The Story of Rare Earth Farm

The Driftless area has always been home to incredible diversity, not just of plants, animals, and topography, but also of people, personal histories, and identities. In this new series, DALC is proud to share the stories of LGBTQ+ landowners and conservationists who care for our beautiful region and receive care from it in return.

Sitting in the warmly lit sunroom of his Madison home, Chuck Bauer laughs as he thinks back through the decades to 1969—the year of the Stonewall riots that energized the LGBTQ+ rights movement, and not long after Chuck himself had come out as gay. “I felt that at 22, I was so old.”

But of course, new chapters of life were only beginning. That was the year Chuck Bauer, a grad student in studio art at UWMadison, met his future husband, Chuck Beckwith, a senior in art history. Just three years later, with a thousand dollars to their name, they opened a small business together: The Soap Opera. Today, its ecofriendly bath products are a staple of Madison’s State Street shopping scene.

Chuck credits this entrepreneurial spirit to always being “fiercely independent,” which in turn grew from concerns about being different from his peers. But the support of open-minded folks in Madison and at the university, including the Gay Liberation Front, helped create a community.

“After you come out you feel less isolated, and then you feel more a part of your generation,” Chuck says. “And a big part of our generation was ecological concerns, being gentler on the land, organic farming, things like that.”

Like gay rights, the “Back to the Land” movement was not mainstream at the time. But despite their shop in Madison, Chuck and Chuck wanted to live in the country, for much the same reason they’d started their own business: “To be your own boss, to be in a place with lots of space around you,” Chuck recalls. “Independence has been the whole focus of our lives.”

They rented an old farmhouse and a few acres in the town of Perry for four years. Then, when out on a drive in 1977, they saw a “For Sale” sign in front of a farm west of New Glarus in Green County. It was love at first sight.

And luckily, even in a rural area far from Madison, being gay wasn’t a hindrance.

“Before you come out, you’re fearful,” Chuck says. “You hope the rules of society still apply to you, but you can’t be sure. [But] we never had any trouble. We were respectful to everyone and everyone was respectful to us.”

He and Chuck have now lived on the property they named Rare Earth Farm at least parttime for 45 years. In the past 20, they’ve been glad to gain a handful of LGBTQ+ neighbors. Chuck also notes that the Driftless area has plenty of queer legacies, including Pendarvis, a historical and cultural site in Mineral Point that was developed in the 1930s by life partners Bob Neal and Edgar Hellum. Today, Mineral Point is among several small towns in the Driftless that hold an annual Pride Weekend. Chuck was delighted to attend one of the very first.

On their own land, though, there was never even a question that they belonged. The 82-acre property features established oak woodlands, remnant savanna, remnant and restored prairie, and a creek feeding the headwaters of the Pecatonica River. The land’s beauty inspired countless paintings by Chuck Bauer, and provided a joyful gathering spot for friends, including a big annual Fourth of July party.

However, the journey to maintain that grace and beauty by restoring the land’s native ecosystems had a few stumbling blocks.

The philosophy of the 1970s, Chuck explains, was, “Nature knows best. Just get out of the way.” As soon as he and Chuck bought the land, they stopped renting it out for farming and let it revert back into a natural state.

Unfortunately, we know now that without good management, undesirable or non-native plants will quickly take over, pushing out a wide variety of species that provide vital habitat and food for wildlife. “With settlement, fire suppression, invasive species, monocultures, some things will hold on, but more conservative species won’t,” Chuck notes. “The thick tapestry of biodiversity is wearing thin.”

In the early 2000s, after an explosion of crown vetch that had been planted for erosion control, they began to learn about the full scope of restoration that their land needed, and the potential it held for high-quality native habitat. Chuck has an apt metaphor for the realization: “It was like coming out – oh, look at all the things I was only vaguely aware of, all the things I’ve been missing!”

With the help and advice of contractors, they threw themselves wholeheartedly into restoration work. As an artist, Chuck was greatly inspired by a quote from Andy Warhol: “I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art that anybody could ever want.”

Today, brush is cleared from the old oaks, planted prairies bloom with native flowers, and fire has been returned to the land. But as Chuck and Chuck had learned, managing native habitat requires continual work, oversight, and maintenance. To protect their beloved land not only from development, but also from neglect, they began the long, thoughtful process of pursuing a conservation easement and land management endowment.

“[An easement] requires you to see the future with great care,” Chuck says. As longtime members of The Prairie Enthusiasts, he and Chuck were encouraged by the growth of other conservation nonprofits in the region – including Driftless Area Land Conservancy. The strong support from our community gave them confidence that their land could be maintained in perpetuity.

To ensure protection and good management, Chuck is working with DALC and the Natural Resources Foundation to create a “three-legged stool.” Upon their passing, Chuck and Chuck will likely donate the land to a conservation organization. The Natural Resources Foundation will hold an endowment to ensure that there will always be funding for management. And DALC will hold the easement and help coordinate the spending of funds on restoration and maintenance.

“To leave your land better than you found it is really the ultimate legacy,” Chuck says. “You’re giving those who come after you the gift of time. You can’t wave a magic wand and have a twenty- or fifty-year prairie, but I can establish that now for future generations.”

In a similar way, the dedication and foresight of generations of elders has created today’s strong, diverse LGBTQ+ community. And, just as we continue to manage restored land, that dedication carries on in the fight to support one another and overcome setbacks. We’re proud to have Chuck Bauer and Chuck Beckwith in our DALC community, and to work alongside them for the land and people of the Driftless.



Emilee Martell (emilee@driftlessconservancy.org)