LYLE – The last days of Mustard Seed Gardens have begun.

Monday, September 27, 1999

LYLE – The last days of Mustard Seed Gardens have begun.

When October ends, it will be no more.

Dave and Kathy Branstad have other things to do. Their children Breana, Matthew and Samuel d0 too.

Ten years of this "unique ministry" is enough.

"The whole thing went way beyond what we thought it would be in the beginning," Dave said. "We had a deck and a little barn. They were each 8-by-10-feet. We had a few animals and pumpkins and that was it."

"It was my way of doing something and staying at home with the kids," said Kathy. "Both Dave and I wanted it to be a way for families to be together and enjoy nature and its creations."

"It was a ministry and, I think, a very unique ministry: a place to come and enjoy each other as much as nature’s bounty," she said.

Mustard Seed Gardens and Petting Zoo opened 10 years ago at the Brandstad farm located 1 1/2 miles off U.S. Highway 218.

The petting zoo had over 120 barnyard and exotic animals and poultry at its peak and was licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s department of animal welfare.

The Branstads built a replica of Noah’s Ark, which their farm resembled at times.

"Baby Animal Sundays" were observed in the springtime when the miracle of birth took place.

In June, July and August, the petting zoo attracted hundreds on weekends to touch, pet and tickle any animal that would come their way.

When summer became fall, it was pumpkins and other garden produce that brought crowds. Dried flowers, fresh flowers, produce, apples, honey and more. Gourds, squash, Indian corn and everything one needed to decorate homes for Halloween and Thanksgiving holidays to come.

Group tours frequented the farm. Preschool children on tours, kindergarten and other elementary-age children on field trips, handicapped children and adults, too. Over 100 groups a year toured the farm.

Now, the animals have all been donated to Ironwood Springs Bible Camp and this is the last season for the pumpkins and other garden produce to be sold.

The Branstads were, literally, washed out by the August 1993 floods, which destroyed much of their garden produce, but nine out of 10 seasons were fruitful.

Breana, 12, was two years old, when their parents started Mustard Seed Gardens and Petting Zoo. The couple adopted two Peruvian boys, Matthew and Samuel, who were born in 1989.

Their’s was the best of both worlds: a home-based business that reflected the Branstads respect for nature and religious beliefs and a place to raise their family.

Dave is a U.S. Postal Service mail carrier. His wife, Kathy, is now pursuing her doctoral degree in clinical psychology at the Minnesota School of Professional Psychologists at Bloomington and must commute there twice a week for classes. "It’s been a dream of mine since I was a teenager," she said. She juggled family life with her pursuit of first a bachelor’s degree in psychology and then a master’s degree in clinical psychology, but now the rigors of the doctoral program demand her full attention for awhile.

The apple orchards is leased and the bee hives can be maintained on their own. Black Beauty and her foal, Smoky, have a happy home at Ironwood Springs with other Branstad creatures large and small. Nelson Dude, everybody’s favorite llama, will smile his unique smile for others.

The wild search for Lucky, the Vietnamese pot-bellied pig that ran away from home, will only be one of the stories told and retold years from now.

At the home-based business’s peak, over 50,000 pounds of pumpkins a year were sold, and the five hives producing over 200 pounds of honey attest to the success the Branstads enjoyed in their gardens.

Breana, a seventh grader at Ellis Middle School, says she will miss, most of all, the baby goats.

Her parents call it a necessary, but bittersweet decision. Kathy will miss the expression on the faces of handicapped children, when the baby goats were sat in their laps and the way "their eyes lit up."

Dave remembers the crusty old grandfather, who got out of his car and sent his wife and the grandchildren off to see the animals and pumpkins up close one October.

"Pretty soon, he was over by the fence watching and then he was over by the Noah’s Art looking around and then he was sitting on a bench feeding the goats oats. He just couldn’t stay away. Mustard Seed Gardens was that kind of place. It could change you," he said.