Winona Daily News
http://www.winonadailynews.com/articles/2006/08/25/news/03beginning0825.txt

Friday, August 25, 2006

College grad takes a U-turn with the help
of a 10-month course for novice farmers

By Brian Voerding / Winona Daily News

ST. CHARLES, Minn. — Female. Young. Single. Not exactly adjectives commonly coupled with the phrase dairy farmer.

But that’s what Aimee Finley is.

The 25-year-old rents 200 sprawling acres of her grandfather’s land buttressed by Highway 14 and Interstate 90 and in the city limits of St. Charles.

Tuesday morning, Finley slapped the haunches of a dairy cow at the tail of her 100-plus herd near one of her pastures, and without protest, the cow turned and shuffled with the herd inside as Finley roped the entrance.

Though it was 11 a.m. and overcast, some of the cows had begun to cluster under trees.

“They already think it’s hot,” she said. “They’re ready to come inside.”

They would come in a few hours later for the afternoon milking.

Then Finley would continue chores — cleaning the parlor, checking fences, picking up feed — and prepare for a repeat the next morning.

Difficult. A word more fitting to the dairy lifestyle.

That’s where Farm Beginnings comes in. The program, run by the Land Stewardship Project and entering its 10th year, offers hands-on survey classes to people looking to become new farmers or current farmers looking to explore new options. It’s led by local and regional farmers, who serve as presenters and mentors steeped in LSP’s values: small, family-run farms practicing sustainable agriculture.

“It provides a realization that there are a variety of resources out there for people who want to farm, and not the doom and gloom that it sometimes seems,” said Karen Stettler, the program’s coordinator. “And it’s a community-based program. That’s what gives it strength.”

The program has graduated more than 260 farmers, with 60 percent currently farming, Stettler said. Attendees explore different farming practices and skills, write business plans, study finances and bookkeeping, and learn exactly what it takes to keep a farm running.

Near the end of the 10-month program — classroom education in the fall and on-site training in spring and summer — students are matched with a mentor and provided with opportunities to receive interest-free loans and other amenities through LSP. Afterwards, LSP offers a number of continuing-education courses.

Finley was one of those looking to become a new farmer.

She grew up on this farm — her grandfather’s — and bought herself 20 show cows when she was a teenager, but then went off to college in River Falls, Wis., moving those cows from barn to barn. When she graduated in 2003 with a degree in agriculture education, she wasn’t sure what came next.

She still had her cows. And she knew she couldn’t give them up.

Finley moved back to St. Charles and rented land from another farmer while enrolling in the Farm Beginnings class. When her grandfather moved off his farm a year later and onto another he owned, Finley saw her opportunity.

She had the old equipment cleaned up, the fields cleared and sectioned for rotational grazing, purchased a 60-cow herd to add to her 20, and spent two years on her own, celebrating successes, making mistakes, admitting failures and learning from both program mentors and neighbors.

Last year, she got so busy she hired her father, Joe Finley, full-time. This year, they’re considering another hire.

“There’s always too much work for one person to do,” Joe Finley said. “Sometimes, there’s too much for two of us to do.”

Not that they’re getting rich. And some days, Finley has doubts. She thinks about becoming organically certified. She thinks about buying a new milking parlor. Or possibly purchasing her own land.

When she feels too busy, which happens often, she remembers the old days when she had time to train for a marathon.

What she doesn’t doubt, though, is her choice.

“They said, ‘If you have the opportunity, take it,’” she said. “I had the opportunity and I took it.” She thought for a moment. “And there’s no way I can get rid of my show cows.”

Reporter Brian Voerding can be reached at (507) 453-3514 or at brian.voerding@winonadailynews.com.

The Beginning
• What: Farm Beginnings, a 10-month, hands-on survey course for new and current farmers. Includes exploring different kinds of agriculture, learning finances, skill practices and partnering with local mentors.
• Registration deadline: Sept. 1 (classes begin Oct. 14)
• Contact: Karen Stettler in the Lewiston LSP office at (507) 523-3366 or stettler@landstewardshipproject.org
• For more information: www.farmbeginnings.org

All stories copyright 2000 - 2006 Winona Daily News and other attributed sources.

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