Jim Degiovanni has been a lawyer for more than 20 years. Spending most of his days in an office, Degiovanni saw myriad cases come across his desk – from local-government law to real-estate and banking transactions. But for someone who loves hunting deer and taking canoe trips in the Boundary Waters, something was missing.

“I really enjoy the outdoors, you know, experiencing the seasons change and working with my hands, taking care of animals,” Degiovanni said. “When I got tired of private practice, I started working for a single client. I suddenly had more time to start growing things.”

Since 2002, Degiovanni and his wife, Mary, have been devoting more of their time to growing berries, squash, peppers and tomatoes and raising sheep and hens at their new enterprise, The Dancing Bears Company. The 15-acre farm in St. Joseph, Minn., is named for an art project their daughter made on a canoe trip. In 2007, the couple’s produce achieved organic certification, and the farm has been thriving ever since.

“We’ve gradually been getting bigger. We have more animals than ever before,” Jim Degiovanni said. “Business has been good, good, good!”

One of county’s 58 organic farms Degiovanni’s is one of 58 organic farms in Stearns County, home to the largest concentration of organic farms in the state. Minnesota has 653 certified organic farms recognized by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA). The state ranks fourth in the country in certified organic cropland, with 154,136 acres as of 2008, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.