Comments regarding Sand Hill Preservation Center

I ordered 24 sweet potato vines.
I received 66.
Thank you!

I ordered sweet potatoes from Sandhill this February. The slips arrived in the beginning of June. The plants look great. I ordered 12 slips but I even received a few extra.

Five years as a customer of Sandhill. I've purchased many seeds from them as well as an order of chickens a few years ago. My experiences have been positive.

Chickens - I was appreciative of the breed variety they offered. It is only straight run, but that's the way it often is at any smaller hatchery, including the hatchery I often use where I can drive to pick up my chicks - they don't sex their rare breeds either. In addition, if you have a male, then you can get fertile eggs, and can continue with producing new generations of heritage breeds. We have now sold the chickens we received from Sandhill - because my child shows chickens and we have to cycle through some chickens based on age and show categories, in addition to space constraints in our set-up. But, the females were very good layers, and we just sold our last one today - a Blue Copper Marans that was still producing nice dark brown eggs after several years.

Seeds. We have found some varieties that are must-haves for us. We have gotten to try some new vegetables that we might never had been able to try. We have received some free packets of seeds and tried many of them with success. Overall, we have been pleased with the selection, and the packets always have more seeds than the stated quantities. We still order seeds from other companies, too, but have been a yearly customer of Sandhill.

Ordering experience: Paper form and check in an envelope - it works out fine. Typically I'm ordering seeds in the winter, so I can place the order and I'll receive everything within a couple weeks. The website is detailed as to how their system works, and I'll say it seems to be just as described on their site. This year I have placed an order for sweet potato slips. I've never grown sweet potatoes, so that will be a new adventure. But, true to the website description, I received an order acknowledgement with my place in line for my sweet potatoes this year. I'm happy that they are very knowledgeable about sweet potatoes and will not send them to me until they know they will survive and thrive.

Negatives: First, I do not order from any other company that has a similar focused mission: preservation. Therefore, I cannot compare them to a big seed company or a big hatchery. Second, I have not yet come across any other companies that offer heritage seeds and heritage chickens. However, there are a few things that I would like to see:

1. More info on the seed packets regarding the plants. To be fair, as an example, I have packets of Nasturtiums sitting in front of me from 4 seed companies for this year (yes, we like Nasturtiums). Each of these 4 companies could improve the info on their packets as none of them have all the info I would desire on them. The packets in front of me are From Sandhill, Baker Creek, John Scheepers, and Territorial, with my favorite info from Territorial as it is the easiest to see and read on both sides with a detailed description. But Sandhill packets have the least amount of info - but does have all of the necessary info required. So, I end up writing info that I find important on the seed packets, so its a good thing they are white packets with space to write.

2. A more visual website. Although I think I've read that this is a goal of theirs, there are few pictures. I'm sure it is a huge task given all that they offer. But, everyone loves pictures!

3. Perhaps a more modern website...BUT, if given the choice between a modern website (which takes time and money) or heritage breeds and seeds, I'll choose the heritage breeds and seeds.

I have been ordering seeds , slips and poultry from Sandhill Preservation Center(SHPC) for almost 10 years. I also use other companies to order seeds and poultry from. I am a primarily a hobby gardener that doesn't sell at markets. I have a large garden space(4500 sq.ft) and plant mostly heirlooms, I run from 6-12 chickens in my yard and utilized them as helpers and for meat and eggs. My expirience with SHPC has always been positive

They provide the service they claim to provide ,so I don't understand the complaint posts, they are all complaints about things SHPC says they cant do! I really like the heirloom varieties they offer, you wont find many of these varieties anywhere else. If you want these rare varieties then be patient and wait for them. The alternative here is to not have places like Sand Hill Preservation Center. Which means we would have already lost several of these varieties. One of the reasons I support this place is because I don't want to see the vegetable and poultry varieties disappear.

Many of you know how there are certain varieties that do so well in your place/garden that you wouldn't go a year without them: Manchester Plum Tomato (came as free pkt) and Partridge Chantecler chickens are like that for me and one of the only places to get them is SHPC.

I get all my layer chickens from them and am very pleased with the quality of stock. No other operation that I know of selects poultry for longevity. I don't know too many hobbyists and homesteaders that want to reorder poultry every year or so. This makes sense for Heirloom varieties. The Black Dorkings and Chanteclers I ordered from SHPC are laying well for 5 years olds.

I placed my order 3 weeks ago and received it today. Pretty great for a mail in order, especially during COVID. I received everything I ordered, plus a few free gifts. Two of the gifts are vegetables I never heard of. I’m looking forward to trying them. I’ll be starting my onion seeds soon so thank you so much for a beautiful and smooth transaction.

I have been a customer of Sandhill Preservation Center for around 5 years and have purchased poultry, sweet potato slips and seed from them. I have always been very satisfied with everything I have purchased from them. Glen and Linda are some of the most honest and caring people in the industry. I have always received more poultry than ordered and there are always seed samples sent with your order. The only occasion that I had a problem with poultry arriving dead (a USPS issue as another same day shipment also arrived dead) the issue was handled promptly. During the 2020 hatching season, a gosling order could not be filled due to poor hatch rates. I was offered either a full refund for the unfilled portion or twice the amount in future credit.

