When six-year-old Finley Durant witnessed an act of kindness at a local grocery store, an idea popped into her young head.
Shopping with her mom, Kendall Durant, in Wal-Mart, the two were at the checkout lane when a family in front of them started putting aside produce, fruit and items they couldn’t afford. Kendall stepped up and said she would pay for the items.
“No family should have to go without nutritious things like produce and fruit,” she said. “So I paid for it.”
That incident led to a conversation with Finley in providing fresh, home-grown produce that she would make available through a small Durant food stand in front of the Rise and Grind Coffee Shop on U.S. Route 6 in the center of the business district, located about two miles from their home. And Finny’s Farm was born.
It caught on quickly in it’s initial year for the now seven-year-old rural Stockton farm girl who not only tends to her own garden, but prepares fresh baked goods as well – all sold on the honor system.
“Yes, you could leave $5 for a watermelon, but if you can’t afford that, leave what you can,” says Kendall, who is already planning this year’s garden with her daughter, who puts in nearly two hours a day weeding, planting and picking so others can enjoy fresh produce.
This year, the plan is to raise a variety of tomatoes, zucchini and squash, potatoes, green beans, onions, watermelon and cantaloupe. She’ll also be offering mini loaves of fresh baked zucchini bread and four different varieties of cookies including chocolate chip, monster, snicker doodles and peanut butter.
Kendall says although Finley is learning valuable business aspects, “it’s not about the money,” noting the most important part of the small business is to get fresh fruit and produce into the hands of people who need it, can’t afford it or can’t find it any place else in town.
The stand is expected to be open the first week in April and should run through late September or early October, hoping to be able to provide pumpkins and squash as well this year.
She said creating the stand, which her husband built, was really one of the only options as they were looking for a location and asked for suggestions via social media.
Rise and Grind owners Halle Hansell and sister Hattie Gillaspie stepped up to offer space on their corner, taking produce in exchange for rent. “Halle and her sister Hattie have been wonderful landlords,” Kendall said, noting they even donated seeds for the garden from their grandmother.
Kendall said participating in the Durant Farmer’s Market wasn’t an option because Finley has dance lessons most Wednesdays and said the opportunity to open a stand was even more promising after the Paulsen family ended their streak of produce markets in the community.
There are mornings and days Finley, who is home schooled via Durant, gets upset with “work” but Kendall says “she overcomes it quickly especially when she goes to fill her stand and talks with community members who thank her and tell her how much they appreciate her hard work.”
Another motivation is the fact mom lets Finley keep one-fourth of the income from the stand for herself while the remainder goes into a savings account for her future. This year, she even has an additional incentive – saving enough for a trip to Disney for her eighth birthday.
But that money is only hers after covering expenses, which includes baking pans, ingredients, seeds and other supplies used both in gardening and baking.
Kendall said she’s learned a lot about business, getting entrepreneurial tips from her dad, who has his own pole building business, J.P. Builders. She learned a lot of her gardening skills through Kendall’s stepmother, Krissy Veach of Wapello.
Finley says she eventually wants to be an engineer and hopes to “have a homestead with a garden, fruit trees and lots and lots of animals, especially goats.”
The Durants say they’re grateful to Finley’s grandparents, Larry and Janet Schlapkohl, for letting them plant the 20 x 30-foot garden on the property where they’ve lived since Finley was a baby. She said the young family never could eat everything grown in the garden, which is one of the reasons Finley came up with the solution – to donate the produce to those who do need it. “She just wanted to help others,” Kendall said.
Grandma Janet has also taught Finley how to bake, instrumental in helping create loaves of breads and cookies for the stand. Finley says she loves making mini loaves of zucchini bread and baking cookies and admits her favorite is the zucchini bread.
The rural homestead also has a couple of apple trees, which are not only sold at the stand, but also used in baking, mostly picked by Finley.
The stand is filled about three times a day during the prime season and mom said the only setback came when a group of local kids decided they’d ransack the stand as a joke last summer. It didn’t take long before the community rallied, capturing the culprits and even refilling the stand with some of their own produce. Kendall says the “naughty boys” made things right with Finley and donations of produce and even a $100 donation from a local man aided the setback.
Kendall said there are other gardeners in the community that now contribute to the stand with their excess produce. “We’ve had a lot of people help Finley along the way,” the mom said.
Kendall said the family of three came up with the name Finny’s Farm because that’s Finley’s nickname, but also thought their farm, which also raises goats, ducks, turkeys, chickens and pigs, is a “funny farm.”
Finley says her friends “think it’s cool” what she’s accomplished and Kendall says Finley plans to keep the stand alive until she gets tired of it, but noted, “I don’t see her stopping anytime soon.”