The Farm Stand at Bear Butte Gardens is open year round, Monday through Saturday, 9am to 5pm.

The Farm Stand at Bear Butte Gardens has a supply line of about 60 local gardeners, farmers, ranchers, and crafters. The organic certified farm at Bear Butte Gardens is simply one of these local producers.

Not all products at the Farm Stand at Bear Butte Gardens are USDA Organic Certified. In fact, only a small portion of the products at our Farm Stand are USDA Organic Certified. This is due to the fact that only a few producers in the local area are actually USDA Organic Certified. We feel that USDA organic certification is a good fit for our farm at Bear Butte Gardens. However, we realize it may not be a good fit for all producers. We know of many wonderful producers who are "nearly organic" but not actually organic certified.

In 1990 the US government passed the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) which established uniform national standards for foods labeled as "organic". It is illegal to label a product as "organic" if it is not actually certified organic by the USDA.

It is not a requirement to be USDA organic certified in order to supply products to the Farm Stand at Bear Butte Gardens. However, we do have a preference for organic certified products, or producers who lean that way.

We do not utilize a "consignment" business model with our supply line. Instead, we utilize a "cash on delivery" business model. Our intention is to make it easy and convenient for producers to do business with us. With this model, Bear Butte Gardens then owns the products, and also the risk of product spoilage if the product does not sell.

We mitigate the risk of product spoilage by utilizing our commercial kitchen. When a product is at its prime ripeness and we suspect the product might not sell, then we process it in our kitchen to transform it into a different product (value added product). This includes canning, fermenting, dehydrating, or adding the product as an ingredient into a different product (e.g. stew, soup, etc.).

We try to facilitate networking between our supply line producers. We provide information about organic regulations and food safety regulations. We gently encourage our supply line producers to adopt more organic certified methods and follow FSMA regulations. We hold social events for our supply line producers and encourage collaboration.

Initial Contact

If you are a local gardener, farmer, rancher, or crafter who has not worked with the Farm Stand at Bear Butte Gardens as a supply line producer, then please contact Michelle at 605-490-2919 or BearButteGardensLLC@gmail.com.

Please be prepared to describe and discuss your operation and your products at a high summary level. Are you USDA organic certified? If not, are you familiar with USDA organic certified regulations? Do you use agricultural chemical inputs (e.g. fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, etc.)? Are you familiar with the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA)? Are you familiar with Good Agricultural Practices (GAP)? Do you hold other agriculture or food related certifications? It is not required that you hold such certifications, but we want to get some indication of the quality and food safety of your operation. Michelle might want to visit your operation or see your handiwork.

Planning

If you are in your planning stages, we would love to hear about it! Maybe you are purchasing seeds, or your livestock is having babies and you are thinking about your future markets. We can provide information about product supply, demand, and prices. Maybe this additional information will change your plans. Maybe we can make some long-term tentative plans to get your products into our Farm Stand. Planning, communication, and collaboration is key to success!

Product Almost Ready?

When you have a product that is almost ready and you want to get it in the Farm Stand at Bear Butte Gardens, please contact us! It is really nice to get a bit of notice about your intentions. At this point we are ready to discuss the product, quality, quantity, timeline, and price. Your should have a wholesale price in mind to begin this negotiation. Based on this information, Michelle may make a final decision about purchasing your product(s), or at least provide a strong indication.

Product Is Ready!

Please contact Michelle, give her a quick reminder of past communications, and let her know your product is ready for delivery. Arrange a time when you will deliver your product(s) to the Farm Stand at Bear Butte Gardens.

Delivery

The supply line producer is responsible for the deliver of your product(s) to the Farm Stand at Bear Butte Gardens. Upon delivery, Michelle will inspect the product(s) and make a final decision to purchase. At this point a check will be written to the producer for the purchase of products.

If possible, it is really nice when the supply line producer has an invoice prepared. This invoice should have an itemized list of products, unit prices, quantities, and extended prices.

Additional Collaboration (optional)

• Promotional Media
  
  The more we know about a producer, the more we can promote the producer. Do you have contact information we can share? Business cards? A website? Social Media site(s)? A logo? Maybe we can get you some additional exposure and additional sales.
  
  
• Vendors
  
  We host multiple public events on our farm each year (e.g. open house events, festivals, education, agritourism, etc.). For some of these events we invite some of our supply line producers to be involved as a vendor. If this is something you might be interested in, please let us know.
  
  
• Education
  
  We try to gently encourage all our supply line producers to become more educated and pursue safe food handling practices and certifications. Here are some topics that we can easily provide information:
  
  
  • USDA Organic Certification
  • Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA)
  • The Real Organic Project
  • Good Agricultural Practices (GAP)
  • Food Safety Certification and Commercial Kitchens
  • South Dakota State University Extension Program
  • Master Gardener Program
  • Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
  
  
• Supply Line Producer Social Events
  
  We encourage communication and collaboration between our supply line producers. From time to time we host social events just for our supply line producers! At these events, we all get an opportunity to get aquatinted with each other. We also try to collect and share information about who is planning what products in the next season. This information is intended to help reduce competition, reduce redundancy, and identify opportunities. And, these events are FUN!