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Farm Beginnings Profile: Jason & Juli Montgomery-Riess

Pacing the Path to Success

By Brian DeVore
March 15, 2013

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Sometimes, there’s nothing like a speed bump to send you on your way toward that ultimate goal. In the case of Jason and Juli Montgomery-Riess, that slight detour was in the form of the Land Stewardship Project’s Farm Beginnings course.

Before taking the class, both had worked on some of the top produce operations in the region. The couple saved up money and their lives were so committed to a farming future that they delayed their wedding a week in the fall of 2009 so they could attend the first session of the Farm Beginnings class. Jason and Juli concede that up until then they were headed full bore into owning their own farming operation.

But when they gave their final Farm Beginnings class presentation in early 2010, they laid out a five-year plan that had one foot on the brake pedal: work on a few farms, buy a house in Minneapolis, start a family, sock away more money and in general put off buying a farm until they were good and ready.

Jason and Juli Montgomery-Riess

The reaction from their classmates wasn’t universally positive.

“A lot of our peers in the class were sort of shocked and almost frustrated with us. They were like, ‘You all should just do it, you’re ready,’ ” recalls Juli, 32, on a recent spring Saturday while sitting in the couple’s Minneapolis home. “And we did have a lot more practical experience than many of our cohorts, but the bottom line was we just didn’t feel right rushing into farming.”

Blame it on the farmers and other agriculture professionals who presented during the Farm Beginnings classes, which met twice a month during the fall and winter of 2009-2010. While making it clear that there were many opportunities in agriculture, particularly if one was willing to seek out alternative production and marketing systems and do good business planning, they also shared stories of what happens when one rushes in ill-prepared: financial ruin, unsustainable stress, even broken marriages.

“Trying to manage a new marriage, children and a business all at the same time seemed to be a lot to bite off at one time,” says Jason, 36. “Those farmers who spoke in the classes taught us to be deliberative. Farm Beginnings really slowed us down—in a good way.”

This from a guy who, after feasting on the writings of Wendell Berry and Michael Pollan while working as a librarian in Milwaukee, decided all of a sudden, “I had to do something.” In 2009, Jason quit his job and moved to western Wisconsin to get his hands dirty on a real farm.

“Just like that,” recalls the California native with a tinge of amazement in his voice.

Juli was from the Twin Cities and had organized around tenants’ rights issues in California before returning to the Midwest to pursue her own farming dream. In 2009 the two met while they were both working on Foxtail Farm, a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) operation near Osceola, Wis. (Juli had also worked on Burning River, another CSA in the area, and Jason had volunteered at Growing Power, an urban farming operation in Milwaukee. He also worked at Gale Woods Farm in Minnetrista, Minn.). The pair hit it off and within a few months Jason was ready to pop the big question: “I said to Juli, ‘Do you want to farm together?’ ”

“When he asked if I wanted to farm together I said, ‘Do you realize what you’re asking me?’ ” Juli recalls with a laugh.

They were married in October of that year on Foxtail, a symbolic gesture of just how much agriculture was to be intertwined with their relationship. But a week before the wedding, they sat in their first Farm Beginnings class, beginning that more “deliberative” stage of their farming dream. The Farm Beginnings course, which LSP has been offering since 1997, has become a national model for providing wannabe farmers with training in innovative business planning, marketing and goal-setting, among other things. Farm Beginnings is also known for its use of established farmers and other agricultural professionals as class instructors.

It was through those farmer-presenters that Jason and Juli got the message that it was fine to be fired up about a farming career, but allowing that passion to serve as an unguided accelerant can leave one burned out. They both say that before taking the class, they were committed to not allowing lack of money to get in the way of launching their own farming operation.

“But we learned that making mistakes can cost a significant amount of money,” Juli says, conceding that she was initially slightly jealous of her classmates who already had access to farmland. “But even having land was no guarantee of success. People were losing their marriages over their differences as they farm together. And so there were many voices saying just make sure that you keep coming back to your values and checking in with each other. That planning piece was really important to me.”

