Category: Local Food (Page 11 of 15)

All about local food finding in the Twin Cities

Winter Farmers Market Season is HERE!

November 4, 2018 / / 2 Comments

Welcome to the WBL Winter Farmers Market!

This marks our second season of Winter Farmers Market in White Bear Lake!  We can’t wait to share all the amazing food from these local growers and makers!

Nov 10 – Dec 8 – Jan 12
9-1 at Tamarack Nature Center

Community Supported Market

Again, I’m blown away by the community support for this local food event. We all love our weekly Summer Farmers Markets in downtown White Bear Lake, so this is a natural extension to keep a good thing going. At last year’s first ever event we had over 500 shoppers visit us at Tamarack Nature center. This year, we’re seeing if we can grow our love of local by holding three indoor markets this Winter. Adding on site Food Trucks and a coffee shop to keep it interesting- we’re ready for you to make this another successful market season!

ENTER TO WIN $20
“Market Money” to spend your way on Nov 10th!

Shop Local Eat Local

These Winter Farmers Markets give us all a way to shop local foods a little longer into the season. The November Market “Gather” gives you the opportunity to fill your hostess gift bags and Thanksgiving tables with the best of this season’s harvests of vegetables, meats and dairy, along with freshly made preserves of all kinds! Most items for sale are sourced from White Bear Lake and surrounding communities. We’re excited to offer many returning local farmers along with a few new additions to round out your shopping list.

Meet the November Farmers and Makers 

Butch and Kris of All Good Organics in their Greenhouse

All Good Organics:   With their own Farm Store on their farm in Lino Lakes, Butch and Kris will have a wide variety of farm fresh produce. Some of their offerings include greenhouse grown lettuces, full variety of fall/winter vegetables, frozen summer vegetables, homemade canned items (best sauerkraut!) and farm made spice blends! I visited with them last spring and got a great tour of the farm!

Dahl Hobbie Farm:  Susan is known for her jellies, jams, raw honey and her honey-based 12 spice cough soothing formula. She’ll also be bringing some specialty chutney.

Eichtens Cheese & Bison: Our closest cheese producers are bringing a large variety of locally sourced and crafted cheeses. They offer some of their summer sausage and MN Wild rice as well. They’ll also have gift boxes available. My new favorite is the herbed gouda, it simply makes everything better.

Jessy and I at the last WBL Summer market

Gilbertson Farm: Jessy brings a well rounded selection of humanely raised beef and pork, chicken, DUCK,  eggs. They sell a variety of cuts and blends. We love their pork sausage. They make a mean Wild Rice Brat- and their pork chops cook up tender and with so much more flavor than anything store bought. Plus the animals all had a great life!

Great Harvest: If you’ve been to the WBL Summer Farmers market you’ll remember these breads- and likely Sheldon the happy purveyor of so many samples 🙂 They specialize in yeast breads. They’ll bring breads, rolls, scones, cookies. Their monster cookies are legendary- their scones are my favorite!

Hoppel Poppel Breads:  Sigrid shares her German roots through baking amazing sourdough breads and pastries. Her caramel rolls alone are worth a visit to the market. Some of her heavily seeded loaves are a meal in themselves. She’ll bring a variety of European style breads and pastries.

Ben Pratt of Ingredients getting ready to cook for this Summers “Harvest Party”

Ingredients Cafe: A White Bear favorite, the chefs at Ingredients are whipping up some scratch made soups to make your at home weeknight dinners simple and delicious. A special shout out to Ben Pratt, owner of Ingredients for volunteering his time to cook for the Harvest Party at the YMCA this Summer!

KDE Farms: Brian and Roberta raise grass fed highland cattle right in Hugo. They’ll be bringing cuts of beef, whole chicken and eggs. I had the chance to visit their farm this Summer, here’s the article that resulted from our time. Roberta also makes some tasty local maple syrup!

Ox & Crow Coffeehouse: Mara at Ox & Crow has created a wonderful coffeehouse in the Mahtomedi.. We’re looking forward to having her locally roasted specialty coffee beans and house made chai teas served hot. She’ll also be bringing

Platense: Vanessa brings us a taste of Argentina right here in Minnesota! She uses authentic family recipes for traditional frosted nuts from Argentina. The flavors might not be local but they are locally well-loved!

Sailor Mercy: Dani  hand crafts each small batch of immunity boosting  Organic Elderberry Syrup. Made with all high end, organic products, plus local raw honey and un-fluorinated water this is the good stuff! . Her company names combines her twin daughter’s names with her passion for local and organic. She also makes amazing “no moo’ hand crafted chocolates.

