Ben and Linda Lind admit their Alpine Nursery isn't the biggest in the region, or even in Houston County, but that's exactly how they want it. The Linds, who've owned and managed the quaint nursery near Houston for 26 years, are professionals of their trade and heirs to a business started by Ben's parents in 1950.
Their commitment to horticulture in the area, while adapting to the changing landscape of their business, earned them the title of 2011 University of Minnesota Farm Family of the year for Houston County. They'll be officially recognized on Aug. 4 during a ceremony at Farmfest in Redwood Falls.
The plot the Linds live on - complete with a farmhouse built in the mid 1800s - wasn't always home to a nursery, however. Ben parents, Alvie and Judith, moved to the farm in 1955 and established a small dairy and crop operation. But as they neared retirement, they decided they needed to diversify their farm, and because Judith had an interest in horticulture, she began raising annual and perennial plants.
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After a few years of taking the plants to markets in La Crosse, the family decided it'd be easier to set up at the farm along Minnesota Highway 76 and have people come to them. As the operation grew, Ben, Linda and two daughters would come down from their home in Chaska to help out on weekends.
At that time, Ben, who received his master's degree in horticulture from the University of Minnesota, taught agriculture and horticulture for 20 years at Chaska High School, the first teacher of his kind in the state. Linda earned a business degree from the same school, where the two met, but later completed work to become a certified master gardener.
The couple enjoyed working with horticulture, so when the opportunity to purchase his parents' farm presented itself in 1985, they took it. In 1989, the family moved to the farm to run the growing nursery full-time. Until then, they hadn't considered leaving life in the Cities and moving south.
"We enjoyed being in the city and enjoyed all the advantage of being in the city," Linda said. "But as our children got to be older, and as we matured, we found that we were spending our whole lives just getting ready for the weekend. ... We wanted to do something we really enjoyed."
Upon arrival at the nursery, there was only one greenhouse, Linda said, so the couple decided that expansion was needed.
"We pretty much put everything in," Linda said. "There were no tree nurseries."
"There were a lot of perennials," Ben added. "They had a lot of day lilies."
Because the season was so short, Ben's parents never ventured into trees or shrubbery. But the couple decided to expand to not only offer a larger variety of herbs, annuals and perennials, which includes over 150 varieties of hostas, but trees, as well. Their selection now includes an assortment of shade trees, ornamental trees and a number of fruit trees, including apple, pear, plum, cherry and apricot. They also sell Christmas trees and arrangements during that season.
Alpine now has six greenhouses, where annuals are housed, while perennials are lined up outside, all in alphabetical order. And to celebrate the nursery's 60th year of business, Ben and Linda hired a local carpenter to build a small porch-like facades on the front of each of the greenhouses. They provide a place to display plants and merchandise, as well as give customers a place to rest.
"Each one represents a building we saw and kind of admired in Scandinavia," Linda said. "Some have little pretend windows on them, and they have the curves and things you'd find in Scandinavian buildings."
The nursery also boasts a gift shop, which keeps the Linds busy as the planting and growing season winds down. The re-built log cabin features a variety of Scandinavian gifts, as well as jewelry and garden-related knickknacks. The Linds put the emphasis on goods from the Nordic countries because it represents their heritage.
"Between Linda and I, we have Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish," Ben said. "(Linda's) grandparents are from Finland and mine came from Norway and Sweden."
The Linds have traveled several times to Scandinavia to visit the land of their ancestors, and with them, they usually bring back a couple pieces of those cultures which they sell at the nursery, namely Norwegian kicksleds and Finnish kickcycles. The kicksleds have been around for over 100 years and are ridden on hard-packed snow or ice. Runners can be purchased for use in deeper snow. A kickcycle is a more modern contraption that resembles a scooter with four wheels.
"That keeps us in touch with those roots, also, because we have to go over there and purchase those and import them," Linda said.
"It's a great way to get around and go out in the winter time," Ben added.
Most of the nursery's business comes through word-of-mouth, yet it still attracts customers as far away as the Twin Cities and Chicago. People will drive hours to visit because, the Linds say, the variety of flora is rarely found elsewhere. Their niche is in the unique.
"We have to have a reason that people would want to drive out here in the country, rather than picking them up when they're at Walmart." Linda said. "We go for the unusual things, things that many people don't bother to handle."
The Linds, who now-grown daughters still help out at the nursery, prefer the slow growth of their business, building it gradually as more and more people hear about what they have to offer.
"When they come here, they're excited and they don't have an expectation there's something different," Linda said. "They say, ‘we had no idea you had this much.' That's the way we wanted it to be."
And because of the knowledge and background the pair has, customers know they'll get the answers they need.
"They know that if they come, they have over 50 years of experience behind them," Ben said, "whether it's a plant, or a tree problem or a flower problem."
The Linds agree that being named the county's farm family of the year is a great honor. Growing up on farms, they were aware of the program, but said they never thought they'd be considered as recipients.
"We were astounded when (extension educator) Jerry Tesmer called and said we had been chosen," Linda said. "We were just very humbled."
Ben pointed out it was special to receive the honor because they tend to a horticultural farm.
"It's quite a special thing when ... you're growing these different crops, and all of a sudden, they recognize that horticulture and its crops are all part of agriculture," Ben said. "To be able to represent Houston in the farm family program is amazing."