Garden of giving back
Haws, Stark offer outdoor plots at Bannockburn Farm
By Ben Sonnek
STAFF WRITER
COLD SPRING — Not everyone has the space for a garden, but to counter that issue, Kelly Haws and Dan Stark have been providing their own space on Bannockburn Farm near Cold Spring. Having been supported by the community for decades through their involvement with farmers markets, Haws and Stark are returning the gesture by ordering seeds and letting people rent field parcels to grow their own food.
“We have really happy families,” Haws said. “They just appreciate the opportunity to come out as a family on a regular basis and work together.
Many of them are returning summer after summer and saving their spot, getting rid of the devices and spending hours working together.”
Under Bannockburn Farm’s model, customers can register for a garden plot as well as certified organic plants and seeds, all provided by Haws and Stark. The fee also includes orchard apples, farm-fresh eggs, free admission to one of the farm’s fall festivals and $100 in tokens, which can be used to buy items from the farm’s market stand.
The farm offers certification of hours for students doing volunteer or independent study work, not to mention space for county fair project produce.
After planting in late April or early May, people maintain their plots through October.
Bannockburn Farm also has a farm working share program. For a fee, people can receive farm tokens and a dozen eggs; then, during the farm’s open hours from June 10 through Aug. 15, they can come and choose garden chores from a farm log, even if they are not renting a parcel.
“Just this morning, somebody came and told me it was therapeutic to come out here and weed,” Stark said. “I was like, great, because that’s not therapy for me; that’s work.”
Prior to 2000, Haws and Stark lived in St. Cloud but eventually wanted to move out to the country. They were told about a farm up for auction near Cold Spring but got lost on the way there; Stark had to get back to a tee time, so when they found the farm, they only had 15 minutes to look at it before the auction. The farm had once been a dairy and needed a house built on it.
“The bidding stopped, and we bought the farm,” Haws said. “Since we got the farm and the acreage, we thought we should do something with it.”
The first thing Haws and Stark did was to grow produce for local farmers markets under a Community Supported Agriculture model.
Instead of getting a box of produce for a fee, though, people would pay into a Bannockburn Farm account and would be able to pick up what they wanted at the market as well as order ahead if they wanted.
Along with their produce, Bannockburn Farm raised chickens for eggs and sheep and pigs for meat, although they eventually phased out the pigs.
After about 20 years of CSA, Haws and Stark retired from the farmers market — and the coronavirus pandemic arrived the following season. The main reason they retired, though, was because their sons had grown up and were not readily available to assist with the commute.
Now, the booth that Haws and Stark would take back and forth to the farmers market is used as the Bannockburn Farm market stand, and it sees many of the same customers as it did back in the day.
“We’ve always had a lot of people at the market stand because they were there as members (at the farmers market),” Stark said.
Additionally, instead of Haws and Stark having to project what the market will be when buying their seeds, Bannockburn Farm’s customers request the seeds they want for their gardens.
The farm’s cash flow is also not dependent on the July-through-September farmers market window.
“We picked up a lot of people for whom traditional CSA wasn’t a good match,” Haws said. “It’s a really good match for parents who don’t have their own garden but want to spend time with their children. … They don’t have to buy seeds or plants; they just get to pick out what they want.”
People can request their own unique garden types at Bannockburn Farm. Some of the current varieties include the circular pizza garden, with pizza ingredients being grown in their slice-shaped sections, and the three sisters garden, with the complimentary corn, squash and beans being grown together.
The plants get some pollination assistance from beehives kept onsite by patron Brian Zahasky. Their honey is sold in both regular and hot varieties at the market stand.
“(Zahasky) asked if he could have bees here,” Haws said. “It’s a win-win, and he said last year was the best harvest he’d ever had.”
Along with the farm, Stark works part-time at Clear Waters Outfitting in Clearwater and, during the winter, does ski patrol at Powder Ridge in Kimball. Haws supervises student teachers at St. Cloud State University, works part time at Stride Academy Charter School in St. Cloud and runs Learn to Succeed, a dyslexia tutoring and testing business.
“We have enough to keep us busy, but we don’t want to let this (farm) go because we feel we really have something to offer here,” Haws said.
Haws and Stark are working on a year-round, on-your-honor country store on Bannockburn Farm.
They are converting the building they previously used to prepare for the farmers market and it already has freezers and display space. They used to roast coffee and bake muffins for their farmers market stand, so that is something they are considering bringing back with the store.
Looking further into the future, Haws and Stark are interested in hosting dinner events on the farm, bringing in local chefs and using the farm’s ingredients — possibly including pork, as they are thinking of bringing back pigs to their livestock.
“The kids really enjoy feeding the pigs because the pigs eat like pigs, which is fun,” Stark said. “They make lots of noise and are very happy to eat.”
For Haws and Stark, the best part of Bannockburn Farm is the way it reconnects people to the earth and natural foods through the literally hands-on experience.
“The parents say the kids have tried things from their own garden that they never would have eaten because they grew it themselves and are excited about it,” Haws said. “The families are here because they want to be here and because of the opportunity.”
