It is a warm and windy June afternoon when I give Stateline Farm Beginnings graduate Vanessa Quiñones a call to learn her farm story. Vanessa started The Victory Garden Farm in Fredonia, WI after graduating from the Stateline Farm Beginnings program in the fall of 2015. She also balances an off-farm job as a massage therapist with farming the land she shares with her partner, Andrew.

Originally from the Bronx, New York, Vanessa’s first experience with farming came when she moved into a Wisconsin farmhouse at five years old, where she and her stepparents raised rabbits, cats, and dogs, and grew a huge garden. After living in New York, Vanessa fell in love with the openness of their small farm and her passion for farming grew from there.