PLEASE UNDERSTAND:
1. They are a "mom and pop" operation" without a lot of staff
2. They are not profit motivated. Their motivation is preservation.
3. You probably won't get an immediate email reply as Glen is a fulltime teacher and takes care of hundreds of varieties of poultry daily.

If you are patient and understanding, you will be greatly rewarded. After doing business with them for several years, I feel almost like they are family.

Posted on September 16, 2020, updated September 26, 2020
I ordered sweet potato slips from Sand Hill Preservation Center. I inquired by e mail in June and July 4 as to the status of the order as I had heard nothing. They noted on their site they are not the most responsive by e mail and I certainly never got a reply from either of the two emails I sent inquiring about the status of the order. Come September I inquire about my presumed refund given I never received the order. After this e mail I finally got a response that was polite, basically said my order was delivered on July 2 and they hadn't heard anything from me so assumed all was ok. Yet I had contacted them twice, including two days after the supposed delivery. They sent me some delivery tracking information that lacked any tracking ID in September claiming evidence of delivery. Yet that information never showed delivery to my address and there was no information I could use to take this up with the post office. That is important as they basically told me to take it up with the post office. Mind you I could not, no tracking number was sent, only general info on the delivery that indicated it never got to my address as delivered. September 9 I sent an e mail indicating I wished to either receive a refund or at a minimum a credit for the following season towards another order. I have not heard a word since. Given their track record of getting back to me, some e mails never, it appears I am out a little less the $40. I am guessing I will not hear from them again, but would prefer this resolved. The take it up with the post office response does not bode well for getting them to do the proper thing it seems. This amount of money is not trivial. So best I can do is warn others of potential risks and associated customer response of Sandhill. I would not use them again. If there are problems you probably won't get any help as my e mails in June and July were never responded to even though they regarded my order not arriving! Then they tell me they hadn't heard from me! Yes you did, you just did not respond to my inquiries. Not a good experience, not using them again.

I order seeds from Sand Hill knowing that this company is not an ordinary seed company. I don't expect that they will always be able fill my order as quickly as many other seed companies that are not putting all the effort into preserving and saving very rare seeds, roots and poultry. The owners of the company are very clear about this and make an effort to inform their customers that they are not in business to make a profit and when they are very busy trying to maintain all of their rare seeds, roots, and poultry, they might not be able to get out orders rapidly. However, I know Glen and Linda, the owners, through their many years of participation in the Seed Savers Exchange where I have also been a member for many years. Therefore, I understand they are people that will do their best to serve their customers while making their work on saving rare seeds, roots, and poultry their highest priority

Last year was my first ordering from them. They do things a little differently than the seed companies, but they aren't one so that's expected. I ordered around 30 types of flowers and veggie seeds, and everything seemed to be good. I also ordered a variety of sweet potato slips, which showed up in good shape.

I'm a serious hobby gardener and I've ordered vegetable seeds from this company multiple times, especially the last 12 months, and have been delighted with the results. I also ordered sweet potato slips from them several years ago with success although not recently, so my current review will focus on vegetable seeds.

Most of the time shipping has been very prompt. Occasionally it was a little slower during busy season or when their website stated their family was dealing with serious medical issues which is understandable. My orders always contained several nice freebies and always arrived in a reasonable amount of time, especially considering that payment is check by mail rather than via the Internet. Most seed pouches contain a generous amount of seeds and are very reasonably priced.

This spring I also took advantage of their big seed sale, especially for tomatoes and ordered 100 or so (their selection). They stated that they'll try to send a variety and every single packet I received was a different variety which was awesome. I'm growing as many as I can and have also shared seeds with friends and co-workers who are new to heirlooms and excited to learn that they can save their own seeds.

Also, it's worth pointing out that many of the varieties they sell are *extremely* rare with some not being available or extremely difficult to track down from other sources. I've never seen their outfit, but I suspect this means that they're personally growing out and saving most of what they offer which is a laborious task, especially since it appears to be a small family business. Wanting to keep these varieties around is why I choose to support them. We live in a changing world and maintaining genetic diversity is important for local food supplies being able to adapt.

Debbie
Lebanon, OH

I have only ordered seeds. I ordered winter of 2019 in fact. The very week they stated that they were taking new orders. I will start with the negatives. They are slow to ship. However, it should be understood considering their situation. It's not a business as much as a preservation mission. They require you to send via mail, a printed order form with payment. It seems inefficient and may be disconcerting when your payment has cleared and there is literally no electronic shipping tracking available. The catalog is not always updated before shipping starts.

However, my experience was positive despite this. I have only ordered once. I found them because I was on a mission to find more varieties of Lima beans. They have an astounding variety of beans offered. The fact that not all varieties are offered every year is a good sign I think. I feel that means they are more careful about cross pollination. I also wanted heirloom corn that would survive Atlanta's crazy spring weather and avoid attempting to silk in the middle of summer-when humidity breeds leaf molds. They also have a great corn variety. I found early varieties that could be started early in spring when night temperatures were in the 50s.

