Senior Connections Senior Connections Mar 2019 | Page 2

Photo by Kim Herzog
Jean Peterson and Al Sterner high-five after taking the sweet corn emblem from its post on the Peterson Produce sign.
Produce stand deconstruction
marks the end of an era
GABE LICHT
Delano Herald Journal Editor
The husband-and-wife team of Al Sterner and
Jean Peterson high-fived as they took the sweet
corn emblem down from its post on the Peter-
son Produce sign along Highway 12 in Indepen-
dence, marking the end of the sweet corn season
in 2014.
After selling flowers in 2015 and renting out the
stand in 2016 and 2017, they deconstructed it in
August 2018. The greenhouse came down three
months later so it could be sold to someone new.
For the first time since 1982, the space is bare.
Now, only the Peterson Produce sign bearing
the slogan “Goodness Grows!” remains.
That, and the memories.
Al remembers an elderly woman from Buf-
falo who always told him she could get produce
cheaper elsewhere. When he finally asked her
why she didn’t do so, she told him it was because
his produce was the best.
Jean remembers their teenaged employees
shouting their motto, “We do good work!” in an
effort to stay positive while toiling in the heat.
“The kids were like a crop,” she said of the esti-
mated 130 young people who helped on the farm.
“They grew up here.”
A young father once approached Al with a
youngster in tow and said, “When I was 4 years
old, my parents brought me here. Now, I bring my
4-year-old.”
“Over 30 years, we saw our customers’ kids
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and grandkids come out,” Al said.
On the other side of the age spectrum, Jean re-
calls June Sutton insisting on picking asparagus
despite being more than 80 years old. She worked
next to Jean’s father, Gordy, as well as much
younger home-schooled students.
The couple also remembers how difficult it was
when they started Peterson Produce with Rob
and Maria Peterson in the 1981. Jean had been
a teacher and Al had operated a crating business
before both making a career change that was any-
thing but lucrative at first.
“It was not an easy job,” Jean said. “The first
year, each of us got $750. It was a minor miracle
that we kept going. It got better. People asked us,
‘Are you in it for the long haul?’ We’d say, ‘Yes,’
and they’d say, ‘OK, we won’t plant a garden.’”
Rob and Maria were involved with Peterson
Produce for two years.
The operation started small, with just a few
acres, including onions, peppers, green beans,
and a few hundred tomato plans. They peaked at
about 75 acres, including 25-plus acres of sweet
corn, 10 to 12 acres of pumpkins, four acres of
asparagus, and about 5,000 tomato plants.
They served as an anchor vendor at the Mound
Farmers Market and had a satellite farm stand at
Meyer Bros. Dairy in Wayzata.
At one point, they toyed with growing larger and
selling wholesale produce, but decided against it.
“We didn’t want to keep expanding,” Al said.
“We wanted to keep it a mom-and-pop produce
Connections March 2019
stand. We focused on the asset we had: Highway
12. We focused on having people come here.”
They settled into their natural positions, with
Jean working in the garden and Al manning the
produce stand.
“Al likes to talk, so he did most of the selling,”
Jean said. “ . . . The parts of the farm I liked, Al
didn’t prefer that as much.”
Al said they balance each other out, comparing
Jean to twin 300-horsepower engines on the back
of a boat and himself as the boat anchor.
Jean agreed, saying, “We worked together and
still got along.”
They focused on sustainability as charter mem-
bers of the Crow River Chapter of the Sustainable
Farming Association of Minnesota.
“We did not have weed-free fields, but we did
well,” Jean said.
“We were proud of the ability to be productive
with a high-quality product,” Al said.
Some years that was more difficult than others.
“1988 was the worst year,” Al said. “We still
made money, but we harvested very little com-
pared to what we should have.”
They believe what made Peterson Produce suc-
cessful was the never-ending support from the
community, both their customers and the young
people who helped them on the farm.
“We couldn’t have done it without them,” Jean
said.
In a way, that support made it more difficult to
step away, as it took three years to make the final
decision.
“We finally both said, ‘Let’s give it a whirl,’”
Jean said. “We knew we could start up again if
we missed it terribly. I’ve settled into this like
a champion. I feel good about what we did, and
that’s good for me.”
Submitted photo
Jean Peterson and Al Sterner are pictured in front of a
partially-deconstructed produce stand in August 2018.
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