CULTURE + ENTERTAINMENT
“It’s the biggest rhubarb you'll ever see,” he said. “I mean, bigger than Alaska's rhubarb.” Jan started farming in 1977 and was in his 48th year when he gave us the tour. “When I started, it was totally different,” he said. “I tried to grow everything, and I brought produce to farmers’ markets—I had seven Walmarts , all the Hy-Vees , Randalls , Sunshine Foods , and I was delivering all over the place.” About 15 years ago, the entrepreneur was getting worn out, so he stopped what he was doing and re-imagined his business. The commercial garden became a “u-pick” model where patrons come right to the fields to pick the products themselves (pre- picked items are also available). “Now I never leave the farm. Everybody comes here,” said Jan. “When we first started strawberries, it was just old farm wives filling their freezers, and now it's a lot of families and young kids, and so it's changed. Everything's changed.”
“I went to the University of Iowa on a wrestling scholarship, and I thought that was the hardest thing a person could ever do…until I tried to grow strawberries in South Dakota. That's harder than wrestling in Iowa.” JAN SANDERSON
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