Bear Butte Gardens


About the Farm Stand at Bear Butte Gardens


Business Hours

The Farm Stand is open year-round from 9 am to 5 pm, Monday through Saturday. We are closed on Sundays and holidays.


Location

We are about five miles east of Sturgis, just south of Bear Butte Lake.


Mission

We aim to provide our local customers with the freshest, most nutritious farm produce near Sturgis, South Dakota.

We realize that not all food consumers will have the time and energy to thoroughly research every food item they purchase and feed to their families, so we try very hard to be helpful in this pursuit. We seek to establish good customer relationships based on trust, respect, and knowledge.

When you shop at Bear Butte Gardens, you can be confident that you are feeding your family quality food, which is our ultimate goal!


Products for Sale

We focus on local products sourced from about 60 farmers, ranchers, gardeners, and crafters near us.



Our Business Model

We do not utilize a “consignment” business model with our supply line. Instead, we use a “cash on delivery” business model. We intend to make it easy and convenient for our supply-line producers to do business with us. With this “cash on delivery” business model, we assume all the risk of a product with a short shelf life going bad before it sells (remember: our producers do not use food preservatives as many larger grocery chains might). However, we can mitigate that risk with our commercial kitchen. When an item is at its prime but looks like it might not sell, we can send the item to the kitchen to be preserved in some way (e.g., canning, dehydrating, fermenting, freezing, etc.) or to be used in another product form (e.g., packaged salad to go, soup, baked goods, etc.). If, for some reason, a product does not sell in the farm stand and is not used in the kitchen, then we might send it to the farm to be fed to poultry/livestock. This generally includes items that are a bit over-ripe (but not spoiled) or blemished in some way. The last option is to use the product in our compost operation. No food product is ever wasted.

This business model allows us to be more selective with our producers, again pursuing quality and nutrition. We want to get the best of the best into our farm stand and to our customers.




Quality

We believe three primary factors greatly influence the quality of farm produce...

1) Fresh

When farm produce is harvested at its peak ripeness (or just prior) and delivered to our Farm Stand very quickly, it is better... MUCH better! The nutrition and flavor are higher, and the physical condition/appearance are better.

2) Local

Mostly, farm produce cannot be fresh unless it is local. Transportation time is a big problem for farm produce. When farm produce is shipped long distances (from several states away), it is either no longer fresh, harvested way before it was ripe (thus hurting nutrition and flavor), or chemical preservatives have been applied—or maybe all three!

Transporting farm produce long distances usually involves boxes, trucks, and sometimes planes and trains. This takes days or even weeks! With the goal of efficiency, how farm produce fits into a box has become very important. Over recent decades, the size, shape, and durability (texture) have become essential characteristics of farm produce being transported long distances -- at the expense of nutrition and flavor. For example, packing the same number of tomatoes nicely into a box requires each tomato to be the same size and have tough skin.

By contrast, when we work with local producers, they often harvest their products and deliver them to our Farm Stand the same day - and with tender, loving care.

3) Organic, or at least as close to organic as possible

In 1990, the US government passed the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA), which established uniform national standards for foods labeled as “organic." Labeling a product as “organic" is illegal if it is not certified organic by the USDA. We certainly believe in and follow USDA organic regulations for the organic products grown on our farm at Bear Butte Gardens. There are only a few USDA organic-certified producers in western South Dakota. We recognize that USDA organic certification is not a good fit for all local producers. We know many excellent producers who are "nearly organic" but not "organic certified."

Products are not required to be USDA organic certified to supply the Farm Stand at Bear Butte Gardens. However, we do prefer organic products. We also gently encourage the producers we work with to implement agricultural methods that meet USDA organic regulations.

When we eat low-quality food, our bodies are left craving nutrition. This craving usually leads to eating more food (more quantity of low-quality food). This often leads to a multitude of human health issues -- including weight gain.

When we eat high-quality food, our bodies are more satisfied with the nutrition consumed. This decreases cravings and leads to eating less food. When we eat less food, it is generally easier for us to manage our weight -- not to mention the multitude of other human health issues that are improved by a highly nutritious diet.

It is interesting how some people find it difficult to justify the additional cost of high-quality food. They think they are being frugal and saving money when they buy cheap, low-quality food (and then eat more of it).

The benefits of consuming high-quality food are many. First, you will need to purchase a smaller quantity of food. Second, it may help you lose weight. Third, you will probably improve your lifestyle (more energy, sleep better, get sick less often, etc.). And fourth, you will probably be healthier in the long run (diseases, major illnesses, etc.).

Changing your lifestyle away from eating low-quality food to eating high-quality food can be difficult and take time. Your body will need to adjust, your shopping habits will need to adjust, and your lifestyle will need to adjust. You will need to learn how to prepare/cook your food from raw ingredients - or at least someone in your household will.

This is the reason that Bear Butte Gardens exists.