"A Little Bit of Everything" A Crazy Plan Fulfilled at Squash Blossom Farm with Susan Waughtal and Roger Nelson
Collider is passionate about sharing the stories of local entrepreneurs and small business owners! We were recently delighted to visit the beautiful Squash Blossom Farm and hear the story of the couple that brought the historic farmstead to life, Susan Waughtal and Roger Nelson.
Photo by Corrie Strommen
Susan Waughtal and Roger Nelson, an artist who worked in the non-profit world and a longtime architect, could not have foreseen all that would come in years ahead when they purchased their 10-acre, 100-year-old farmstead in 2008. The first thing they did for the farm, which lies just two miles between Rochester and Oronoco near Douglas, was give it a name, “Squash Blossom Farm.”
Following a life-long yearning to have a little farm, Susan and Roger only had plans to maintain the property as hobby farmers, keeping a few chickens and planting a small garden. But when their college-age children returned home with big ideas for reviving the farmstead-they all jumped in head first with a large garden, a dozen laying hens, four hundred meat chickens, fifteen turkeys, two steers, two pigs, and a milk cow.
Photo by Corrie Strommen
With no farming background in the family, there was much to be learned when it came to cultivating the land and caring for the livestock on the farm.
“Thankfully the times are great for learning now. For example, we bought a milk cow and had to learn how to milk her. So we watched Youtube videos to figure out how.”
Susan continued, “Our farming neighbors were also very helpful as we were getting started. I’m sure they thought we were crazy, thinking that we could be farmers, but they were very generous with their knowledge.”
Along with maintaining a large garden for CSAs (a subscription-like food service to receive fresh produce and support local farms) and raising animals, they took on a great deal of baking and sold their goods at the Rochester Farmers Market.
Susan looked at Roger with a laugh during our interview, “Way back in college days he would write me letters from France, where he was studying. They were kind-of love letters, but really they were just all about French bread- now he’s an artisan bread baker.”
Photo by Corrie Strommen
Roger chimed in, “The work that we do here is very satisfying. I compare it to the work I did as an architect. You start out with a sketch on a napkin, then there’s a long process of fleshing out a design and eventually it turns into something that will be built. But that could be anywhere from two, to five, to ten years from the time you started with that little sketch to the end result. And someone else is doing the actual work of building the structure. Here things are so much more immediate. I can mix the dough, put it into the oven, and it comes out as bread. There’s this sort of immediate and personal interaction with physical, tangible work. That’s what I love about it.”
Years later, Susan and Roger have now expanded to have an onsite commercial kitchen, host pizza on the farm evenings, live music, and weddings, make their own chocolate, and have most recently opened a mead tasting room on the property. With that growth, they’ve made other changes through the years such as cutting down on the number of animals on the farm to create more space for parking and discontinuing their CSA and just use their produce for breads, pastries, pizza, and other food items on the farm.
Photo by Corrie Strommen
“I feel that one of the best things we’ve done over the years is trying out a lot of different things but on a very small scale. We didn’t put all of our eggs into one basket (literally!) and we spent several years trying things and seeing what we were good at and what worked for us financially. We let the farm evolve naturally with us. Our goal with Squash Blossom has never been to get rich. It’s a life experience for us. We want to experiment with a lot of different things and hopefully the farm sustains itself.” Susan said.
Early on when getting Squash Blossom operating, Susan and Roger took the Farm Beginnings class with the Land Stewardship Project, which is a year-long course for first time farmers.
“We were the odd older couple among a group of mostly young people trying to figure out buying their land and whatnot. There we were with our land and no idea what to do with it. One of the projects of the course was to build a business plan for your farm and launch your vision for it. Ours included so many crazy things like a pizza farm, CSA, a commercial kitchen, events and festivals. Here we are, years later we are doing absolutely everything that was on that crazy plan.” Susan said.
Photo by Corrie Strommen
Roger continued, “In a way it’s much like farms would have operated in the past, when things were on a much smaller scale and farmers did a little bit of everything, they were fairly diverse. Having a diverse amount of relatively small operations means that you aren’t overly reliant on any one thing along the way. As the years pass, if you have some variety and diversity among your farm or business, you’re more resilient to deal with changes in climate, or economy, or a pandemic. I like to think of our business enterprises the same way as I think about the ecosystem of our farm.”
Throughout the pandemic, they were able to adapt as the Farmers Market sales moved online. They started selling soups, frozen pizzas, and pot pies through the Rochester Farmers Market online platform. “We still had good sales despite not being able to sell all the things we used to at markets or have pizza nights on the farm.” They used the time and isolation the pandemic gave them to perfect their bean-to-bar chocolate-making operation, pursue a farm winery license, expand the certified kitchen expansion for making mead and chocolate, and transform the south wing of the barn into a mead-tasting room, which just opened last weekend!
Photo by Corrie Strommen
They’re very grateful for the people who have always loved and supported their work at Squash Blossom.
“I don’t think our initial vision for the farm involved so much engagement with the community. But we feel that this is such a special place and it would be selfish to not share it with the community. We have a really great base of customers who always make a point to find us at the Farmers Market or come here for pizza. Sometimes they ask if they can come out and weed the garden or offer to help us with projects. They’re just wonderful.”
The two of them glean much joy from their lives at Squash Blossom, whether it be through feeding the animals, accomplishing a big project, watching the birds, or the changing of the seasons.
“We take on a lot, so any stress we have here is our own darn fault.” Susan said with a laugh. “But at the end of the day, when you collapse into bed completely exhausted knowing what you’ve accomplished, it’s pretty amazing.”
“We feel so, so lucky to have been able to pursue this dream,” Susan said. “Sometimes you have to be patient and find your way to make your idea a reality. You need to be resourceful. But it seems to me that if you put an intention out into the universe, things will come together somehow.”
Thank you for taking the time to read Susan and Roger’s story! If you find value in this content, please consider donating to help Collider continue amplifying the voices of Rochester entrepreneurs. You can also learn more about Squash Blossom Farm by clicking the link below!
A special thank you to our storytelling sponsor, Fredrikson & Byron, for their support! Their Midwest-based law firm is known as the firm “where law and business meet.” Their attorneys provide practical legal advice and advocacy that help people achieve their business goals. Just as Collider amplifies the voices or Rochester’s business community, Fredrikson & Byron helps new and growing businesses with a full range of services, combining a common-sense approach with decades of experience. to get things done for clients.
Article by Corrie Strommen, Director of Community at Collider.
