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   The Hackensack Community Garden started in 2020 with help from grants from the Cass County SHIP program, SWCD, and Simon Whitehead’s amazing work. We built the fence and Hackensack’s mayor, Bill Kennedy donated a building to store our tools. We still needed water, so we tried to dig a well ourselves. After a lot of hard work, we gave up and hired Tony Freeman and his team to drill the well. They did an amazing job and gave us a great source of clean water, but there was still a problem. We didn’t have power to run the pump in the well. We found some money to buy a portable generator, and we wired in a 220-volt outlet to power the pump. We also put up water towers  with 3, 250-gallon totes for gravity-fed irrigation. This worked great, but during dry years like this one, we had to fill the totes a lot. I, Jim Etzel, who owns Earth Is Our Home Environmental Solutions and manages the garden, was at the garden a lot filling the towers. This took up a lot of my time, which is why the solar project started. 

   The year 2026 kicked off with a fundraising drive! I reached out to everyone and every organization I could think of, putting together donation proposals to help bring this project to life. I was led to Marc Morrison, the Executive Director of RREAL (Rural Renewable Energy Alliance) from Backus, MN. Marc was super excited to lend a hand, and RREAL was eager to contribute so much to make this happen. With Marc’s support and RREAL’s generous contribution, we were off and running. Donations poured in from gardeners, GoFundMe, utilities, foundations, local businesses and non-profits. We had enough funds and RREAL’s help to get the solar array, foundation, and hardware ready to go. This was put together with the help of electrical students and instructor from Leech Lake Tribal College. I kept looking for more funds to finish the project, and then the Hackensack Lions stepped up and gave a wonderful donation, along with Crow Wing Power. This allowed me to buy the rest of the hardware, controller, and install everything.

   Now, we have a constant supply of water during the day that’s quiet, clean, and affordable to water the garden, grow beautiful plants,and provide enjoyment and education.

   A huge thank you to all the organizations and individuals who contributed to this project. Without you, I would still be lugging the generator to the garden to fill the totes. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

   Contributors:

Marc Morrison - Rural Renewable Energy Alliance -RREAL

Jim Etzel - Owner, Earth Is Our Home Environmental Solutions,

Hackensack Lions,

Crow Wing Power,

Bruce Carlson - Gardener,

Hackensack Lakes Area Foundation,

Itasca Mantrap Electric COOP,

American Nat’l Bank, Walker,

First Nat’l Bank, Walker,

Karen Holle,

Bob-Jane Cullen,

Kris Biessener,

Go Fund Me contributions

   If you’re interested in learning more about solar water pumping, please reach out to RREAL at [email protected] or give us a call at 218-208-6060.

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