Cliff Buchan
News Editor

Long days and long nights add up to lots of work for the Daninger kids of Forest Lake. But the reward will come when the four will spend most of this week at the Washington County Fair near Lake Elmo.

For a farm family, work is no stranger. And it is that way for the kids of Pat and Charlene Daninger who own Autumnwood Farm, 19435 Granada Ave. N.

And there is no complaining, either, from Luke, 17, Erin, 15, Nathan, 13, and Mariah, 11, who pull their weight on the family dairy farm, and have also been busy readying 4-H projects for the annual county fair, Aug. 1-5.

For the kids, the county fair is an opportunity to break from the summer regimen of farm work and youth activities that see them on the go from dawn until dusk and sometimes later.

“It’s a highlight of the year,” said Erin who will be a junior at Forest Lake High School this fall.

For Luke, a senior to be this fall, the county fair is like a vacation from the farm labors and a chance to renew friendships with other 4-H members from all regions of the county.

“It’s an important part of the summer to be sure,” Charlene Daninger said last week as three of the four Daninger kids explained their plans for the fair.

Family tradition

Spending time on 4-H projects while doing all the work that needs to be done on a farm is nothing new for Pat and Charlene.

Pat Daninger is a lifelong Forest Lake resident who grew up on the Mike and Florence Daninger family farm as one of six kids who learned the farm work ethic early on.

Charlene Fingerson grew up on a family dairy farm near Fountain and experienced the same kind of upbringing as her husband. They had met participating in state FFA activities while in high school, began dating when both attended the University of Minnesota School of Agriculture and came home to the Forest Lake farm after marrying.

Both know the 4-H routine and have welcomed it in the lives of their children.

For Luke and Erin, finding time for 4-H is worked into time spent on the farm and their commitment to high school athletics.

Both have been in football and volleyball camps, respectively, and there is the morning weight training sessions. In the spring, the two compete in track and field.

And all four kids have their jobs on the farm that range from milking 60 cows twice a day to feeding the livestock and cleaning the barns.

“They don’t have time to get into trouble,” Pat Daninger says with a wry grin. “There is always work to be done here.”

As parents, Pat and Charlene understand the demands and value of school activities and find ways to fit them in to the needs of the farm. Both experienced much of the same in their high school days.

“Then they come home and throw hay bales,” Daninger said, pointing to the needs of the farm duties that carrying on when school functions end.

And plenty of needs there are. Milking 60 cows twice a day and barn cleaning is time consuming. In all there are 130-head of cattle that need feeding and watering.

The kids also play roles in the three to four cuttings of the 80-acres of alfalfa that the farm has in production. “She’s good at raking hay,” Charlene says of Erin who is skilled behind the wheel of a tractor. Another 35 acres of corn is under cultivation.

By the time the final alfalfa crop is cut, raked and baled, more than 6000 small square 40-to-50-pound bales have been produced. “That’s enough to build character,” Daninger adds of the effort that goes into bringing in the crop.

Autumnwood Farm uses all of its farm-grown crops to make feed for the dairy herd and young stock.

The older siblings trade off on barn duties, although Luke, who is 6-foot-4 and weighs 210 pounds, uses his muscles for much of the heavy-lifting duties. Those chores, coupled with throwing hay bales, are part of his football training program, said his father, who also played football at Forest Lake.

The foursome has progressed to the point where they can keep the farm running on their own, if necessary.

“We could run the farm if dad had to leave, but we prefer that he doesn’t,” Luke says with some of the dry humor that he may have gotten from his father. “It’s easier when he’s here.”

Almost ready

With less than a week remaining until the start of the county fair, the Daningers were still putting the finishing touches on some of their projects.

During a visit last week, Erin and Ashley were planning flower exhibits and taking stock of their arts and crafts, clothing and photography projects.

The Daningers will also handle county fair jobs that are assigned to their club, the Town of May 4-H Club.

Livestock will play a prominent role in the 4-H and open class dairy competition for the Daningers.

The four kids will take a dozen head of Holstein cows, heifers and calves to the fair this week. Many hours were spent this weekend cleaning and clipping animals for the various classes all four will enter in the dairy contests.

Although final details remain for the arts and crafts projects, much work has gone into the animals projects this spring.

“In May we start looking at the animals,” Erin says. “In June we see what has matured.”

Once animals have been selected, the animal is trained on a halter lead. In many cases, the training will come at the end of the day when the other farm work is done and during the cooler hours of the evening when the cattle are more apt to respond positively to the training.

So the routine goes on a family farm.

The farm and 4-H lessons have gone far with Luke and Erin. The two kids are yet to finish high school but are making plans for college that include agriculture.

Luke is hoping his grades and ability on the football field will land scholarship help. He plans to study agriculture in college and would like to continue his football playing days at a higher level.

Although Erin has two years of high school to go, she is thinking seriously about the University of Minnesota to study agriculture education or agri-business.

The work on the farm has not hampered the Daninger kids from enjoying school and taking part in many youth activities. Throw in the fact that all four are straight A students and it is easy to see that something is being done right.

During the summer, the family has a rule that there is no TV watching before 6 p.m. each night. It’s a rule that is not needed for the most part as the kids say they have little interest in what is on the tube. It’s the same with video games.

If the TV is on, it is on only to catch a weather report.

“I need to know if it is going to rain,” Pat Daninger says. “I may have to bale hay tomorrow!”

Top of Page