A Visit to the Farm

At Norse Horse Park you can visit our garden and our garden market. On Saturdays gardners from Washington Island gather to sell produce to neighbors and visitors.

Norse Horse Park has two breeds of Scandinavian Sheep: Icelandic and Finish Sheep. Shearing is an exciting event when it happens. We have demonstrations of the processing of wool and you can see the cleaning, carding and weaving process. Our shop sells special wools from ours and neighboring farms.

Norse Horse Park has Icelandic Horses, the breed that carried the Vikings in their conquest of the continent of Europe, Ireland, Scotland, England, Iceland and Greenland between 880 and 1100. There has been no mixing of the breed sinceVery similar horses might have accompanied Lief Erikson when About 1001 AD, Leif Erikson, known as Leif the Lucky, sailed farther south, down the coast to Baffin Island, Labrador and on down to northern Newfoundland where he established a settlement at a place called L'ans aux Meadows. He named the settlement Vinland. It is undetermined whether this referred to vines and grapes, or if he was using the term in the Old Norse way meaning grasslands.

An agri-tourism destination site on Washington Island, Wisconsin. Here you will find Scandinavian Heritage Farm Animals. Horses include Norwegian Fjords, Swedish Warmbloods, and the famous five gated Icelandic Horses. You can see a herd of the primitive Russ Horses from the Swedish Island of Gotland. You will also find Finnish and Icelandic Sheep, Swedish Blue Ducks and Icelandic Chickens.

There is an Educatonal Center for learning about sustainability, processing of wool, the domestication of animals, agricultural breeds and the history of horses.

The Norse Horse Park shop sells books about horses, Nordic history, and sustainability, along with Scandinavian crafts from Washington Island. There is a Farmers Market at the shop and Scandinavian cookery and foods as well.

Video Portrait - Mary Ann Maiers from Will Colby on Vimeo.