When was the last time you tried something for the first time? For Ken and Sandy Tschannen, it was probably yesterday, the day before yesterday – or even today.
The Maple Grove couple behind Sugar Bush Ridge Farm uses that question as a credo. Their 15-acre farm tucked between cul-de-sacs on West Fish Lake Road shows they live by that creed. “It’s an adventure about life, and all the things you can do,” says Ken, who doesn’t plan to slow as he turns 60 this year.
The Grand Tour
From their electric golf cart, here’s a tour of the Tschannen’s expansive playground of agricultural curiosity.
To the left of the hilltop house is Sandy’s Sugar Shack, where they boil sap to make maple syrup. Circling in the backyard swimming pool are a wild duck and her eight ducklings. Sandy coos.
Down the hill on the paved path are the orchard and vineyard for homemade wines. Sandy lists off the four grape varieties, “Marquette, Frontenac, Gris and LaCrescent.” Nearby are the vegetables gardens with tomatoes, swiss chard, arugula, peppers and so on. Ken says it’s all chemical free, just a hoe or disk and plenty of sweat. An old International tractor sits waiting in the back of the field.
Moving on to the sheep barn and stable, where 40-some sheep mingle and quarter horses Zip, Magic, Tina and Skipper reside. Sandy, who has no children, beams when talking about their births.
In the back pasture are gardens of rich black loam soil. Organic potatoes from western Colorado are growing in one patch. A throng of wild turkeys scampers and scatters about. Thirty-two hives of buzzing bees dot the back perimeter. Ken shares an Albert Einstein quote about bees as an important linchpin to our ecology.
In the Beginning
Sitting in the custom-made tree house amid it all, Ken and Sandy share how their slice of paradise came to be.
Ken and Sandy met at Hamline University in St. Paul. He was from Golden Valley, and she came from Edina. They looked to settle in the west metro to stay close to family. They wanted a plot of land that provided privacy. Maple Grove came first to mind. It was 1977.
On the first house hunt, they exited Interstate 494 at Bass Lake Road and took the first dirt road they met. It was West Fish Lake Road. They headed north. A homemade, hand-printed sign promoted 15 acres for sale. With the help of family, they bought it as soon as they could.
They built the house by 1980. They planted hundreds of trees, added fences and constructed 6,000 square feet of sheds and stables. Sheep were their first endeavor.
“We have certain visions on the things that I want to achieve, or he wants to achieve, and we support ourselves,” says Sandy, 57. “We never want to look back on life and say, ‘Oh, I wish I would have …’ which is why we are pushing it hard now, which is why we have the vineyard and the bees and the orchard. ... Don’t stop. Just do it now.”
The ability to try new things comes from hard work paying off in successful careers. Ken was a salesman in the medical industry and was able to retire at 43. Sandy continues to do sales in training and business analysis. “If you don’t like working, you probably won’t last more than a month here,” Ken says of the 14-hour days he will put in.
Pride of the Market
Sandy calls the farm a “labor of love,” and they sell their syrup, honey, jam and vegetables at the Maple Grove Farmers Market for fun, not profit. Sugar Bush Ridge Farm holds the distinction of being the only one of 55 farmers market vendors to grow in Maple Grove. “When Ken and Sandy applied, and we realized they [had] a Maple Grove farm, we were just thrilled,” says farmers market manager Kirsten Bansen Weigle. “That is really our goal – to connect our shoppers with the source of their food, and the more local, the better.”
Bansen Weigle says the Tschannens provide not only ultra-local produce, but a great variety of items. “They offer a wonderful diversity of items from bread-and-butter vegetables such as the tomatoes that people love, but they also have locally grown and produced grape jelly, award-winning raw honey,” Bansen Weigle says. “Lots of items that people are really looking for. They add value to our market.”
Their value goes beyond tangible tomatoes. The Tschannens have given their sales expertise to help further establish the market as a Maple Grove institution. “They have a rich history in business and in marketing, so they have been very astute and helpful in giving us low-key observations about how we run our market and how we could increase sales,” Bansen Weigle says. “That’s really an element of value – beyond their great personalities and their wonderful products.”
Independent sources agree the Tschannens do, indeed, have wonderful products. The Minnesota State Fair has given them many awards for their bee products (honey, comb and beeswax) over the past three years, culminating in 2011 with 10 ribbons (six blue) plus the overall Sweepstakes Award.
Farmers market customers rave that their grape jam tastes like wine. Maple syrup from Maple Grove is an easy sell. “The satisfaction is providing some fun products to people in a community we enjoy being in,” Ken says.
Ken admits he can’t do things halfway. Instead of planting a few tomato plants two seasons ago, he grew more than 1,200. “That’s the way I am,” Ken says. “When I go big, I learn more.”
They also give more. That season they gave a trailer-full to CROSS Food Shelf in Rogers, a total that fed 500 families for two weeks, Ken says.
The Tschannens are also world travelers. Ken is a contractor. Sandy is an avid reader. They sail. Yet their 15 acres is where they want to be. Some nights Ken will till a garden patch beneath the moonlight, and Sandy has slept in the horse stable when one is about to give birth. “We love it,” Sandy says. “It doesn’t look like you are in Maple Grove. You get to escape from the world and still be in the middle.”
To the Market
The Tschannen’s Sugar Bush Ridge Farm joins 54 other vendors to sell produce and other wares each Thursday at the Maple Grove Farmers’ Market.
The outdoor market runs from June to October, so there are only a few weeks left.
The market is from 3 to 6 p.m. this month in the Maple Grove Community Center parking lot, 12951 Weaver Lake Road.
Go to the City of Maple Grove's website and click on Farmers’ Market for details.
