WINTER THIS JOB HAS ITS PERKS - wdtimes.com

WINTER 2020 | Family & Friends 1

WINTER 2020

INSIDE: • Mushroom farmer Ned Palm has been around for decades • After 41 1/2 years Dr. Bruce Cochrane has hung up his stethoscope

THIS JOB HAS ITS PERKSCoffee is a daily part

of this family business

2 Family & Friends | WINTER 2020


Contents

We welcome your story ideas. If you have a suggestion, send it to: [email protected].

Family & FriendsVolume 12, Issue 4***********************

General ManagerMissy Feiler

[email protected]

EditorScott Peterson

[email protected]

LayoutLiz Quezada

EditorialEd Zagorski, Diane Graff,

Steve Sharp

Advertising SalesJay Emmet, Scott Trentadue,

Kelly Zastrow

The next edition of Family & Friendsmagazine will be published on

February 25, 2021.The advertising deadline will be

February 4, 2021.

Adams Publishing GroupPublisher of

Watertown Daily TimesTime$aver

Family & Friends

Local business ‘shrooming for decades ... 4 Longtime mushroom farmer Ned Palm has been around since 1980.

Not your grandmother’s coffee ... 8 Coffee is a daily part of this family business.

Area doctor retires sethoscope ... 12 After 41 1/2 years Dr. Bruce Cochrane has hung up his stethoscope.

Dear Family & Friends readers,

If you are reading this, somehow you managed to survive 2020, and 2021 cannot be much harder, right?

We want to start that transition right with the latest edition of the Water-town Family & Friends.

And what better way to enjoy a good read on a cold winter day than with a steaming, aromatic cup of Joe, Watertown Joe, that is.

Get yourself some Berres Brothers coffee and savor it while you read about the family’s journey to develop coffee that has a following across Wisconsin. It’s a little bit of Watertown that brightens just about any day when sipped around the Badger State. Reporter Ed Zagorski recounts how the family has grown the business and rechanneled its direction over the years to make it almost as synonymous with Watertown as, I don’t know, octagons and kindergartens.

While we’re not sure coffee and mushrooms belong together at the same table, we are putting them together in this edition of the magazine. Steve Sharp ventured into the dank confines of this Helenville agribusinessman’s property to see how one man has spored it big (sorry, could not resist) in the mushroom farm-to-table niche. You might not know it, but there’s a fair chance that the mushrooms in your soup or on our pizza were born right here in Jefferson County. How does one get started in this business and make its growth mushroom (sorry again)? Read all about it in our opening story.

It’s not all about food for this edition. Diane Graff penned a farewell saga to a longtime Watertown physician. Dr. Bruce Cochrane wasn’t sure, near-ly 42 years ago, where he would hang a shingle to open his practice. He even considered Alaska for awhile, but he settled right here in Watertown. Over the decades, he never looked back, and developed a fondness for the people and their old-fashioned values while he helped nurse them back to health. He’s saying farewell to his duties, but it’s a bittersweet retirement, for sure.

Enjoy this issue and we hope to see you next at the tail end of winter and the dawn of spring. We can all hold out hope that COVID-19 will be in fast retreat and that 2021 will be everything that its predecessor was not. See you on the other side!

Scott PetersonManaging Editor

Pete Berres, owner of Berres Brothers Coffee Roasters Inc. stands behind a large coffee bean roaster in his building in Watertown. Story on page 8

Photo by Ed Zagorski

ON THE COVER: WINTER 2020 | Family & Friends 1

WINTER 2020

INSIDE: • Mushroom farmer Ned Palm has been around for decades • After 41 1/2 years Dr. Bruce Cochrane has hung up his stethoscope

THIS JOB HAS ITS PERKSCoffee is a daily part

of this family business

4 Family & Friends | FALL 2020

Helenville businessman’s

been ‘shrooming for decades

By Steve Sharp Family & Friends staff


Jefferson County’s outlying areas are home to some cantankerous, independent

spirits who frequently operate unusual businesses.

One of these entrepreneurs is longtime mushroom farmer Ned Palm, whose Palm’s Mushroom Cellar has been rooted between Jefferson and Helenville on State Highway 18 since 1980.

Palm, 70-years-old, is a man of few words, but when he talks, he makes it count.

Palm met with Family & Friends on a sunny fall day to show how the process of growing mush-rooms works.

Palm said being in the mush-room business used to be easier. Those were in the days before he turned into a senior citizen and when, in his words, “People wanted to work.”

Palm’s mushroom farm used to employ 15 people. Palm now laments the challenges he faces finding laborers. He currently has a staff of four — two working full-time, two part-time.

