Farm Horizons
•
Aug. 8, 2016
BY STARRLA CRAY
At Tangletown Gardens, everything is intertwined.
“The plants and animals take care of each other,”
co-owner Dean Engelmann said. “We see our role as
just the conductors of the orchestra.”
Engelmann and his business partner, Scott Endres,
began the farm in Plato 14 years ago.
“Scott and I actually met in college,” Englemann
said, explaining that they both studied horticulture.
“We went our separate ways when we started our careers, and ended up at the same garden center in St.
Paul.”
Engelmann and Endres discovered they had a similar vision, and decided to create their own garden
center in Minneapolis, calling it Tangletown Gardens.
At the same time, they also began growing fruits and
vegetables at the 100-acre Tangletown Gardens farm
in Plato.
Like the plants they produce, the enterprise has
grown over the past decade. A community supported
agriculture (CSA) program was added seven years
ago, and a restaurant in Minneapolis called Wise
Acre Eatery began five years ago.
Although the garden center and restaurant are popular for visitors, the real action takes place west of the
Twin Cities. The farm includes an orchard with apple,
cherry, plum, and other fruit trees, as well as an ar-
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Page 23
Submitted photo
The community supported agriculture (CSA) program at
Tangletown Gardens offers a wide array of fresh fruits and
vegetables. The produce is also served at the Tangletown
Gardens restaurant in Minneapolis, Wise Acre Eatery.
ray of fruit and vegetable fields – squash, cucumbers,
strawberries, rhubarb, peas, sweet corn, potatoes, peppers, spinach, herbs, and tomatoes – to name a few.
An eating adventure
CSA members receive in-season, freshly picked,
washed produce each week from mid-June through
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