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Teveldal State Farm
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Anna Anderson loads her GMC Yukon every Tuesday to drop off orders at seven Sioux Falls drop sites. Top right is a sample of the type of produce she aggregates from area growers. The tailgate of her truck serves as a rolling billboard. to smile and say ‘hi’ to hundreds of people was a little bit intimidating for me. I also didn’t like the idea of having to harvest a whole bunch of product and take it to market without having a guarantee of selling it. “I also considered a CSA. Community supported agriculture is a subscription model where customers sign up in the spring for a weekly or monthly delivery of a box of vegetables. It’s great for a lot of farmers, but I heard from customers who, for example, don’t like getting eggplant in their box or getting too many beets – and they didn’t want to waste food. While the CSA model works for some, the customers I was hearing from wanted something different. I wanted to see if there was something better.” She set her sights on the possibility of customers ordering online, choosing exactly the product they wanted, and having the order delivered to Sioux Falls. “I originally started out selling only what I was growing myself. After a couple of years of doing that, I met Stephanie Peterson of Fruit of the Coop. My customers were asking for eggs and Stephanie had eggs. I said ‘Let’s see if we can work together.’ And that worked out very well.” The connections continued. “When I was short on beans, I made a connection with Jerry Ward of Hackberry Hollow who was able to help me out. He was the first other vegetable producer I worked with. The more I got to know Jerry and as I met other producers, I realized these guys are doing an amazing job of growing – and are doing a far better job than I can do with most products because they have greenhouses and tractors and equipment I don’t have.
“We protect against what can go wrong so you can enjoy the things that go right!” “We protect against what can go wrong so you can enjoy the things that go right!” “We protect against what can go wrong so you can enjoy the things that go right!”
Ty Teveldal State Farm Agency
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When you run a farm or business, Ty Teveldal you invest more than money.
State Farm Agency As born and raised SD farmers we 3928 S. Western Ave. Sioux Falls, SD 57105 get it. We will work with you to provide the very best plan for your (605) 339-2999 specific operation. teveldalinsurance.com Stop questioning if you have the right 205 10th St, Rock Valley coverage at the lowest possible price. 712-476-5419 Know you are protected by the industry’s very best. 209 S Main St, Inwood 712-753-2200 CALL US TODAY to see why State Farm is the most trusted insurance company.
When you run a farm or business, you invest more than money.
Ty Teveldal As born and raised SD farmers we State Farm Agency get it. We will work with you to 3928 S. Western Ave., Sioux Falls provide the very best plan for your (49th St. & Western Ave.) specific operation. TateTeveldal Stop questioning if you have the right State Farm Agency coverage at the lowest possible price. 5322 E Arrowhead Parkway, Sioux Falls Know you are protected by the (E. 10th St., across from Walmart) industry’s very best.
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CALL US TODAY to see why State Farm is the most trusted insurance company. 605-610-4521
Stop by or call today. Ty Teveldal
State Farm Agency
3928 S. Western Ave. Sioux Falls, SD 57105 Text (605) 339-2999 QUOTE teveldalinsurance.com to 72727205 10th St, Rock Valley 712-476-5419 209 S Main St, Inwood 712-753-2200
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As born and raised SD farmers we get it. We will work with you to provide the very best plan for your specific operation. Stop questioning if you have the right coverage at the lowest possible price. Know you are protected by the industry’s very best. CALL US TODAY to see why State Farm is the most trusted insurance company.
Anna’s daughter, Josie, enjoys sugar snap peas straight from the garden.