Palm sells his mushrooms at farmers’ markets in places like Madison to a dedicated following of professional chefs and those who like to tinker with more complex recipes in their home kitchens. His biggest business ac-counts include Festival Foods and Woodman’s. He serves a 50-mile radius around his cellar.

“We go to the farmers’ market on the square in Madison,” he said. “You can’t believe the stupid questions I get. I’ve heard every stupid question you could ever hear about mushrooms over the years.”

A quote like this from Palm, ear-

ly in the meeting for this story, is enough to make a reporter hes-itant about how the rest of the interview might go — there are 20 potentially stupid questions remaining.

Palm provided an in-depth tour of his mushroom-growing facility and its many rooms of ‘shrooms. He took Family & Friends on a chronological trip from when the mushroom is in an early “spawn” stage, to the day it is sealed in plastic with others, labeled and shipped to market.

The process of growing a Palm’s mushroom begins about as humbly as anything could. It’s starts with straw-bedded horse manure.

Palm bragged that the manure he has been using lately is of the “triple crown variety. It comes from some of the finest thor-oughbreds of Kentucky.” A wink from the mushroom man indi-cates that he might be as full of manure as his manure pile itself. It turns out Palm enjoys joshing around, testing the naivety and sense of humor of the persons around him on just about every-thing.

According to U.S.-based industry authority The Mushroom Council, the mushroom-growing process

moves from pinning to harvest-ing by hand in a 16-35 day cy-cle, year-round. Mushrooms can double in size each day.

Mushrooms are low in calo-ries, are fat-free, cholesterol-free, gluten-free and low in sodium. Among other nutrients, mush-rooms provide B vitamins, ribo-flavin, niacin, selenium, copper, potassium and vitamin D.

The Mushroom Council said scientists have discovered that mushrooms can suppress the growth of breast and prostate cancer cells in cell cultures, and scientific and medical trials con-tinue. They are good antioxidants and can strengthen the immune system. The Mushroom Council also touted their qualities in the area of weight management.

Palm was asked why he liked working in the mushroom busi-ness all these years.

“You gotta do something,” came his curt reply.

Despite his gruff front, a huge smile came to Palm’s face when he realized his latest, massive shipment of straw manure was an almost-perfect 170 degrees. His treasured excrement, soon to become mushroom bedding, was steaming on this cool, fall morning — much to the delight of

6 Family & Friends | FALL 2020

Palm.As the tour progressed from

the back of the farm to the front — his main growing building measures 56 by 200 feet — the evolution of Palm’s mushrooms became discernible. It is a surpris-ingly delicate operation, in which light and other environmental factors come into intricate inter-play.

“Temperature is a key to nutri-tion in the compost,” he said.

Palm lamented the fact that he’s had to downsize over the years.

“I’ve downsized so many times, I can’t get any smaller,” he said.

Still the business can seem fairly large to the untrained eye.

The facility is dark, cool and wet, but surprisingly clean, con-sidering there are racks of ma-nure in almost every room in the

growing facility.“It’s a challenge to see how

many mushrooms you can grow,” Palm said.

Palm grew up on South Helen-ville Road and graduated from Jefferson High School in 1968. He began working on an area mushroom farm in 1966. He worked there until 1968, narrow-ly avoiding being drafted into the U.S. military during the Vietnam War.

Palm entered the mushroom business before computers be-came part of the process and although he checks his comput-ers at home to gauge growth, he believes his beloved fungi need his watchful eye and hands-on attention.

“I have to do a physical walk-through,” Palm said as he pulled a giant door open in a long hall-

way, revealing a dark room con-taining rack upon rack of small to medium-sized mushrooms called “white buttons,” scientific name Agaricus Bisporus. Accord-ing to The Mushroom Council, white buttons comprise 90% of the mushrooms consumed in the United States. Another room was home to some portabellas.

Palm’s mushroom spawn — tiny pellets that look like styrofoam — comes from Pennsylvania. He used to get spawn from the Campbell’s soup company of West Chicago until that plant relocated.

Carl Koeppel, a young man from Cambridge, is a relatively new worker at Palm’s Mushroom Cellar. Koeppel said he was simply driving past the farm one day when he noticed a “help wanted” sign. Koeppel stopped


in and next thing he knew he was picking mushrooms. He said he enjoys the work and is trying to get the number of mushrooms he is able to harvest up to the level of his co-worker, a veteran of some years, whose hands moved like lightning in the dark, damp, mildly aromatic cellar.

“I read some books on mush-rooms and I’m amazed at their

versatility,” Koeppel said, adding he used to work for a data collection company. “They are so different from anything else. They can grow in the dark.”

