Couple with passion for vegetable growing to offer custom-choice farm shares

Kjersten Oudman was a college sophomore when she took her first good, up-close look at dirt. And fell in love.

The Sioux Falls native had started at Bethel College in St. Paul, planning on a career as a veterinarian, but a few biology classes led her to the realization she hated anything to do with medicine.

Next, Oudman — then Kjersten Swenson — enrolled in the college’s environmental science program, visualizing a future as a wildlife manager at a national park. That took her to Tanzania, where she observed a troop of baboons for hours.

But it still didn’t satisfy some inner need. That happened when she took a unit on soil science.

“I realized soil was alive, and it just fascinated me,” Oudman said. “I ended up being a big nerd about soil.”

Now, after renting land, equipment and a business name in Wisconsin for several years, Oudman and her husband, Dirk, have brought their shared nerdiness to South Dakota. The couple has established Blue Sky Vegetable Co. south of Worthing, and this year will offer custom-choice farm shares in the crops they grow.

The Oudmans are starting small, she said, knowing they have to build up a customer base. They plan to put an acre in production this year and offer crops such as lettuce, arugula, kale, tomatoes, peppers, winter squash, carrots and beets. Eventually, they plan to have 8 to 10 of their 25 acres in production and offer more varieties.

Blue Sky is joining at least a half-dozen other community-supported ag programs in the Sioux Falls area, said Chris Zdorovtsov, membership and marketing coordinator with the South Dakota Specialty Producers Association. It promotes and connects the different producer groups that occupy niche markets such as food hubs, farmers markets and CSAs.

In recent years, Zdorovtsov has seen the number of local food producers increase. As shopping habits changed during the pandemic, the SDSPA pivoted also, offering funds to help farmers markets go online rather than rely totally on in-person shopping.

Local producers are popular with consumers who want the freshest produce possible and also are looking for items that grocery stores can’t stock because of their limited shelf life, Zdorovtsov said.

“Consumers have a direct influence over what the producer is going to sell to you,” she said. “If you tell a grocery store that you’d like to see a change, you don’t know how far it will go. If you tell a producer, it’s much more likely they will adapt.”

Zdorovtsov has seen CSAs adapt from the traditional model, where the subscriber didn’t know what produce to expect in a delivery. Now, there are more options.

Blue Sky will seek subscriber input, Oudman said, letting customers choose from the 12 to 15 vegetable varieties they have to offer. They learned the wisdom of that option from their own experience.

“We used a CSA in our very early marriage days, and even us, we were like, fennel? Um, OK,” she said. “We want to make sure people can make use of the vegetables we grow and can choose them. Sometimes, people will get all tomatoes because they’re going to make tomato sauce. Others will say ‘never send me kale.’ That’s good to know.”

Growing up, Oudman’s family experience was restricted to a maternal great-uncle who raised cattle. Dirk Oudman grew up in Indiana, out in the country near a farm town. His parents had grown up on farms, but when they were ready to farm themselves, they couldn’t find what they wanted and entered the construction industry. Dirk Oudman graduated from Dordt College, now Dordt University, in Sioux Center, Iowa.

The couple met seven years ago at a training farm in Texas. After managing farms in Michigan and Wisconsin, they decided to move closer to her family, Mark and Karin Swenson of Sioux Falls. The Oudmans are the parents of two: Reuben, 2, and Marja, born in October 2021.

The farm they purchased once housed a small dairy operation. The stanchions for milking still are visible in the barn. The three children of the late Merlyn and Inez Muller grew up there. Merlyn died in 2002. Inez moved into Lennox about 10 years later and died in 2017. The house stood empty for several years.

Now, the Oudmans are renovating the house for their young family. Dirk Oudman works with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Sioux Falls; their goal is to have Blue Sky expand enough to permit full-time employment for both by year three.

A greenhouse has been constructed where plants will be started from seed. A propane heater will keep the seedlings warm until they can be moved outside in April and early May. Hardy crops such as kale, lettuce and some cabbages will go outdoors first, followed by arugula and radishes, and then tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers in late May.

The Oudmans’ Wisconsin business operated as Kings Hill Farm. When it came time to choose a name for their own operation, the couple tossed multiple suggestions at each other.

“We liked ‘Blue Sky’ because it reminded us of the prairies, the landscape, the fact you can see the sky from the flatland,” Oudman said. “It’s also tied into this feeling we had about our dreams of farming, that it would be blue skies for the hopes and dreams that we were putting into the farm. We chose ‘Vegetable Company’ because we liked the sound of it. We want to aspire to something bigger and professional.”

In Wisconsin, the Oudmans offered delivery into Chicago and are considering offering home delivery in Sioux Falls. They also are introducing themselves into the close-knit group of established vegetable producers.

“There’s plenty of room” for new producers, Zdorovtsov said. “Everybody does their own thing. They focus on retail or farmers markets or CSAs, and there’s even one with a subscription program for flowers and bouquets.”

Oudman, who also makes jams, jellies, salsas, pickles and hot sauces with her produce, is looking forward to the annual miracle of watching her plants grow and flourish and nourish others.

“We’re excited to grow food for the Sioux Empire area,” she said. “We are passionate about vegetable growing. We have high standards, and we take a lot of pride in it. The person who supports us also gives the local economy a lift. We hope that through growing vegetables that we can kind of create a community of people that care about sustainability, healthy eating and other people.”