Dappled

Soldiers Grove, WI 54655, USA

ES
Emily Spurlin and Laura Scherb
  • Email address verified
1 review
Jul 24 - 27, 2025
Group size: 1 - 11
Dappled
Soldiers Grove, WI 54655, USA

Emily Spurlin and Laura Scherb
  • Email address verified
1 review

$1,300
Deposit: $500
Jul 24 - 27, 2025
Group size: 1 - 11

About this trip

Join pastry chef Emily Spurlin and photographer Laura Scherb for a restorative and inspiring retreat at Red Clover Ranch. During our time together, we will focus on infusing our creativity with a sense of time and place. With Emily, you’ll learn about local heirloom grains and how to incorporate them into your baking, a lesson on natural food coloring, and how to translate inspiration into cake decoration. With Laura, you’ll explore photography in the natural world, capturing light, color, and designing a beautiful tablescape to photograph.  There will be plenty of time for rest and recreation, with a trip to the Viroquoa farmers market, Star Valley flower farm, swimming and enjoying the natural beauty of the Driftless region of Wisconsin. Thanks to our butter sponsor, Plugra, for making our delicious bakes possible!

What’s included

  • Chef-prepared meals
    Red Clover Ranch’s Chef Dani Lind will prepare seasonally-inspired meals, largely sourced from surrounding farms. Meals are included in the retreat cost.
  • Lodging
    All of our guest cabins feature easy access to our bathhouse with high end bathrooms, a screen porch with kitchenette, sauna, and outdoor shower.
  • Beverages
    Coffee and tea are on the house, and low-ABV cocktails, beer, and wine available for purchase
  • Shared bathhouse + sauna
    Our Japanese- and Scandinavian-inspired bathhouse features two full bathrooms, an outdoor shower, and an electric sauna. It also houses a screened-in porch with a summer kitchen and a lounge area.
  • Cake decorating tutorial
    Instruction for making your own seasonally-inspired, naturally colored layer cake from Emily Spurlin
  • Photography tutorials
    Instruction on capturing storytelling in photography—iPhone, DSLR camera, or sketchpad!— from Laura Scherb
  • Local grains seminar
    Seminar on heritage grains from Halee of Meadowlark Organics
  • Baking supplies
    All baking tools, supplies, and ingredients to make your cake will be provided.
  • Field trips
    Excursions to farmers markets, antique stores, and nature walks to forage for props and flavor/decor components

What’s not included

  • Transportation
    The nearest airports are Madison and La Crosse, Wisconsin. You can also fly in and drive from Minneapolis-St. Paul or Chicago, both about 3.5 hours away.
  • Camera
    Please bring whatever you'll be using to photograph - film, digital, and phone photography all welcome!

Available Packages

Double Room
Deposit: $500
Available until April 25, 2025Sold Out

This  double room is in one room of a cabin. It has two twin beds, private entrance, heat/ac, and beautiful views of a pine forest from bed. 

- Lodging 

- Shared room, shared bathroom in bathhouse 

- Daily sauna time

- All meals included

- Use of grounds and buildings

- Bedding and linens (including towels)

- Ursa Major Body Wash Shampoo and Conditioner

- Sales and Occupancy Tax

(Please let us know if you have someone that you want to room with otherwise we will assign you a roommate)

$1,300
Deposit: $500
Single Room
Deposit: $500
Available until April 25, 2025Only 1 left

This  private single room is in half of a two room cabin. It has a queen bed, private entrance, heat/ac, and beautiful views of a pine forest from bed. One single room inside either the Milkweed, Winterberry and Dogwood. We'll send a short survey to match you with a compatible roommate!

- Lodging 

- Private queen room, shared bathroom in bathhouse 

- Daily sauna time

- All farm-to-table meals included

- Wonderstate coffee and tea bar 

- Use of grounds and buildings

- Bedding and linens (including towels)

- Ursa Major Body Wash, Shampoo and Conditioner

- Sales and Occupancy Tax

$2,500
Deposit: $500
Scholarship Winner
Deposit: $400
Available until March 21, 2025Sold Out

This spot is only available for the winner of the Dappled scholarship. 

$950
Deposit: $400

Available Add-Ons

Private Workshop with Emily
$350

Want to dive deeper into cake decorating? Book a private workshop with Emily to be fulfilled at a date following the retreat. This can be done in-person for Chicago residents and on zoom for folks elsewhere.

Private Workshop with Laura
$250

Want to dive deeper into photography? Book an hour-long private workshop with Laura to be fulfilled at a date following the retreat. This can be done in-person for Chicago residents and on zoom for folks elsewhere.

$1,300
Deposit: $500


Itinerary

Day 1
Thursday

We will arrive at Red Clover starting at 3pm on Thursday.  Join us for late afternoon walk around the Ranch, then a cocktail/mocktail hour. We will all gather for dinner and a bonfire to talk about our weekend ahead.

Your Organizer


ES
Emily Spurlin and Laura Scherb
1 review
Emily is a chicago- based award winning pastry chef, florist, and artist. Emily uses pastry as a medium to tell stories and translate inspiration into reality, especially focusing on the natural world as her muse. Laura Scherb is a food photographer, stylist, and writer in Chicago, IL. She works in every capacity of food photography, from commercial work to editorial projects. Her passion is storytelling through light and color, and is particularly interested in shadow work.

Reviews

I feel very lucky to have stumbled upon the opportunity to join Emily and Laura on this baking and photography retreat. I left with a great sense of peace, a newfound love for baking, and a greater appreciation for lighting.
By Victoria C for Sunbaked: A Celebration of Seasonality in the Kitchen and the Studio on Sep 06, 2024