Breakfast on the Farm: A Beloit family’s country store offers a home-cooked meal and a taste of rural community

It is no secret that food has a special way of bringing people together. Cultures worldwide place such high emphasis on meeting up for meal time. Some people like to do lunch, others prefer dinner. I have always been a breakfast person.

I love filling my body to the brim with food right when I wake up in the morning. There is nothing better to me than the smell of bacon and coffee flooding the house as my eyes attempt to adjust to the light leaking in through the blinds. Morning breath, tangled hair, and oversized apparel makes breakfast undeniably the most human and humbling meal of all.

Of course, most people present themselves more properly when they go out to a restaurant for breakfast, but the basic principle remains the same: Breakfast is personal.

Double B Farm Country Store/Café serves breakfast and lunch out of a bright red barn in Beloit, Wis., and does so in a way that makes you feel at home. All of the food comes directly from the farm except for the potatoes and lettuce. The freshness of the food also contributes to a home-cooked meal feel.

As I pull up to Double B Farms I am immediately greeted by goats, cows, chickens, horses, ducks, cats, dogs, and roosters. “We have no employees except the animals,” says Barb Beeler, who owns Double B Farms with her husband, Dan.

I walk into the restaurant with a readied appetite and attitude. Immediately, I am struck by the level of comfortability Double B Farms exudes.

A little boy sticks a napkin to his chin with syrup and giggles wildly while repeating “Look! Look at my beard.” The little boy’s brother matches his shenanigans, excitedly telling his mother a story. “I tried to trick Dad. I tried to trick him and tell him I don’t like Double B Farms,” he says. “But he didn’t fall for my trick because he knows how much I love it here. Dad knows I love Double B Farms.”

These boys are part of the Nelson family. The Nelsons are among the many regulars who visit the farm several times a week.

“We have a lot of regulars,” says Barb. “But we’ve had people from all over too. A few from over in Europe, and one college girl was from Africa. She actually brought her family over for her graduation breakfast. People come from Janesville, Madison, Wisconsin.”

“If they like it they don’t mind the wait,” says Dan. “I just heard that from two tables over there.”

“That’s one of the things,” continues Barb. “Everything is cooked fresh. We don’t cook ahead of time and let it sit.”

“And it’s a two-man band back there. Just me and her,” says Dan. “So it can take 40 minutes to get your food.”

“Speaking of which…” Barb says. “I should get started on the next order.”

Barb quickly makes her way back into the kitchen to start making meals for the next table. Dan shifts his weight and seems lost in thought.

“This place has got a lot of stories,” he says after a long pause.

“It was built in 1851 to start with. It was Jason Briggs’ historical sight.”

Briggs was a Mormon church elder who moved from New York to organize a branch in Beloit, Wis. in 1842. He and his fellowship, including Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, used the farm as a retreat area.

Barb and Dan Beeler bought the 54-acre farm in 1993.

Barb took part in the Beloit Farmer’s Market since 1996, cooking a variety of foods from chili to biscuits and gravy as well as selling farm-raised meats. So after Dan lost his job of 37 years cutting steel at Warner Electric, Barb came up with the idea to open Double B Farms in 2011.

“When we bought this place, the barn already had a 2,500 gallon septic. It had everything available, all we had to do was make it,” says Barb. “So we decided that when he lost his job we would just go for it.”

“One thing led to another,” says Dan. “And even though we didn’t know the plan at the time, our good God had already come home with it, I guess. Each thing was a kind of a building block for the next.”

“There were hard times, but we have really grown,” says Barb. “People told us we couldn’t do it. Banks refused to help us financially. They said we were crazy. They said we would have to work too hard.”

“Some people might call it hard work, but we consider it a way of life,” says Dan.

“It’s called survival,” interjects Jim, a regular customer and friend.

Barb and Dan renovated the milk house and farm quarters into a suitable area for a restaurant. The barn restaurant now includes a kitchen, bathroom, two small seating areas, and a large freezer to sell farm meats, poultry, and pork.

An average day for the Beeler’s consists of waking up at 5:00 am to bottle-feed the baby animals and feed and milk the goats and cows.

“I have to pray I have enough time to make muffins some mornings,” says Barb. “We make these muffins. They are called Duck Butt muffins. And what they are is… we use duck eggs. I raise ducks and they lay like 100 eggs per year. Anyways I use the duck eggs, I use bourbon, I use vanilla, and then some fruit or whatever else. But sometimes people show up early. I just tell them to grab a coffee and take a seat while we finish prepping.”

The Beelers run the restaurant from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm Wednesday through Sunday. Monday and Tuesday are reserved for doing necessary work around the farm.

Jim, who comes in daily and orders coffee and bourbon pancakes, admits that on those two days he doesn’t know what to do with himself.

“I get the shakes real bad,” he says as his entire face lights up and his mouth moves into a full-blown grin. “I practically live here.”

As I leave Double B Farms my face is plastered with a permanent smile. Double B Farms not only met my expectations, but exceeded them. The conversations were full of warmth; the décor was laid back and cozy.

Not to mention, Barb and Dan really understood that there can never be too much bacon when it comes to breakfast.