Fresh Pickings with Jan Sanderson of Sanderson Gardens

He had a self-checkout long before Walmart and Target and he still updates his telephone hotline with garden patch conditions and produce availability. Just call 605-693-4871.

Meet Sanderson Gardens owner Jan Sanderson, the Rhubarb King and developer of the Sanderson Red rhubarb variety.

A visit to Sanderson Gardens on the I-29 corridor just four miles east of Brookings, South Dakota, can mean a quick stop for a pail of strawberries, or hours long in the pumpkin patch letting the kids find the perfect jack-o-lantern and play on the playgrounds, taking fall family photos and enjoying a picnic in the cool fall air.

For nearly five decades, generations of families have come to Sanderson Gardens for asparagus, strawberries, rhubarb, raspberries, aronia berries, pumpkins and more. It's a mostly U-pick commercial garden, but they try to make some pre-picked produce available in the mornings.

We talk about how technology has changed the way he gets the word out about what's available and how you can best pick/harvest strawberries, rhubarb, asparagus, raspberries, pumpkins, and aronia berries.

Sanderson Gardens supplies fruit to a handful of local wineries and rhubarb roots and horseradish to most seed catalog companies in the country, like Gurney's Seed and Nursery.

You'll learn what Jan's dad and an experimental rhubarb patch being plowed up at South Dakota State University had to do with the beginning of Sanderson Gardens. He also shares an interesting story about how he expanded his rhubarb crop in a way that people in a 3-state area had a hand in—in what is now one of the largest rhubarb patches (5-6 acres) in the Midwest.

Jan is a three-time state champion high school wrestler who earned a full-ride scholarship to University of Iowa. He was coached by NCAA national champion, world gold medalist and Olympic gold medalist, Dan Gable. Jan was a team co-captain and a two-time all-American and two-time Big Ten individual champion.

After graduating, he went on to coach wrestling and teach special education in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. So why did Mr. Sanderson trade the wrestling mat and his classroom to run his own South Dakota, mostly U-pick, commercial gardens 47 years ago? You’re about to find out. 

Learn more about Sanderson Gardens on their ⁠website⁠ and follow them on Facebook. I also posted a rhubarb custard pie recipe from Jan and photos on ⁠randomsweets.com⁠.

Jan Sanderson, Owner, Sanderson Gardens, 47657 US Highway 14, Aurora SD, 57002

⁠https://sandersongardens.com⁠

Hotline: [phone]

Facebook: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/SandersonGardens⁠

“The Johnson Family” story that Jan wrote: 

⁠https://www.facebook.com/share/p/VMEpzBU5JcU86rFp/⁠

Facebook Video of the tiny stalk on rhubarb:  

⁠https://www.facebook.com/share/v/Cekkea4DREDTcozP/⁠

Facebook video of Jan picking rhubarb: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/share/v/sQaoCJBiyxrEXhwQ/⁠

Facebook video of Jan’s brother Dell picking asparagus: 

⁠https://www.facebook.com/share/v/Tz9cQMotrAg9v8kC/⁠

#ag #agriculture #garden #gardening #farmer #farmtotable #produce #vegetablegarden #rural #ruralSD #midwest #oursweetmidwestlife #podcast #foodpodcast #southdakota #midwestAg

Staci Mergenthal, Host

⁠RandomSweets.com⁠

#ourSweetMidwestLife