Suzi Q Western Dressing:  “Dang Good” Western Dressing brought to you by Linda (Suzy Q) and (Cowboy) Mark from right in town. They had their first Summer selling their dressing at the WBL Summer market, and it was such a hit they’re bringing it to the Winter market too!

Fresh MicroGreens from Weeds Greens!

Weeds Greens: Matt Green of Weeds Greens supplies some of the best restaurants in the metro- and luckily our market too. They grow chemical free hydroponic micro greens, fresh herbs and baby greens right in Lakeville. Fresh and local GREENS in our MN winters are such a treat!

New at this Farmers Market

Coffee Corner!

We’re excited to offer hot coffee and Chai from Ox and Crow, and specialty sourdough bakery goods from Hoppel Poppel in the party room at Tamarack. This is right off the main Atrium by the community booths! so you can munch and sip while learning about other ways to make meaningful local food choices.

Food Trucks!

Kicking off this season’s winter markets we’ll be joined in November by both  Gateway Trailside + Smokey’s  Pub n Grill.  After you work up an appetite shopping and or hiking the trails you can grab lunch from two local food truck favorites!

Community Boosters

Pine Tree Apple Orchard is generously donating some of their tasty apple cider! A local favorite for apples, all kinds of apple baked goods and their pumpkin patch (not to mention strawberry picking in the Summer) Pine Tree is once again on board with making sure our cups overflow!

The cider will be served by our local White Bear Area Food Shelf volunteers. Cash donations to the food shelf will be accepted and appreciated!

Tamarack Nature Center will be sampling and have more information on how to get involved at the nature center. Plan to take a walk around some of the many miles of trails around the Nature Center and enjoy the nature where your food comes from!

Pam from the White Bear Lake Seed Library will again be spreading seeds of knowledge, and giving you info on starting your own seeds. We are so lucky to have a free and trusted source for locally saved seeds! Great blog and info at their link above.

The Ramsey County Master Gardeners will be available to answer gardening questions and and spread the word (and free starter kits) for the Ramsey County Composting program!

Viva Musica reps will be demonstrating their “Kindness Rocks” art program for schools.

Forks in the Dirt:  That’s me 😉 I’ll be there with a table to talk growing your own, backyard chickens, composting, canning and/or finding the best local food resources. My mission in getting this winter market together is to help us ALL make healthier, more sustainable food choices- for our own health, and the health of the planet!

Follow the WBL  Winter Market Facebook Event Page for up to date information and specials.

Can’t wait to Dig In and see you there!

– Michelle and the fabulous farmers and vendors of the WBL Winter Market!

Grass Fed for Good at KDE Farms

October 26, 2018 / / 2 Comments

Welcome to KDE Farms

Say hello to the happiest Grass Fed Highland Cattle I’ve had the pleasure of hanging out with!  They are living their best lives out in their fields just north of the Twin Cities in Hugo MN on a 3rd generation family farm.

At first glance the rolling hills look like your average small family cattle farm, but then you realize there’s no barn, you see horns on the cattle and can’t find a feed trough. Welcome to KDE Farms, where they raise grass fed Highland cattle, meat and layer chickens and produce some fabulous maple syrup. You can jump right to their online shop if you can’t wait.

Walking the Fields

Visiting these down to earth farmers earlier this Summer, I fell in love with their farmland- and the way they raise their animals. These docile Scottish Highland cattle can take three years to finish off. But they balance out their keep with having a double coat that is water proof and down-like, eliminating the need for a barn. And they’ve naturally developed to thrive off of grass.

This leads this kind of farmer to maintain their land in a way that conventional farmers (usually) don’t. Because they are feeding their ‘product’ from what they grow and not what they purchase, grass fed cattle farmers blend their knowledge of raising healthy grass with raising healthy animals. And, as Brian and Roberta Ehret can attest to- that all starts with healthy land.
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Vegetable Garden Evolution

October 4, 2018 / / 3 Comments

We’re all somewhere on the  garden path. Some of us have a few pots, maybe indoor herbs, maybe a farm.  Our family is working to make the most of our big suburban backyard. One year ago, almost to the day, I was completing the prep for our new vegetable garden! We’ve been through a  bit of an explosion in our backyard over the last few years. And this expanded space is the latest in what we’ve dubbed ‘musical gardens’. Well, these beauties are staying put!

In order to add the amount of growing space we wanted fast, we went with a well known no till option called “Lasagna Gardening”. Just one growing season in and I’m amazed at what a great addition these beds have been!

