This old farmstead, now known as the Sunflower Ranch, has a long history in this community.  The house was built in 1889 we are not sure when the original outbuildings were built but they are present in the aerial photo from 1969.  It's hard to see, but if you look close, you can tell that the house is painted gray on top and white on the bottom, even that long ago.  We've heard that it was painted that way because that was as far as the ladder would reach.  It was painted all white in the summer of 2016.

The story goes that the family who originally built this home fell upon hard times when the husband died shortly after it was built.  The wife opened it as a boarding house to offset lost income, which created a natural resting place between the Twin Cities and St. Cloud for horse and buggy travelers.

Marilyn Olson's grandparents owned the beautiful foursquare home and her parents, Roscoe and Mildred Edwards, lived in the house starting in 1925, raising six of eight children here. Marilyn’s mother continued to live in the house until 1997, when she passed away.  Another sibling, Sylvia Vandergon, owned the house from 1997 to 2014.  A couple of the family members still live in the area and share wonderful stories with us.  

Johnny Olson grew up across the street from the farm and always dreamed of owning the property.  His dream came true in 2014.  He cleared the land and all the outbuildings, built the beautiful fence and pergolas and planted the first sunflower patch in 2016.  

Shawn is originally from MN and graduated from Osseo in 1983.  Phil is originally from Canada and has lived in the US since 1998.
After we were married, Shawn moved to GA where Phil was living.  We lived in GA from 2007 - 2017.  We moved back to be near our kids, grandkids and other family and friends.   

In July of 2016 Shawn drove by the farm, as she did everytime she came home to visit, but this time there was a For Sale sign in the yard.  Knowing that this was the home they had been looking for over the previous three years, she set out to make it ours.  We finally closed the deal in April 2017. 

Since then we have been working on the inside updating wiring, insulation and decor.  We have a long way to go but plenty of time to get there. 

In 2018 we planted an acre of sunflowers for our son’s wedding that was planned for September 8, 2018 but Mother Nature had other plans and the patch bloomed a month too early.  A few late bloomers made it to the wedding, but most did not. 

We noticed people stopping on the side of the road to take pictures, and with how busy County Road 11 is, that scared us.  So we posted on the local Facebook community boards and told people to park in the driveway. 

Two weeks later, one ice cream truck, over 3,000 people and a million smiles, Sunflower Fest, MN was born.  The community embraced it, donated to it, and begged us to do it every year.  We wholeheartedly agreed and cannot wait for the next sunflower season.

See you next August or September, whenever Mother Nature decides to regale us with her spledid artwork.
  

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