The season of cooking out is in full swing, and while its still too early to tire of brats and burgers, an Italian meal might come as a welcome change – ezpecially if you can dine outside. Three – yes, three – area farms have mastered the art of home-grown outdoor pizza-making by installing giant brick ovens on their properties. Their common element is, of course, homemade pizza, topped with the yield of the surrounding land. The farms provide lawns for seating but few other amenities, so diners come prepared with blankets, chairs, utensils, and wine. Amateur pizza enthusiast Drew Kaiser visited Suncrest Gardens Farm in Cochrane recently. Suncrest, which is also a Community Supported Agriculture farm, invites diners on Thursday evenings from May 6 through Labor Day. “Early in the season you can get balsamic asparagus pizza—suuuupergood!” Kaiser raved. Suncrest’s pies run $21-24. Suncrest (S2257 Yaeger Dugway, Cochrane, WI 54622 (608) 626-2122) also features live music one Thursday of each month.

Weekend diners can check out Nelson Stone Barn in Nelson, which is open Friday through Sunday. Their website boasts a superior thin crust and meats from locally raised livestock. Nelson offers custom pizzas as well as wine, beer, and ice cream. Nelson’s ’za ranges in price from $18-23 (S685 County Road KK Nelson, WI 54756 (715) 673-4478). And finally, on Tuesday evenings, the oven is hot at A to Z Produce and Bakery near Stockholm (pictured above). When I visited last summer, the lawn teemed with diners that arrived by car or even on horseback. The hour or more wait for several pizzas was easily passed petting kittens and goats and roaming the fields. A to Z offers several excellent vegetarian options and their pizzas are priced $23-25 (A to Z Produce & Bakery, N2956 Anker Lane, Stockholm, WI, (715) 448-4802, photo set).