I started with a relatively small order because I wasn't sure about snail mail order form and check way of doing things but my order was filled in about a month time and am pleased. I ordered in winter so, winter weather in rural Iowa is going to be problematic on shipping period. I would remind customers to remain patient. I am a southern gardener so I do not have short growing season constraints that northern gardeners do. So, I can afford to be patient. The varieties I planted this year performed exceptionally well. The germination rate was mixed. But I intend to save seeds. Perhaps the age of seeds was a factor in germination.

I literally only signed up to offer an honest opinion and to mention that negative reviews are helpful. In fact, positive reviews in other zones may be misleading. I feel that the growing season window is an important consideration when ordering from Sandhill.

"On Aug 30, 2019 9:41 AM, Sand Hill Preservation Center responded with:

Thank you for taking the time to provide some constructive comments to help us serve people better. We greatly appreciate hearing from customers on items that we may sometimes overlook. First, we do require orders to come in by US mail for two reasons. The first is that we strongly support our postal service, as while seed and plants are able to be shipped by other carriers, we can only ship our day old poultry by the USPS and with less and less volume of mail they have to charge more and more to break even and our poultry shipping costs rise substantially every year The second reason is that we are still very uncertain about website security and most certainly do not want any of our customer's information compromised. We are looking into this issue and may make some adjustments to our ordering process in the next couple of years. Our first goal is to get photos and more historical information on our website.

We sincerely apologize for the long delay in shipping your order. I checked our records and it arrived in mid-January just prior to the onset of a horrible long winter when we had much snow, wind and cold and, in fact, had no mail delivery for 4 days one week. I am a public school teacher and we did not have school for 8 days during that period of time. It was all we could do to keep our poultry pathways open and do chores each day. Once the weather returned to Iowa's winter normal we got back to a week or less turn around. Our goal is to cut that turn around down even more.

I am very grateful you noticed that we carry many items and that not all things will do well in all areas. We are not a true seed company, we are a germplasm resource. For example we have corn varieties that are adapted to very cool short seasons, some that are for dry deserts, and some that will do well everywhere in normal conditions. While most conventional seed companies only carry varieties that will do well no matter where you are, we do have many that are only good for certain areas We will continue to provide that information more and more in the future. We try to always list a variety's strengths and weaknesses. We are not trying to sell you something. We want you to be looking for something when you find us.

The last thing is it is very hard to predict seed variety's demand and keep a proper seed supply. As we grow around 80% of the varieties of seed we sell, we cannot simply order from a supplier when we run out. Most all conventional seed companies get their seed from a supplier and, as supply runs low, order more. We are not simply a repackager of seed. We grow much of our seed, which means we plant it by hand, weed it by hand, harvest by hand, clean the seed by hand, sort it out by hand and do the work here on our farm."

Posted on July 17, 2019, updated August 5, 2019
Posted on July 11, 2019, updated July 17, 2019
Posted on June 27, 2019, updated July 11, 2019
I have ordered seeds, sweet potato slips and poultry from Sand Hill and have been very pleased with every transaction. Their online catalog is a wealth of information. Many of their offerings are literally available from no where else.

Sand Hill Preservation Center is unlike most other companies. Their reason for existing is not to make a lot of money, but to ensure the continued availability of unique, and often vanishing, genetic stocks. We have such a huge selection of heirloom seeds available on the internet now that it is hard to imagine that is was not always that way. 30 years ago, many of the popular, heirloom varieties were virtually extinct, replaced by commercial hybrids and plant protected varieties. Sand Hill and a few other visionary people saved many varieties, and we all owe them our thanks and support.

Posted on July 12, 2019, updated August 2, 2019
Posted on July 10, 2019, updated July 12, 2019
Posted on June 25, 2019, updated July 10, 2019
I have tried using Sand Hill Preservation Center several times to get garlic bulbils and sweet potato slips. NEVER has it been a good or timely experience.

I have ordered from Sand Hill Preservation several times and even told them when I need things by and STILL had to wait every time more than a MONTH past when I said I needed them by and that was a month or MORE from when they were shipping them.
IF you can get anyone to answer emails or the phone they are rude and argumentative. They have cashed my check over a month ago and I STILL HAVE ZERO from them this year and in years past it has taken a month or more longer to get anything from them from when they say they are shipping and other places have quit shipping those items.

DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH SAND HILL PRESERVATION EVER!!!! PISS POOR place to do anything with

"On Jul 9, 2019 9:01 PM, Sand Hill Preservation Center responded with:

We are very careful to post on our website our shipping dates for sweet potato plants and try, on a weekly basis, to update as to the current shipping status. No way can we ever guarantee an exact date and time for such a temperamental product. We do the best we can to try to estimate when we think they will sprout and when we can start shipping. May of 2019 was exceptionally cloudy and had rain on more than 20 plus days. The plants (slips) were slow to begin forming. We informed everyone of the delay on the News and Updates page on our website. This person feels we should ship everybody's plants on the same day, which is theoretically impossible because we would need to hire a huge number of people who could only work one day a year. We would also have to make sure all 225 varieties sprouted at the same time, which with the diversity of types would be physically impossible. We cannot do miracles, we can only do the best we can. It is very unfortunate this person does not understand we could not produce the product by the time that he wanted them as some of the varieties of purple sweet potatoes were just starting to sprout and produce slips on our FINAL day of our regular season of shipping. We never intended on taking his money and promptly refunded him the next day by check. He refused to accept our check and demands cash. We will not send cash through the mail and have been advised not to do so by multiple sources including law enforcement. We receive daily (sometimes twice daily) threats, accusations and name calling e-mails from this person. We've been called anything from incompetent to dumb as a box of rocks. He accused us of trying to get his bank account information because we ask for payment by check or money order. None of this is justified criticism. He rages on and on on a daily basis threatening to put us out of business yet we have committed no crime and we promptly refunded his money as the season ended when we were not able to send him all of what he wanted. He goes into great detail the hatred he has for so many things and so many people and has decided to take it out on us this time. We are incredibly sorry that he has such built up hatred towards so many things and so many people while he will attempt to do everything he can to put us out of business. He cannot stop us from continuing on with our mission of preserving and maintaining rare and endangered vegetables and poultry. We will continue on with this process of saving this material for as long as we are physically able. While he may try to make it impossible for us to distribute this stuff to others, we will always try to make it available to those people who are sincerely seeking this rare material. Our goal and mission is to educate people and preserve rare and unique genetic material. Our only hope for this whole situation is that someone can reach out to him and show him that there's something else in this world other than hate and violence and that he can come to some peace with all of this."

Good Idea ... Poor Execution! 2nd time ordering potato slips from Sand Hill Preservation. I understand weather, but a business must make contingencies. Greenhouse comes to mind.

1st time, received only after following-up with exactly 3 months to go in growing cycle. Good slips. I unfortunately chose some "mid-seasons" which resulted in skinny unpeelable tubers.

This time, submitted order mid-April, and received order July 1st after following-up with only 3 months to go in growing cycle. Ordered ALL "early" varieties. See, I know my weather, BUT Sand Hill knows sweet potatoes /S. Owing to that, it sent me some slips with a single root and others with "no" roots.

Ordered seven varieties:

Beauregard ... received 19. Other 6 were weeds ... young wild mustard weeds, Sinapis arvensis.
Japanese ... received 6 some of which were rotted and came apart in my hand. Ordered 12.
BTW ... all bundles included some sort of weeds and/or grass __added the rooty look. Many of the roots grew through the paper towel.

Purple and Sumor ... substituted for Dingess Purple (early/mid-season) and Hidry (mid-season). Looking forward to digging skinny unpeelable sweet potato tubers again /S.

Substitutes are usually SIMILAR, thereof. Feeling cheated, I was going to forego the loss of slips, but I cannot ignore the substitution of "mid-season" for "early." *hangs head*

Thanks for the never to be used "20% off a 2020 sweet potato order". "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me." You don't get a third chance!

I've ordered vegetable seeds from Sand Hill for a couple of years, and I've always been very satisfied. Yes, the ordering experience harks back to an older way of life, and it's not the instant gratification/digitally trackable experience that we've become used to. And you do need to do a little of your own research, since their website doesn't have big, glossy photos of the plants. That said, I usually know what I want anyway, and when I don't order during the busiest times of the year, it doesn't take that much longer to receive my seeds than it does from someone with a cutting-edge e-commerce site, even though I have to send a physical order form in the mail with a check or money order.

They clearly state how they process orders and run their business, so I don't order from them if I'm in a hurry to get my seeds, and I try to be patient when I e-mail them. They've always responded, but sometimes it takes a few days.

So when I have the time to plan ahead a little, I gladly order from them. I'm happy to be supporting the important work they do preserving genetic diversity and heirloom/heritage varieties.

Don't let the old-fashioned ordering process make you nervous; they run an honest business with a great selection, and their seed is always clearly dated and fresh. I've had excellent germination from their seed, and good result from plants grown from their seed.

While I filled out my order form in mid-January, I didn't get it in the mail until February 5. I got my seeds on February 13, which was a faster turnaround than the two companies from which I had ordered online! And, they had a variety of squash (Tahitian Melon) that I had been wanting to try since I was 9 years old, and that 'packet' was probably close to a 1/4 oz of seed, which is a premium size these days. So I'm very pleased.

I ordered sweet potatoes from them this year. I was so happy with how they arrived. I had ordered from another company in the past and they were dried up and dead on arrival. These were nicely package and still had moisture in the paper towel. They were leafed out and most have taken well to be transplanted. Quick arrival, after sending off order. Will order from again.

I've been ordering from Sand Hill for a few years now.

I started ordering from them because I wanted to grow sweet potatoes in upstate NY, and wasn't sure it was possible until I ran across their site. I've had successful crops every year since then. Last year when I waited too long to plant my slips and they mostly died, they replaced them at no cost, and they all grew (this year I intend to pay them back, since it was my error that cause the initial failure).