Koeppel said he likes his job, in part, because it’s relaxing.

“The time passes pretty quickly,” he said. “And my (picking) speed has moved up. It’s nice to have some-thing to keep you busy.”

There is a lot of technical jargon in the mushroom business, but not with Palm. He described the process of growing mushrooms in “regular guy” terms.

“It’s easy,” he said, adding, “I don’t have much use for techni-cal words.”

The tour of Palm’s Mushroom Cellar concluded around the time a salesman proposing location of a cell phone tower on his proper-ty appeared.

Palm’s business-like side perked up upon hearing of the man’s offer. Palm said they could meet later, adding he wants to finally sell his mushroom business and retire. He said it’s been fun, but working with mushrooms much of his life is enough.

“Growing mush-rooms is a science,” Palm said. “Every-body thinks it’s easy.”

FAR LEFT: Ned Palm inspects some of his mushrooms recently inside one of his growing rooms. LEFT: Cambridge’s Carl Koeppel, relatively new to his mushroom harvesting duties, is working on improving his speed. He said he is amazed by the ability of mushrooms to grow in the dark.

STEVE SHARP

NOT YOUR GRANDMOTHER’S COFFEEBY ED ZAGORSKI FAMILY & FRIENDS STAFF

For many people, coffee is a daily part of their lives, but for the Berres family, it’s been an integral part of their family business for 50 years.

Just ask Pete Berres of Berres Brothers Coffee Roasters in Watertown.

This isn’t your grandmother’s Sanka.“A good coffee is similar to grapes and wine,” Berres said.

“The taste depends not only on how it is processed, but how it’s grown and where.”

Berres buys green coffee beans from countries with specific soil conditions and altitudes, from areas in Central and South America, Africa and Asia.

“By controlling the roasting temperature and using a quality cof-fee bean, you don’t have to worry about coffee tasting too harsh or acidic,” he said.

And Berres should know.His business roasts 50,000 pounds a month, and nearly

650,000 pounds annually.“We going through a major growth period, and are planning

to be able to roast 1 million pounds a year,” Berres said.For those who enjoy drinking coffee to help them through

their daily grind, Berres Brothers Coffee Roasters is heaven, including the strong smell of coffee in the air and multiple flavors, available for purchase online and in store. And don’t forget the assortment of baked goods prepared fresh each day. Plus, their wide selection of coffee flavoring syrups add a burst of flavor to any hot, cold or frozen specialty beverage.

And, Berres Brothers coffees come in various flavored coffees,

NOT YOUR GRANDMOTHER’S COFFEE


dark roasts, Berres Blends and origin coffees.

Berres Brothers Coffee Roast-ers also sell K-Cup coffee pods, which are actually single-serve cups that work in Keurig ma-chines.

“We offer one of the largest se-lections of flavored K-Cups in the nation,” Pete said.

If you choose to sit and drink your coffee at Berres Brothers Coffee Roasters, there is a glass partition where customers can watch the coffee brewing pro-cess.

The history of Berres Brothers dates back to about 1970, when Marvin Berres founded Coffee Host Inc., a coffee, soda and snack vending business serving compa-nies within a 50- to 60-mile radius of Watertown. During this time, Marvin didn’t roast his own coffee beans. He provided equipment

to companies, which would buy coffee from him.

In 1992, the business expand-ed with brothers, Pete and Jeff Berres, who took it over and started roasting coffee. The busi-ness also began to offer prod-ucts in grocery and convenience stores in the state. After the soda and snack vending business was sold in 1997, the company con-tinued to supply coffee to more than 400 corporate accounts.

Pete Berres took over complete ownership of the company in 2000 and rebranding soon fol-lowed in 2002 to reposition the brand and the company in the coffee industry. The name was changed from Berres Brothers Coffee Inc. to Berres Brothers Coffee Roasters Inc. to clarify that they roast green coffee beans and are not just a retailer of another company’s coffee.

A new building at 202 Air Park Drive followed in 2005, which became the home of everything Berres Brothers, including a cafe, production, wholesale, grocery fulfillment, office and retail store.

The company has 19 full- and nine part-time employees, all of whom are dedicated and pas-sionate about their positions and, more importantly, love coffee.

Berres Brothers has even been featured on the Food Network TV program, “Unwrapped.” The segment was filmed in 2009 in Watertown.

And coffee itself has a distin-guished history.