Lydia Caroline Anderson was added to the family just one week after the interview for this story was done. They’re doing it on a bigger scale than I could do as a oneperson operation.” As her connections grew, so did her interest in the sales, marketing and customer service side of the business. “Serving my customers and figuring out how to meet their needs became my real passion. Many producers really, really want to focus on growing, but the marketing side wasn’t necessarily their favorite thing to do,” Anna said. Her company, called Glory Garden, became the hub in a wagon wheel of collection, quality control, packaging and delivery services. On Mondays and Tuesdays from May through October, nearly 20 producers deliver their crops to the Glory Garden farm site. The system has allowed her to have both a wider variety of products available and also a greater quantity of high demand items. (In winter 2020-2021, she also started a monthly winter delivery of a more limited selection.) Customers order via her website – www.glorygarden.org – and then the fresh, locally-grown food is delivered on Tuesdays to seven drop sites in Sioux Falls. Customers can also choose to pick up their food at the Glory Garden farm site. Anna inherited her entrepreneurial spirit from her late father, Tim, who started several different home-based businesses. She became the local pioneer of the online farmers market. “It describes really well what we are and helps people immediately know there are multiple farmers involved like a farmers market, but it has the convenience of being online.” While convenience is essential, quality is job one. “We’re very focused on getting products to them in the highest quality state – not limp, not wilted, not dirty. I want it to be able to go directly from their box into their refrigerator. I want to provide them a product which will last for a week or two in their refrigerator. In order to do that, I really figure out the best way to package the products. In addition, on my website, along with the product listing, I provide advice about extending the storage time or shelf life of almost all the products.” Anna still gets her hands dirty in the garden, but is able to stay focused on her favorite things to grow – sugar snap peas, rhubarb, herbs and eggplant. “Ultimately, I want all my producers to specialize in what they do well. I’ve learned from personal experience when you try to diversify and grow too many different things, you’re pulled in too many directions and end up lowering the quality of everything. Producers who specialize have the most quality and consistency and, in the end, are the most profitable,” she said. “By me aggregating all of the products, we end up with a large variety while having each of us focus on what we do best. It gets me excited thinking about the big picture of what we can accomplish working together. This business model came about because I was listening to what my customers were telling me.” Family is essential to Glory Garden. Anna’s husband, Joshua, works in electrical engineering but helps her stay focused on the right things when life seems overwhelming. He shares her
dream of having a family business that their children can be involved in while learning about the value of serving others. Her mom, Britt, continues to allow Anna use the garden and shed on the farm for business operations (since Anna and her family now live in Sioux Falls). In addition, Mom feeds them and provides free, on-site daycare services for Josie, 1½, and a second child who is expected to arrive by the time this magazine reaches your mailbox. Anna’s sister, Ella, provides back-up and helps pick up the slack in many parts of the operation. Ella is also experimenting with growing edible flowers and flower bouquets. Brother Ben provides mechanic service to keep the family’s vehicles running. A critical employee is Sam, the 13-year-old son of family friends. He has worked for Glory Garden for three years. Because he’s homeschooled, he is able to work on Tuesdays year-round. He helps with all the physical labor and packaging goods and greets each customer with a smile while delivering orders. Product categories on GloryGarden.org include: Fruits and vegetables, eggs, meat, honey and dry goods. “Our biggest sellers are cucumbers and tomatoes from Gilkerson Gardens in Brookings. The reason is he specializes in cucumbers and tomatoes and he has them from April through October, consistently every single week.” Anna publishes a weekly e-newsletter which helps create a personal connection between her, the customer, and the other producers. “With a 1½ year old and another baby on the way, I’m really focused on how I can make a delicious meal with the least amount of effort. I’m really a stickler about cooking things from scratch and I know that usually takes a lot of work. I make healthy and delicious meals a priority, but I’m still looking for shortcuts and tips which can make food preparation easier. As I learn those things, I share that information on my weekly email and it’s included on a blog on my website along with some videos.” (See a sample of one of her recipes on page 34.) Anna runs the company based on three key values (listed below). Deeper still than these three values is the genesis of the company name Glory Garden. Based on 1 Corinthians 10:31 (NIV), it says “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” Anna said, “I want my life to glorify God and that includes my business. It’s a fundamental principle of my life.”
Anna measures the progress of her business on whether results support her top three core values:
#1. “I build relationships with my customers by knowing and caring about each one of them personally. I also want to let them know about my life and the lives of the farmers we work with since they aren’t meeting them at a farmers market.” When one customer was using products from Glory Garden to make supper, her three-year-old said “‘I can taste the love in there.’ That’s always stuck with me and I hope my customers can always taste the love that goes into what we’re selling.”
#2. “Number two is showing integrity in everything we do. We want to be transparent about who our producers are and where the food comes from, and how it is grown.”
#3. “Delivering quality. At the end of the day, if our customers aren’t getting the quality of product they want, they’re not going to order again. It takes a huge amount of trust to order produce online because you don’t get to smell it, touch it or pinch it. I have to make sure the description of the food I sell on my website matches what they see when they open their box. At the end of the day, if people open their box and the product in it is ugly or unappealing or wilty, they’re not going to come back to us again.”
Britt, Ella and Ben Maifeld; and Josie, Anna, and Joshua Anderson.
BASE HITS AND A HEART FOR FARMING
By Bob Fitch