I really love their selection, and the fact that they are 100% open pollinated, and considering that they are a family farm, not a seed company per se, I'm very impressed.

They also have the lowest prices for most OP seeds out there.

I ordered chickens from them two years ago, and for the cost of 25 chicks, he threw in 3 extras. Chick survival rates are variable and usually you lose a few, and I lost 2. That's pretty great for mail order chicks, and since he'd added 3, I actually made out in the bargain. All 26 who survived the first week survived to adulthood. All of the hens lay well, and one of the roosters is huge.

I ordered sweet potato slips from them. They arrived quickly and in good condition. I am excited to watch them grow. I will definitely order from them again.

This is a very good company if you understand they they are first and foremost a preservation company. I have ordered chickens from them and were very happy. A few were weak but they all survived. If you want something you might have to order well in advance since they only grow a limited amount and do not get seeds or poultry from others. If you have the patience this is a good company.

I really enjoy this company's seed catalog and informative website. I ordered lots of Sweet Potatoes and am hoping to get some of them this year. I also ordered some seeds which did take a long time to arrive. That's ok, I ordered ahead of time because I knew this was a small company who fills every order themselves. They were having a special this year on Eggplant seeds, and I ordered several kinds. I also ordered Cotton, and Peanuts. All of them germinated except I had 0% germination on 'Rosita' and 'Chinese White Sword' not sure why this is. They were planted 2 to 3 seeds per cell in the same tray as the other Eggplants which all germinated without problems. I will look into how to conatact them about this. I will update my review when my Sweet Potatoes arrive as well.

Gosh, I'm surprised to see negative reviews, but then I've only ordered seeds from them. Their seeds are excellent, with very fair prices and interesting varieties. Check them out!

This was a great experience. I love the genetic diversity that Sand Hill offers. Also, ordering from their catalog reminds me of the days before internet. It feels much more personal.

I purchased vegetable seeds last year; most germinated very well but a couple did not. I contact the company; the owner determined that my timing wasn't perfect and explained how avoid the same mistakes. He replaced the seeds, and sent a bonus in addition. Altogether, a great experience; very professional advice. I will be buying from them again, with confidence.

I placed an order from Sandhill for 7 Dorking chicks and 18 Asst Heavies. My first shipment contained 4 Dorking chicks, and 20 Assorted. They arrived right on time, and although they were all alive at time of receipt, many looked weak and ill. I immediately got them into the brooder and added some vitamins and electrolytes to their water, as well as sugar for energy - thinking they were probably stressed from shipping. I notified Sandhill right away by email. By that evening, over half the chicks were dead, and by the next morning, almost all of them were. I filled out Sandhill's shipping form that day and sent it in, requesting a replacement shipment.
A few weeks later I received my replacement shipment of 21 chicks ( which, according to Sandhill themselves is not enough to keep them warm during shipment ). This time, 2 were dead on arrival, and the rest were weak and stumbly. Again, I notified Sandhill by email immediately. I added antibiotics to their water this time. By the next morning, many more had died. I filled out Sandhills form again, and also emailed again to inform them of the deaths.
I wound up with 12 live chicks out of both shipments, only 3 Dorkings. I've emailed numerous times, and either get no answer to my email, or a return email asking who I am ( even though my order number has been on every email, as well as my name ). I've tried to be very pleasant, and even suggested they either just give a credit for the dead birds towards an order next summer, or replace the credit amount with seeds of some sort, if they think that there is a problem with shipping chicks out to California. I've received no answer to my request.
I have to add that during the same time period as these shipments from Sandhill, I also received 2 shipments from Welp Hatchery and had no problems with those ( lost 1 chick out of almost 100 ). Again, different breeds and some even shipped from the same state. They were all raised in the same type of brooder system, with the same feed and water ( although the last order from Sandhill were raised in my back bedroom so I could watch them closer ).
I understand that it may be a problem with shipping, or that the chicks were chilled during shipment. Both are out of my control, and I understand that Sandhill can't control all aspects of shipping either. However, I notified them of the problems right away, filled out and mailed in their shipping report form immediately, and emailed them many times- with all the information possible- asking them to resolve this, and I've been completely ignored. This isn't the way to treat customers, if you want them to remain customers. I understand they are a small operation, but if you are selling to customers you ARE a business and need to handle problems as they arise, not just ignore them.

