Bending Branches
Osceola, Wisconsin
The River
It’s always calling.
It’s a short portage from our studio to the Des Moines River. There’s something about being able to drop everything and be on the water in minutes. There’s something comforting about a place you know like the back of your hand.
We know the current. Every turn. And it never gets old.
Paddling through river smoke on a summer morning. Crunching through overnight ice in the shallows in winter. And we’ve never seen a sunrise we didn’t like.
It’s an old canoe and a paddle that connects us.
Fueling Up in Osceola
After a stormy night on the St. Croix River at Interstate State Park, we headed to town in search of food and coffee, which we often make at our campsite with a hand-crank grinder and French press.
Just across Osceola Creek, we spotted an inviting little place, The Watershed Cafe. It partners with small, local farmers for nearly all of its ingredients, and we could taste the difference.
I went simple with the Classic Breakfast Sandwich and fruit. I was expecting “good enough” but got “awesome.”
Eggs done a perfect over-medium. Bacon, crispy. Melty Wisconsin cheddar (is there anything better?). And amazing buttery toast (bread makes or breaks a sandwich).
We settle for oatmeal or granola bars often enough when camping and rushing off to a shoot first thing in the morning. So after a few mornings without eggs, this place was just what the doctor ordered for Dave, who delighted in his Wisconsin Ham & Cheese Omelet. When in Wisconsin, you order cheese (we already snagged a bag of curds for the car).
We’re a bit partial to our campfire coffee, but sometimes the best coffee is the coffee you have.
Thanks for the fuel, Watershed!
The Production
The factory has the scent of a bow-drill ember resting in charred wood dust. Ah. Breathe it in.
And the people crafting the paddles seem as satisfied as someone seeing an ember after several minutes of bow-stroking.
Inspiring – to see a factory full of passionate people covered in wood dust. Why are they so passionate? Almost every one of them is a paddler.
