Meet Brad
(aka the farmer behind our brand)
Brad Thill started gardening and planting trees as a way to relax after war.
A retired Army veteran with more than 14 deployments throughout the Eastern hemisphere, Thill calls horticulture therapeutic – a way to tamp down the anxiety and migraines that come with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries tied to combat.
These days, with help from several government grants and agencies like the Vocational Rehabilitation Services division of Iowa Workforce Development, growing and tending plants also has become a promising business.
Thill, who left the military to settle on family land near Algona, hopes to officially welcome customers next year to Farmer Sarge’s Orchard, his 3.5-acre property featuring apples, peaches, pears, cherries, apricots, and plums. Thill spent this past year earning praise through the sale of sweet corn, a variety of fruits, craft items, and freeze-dried ice creams and candies at nearby farmer’s markets. With luck, his 450 trees will be productive enough next year to welcome actual visitors to pick fruit on his property.
Our Story
About Farmer Sarge’s
Thill currently is working on designs for bags, business cards, and 13 billboards pointing to “Farm Sarge’s Sweetcorn, Fruit, and Vegetables.” He’s trying to build up a stockpile of popular craft items, like the old propane tanks he turns into jack-o-lanterns. And he’s crossing his fingers, hoping he’ll soon be able to officially open something that already has received so much institutional and community support.
“Next year, we’re going to open it up for the public – as long as I don’t have any more of these late freezes,” he said. “I do want people to come and enjoy the day out there.”