I ordered chicks in 2012 and left the delivery date open with the stipulation that I wanted them to have enough time to grow enough to withstand a ND winter. I got a confirmation in the mail indicating that one variety would possibly be a problem. Since I listed no substitutions, long story short I didn't get my chicks and was disappointed and not happy with these people. They did send a refund along with a voucher for my next order. At that point, I really didn't think there would be a next order. Then I got a catalog in the mail that winter and it laid out all of the obstacles they faced the year before. I have been raising poultry for 25 years and could certainly understand what they were saying. I decided to go ahead and order again because there was one breed that I really wanted and the big companies don't carry it. My order was split into two shipments a few weeks apart and ALL arrived alive and thriving! Because the order was split, they included extra chicks of another variety to have enough to ship. That on it's own is a delight to me, I am getting to try out breeds that I never even thought of getting. When Linda called to say that the second shipment went out, I had a question on one chick from the first group that was a different color than the rest and I wanted to know what it was. She put Glenn on the phone and I have to say that both of them were a delight to talk to.
My one suggestion that I would have for them... maybe it would help to set up email groups (perhaps labled something like 'sweet potatoes 2014', 'Chicks 2014', etc...) and add email addresses to the groups as the orders come in. Then if there are problems, an email can be sent to everyone on the list. For example, sweet potatoes seem to be the source of a lot of complaints. So maybe an update sent to the sweet potato group saying simply 'due to cooler than ideal conditions, the sweet potatoes have been set back and are not sprouting. We appreciate your patience with the delay.' I don't think this would add tremendously to the work load, and people might not get as disgruntled if they know what's going on.
I really appreciate what they are doing, and can only imagine the work involved. I feel that preserving these varieties is very important and am deeply grateful to Sand Hill for sharing.

I have never been so unhappy with a gardening company. I have been trying to order sweet potatoes from them for 3 years. You have to place your next year order the year before, to have a chance of receiving your order. In that year you have no idea of knowing if you will receive your order or not, no email saying your order will be sent or anything saying that it wont. You just have to wait till your check is returned to you in the mail, or if you get your sweet potatoes. The woman that handles the customer service dept. is the most unfriendly, unhelpful person I have ever had to deal with. You absolutely hate calling there. I understand that this is a small company and they give excuses why they have such poor customer service, but enough is enough. If you could order on line, then they could cut off the ordering when they are out of potatoes, but because they only take orders by mail, they have no way of controling how many orders they accept. So they just accept all the orders and make you wait till planting time to find out it you actually get your order or not. And then it's too late to get them from another nursery. They also don't give you planting instructions. Save your time and order from someone else.

"On Aug 4, 2013 8:50 PM, Sand Hill Preservation Center responded with:

We are sorry that this person is so upset. It has always been our wishes that each and every person that orders from us takes the time to read our introduction page and what we are capable of doing. We are very upfront and open with outlining our limitations and what we can and cannot do. First, we are not set up as a business with a customer service department as we are set up for the primary purpose of genetic preservation. We do not operate as a business where sales of a particular variety dictate its continued place in our catalog. We operate with the principle that if after we have grown and evaluate a variety and it makes it to our catalog then it is worthy to stay there until someone out there sees its worth. I will reference all things in this rebuttal to sweet potatoes as that seems to be the main concern. We started offering sweet potatoes as the collection grew back in 1993. At first the only interest was in the 10 or so common commercially available ones. We started offering assortments and including what we thought were worthy varieties for free. We hoped to educate about and perpetuate the varieties as well. Times have changed and so have the demands. Varieties that were looked at with disdain and disgust in 1993 such as Korean Purple, Frazier White and Ivis White Cream are now heavily sought after and, we are also grateful to see, starting to be picked up and sold by other sources. It was and still is not our intent to be the sole source for all of the varieties we maintain. We wanted to expand the locations that can grow decent good tasting varieties and we have accomplished that as we have heard success stories from nearly every state - many from gardeners who had been told by their extension service that they should not waste their time as they would not grow in their location. We have many pictures and testimonials of their successes when they followed our instructions and tried some of these less common varieties.

We currently maintain 226 varieties of sweet potatoes which we grow out in the field each summer and in addition maintain a plant in a pot in a greenhouse to act as a backup incase of field losses. Each of these varieties has its own unique qualities as to any one of the number of the following things such as flesh color, skin color, soil preference, time before roots start forming, flesh dryness or moistness, insect tolerance, and many other factors too numerous to mention here. The big problem is they are not all the same and the majority of folks today have trouble understanding that each one acts and does things differently. Taking orders online would not solve this problem . I will explain this later. Each variety sprouts and grows differently and if we were set up as a true business where our goals were profit and customer satisfaction then we would easily eliminate over 200 of these from out list and focus on the ones we know will constantly be the same and produce a huge amount of slips to make sure we get to each and every customer ASAP. I most certainly do not fault the large commercial outlets that focus on the top 10 common commercial types for these reasons. I fully understand while over the years they were excited to introduce such varieties as Carolina Ruby, Hernandez and Travis only to yank them a few years later. All of these and many others that have disappeared over the years are great for many reasons but all are tough to get a reliable slip crop from to meet the demands of today’s anxious society. This person’s negative comments clearly show the most logical business minded thing we could do is simply stop selling sweet potato slips or limit it to the ones we could guarantee will always be there ASAP. Please take the time to read our goals and mission and see that that is not how we operate. We clearly state our purposes and do not intend to give false hope to anyone about what we can and are able to do.

