History of Ocooch Mountain Acres, LLC
1991 - Purchased a 160 acre Organic Farm in Southwest Wisconsin. Vernon County Forestor Jim Dalton helped us write a forest plan to develop 40 acres of the farm into a 1000 tap maple syrup farm. Used plastic tubing to collect maple sap from the trees, and sold the sap to maple syrup processors.
1999 - Opened a 4,000 sq ft State Licensed Maple Syrup Food Processing Plant in Westby, Wisconsin so we could process sap and bottle syrup. Processed 300 barrels a year of syrup for a private label client for 5 years, then client chose to change to getting syrup from a Canadian farmer, so our volume now a small volume of syrup sold through retail stores in Westby.
2000 - Started offering Maple Farming tours through tour bus operators. Learned that we could not depend on income from selling maple syrup so turned to Agricultural Tourism for additional income.
2001 - Opened Logan Mill Lodge Vacation Rental Condos and Event Room at 108 East 2nd Street in downtown Westby, WI.
The property now used as Logan Mill Lodge had previously been operated by Ben Logan as a grain and feed mill. Prior to Ben Logan it has been operated as "Westby Cooperative Seed Exchange". The first owner in 1905 was the Cargill Grain Company.
2009 - Moved a 1951 Milwaukee Road Caboose to 106 East 2nd Street in downtown Westby & restored it. Railroad Museum will be opened next to the caboose. The Caboose is the same one that ran from Sparta to Cashton to Westby to Viroqua and back every day during the 1950's carrying agriculture products from farms in Vernon County and Monroe County to markets throughout the country.
2010 - Started offering Railroad History Tours through tour bus operators.