By Ben Sonnek
STAFF WRITER
COLD SPRING — Not everyone has the space for a garden, but to counter that issue, Kelly Haws and Dan Stark have been providing their own space on Bannockburn Farm near Cold Spring. Having been supported by the community for decades through their involvement with farmers markets, Haws and Stark are returning the gesture by ordering seeds and letting people rent field parcels to grow their own food.
“We have really happy families,” Haws said. “They just appreciate the opportunity to come out as a family on a regular basis and work together.
Many of them are returning summer after summer and saving their spot, getting rid of the devices and spending hours working together.”
Under Bannockburn Farm’s model, customers can register for a garden plot as well as certified organic plants and seeds, all provided by Haws and Stark. The fee also includes orchard apples, farm-fresh eggs, free admission to one of the farm’s fall festivals and $100 in tokens, which can be used to buy items from the farm’s market stand.
The farm offers certification of hours for students doing volunteer or independent study work, not to mention space for county fair project produce.
After planting in late April or early May, people maintain their plots through October.
Bannockburn Farm also has a farm working share program. For a fee, people can receive farm tokens and a dozen eggs; then, during the farm’s open hours from June 10 through Aug. 15, they can come and choose garden chores from a farm log, even if they are not renting a parcel.
“Just this morning, somebody came and told me it was therapeutic to come out here and weed,” Stark said. “I was like, great, because that’s not therapy for me; that’s work.”
Prior to 2000, Haws and Stark lived in St. Cloud but eventually wanted to move out to the country. They were told about a farm up for auction near Cold Spring but got lost on the way there; Stark had to get back to a tee time, so when they found the farm, they only had 15 minutes to look at it before the auction. The farm had once been a dairy and needed a house built on it.
“The bidding stopped, and we bought the farm,” Haws said. “Since we got the farm and the acreage, we thought we should do something with it.”
The first thing Haws and Stark did was to grow produce for local farmers markets under a Community Supported Agriculture model.
Instead of getting a box of produce for a fee, though, people would pay into a Bannockburn Farm account and would be able to pick up what they wanted at the market as well as order ahead if they wanted.
Along with their produce, Bannockburn Farm raised chickens for eggs and sheep and pigs for meat, although they eventually phased out the pigs.
After about 20 years of CSA, Haws and Stark retired from the farmers market — and the coronavirus pandemic arrived the following season. The main reason they retired, though, was because their sons had grown up and were not readily available to assist with the commute.
Now, the booth that Haws and Stark would take back and forth to the farmers market is used as the Bannockburn Farm market stand, and it sees many of the same customers as it did back in the day.
“We’ve always had a lot of people at the market stand because they were there as members (at the farmers market),” Stark said.
Additionally, instead of Haws and Stark having to project what the market will be when buying their seeds, Bannockburn Farm’s customers request the seeds they want for their gardens.
The farm’s cash flow is also not dependent on the July-through-September farmers market window.
“We picked up a lot of people for whom traditional CSA wasn’t a good match,” Haws said. “It’s a really good match for parents who don’t have their own garden but want to spend time with their children. … They don’t have to buy seeds or plants; they just get to pick out what they want.”
People can request their own unique garden types at Bannockburn Farm. Some of the current varieties include the circular pizza garden, with pizza ingredients being grown in their slice-shaped sections, and the three sisters garden, with the complimentary corn, squash and beans being grown together.
The plants get some pollination assistance from beehives kept onsite by patron Brian Zahasky. Their honey is sold in both regular and hot varieties at the market stand.
“(Zahasky) asked if he could have bees here,” Haws said. “It’s a win-win, and he said last year was the best harvest he’d ever had.”
Along with the farm, Stark works part-time at Clear Waters Outfitting in Clearwater and, during the winter, does ski patrol at Powder Ridge in Kimball. Haws supervises student teachers at St. Cloud State University, works part time at Stride Academy Charter School in St. Cloud and runs Learn to Succeed, a dyslexia tutoring and testing business.
“We have enough to keep us busy, but we don’t want to let this (farm) go because we feel we really have something to offer here,” Haws said.
Haws and Stark are working on a year-round, on-your-honor country store on Bannockburn Farm.
They are converting the building they previously used to prepare for the farmers market and it already has freezers and display space. They used to roast coffee and bake muffins for their farmers market stand, so that is something they are considering bringing back with the store.
Looking further into the future, Haws and Stark are interested in hosting dinner events on the farm, bringing in local chefs and using the farm’s ingredients — possibly including pork, as they are thinking of bringing back pigs to their livestock.
“The kids really enjoy feeding the pigs because the pigs eat like pigs, which is fun,” Stark said. “They make lots of noise and are very happy to eat.”
For Haws and Stark, the best part of Bannockburn Farm is the way it reconnects people to the earth and natural foods through the literally hands-on experience.
“The parents say the kids have tried things from their own garden that they never would have eaten because they grew it themselves and are excited about it,” Haws said. “The families are here because they want to be here and because of the opportunity.”