The legend of coffee began in the Ethiopian highlands, where a goat herder noticed his goats became rather spirited and didn’t want to sleep after eating the berries of a certain tree. The herder, known as Kaldi, reported

Ed ZagorskiPete Berres, the owner of Berres Brothers Coffee Roast-ers in Watertown, holds some fresh green coffee beans.


his findings to a local monastery, which tested the berries and made a drink. The drink spread in popularity from monastery to monastery. However, the modern practice of roasting beans didn’t begin until the 13th century, according to My Virtual Coffee House.

In the United States, coffee didn’t become popular until 1773 after the Boston Tea Party. The revolt against the high tax on tea imposed by King George would forever change the drinking hab-its of Americans everywhere. And Watertown fits right in.

“What sets us apart is our roast-er and the type of beans we buy,” Berres said.

The large roaster handles 125 pounds of beans at one time. The roaster cooks the beans using air. The temperature of the roaster gets up to about 600 degrees and the whole process takes 12 minutes.

Many people might not realize coffee beans are the pit of a cher-ry that grows on a coffee tree. The cherries grow like clusters of grapes. The cherries are hand picked at peak ripeness.

To make the flavored varieties, the beans are roasted and then the flavor is added by hand and the beans are rolled in a barrel for five minutes to evenly coat the beans with the flavor.

The Highlander Grogg, which is a unique flavor of caramel but-terscotch and hazelnut, is Berres Brothers’ best-selling flavor.

“Other companies have tried to mimic ours, but ours is the original and most unique,” Pete beamed.

He said brewing a mug of High-lander Grogg starts with the right

coffee. Berres Brothers uses 100 % arabica beans. Arabica beans are high-grown coffee beans picked at peak ripeness. They have a better taste and quality than other beans, such as robusta, which have a tendency to be bitter. Ro-busta beans are a cheaper bean because they can be harvested with a machine since they grow low in the valleys.

But finding the best coffee is only the first step. Proper stor-age and the right grind are also important, as is measuring the proper amount, having the cold water and the three T’s of brew-ing: time, temperature and turbu-lence. Pete said the beans should be stored whole in the refrigera-tor or freezer and ground when they are ready to be used. The beans should also be kept in an airtight container.

The right grind is quite import-ant. If the grind is too fine, the coffee will be bitter.

Once you make the perfect brew, the word gets out.

Since 2000, Pete said his coffee can be purchased in all 100 Pig-gly Wiggly stores in Wisconsin.

“We are still in all of them and deliver directly to their stores,” Pete said. “We are roughly in 250 grocery stores in Wisconsin, Northern Illinois and Iowa.

Pete said his company also ships coffee and gifts national-ly, which can be found on the company’s website: www.berres-brothers.com.

Berres Brothers Coffee Roasters’ hours are 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sun-days The cafe is located at 202 Air Park Drive.

CONTRIBUTEDDr. Bruce Cochrane, who retired earlier this month, sits at his desk at Watertown Family Practice Associates, 127 Hospital Drive.

After 41 1/2 years Watertown doctor retires sethoscope


By Diane Graff Family & Friends staff

After 41 1/2 years of family medicine, long-time Watertown doctor

Bruce Cochrane has hung up his stethoscope.

His last day of examining patients at Watertown Family Practice Associates was Dec. 2.

“I can not believe it has been that long,” Cochrane said the day after his retirement. “My kids are so excited, like it is a graduation to retirement.”

While Cochrane is not a na-tive to the city, he praises the community he has called home for more than 40 years.

“I call Watertown home after being here for 41 years,” the retiring doctor said. Cochrane said after training all those years, he was fortunate to be in a community he liked.

Cochrane was raised in Springfield, Ill., went to Illinois State University and then Chi-cago Medical school from 1973 to 1976 and Southern Illinois University School of Medicine for family practice, getting his degree in 1979.

“What brought us (he and his wife, Dianne, whom he married during his residency), is interest-ing,” the doctor said. The young couple received several sugges-tions of where to seek a prac-tice, but they agreed to only go as far north as Appleton and no further. Cochrane said he sided with his wife after debating a stint in Alaska. He thought it would be fun to practice medi-cine in the rural culture and cli-

mate the country’s largest state. “And then quickly I thought maybe not,” the doctor said.

Their goal was to remain somewhat close to their roots in Illinois.

“So Watertown was rather close to family and it turned out to be a great decision, Co-chrane said. Both Rick Holden and his wife Ellen, and Dianne and I stayed in this great com-munity.”

In the early 1970’s, Dr. Terry Turke and another doctor start-ed Watertown Family Practice. The other doctor left to be clos-er to his hometown and Turke brought in Dr. Fred Gremmels in 1976. “Gremmels wanted to make it a three person practice and both Rick (Holden) and I applied at the same time. They decided to go to four doctors and they hired both of use back in 1979,” Cochrane said.

