The Sherburne County Board Tuesday approved a lease agreement with the Farm Friends Barn for five acres of land near the Sherburne History Center at $1 per year for 10 years.
The project plan includes initially moving an existing 30’x52’ barn onto the property. In 2018 Northern Metal purchased land that the University of Minnesota Extension Research Farm owned. That barn was located on the Northern Metal property and donated to the Little Farm Hands group if they could find a way to relocate the old barn, built in 1926.
Tuesday, Jean Johnson of the Little Farm Hands organization spoke about the old barn.
“Northern Metal stalled their construction project so we could get the barn out. We found a very considerate moving company who moved it out of the way and it’s currently waiting to be moved to the new location,” she said. “That’s a big deal.”
She said an anonymous donor provided money to save the barn, otherwise it would have been destroyed.
Johnson said the goal is to preserve the integrity of the barn for future generations.
“We’re not going to remodel it or change much of it,” she said. “A lot of people have never been in a barn.”
The group also intends to construct a 40’x80’ post and beam building with heat, air conditioning and bathrooms that will be the future home of the Little Farm Hands program.
The facility will be used as an agricultural education exhibit for kids. Children will become farm hands at the hands-on exhibit as they experience the agricultural process beginning at the farm and ending at the market.
The Oak Savanna land in Becker was donated by Bill and Margaret Cox years ago with the ultimate goal of relocating the Sherburne County Fairgrounds there.
Originally, the county board approved building the Little Friends Barn at the existing county fairgrounds site in Elk River.
“It ended up being on the Cox property in Becker,” said Johnson.
“The new site near the History Center has been redesigned, “ said Johnson. In addition to the two barns, a pavilion is planned, and the site will have an “in-and-out” area for buses.
As part of the lease agreement, the county has agreed to pay the property insurance costs. The old barn would cost approximately $20 per year and once constructed, the new pole building would be approximately $158 per year.
Sherburne County has been working with the Farm Friends Barn to lease property since 2015. The property is subject to a conservation easement with the Minnesota Land Trust and the Trust is currently reviewing the project plan.
The Farm Friends group is still in the process of fundraising to construct the new barn.