Jason says Farm Beginnings made it clear to them that there were a lot of business-related aspects to production agriculture they hadn’t given deep thought to before.

“It wasn’t just knowing how to put seeds in the soil and plant them out in the field and pick them and deliver them,” he says. “There were a lot of business dimensions, and there was a quality of life dimension to this work we wanted to get right.”

Striking a Balance
Make no mistake, that speed bump hasn’t brought about a full stop—it’s more like a pacesetter. The couple is very much still immersed in activities that they hope will contribute to their ultimate goal: owning and operating a vegetable operation. Jason is in his second year working as a grower at Wozupi, a farm operation owned and operated by the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community in nearby Prior Lake.

The operation consists of a 100-member CSA enterprise with a twist: members of the tribe are given the first opportunity to join Wozupi in a “Tribally Supported Agriculture” arrangement to improve health in the community while helping tribal members get more connected to the land. Wozupi also has an orchard, raises chickens, has 120 honeybee hives, preserves heritage seeds and provides classes on food production and preservation. Wozupi markets produce not only through the CSA enterprise, but to farmers’ markets and Mazopiya, a natural food market owned by the tribe.

Jason Montgomery-Riess

Jason says working at Wozupi has been a tremendous help in staying on the road toward a farming career while garnering some economic security and having time to start a family—their daughter, Alma, is 1, and son, Walter, is 2. Since the garden operation is one “department” in the larger Mdewakanton Sioux Community, Jason works a 40-hour week year-round and gets health benefits, as well as access to regular equipment maintenance.

“You have the resources of the community and of the tribe to make this garden work. I’m getting to practice agriculture and hone my skills while being held responsible for providing an excellent product to customers,” he says, adding that the one down side is that it can often be a challenge squeezing all the farm work that needs to be done into a regular work week.

Juli is working as a school counselor in Minneapolis, and tries to tie that in with farming and food production as well. She has taken sixth grade students out to Gale Woods for a tour. “It’s a beautiful thing to see a kid hold a lamb,” she says. One of Juli’s goals is to find a way to combine her passion for social justice and farming.

“I don’t think social justice stops with farming—I want to use it as a way to continue that social justice work,” she says.

The couple is also staying in close contact with Paul and Chris Burkhouse, the farmers at Foxtail, who they see as mentors. And they are part of an informal group of other beginning farmers who live in the Twin Cities. Some are farming in urban areas, others are, like the Montgomery-Riesses, working toward a time when they can move onto their own operation in a rural community. Jason and Juli are waiting for their kids to grow a little bigger, for their financial situation to improve and their farming skills to sharpen. They are also waiting for something that’s pretty much out of their control.

“I’m hoping land prices will fall for our sake,” says Juli, as chickens in their backyard coop make soft cackling sounds, a reminder of another way the couple is keeping connected to farming here in the city.

Their goal is to have a produce operation that markets either through CSA or wholesale markets, or a combination of both. One idea they throw around is a CSA model that combines the production of several farms.

One way or the other, farming is in the future—even when they take steps that to an outsider may seem to be a one-way detour, like when they bought their house in the city in 2010.

“People said, ‘I thought you were going to buy a farm?’ And I say, ‘This is part of the path,’ ” says Jason, explaining that owning property seems like a better way of holding some of their savings at this time. “What appears to some people as a distraction is part of a deliberate plan for us and our future in farming.”

 

Category: Farm Beginnings Profiles
Tags: beginning farmers • Farm Beginnings • vegetable production

Give it a Listen

On episode 134 of LSP’s Ear to the Ground podcast, Juli and Jason Montgomery-Riess talk about applying the brakes to their farming plans on LSP’s Ear to the Ground podcast.