“At the front end of my career, I thought I would practice here 20 to 30 years,” Cochrane said. “I look back and ask where did the years go? I look back with a lot of enjoyment. I was blessed with the choice of the commu-nity and the practice.

“What has kept us here for all these years are the people,” Cochrane said. “The people are great. For the most part, they have a good strong faith in general and good core values. They understand the value of work and integrity. A hand-shake is a handshake and it means something.”

Cochrane pointed out that in the medical profession, if a doc-

tor is unhappy with a location, they can pick up and move tomorrow. “So that could have been an option. But this is such a great town and community and it is a lot of fun to be able to rub elbows with the people.”

And Cochrane got to know a lot of people during his 40 plus years as a local doctor. He said he has no idea how many patients he has served over the years, but it is in the thousands.

“There are lots of cases that I recall for one reason or an-other. I could go on and on for hours with stories, but that would be boring,” he said.

“It was a humbling profes-sion,” Cochrane said. “I think my retirement is not about me, but the community,” the doc-tor said. “If it were not for the community and values, I would have left earlier in my tenure and gone somewhere else.”

Changes and growth

There have been many changes over the years, some good and some not so good, the veteran physician said.

Cochrane said he was pleased that the hospital system re-mains vital in the community. “As a business, it can not stand still,” he said. “It was a much smaller hospital operation when I started. There were no ER physicians. There were three small ER rooms and staffed by general medical staff,” he said. “It has grown over the years to accommodate the community.”

Another change over the years was location. The four


doctors stopped renting an old clinic building from the hospi-tal and constructed their own facility. “When we built that, we thought we had died and gone to heaven.” It had a lot more space but now the building is busting at the seams, Cochrane said.

And, of course, there has been a lot of change in technology.

”For a good share of my career, I pulled a paper chart,” Cochrane said. “We had thousands of pa-per charts.”

The office is now on its third electronic recording device, he said. There are advantages and disadvantages. “The progress has made the availability of demographics of a disease. Our practice has always been on the forefront of technology. At times I had been reluctant, but I see the need for that.”

In his retirement years

”The practice has grown with different stresses and more bureaucracy,” Cochrane said. “There are other things I would like to do, like have time with my family,” the doctor said. Dianne has represented the family at many occasions when the doctor has been working. He is looking forward to spending more time with his five children and 12 grandchildren, and is an-ticipating the arrival of his 13th grandchild. “I tell my patients I am too young to be a grandpar-

CONTRIBUTEDTOP: Dr. Bruce Cochrane retired Dec. 2, after serv-ing the area for 41 1/2 years. BOTTOM: Watertown physician Dr. Bruce Cochrane retired earlier this month, after serving Watertown for 41 1/2 years. With the doctor are his wife, Dianne Cochrane, left, and his staff, Annmarie Wiegel.


ent of 13.””Retirement will be a challenge

and an adjustment, but one that I am ready for.” Cochrane said he has not yet solidified his retire-ment plans, but along with fami-ly, he has plenty of hobbies and activities to occupy his time.

He enjoys scuba diving and snowshoeing, along with flying. As a get-away, the couple has a pace on Gilbert Lake near Wild Rose where the doctor enjoys scuba diving. “I honestly, I could scuba dive in a bath tub and enjoy it,” he said. While he en-joys fresh-water diving, he and Dianne have done a trip to Fort Lauderdale to dive in the ocean.

He also flew a lot during his younger days. “I have great mem-ories of flying. Don’t get me on

flying.” Many times the doctor would rent a plane from Wisconsin Aviation in Watertown. “I highly recommend people learn to fly.”

Cochrane also praised his staff over the years. Historically, the staff at Watertown Family Prac-tice Associates has stayed on board through the years without many turnovers. “I am pleased to say I have left the practice in good hands,” he said.

“I have known him since he first came to Watertown,” said Laurie Grosenick. Grosenick worked with the partners for many years and returned to work with Cochrane the past 1 1/2 years, “which was a blessing,” she said. “It was like going home.”

Grosenick noted how medicine has changed over the years, go-

ing from paper charts to electron-ic recordings. But changes were necessary to keep abreast of the billing system, she added.

Cochrane made an effort to see each of his patients one last time this past year, Grosenick said. “He was so grateful to see people one more time. Last year was like a farewell tour.

”I really enjoyed working with him,” Grosenick said of Cochrane. His retirement was bittersweet. “He earned retirement, but he will be missed. I appreciated his sense of caring and humor.”

”It has been a great ride” Co-chrane said. “I can not complain. It has been a blessing all along.”


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WINTER THIS JOB HAS ITS PERKS - wdtimes.com