natural selections
The New
American Farmer
With the help of the Slow Money
movement, a new generation
is choosing to give up existing
careers to work the land and feed
their communities. But there are
significant obstacles to creating a
life—and a business—on the farm.
PHOTO: WILLAPA HILLS
Stephen Hueffed and Amy Turnbull, owners of Willapa
Hills Cheese, with their children William, Lucas and Lily.
BY ROBYN PFORR RYAN
S
oon after their first child was born, Amy
Turnbull, a naturopathic physician, and her
husband, Stephen J. Hueffed, a manager in the
Catholic Archdiocese in Seattle, pursued their shared
dream of becoming farmers. The couple bought a 146acre farmstead in Willapa Hills on the banks of the
Chehalis River in southwest Washington. Three months
later their foundation flock of 60 dairy ewes arrived from
Wisconsin. It took two years to establish their Grade A
dairy and then another year to produce their first cheese
in their newly licensed creamery, on July 4, 2008.
Breaking Into Farming
PHOTO: ROBYN PFORR RYAN
Michael Libsch, owner of New Leaf Farm, Hillsdale, NY
"It's a long haul. It's been a lot harder than we realized. By that I
mean financially. And we're working 24/7," says Turnbull in an
interview from Chicago, where the couple was attending the first
Whole Foods Market Local Producer Loan Conference. Hueffed
commuted for five years into Seattle—a 110-mile drive—to finance
the unexpected length of time it took for them to get the creamery
built and licensed.
"I joke that in the first year we learned to keep the sheep alive,
SEPTEMBER 2013
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