Finally my Pizza Farm vacation has arrived. On Tuesday morning I packed up my car and set out from
Chicago for my Number One Favorite, A to Z Produce and Bakery in Stockholm, Wisconsin. Most of the drive was rainy and gray, but I made good time and things started to clear up as I approached my destination. I stopped in first at Stockholm Pie Company, well before my usual 2 minutes before (or after) closing time and ordered way too much pie. After that task was completed and the pie was safely stashed in the trunk, I took a casual bike ride down to the river on one of Stockholm’s shared bicycles. In the car, I had been listening to radio stations and had heard a few comments about how high the river was, but until I got down to our usual spot, I didn’t have a sense of what they were talking about. Normally we bike down the path and sometimes we even walk out along a pier, but on Tuesday, the path was stopped short. I spoke a little with the man clearing mud out of the path and he said it is already the second time the shores have been flooded this year. I changed my plan to sit at Lena’s Lucky Star and have a pre-pizza beer, but in true small-town fashion, a note on the closed door read that the owners were walking their dogs and would be back around 4:30. But by that time, I was already headed up the hill to say hello and settle in to my much anticipated evening at A to Z.
Everyone was there as usual. It was nice to have a less hectic evening at the Farm so I could have some brief conversations with Robbie and Ted, the A to Z pizza farmers, as well as Lauren and Michael from 
neighboring Dancing Gnome, and Cella helping at the bar. The threat of rain storms and the cooler temperatures kept the evening pretty mellow and the hour long wait I had been prepared for was really only about ten to fifteen minutes. I took the opportunity to change into my rain boots and hike all around the beautiful A to Z farm. I wore my raincoat to be safe, but there was never more than a few sprinkles. It wasn’t even enough to get the blanket and chairs wet that I had set up on the lawn.
The long rows of produce surrounded by the rolling Wisconsin hills was picturesque enough to distract me from the Pizza menu until my companions heading in from Minneapolis arrived. I made a point to find all the animals that I knew lived on the grounds – the cows, pigs, sheep, goats, and chickens – in order to pass the time before ordering my pizza. I had some ideas about what I wanted to try, but I was content to wait for the rest of my party to arrive before ordering.
In the end, I ordered exactly what I wanted anyway. The Lamb Sausage, the Canadian Bacon, the Green Veggie, and the Beet. As Robbie put them in the oven, she said, “I hope they are good.” I burst out laughing! There was never any doubt in my mind that they wouldn’t be good. Not even taking into account how much I enjoy the experience of a pizza farm, A to Z Pizza is some of my favorite pizza period. A to Z is always delicious. And on Tuesday it proved itself once again.
Once my friends arrived, I took some more walks around the farm. The baby pigs were very popular among the younger guests. The pizza and our New Glarus and Lakefront Brewing beers were very popular among the hungrier and thirstier adults. With the extended daylight hours of late June, I barely noticed that it was 8:30pm and time for me to head out for a karaoke night in Minneapolis. It was a great evening of eating and enjoying one of my favorite places and some of my favorite people.
Awesome! Love A-Z too!