never had something as crispy as these! I'll be back again for lunch!

Good simple but healthy comfort food. Nice selection of ready made stuff and cute merch. I love the…read morelocal meal kit concept. I had a market salad with beets carrots and goat cheese. It was solid. Cappuccino was good too. Nice place to sit.

We chose The Oaks for our wedding venue (5/9/26). I cannot recommend Katie and Erin enough! From…read morestart to finish they were absolutely wonderful. They made sure our special day went smooth, they coordinated with the vendors and were there if anything went wrong. Aside from the wonderful coordinators at The Oaks, the venue itself is great! The tent is spacious enough yet still feels cozy and has a great relaxed atmosphere. Bathrooms are located inside the clubhouse, but not too far of a walk from the venue space. I would 100% recommend The Oaks as a place to have your wedding.

Attended a party in the club house. Very nice accommodations, great service clean facilities…read more Drinks were good, great Octoberfest on tap. The food decent beef on a stick was really chewy, chicken teriyaki was okay, the spicy rub wings were really good. Good cheese & crackers fresh & tasty, stuffed mushrooms were good but over stuffed with massive chunk of sausage. Overall a good place to go! Great view from the back deck too!

Let me preface that I'm not a member, we were there for a wedding…read more Food absolutely AH-mazing!! Catering staff - the absolute kindest! All of the other staff at the bar/restaurant - not very nice. We were denied non alcoholic beverages due to pregnancy because we aren't members (but present for a $40k or more wedding). Also asked to move off patio and back inside to reception because we weren't members (outside due to covid).

My husband and I had our wedding at Blackhawk Country Club and abosltuely loved it. Leading up to…read morethe wedding Orrin was very responsive and willing to look into whatever we asekd about. The venue was beautiful. The teneth tee overlooking Mendota was beautiful for a ceremony. The rest of the venue was just perfect, the building is so beautiful and there was enough space for people to get some quiet outside, chat by the bar area, or dance the night away on the dance floor. The food was great (even from people who don't usually like wedding food) and the cake was AMAZING. We would highly recommend Blackhawk for all weddings!!