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October 2025

Thursday October 9

5:00 pm – 7:30 pm
Minnesota Women in Conservation Fall Learning Circle
Thursday October 9
5:00 pm – 7:30 pm
Minnesota Women in Conservation Fall Learning Circle
Dawson, MN 56232, USA

Participants will walk around a “homestead” farm site, exploring areas and goals the landowner hopes to improve in the future, including pollinator habitat, perennial plantings, windbreaks, privacy/noise screens, water quality improvements, well sealing, and compost placements. Participants will hear feedback and recommendations from a conservation professional on potential programs that could assist the landowner in achieving those goals. This will be an active event.

Please bring a camp chair and a potluck dish. The host will provide the main dish, so think about bringing sides and dessert. For details and to reserve a spot, click here. For questions, contact LSP’s Alex Kiminski at akiminski@landstewardshipproject.org.

Friday October 10

8:30 am – 3:00 pm
Weaving a Wider Community: Seeing & Countering Racism in Our Backyard
Friday October 10
8:30 am – 3:00 pm
Weaving a Wider Community: Seeing & Countering Racism in Our Backyard
111 N 1st St, Montevideo, MN 56265, USA

Join LSP and CURE for a community event at the Land Stewardship Project office in Montevideo (111 N. First St.), from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., on Friday, Oct. 10. This event includes lunch catered by El Mana; please register by Oct. 3 to be included in the food count.

You can RSVP here.

The Racial Equity Conference, organized by the Greater Minnesota Partnership of the Facilitating Racial Equity Collaborative, has been specifically designed to bring engaging content to local communities through a unique pairing of online speakers and in-person local sessions. The morning’s online content will include a conversation focused on seeing and countering racism in rural communities, moderated by Eryn Gee Killough, paired with two outstanding keynote speakers, Jenna Grey Eagle and Ron Ferguson, who have experience working in rural communities. 

This online content will be exclusively available to local community gatherings. Each gathering will gear their in-person activity to their specific community with the goal of extending the impact of the conference to others throughout the following year. Join LSP and CURE for this western Minnesota gathering, or if a different location works better for you, check out all the local gatherings on the FREC site,

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out. LSP’s Nick Olson can be reached via e-mail at nicko@landstewardshipproject.org.

9:00 am – 3:00 pm
Intensive Small-Scale Market Gardening Bus Tour
Friday October 10
9:00 am – 3:00 pm
Intensive Small-Scale Market Gardening Bus Tour
Leatherdale Equine Center, 1801 Dudley Ave, St Paul, MN 55108, USA

Explore profitable small-scale farming (1–5 acres) and soil care. Visit a cooperative incubator farm and a thriving suburban market garden. Learn about cover crops, reduced tillage, high tunnel soil health, and support for growers.

This is the second tour in a three-part soil health bus tour series. Participants can sign up for just one, two, or all three tours. Register at https://z.umn.edu/vegetablebustours. The cost is $15 (flat fee, covers 1, 2, or 3 tours). There are more details in the attached flyer.

Saturday October 11

11:00 am – 2:00 pm
LSP-COPAL Visita a la Granja | Farm Tour
Saturday October 11
11:00 am – 2:00 pm
LSP-COPAL Visita a la Granja | Farm Tour
36919 County 57 Blvd, Dennison, MN 55018, USA

Building off the success of last year’s farm event with COPAL in Austin, Minn., this year Land Stewardship Project and COPAL members and supporters will gather at the Young-Walser Family Farm in Dennison, Minn. for a festive and delicious farm tour on Saturday, Oct. 11, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. We invite you to come and meet new folks, learn new skills, and try new food! 
 
This year’s COPAL-LSP farm event offers a little something for everyone: 
 
🍯 Honey sampling and the opportunity to purchase from Homestead Honey Farm. 
 
🍎 Apple cider pressing and tasting. (BTW, we’re still looking for an apple press if you or a farmer friend have one nearby we could borrow for this event!) 
 
🌽 Nixtamalization workshop and fresh, homemade tortillas, made with corn grown by LSP and COPAL members at the Young-Walser Family Farm! 
 