Here are some simple facts about just a few variables in this collection we maintain. First example. Camote Morado: same number of roots to start slips from this year as last. Last year that amount of roots under the same conditions produced over 400 slips, many more than this variety had requests for. This year we barely got 15 slips, from the same amount of roots in the same conditions. I keep intense records and would have thought we would have had the same number of slips and even if we took orders online how could we have stopped the process when the roots are not started until the last week in April and we could have easily passed the 15 slips we got months before. Example two: We have learned some varieties are heavy slip producers and some are not. Myanmar Purple for example is a very late sprouter. It takes a long time to get it to break dormancy and start producing slips, then it only sends up slips from the starting roots once and promptly rots. Ginseng Red on the other hand breaks dormancy easily and constantly produces slips that can be harvested every few days over a 3 month period of time. Each root on Myanmar Purple produces about 5 -6 slips. Ginseng Red roots of the same size produce 50-100 over their life time and maybe more. Okinawan, another popular variety, will barely produce 2-3 slips per root for me. I realize it is adapted to a much milder climate.

I simply do not know how to explain the challenges with offering so much material with all of the variables involved. We desperately try our hardest to reach each and everyone but we cannot control everything and it is surely not like seeds where you can weigh or count your starting amount and clearly know when you are sold out. We cannot predict in March exactly to a number how many of each slip we will have and suddenly stop the whole process. It also greatly depends upon what a person orders. An order that comes in May 25 might get sent out way before an order that comes in January 1 if the May 25 order had varieties that no one else ordered and they are sprouting. Our order filling process is, has been and always will be to start with the first order received in the office and work down through the numbers as the varieties have sprouted. We do not bump orders because they are too large or too small. We treat everyone the same and work with the slips that are available that day.

There is really nothing more we can do differently and still maintain our collection. We have taken on this venture to preserve this material because the USDA does not maintain an active field grown collection. It is all in tubes and when the tubes get contaminated the variety is discarded. The Seed Savers Exchange has been lukewarm and passive on maintaining the collection as there is a lot of work and expense involved and it does not fit in with their facilities. We are trying to back up our collection with Duck Creek Farms to make sure this material is still available in the future.

We do not advertize to try to promote and take on more than we can do. We do not produce a glossy catalog with flowery words to entice you to order. We simple state the pluses and minuses when we can and stick to scientific facts or results of our experiments. We do not get involved in the flavor issue . My wife and I have opposite tastes in sweet potatoes so one she gives an A, I might give a C and vice versa. The simplest and most logical “business” decision we could make would be to stop offering sweet potato slips altogether. It is very frustrating for us to try and get this material out there and made more accessible and then to constantly be yelled at and told how incompetent we are. We clearly state that our slips are all started here in our field in Iowa, grown from roots from our farm here in Iowa and we cannot start shipping them any sooner than May 25 and when you start getting yelled at as early as March 18 (yes, I was home from my teaching job because of an ice storm) when I answered the phone to obscenities about why the person had not yet received their slips. They had not read any of the information we provide and thought they needed to plant them at the same time they planted their regular potatoes and they always did that Saint Patrick’s Day.

Our idea of Customer Service is not to be on the receiving end of screaming and yelling because someone has not understood the limitations we have clearly spelled out. We are dealing with living material that is totally dependent upon the weather more so than many in today’s world realize. Our idea of customer service is to provide an information filled catalog and website and enclose proper instructions with the order and then help those who have further questions that are unique to their situation. We enjoy helping people and spend many hours doing such. Unfortunately in today’s world the idea of customer service is to allow the customer to yell, intimidate and threaten you and then you give them anything they want. We, however, strive to help customers that have had issues with shipping or variety choices or crop growing issues as the season progresses, but we do not respond positively when we are yelled at, called stupid and incompetent because it is May 26 and the person feels they are being wronged because they have yet to get their plants.

Our goals have been, are and will continue to be to provide the serious person access to rare and unique genetic material and continue to preserve the rare germplasm for future generations. We have become fully aware there are some who will not read anything we print about what we can and cannot do and become frustrated at “our lack of customer service”. We feel the problem lies in the fact that these people have not completely read and understood all of the information given in our catalog and website. We will continue to do what we do to the best of our ability and will continue to help people with their questions as best we can.
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Bad customer service. No confirmation of order receipt. Just got word my check is being returned today, no explanation of why in response to email I sent a week ago. I understand they're running a farm but people do that and manage to at least contact their customers. Wish I'd known earlier - now I need to find somewhere else to get sweet potato slips. Won't be ordering here again.

I ordered some unknown garlic bulbils to me late last fall. They were generous and healthy. They didn't have all of the varieties I requested, so they sent me a credit form, which was great with me because their mission and seed selections are truly awesome!

I just sent in my order for poultry and seeds. Very excited to receive my order. I ordered Assorted Heavies with a few requests, it will be exciting to see what we get. We lost all of our chickens last week to a weasel, so lost without chickens. We are new chicken enthusiasts (two years). It forces us to redesign the coop and of course try different heritage breeds!

I am truly thankful for the work they do and am looking forward to my order!

We ordered seed from them last spring because they had varieties I couldn't find elsewhere, and because I admire their mission. We will order from them again this year because of their great quality. The peanuts and popcorn were exceptional. The dent corn failed due to drought. I indicated on my order form that substitutions were acceptable, and they sent 3 different packets to replace the one that was sold out. Near 100% germination, vigorous seedlings -- would have had excellent crops all around if the weather had cooperated.

