About us:

Straight River Farm was started in 2002 when owner Bill Hein, retired from a 30-year teaching career, needed an occupation. He had tried several things in the Twin Cities, where he & his wife Maggie lived, but nothing excited him like the idea of having a farm and growing good food for people to eat. After much discussion, Maggie agreed, asking that he find a farm within an hour's drive of her job, and that once the farm was up and running, Farmer Bill would hire staff so she didn't have to use her vacation days to farm). 

Having previous experience raising strawberries, it was a given that they would be one of Bill's main crops.  Raspberries, ripening just as strawberries finish, seemed a natural fit.  An apple orchard, to produce a crop from late August through October, came next.  The fact that Bill had no experience with apples didn't faze him at all; he was enrolled in a farming program in the MNSCU system that gave him access to an incredible consultant, and he set about learning how to raise apples. Other crops, including early-season tomatoes raised in hoop houses, incredible cantaloupes field ripened and richly flavored, and sweet corn - both traditional and modern super sweets, are grown each year to keep Bill occupied in his 'off-season' between berries and apples. Blueberries were added to the mix a few years ago & it's hoped they'll prove a popular product when the bushes start to really produce.