🍅 Salsa making and cricket-eating competitions! Yes, you heard that right —we’ll have the opportunity to sample crickets, a delectable crispy and savory snack commonly enjoyed throughout Mexico and Central America. Stay tuned for details on how to enter either competition. 
 
🥾 A tour of the Young-Walser farm, nestled in the beautiful Sogn Valley not far from Cannon Falls, Minn. Enjoy a tromp through the corn and squash fields and hike in the nearby woods. 
 
🌮 A shared meal and opportunity to hear from LSP and COPAL organizers about our participation in the Immigrant Defense Network. 

Let us know you can make it to ensure we order enough food and supplies! Carpools from Minneapolis and Rochester will be available to all attendees. 

________________________________________________

¡Únete a LSP + COPAL para nuestro recorrido anual comunitario en la granja!
Un espacio divertido para tod@s donde exploraremos la agricultura, aprenderemos sobre el campo y participaremos en actividades prácticas. ¡Uno de los momentos más especiales será hacer tortillas frescas junt@s!

Compartiremos un delicioso almuerzo comunitario, preparando tacos en estilo potluck (tipo convivio). Te invitamos a traer un platillo o acompañamiento para compartir.

También estás invitado@ a llegar temprano (desde las 9 AM) para ayudar a cosechar calabazas que sembramos. Puedes llevarte algunas a casa, y el resto se donará a un banco de alimentos local.

El Land Stewardship Project (LSP) es una organización aliada de COPAL que trabaja por sistemas alimentarios y agrícolas más sostenibles y justos. LSP y COPAL están unidas en su lucha por instituciones democráticas sólidas, comunidades saludables y acogedoras, y una ética de cuidado hacia la tierra y las personas que nos alimentan.

Tuesday October 14

11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Birds as Pest Control Allies on the Farm
Tuesday October 14
11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Birds as Pest Control Allies on the Farm
Online

This 10-lesson Wild Farm Alliance virtual course teaches agricultural professionals and farmers how to support beneficial birds and manage pest birds on farms. By learning how to assess the farm’s avian needs and opportunities, farms can be designed to provide for a diversity of beneficial birds. 

If pest birds are a problem, they can be discouraged with specific practices during the shorter periods when they cause damage. The sessions cover the latest research, tools and resources, and are given by experts in avian pest control, entomology, ornithology and conservation. While many topics and species are specific to the Midwest, most of the principles discussed are applicable across regions. 

Continuing Education Credits have been requested and are expected to be approved from American Society of Agronomy.

For details and to register, click here. 

The Course Schedule:

LESSON 1

Why Birds Belong on the Farm: Biodiversity, Pest Control & A Thriving Landscape

Tuesday, September 23, 2 p.m. CT


LESSON 2

Birds as Pest Control Allies on the Farm

Tuesday, October 14, 11 a.m. CT


LESSON 3

Birds in the Balance: Pest Control Services Across Crop Types

Tuesday, November 4, 11 a.m. CT


LESSON 4

Integrating Habitat into Croplands: Prairie Strips and Bird Conservation

Tuesday, December 2, 11 a.m. CT


LESSON 5

Birds on the Farm: Balancing Biodiversity and Food Safety

Tuesday, January 13, 11 a.m. CT


LESSON 6

Beyond the Crop: Birds, Biodiversity, and the Power of Edge Habitat

Tuesday, February 3, 11 a.m. CT


LESSON 7

Bridging Forestry, Farming, and Habitat

Tuesday, February 24, 11 a.m. CT


LESSON 8

Perennial Pathways: Agroforestry for Birds and Biodiversity on Farms

Tuesday, March 17, 11 a.m. CT


LESSON 9

Birds on the Range: How Grazing Practices Shape Habitat for Grassland Species

Tuesday, April 7, 11 a.m. CT


LESSON 10

Birds at Risk: How Pesticides Shape Safety on Agricultural Lands

Tuesday, April 28, 11 a.m. CT

View Full Calendar

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