My husband and myself have been patiently waiting for the Sand Hill catalog to arrive. And we have just received it last week! This will be our third time ordering seeds from them. We do like that it is not some kind of a huge company focused on profit, and we do not mind their catalog being very simple and not in color. They are very personal as well. All of their seeds thrived in the lasts years hot Indiana summer. Especially the chard mix : )
I just wanted to express my gratitude for their hard work and that they are here providing me with all their awesome seeds!

I Have ordered from Sandhill for several years and have always had good experiences. I love that they do this. I can't even imagine how much work it would take to do all this on their own plus they have full time jobs.(I don't know about anyone else but, I know I would not be able to do all this. I have trouble keeping up with my part time job and the large veggie garden). I mean look at all the variety! there has to be at least 500 different tomato varietys alone. probably 50 different pepper, over 50 types of melon, over 50 types of beans. etc. and on and on. they have every type of garden vegetable available. I love that they are non GMO. I have great germination rates, and healthy, strong plants from their seed. I enjoy reading threw the catalog too. I will always order from this company. can't wait for the new catalog to come out so I can start planning my next garden season!
Thank you sandhill for providing us with non GMO, heirloom seed.

Not your normal expectation for customer contact, no online order verification, no credit card acceptance, I did not know whether I would receive slips until they came, but their website stated that orders were first come first serve and might not come depending on crop.

Best sweet potatoes I have ever grown or eaten, I ordered from 2 places, theirs arrived in deep hot Texas summer (late may or early June) but arrived in better condition, took off and did better than my earlier planted slips.

I will be trying their seeds and chicks in the future.

We have ordered from Sand Hill for the last two years and will order again for the 2013 year. We have ordered seeds, chicks, turkeys and ducks. We have received most of your chicks on own first choice of delivery days (we place our order in the Fall). Our ducks were delayed a year but was totally fine about that. That nice spring was sent some of the ducks with few filler ducks and was refund for the rest of the order. Have always receiced timely emails from them. Very nice to work with. We use the different breeds we order from them to educate people at our local county fair. Thank You for all you do.

Todd

My experience is pretty much the same as a lot of the other negative feedbacks regarding sweet potato orders with condescending customer service and last minute notification that they cannot fill the order.
In March I could not get a return email when inquiring about two varities of potatoes. Early April I placed my order. May 26 I receive my confirmation letter stating my order would be shipped by June 25. The problem here is they do not state in the catalog or in this letter that you could be out of luck if there is a crop failure, and that didn't occur to me. I assumed with this letter we were good to go and my slips would be on the way, so I did not order with anyone else.
June 29th I got my check back with a letter saying they can't fill the order because the demand was tremendous and that they were already sold out in early April.
I called and left a message about ordering something else but did not get a call back. I sent an email July 21st about being unhappy with their lack of customer service and asked if they were already sold out, why did they not return my check immediately so I could order with someone else. NOW I get a response with a nasty and sarcastic email from Mr. Drowns telling me that "he's sorry I don't understand they are not super human and cannot just snap their fingers or turn a crank and produce more of a product." They had crop death with some of the old standbys and they were not aware of this before the letters went out.
Yikes! The letter I received with my return check said nothing about crop failure, but rather the demand was tremendous and that early April they were sold out of the regular season slips. There is nothing in the catalog about receiving a confirmation letter does not necessarily mean you're going to get your order, so you might have a back up plan.
However, after saying that he's tried very hard to explain to me how things work and I still seem to think they can just make plants appear, he is offering to send me my 2012 order for free in 2013.

Over the past 3 years, I have ordered a variety of heirloom seeds from Glen and Linda. Without fail, their seeds germinate and produce far better than several other catalogs that I had religiously ordered from in the past. I am able to find EXACTLY what I am looking for each and every year. Linda had ALWAYS returned my calls within a weeks time and answered any questions I asked. As long as customers understand that this is a SMALL operation and PATIENCE is necessary, I feel the experience of dealing with Sandhill has been totally positive. Honestly, I couldn't be happier with their variety of seeds and quality of their poultry! My only wish is that they were able to squeak in a Facebook page! Thank you for all that you do, Glen and Linda! You are great!

Their seeds had an excellent germination rate and they grew into gorgeous, healthy, productive plants. Their prices are still great... so is their postage and handling.

I think this company is great! They actually sell peanuts! And sweet potatoes! Two things I can't get from Baker Creek!

And to the people who complain about customer service. I have a feeling you aren't the most pleasant people to deal with either!


KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

Sand Hill is not a source for the 'needy', but for the patient. This is a part time job for them, and you have to give them credit for running an organic seed company in the middle of Monsanto country!
My order of seeds arrived after two weeks, and the amounts were generous, packaged well, germination rate excellent. And there is a great variety, free shipping on orders over $10., bargain sweet potato slips after season, bonus seeds, and great prices.
I have placed two orders with the company with no complaints, except, not knowing ahead of time when something is sold out.