Growing people, not crops, is the goal of a Moorhead farm

The Farm in the Dell of the Red River Valley is a few minutes from Moorhead, a 25 acre plot nestled between a housing development and soybean fields.

An eight acre garden produces vegetables and flowers to sell through a Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA, subscription.

But the produce grown here is really a byproduct of the primary goal: changing lives.

“Our mission is to transform disabilities into abilities,” said Executive Director Anna Sather. “We do that by providing meaningful work and life experiences in a community farm setting for individuals with developmental disabilities.”

There are 30 workers, who the organizers call garden engineers. They are paid more than minimum wage to care for the garden three hours a day. They are assisted by about about three dozen paid staff members and hundreds of volunteers who spend time at the farm through the growing season.

The workers learn a variety of skills amidst the rows of tomatoes, beets and green beans.

“Like how to identify a weed versus a plant, how to use tools, how to work with their hands,” explained Sather. “Also all the soft skills, like hearing a task and then going and implementing that task, talking to a supervisor, how to keep a positive attitude when things get tough.”

Sather oversees the operation with a contagious enthusiasm that engages workers and volunteers.

This nonprofit started in 2012 based on a model that originated in Montana. The farm has seen strong growth in recent years and this year has a record number of garden engineers and there's a waiting list.

Each work day begins with a huddle inside a metal covered pole barn. Everyone stands in a circle, someone says a prayer and then workers and volunteers get their assignments.

“We are a faith-based organization,” said Sather. “So we teach everyone that we are all children of God, and we were created in his image and no ability or disability can stray from that. And so that is really a huge component of what we do out here.”

Harvest is in full swing as the farm prepares boxes for its CSA subscribers. This year the farm sold 100 CSA shares and for the first time will open a weekly produce market starting in August.

This is the second year Sammy Smith has worked at Farm in the Dell.

“I harvest, weed, pick plants, whatever needs to be done,” she explains. “I like everything.”

Volunteer Carol Krabbenhoft is packing the boxes of just-picked beans into crates for the CSA.

She's here two or three days a week, working with the garden engineers and helping care for a section of the garden. She finds the work very rewarding.

“Being outside, being out in nature and this place just warms my heart. Working with the garden engineers, seeing the joy in their faces whether they’re pulling weeds or picking vegetables,” she said. “Just being supported by an organization like this is fabulous for their well-being.”

While some of the garden engineers have moved on, many work here for years.

The workers have regular evaluations to monitor their growth, and some use the skills learned on the farm to find success in other jobs. Some have learned life skills that allowed them to move from a group home to a more independent living situation.

“That’s the epitome of success for us,” said Farm in the Dell Board President Dave Sigler. “Because it’s life skills. It’s not about what they do here. It’s about what they can learn here and take into life after this.”

“We have a variety of different slogans that we use, but one of my favorites is ‘We don’t grow vegetables, we grow people,’” said Sigler, who has been on the board of the nonprofit since 2017.

As someone with a corporate background, he finds the people-over-profit approach refreshing.

“After you kind of can get to that mindset of not everything’s a financial decision, it’s a people decision, it becomes a lot more fun to be involved,” he said. “Because then all the things that you want to do you can pursue even though they don’t make financial sense.”

This year, Farm in the Dell was named Farm Family of the Year in Clay County and will be recognized at the Farmfest agricultural show next month.

Sather welcomes that recognition as a validation of the Farm in the Dell mission.

“Because we serve the garden engineers and we find ways to lift them up and make sure that they feel respected and loved and celebrated, so for others to acknowledge that is really special to us,” she said.

The farm added an orchard this year and is developing a you-pick strawberry patch that as yet doesn’t produce enough to keep up with demand.

For Sather, the biggest challenge right now is managing the growth the organization is experiencing.

“We get so hung up on what does the produce look like and how are we distributing it, when the real mission is serving the garden engineers, so we want to make sure that they’re always at the forefront of what we do.”

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