In The Beginning…

When we moved in 10 years ago our backyard had spruce trees, overgrown bridal wreath and an almost dead hydrangea. And a lawn of mostly creeping charlie. No garden in site. Needless to say, we’ve added A LOT of perennials, bushes, trees, chickens, pathways, and yes- Gardens. Of course the creeping charlie will forever be part of our landscape as well… But let’s focus on the Vegetable Garden here.  Continue reading

5 Steps To Prepare Your Garden For Winter

September 28, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Freeze Baby!

And just like that, it’s time to prepare your garden for Winter! We skipped right over frost warnings and went straight to a freeze warning for tonight. Oh Minnesota, somehow your sweet Summer song always lulls me into forgetting about Winter lurking around the corner. It seems like yesterday I was sweating away, swatting mosquitoes, harvesting the abundance from my gardens. So how on earth is there a freeze warning for tomorrow!?!

Ramsey County Master Gardeners at your service

Since I’m aware the fast change always catches me off guard, I asked friend and local Master Gardener, Brianna Godhe, to give us her take on getting our vegetable gardens ready for the inevitable. The Ramsey County Master Gardeners have been a great asset to our local gardening community, recently attending a Harvest Party, available for Q&A.

Take it away Brianna-

Tucking the Vegetable Garden into Bed

As the days get shorter and the evenings get cooler, it’s time to think about preparing your vegetable garden for winter. It’s hard to think about ice and snow in September when the sun is still warm but you want to be ready. Our average first frost date– that is, the date when we can expect a hard frost which will kill the tender and warm-season crops in your garden – for St. Paul, MN is October 9. It can happen anytime from the end of September to the end of October. It’s a hard truth: once the State Fair ends, our gardening days are numbered. 

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Harvest Party to Celebrate Local Food!

September 19, 2018 / / 4 Comments

Are you ready to party in the Garden!?!

This Harvest Party grew from the BearPower organization. White Bear Lake is lucky to have the efforts and talents of this group of dedicated people. They’re working to bring healthy living to our community in so many different ways.

I’ve been digging into coordinating this BearPower Harvest Party with the BearPower team and loving finding the best of the best to help celebrate community grown food. We’ve brought together the cream of the crop local chefs to prepare all that lovingly grown food. Add to that a great mix of activities to take over our White Bear Area YMCA gardens for the day and you’ve got a can’t miss event! We’ve got FREE food,  games,  information, samples and activities to get you growing your love of good food! Continue reading

Seed Savers Exchange

August 9, 2018 / / 2 Comments

Harvesting Seeds and So Much More

Seed are life.

Yet many seeds and plants that have populated the planet for eons are at risk of disappearing because they don’t fit the corporate farming model. It is estimated that 75% of plant diversity has been lost over the last century. That’s where Seed Savers Exchange comes in.

Diane Ott Whealy and I in her magical heirloom garden. Photo credit Molly Moe

Seed Savers Exchange

First- I want to give a shout out to the Seed Savers Exchange for their 2018 Summer Conference at Heritage Farm. I’m still buzzing with all the new information I brought home. I had to share some of what I learned with you all!

They’ve built a vibrant community of dedicated volunteers and staff, all starting with co-founders Diane Ott Whealy and Kent Whealy in 1975. I was lucky enough to meander through Diane’s gardens with her at the beginning of the weekend.

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Farmers Markets Summer 2018

August 2, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Get your Fix of Farm Fresh the easy way, there’s a farmers market almost every day!

I really like really local food… So of course I wanted to share my favorite Farmers Markets in my corner of the Twin Cities with you!

I shop these markets to: buy ‘new to me’ varieties to test before I grow myself, buy in bulk for preserving and to buy the crops farmers have started early or keep growing late in greenhouses to extend our local fresh food season. I also love chatting with the farmers and vendors, and I get some good insight into my own home gardens listening to the experts.

We are absolutely feeling the bounty of local farmers’ hard work up North right now. The food rolling in is dripping with sun ripened sweetness; from the cucumbers  to the zucchinis. And with a little planning, can be served on your table the same day it was picked! These Summer bounties make our MN Winters worth it, am I right!?!

For tips and secrets on ‘how to’ shop a Farmers Market like a pro, read this article! 

Summer 2018 Farmers Markets

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Organic ‘Pick Your Own’ Blueberry Farm

July 5, 2018 / / 39 Comments
Rows of netting covered blueberry fields.

Pick your own blueberry farms are becoming more popular and for good reason!

PYO farms bring together the best of summer- getting to spend time in the great outdoors in a beautiful setting, with friends + family, all working towards a tasty end goal; buckets full of blueberries! This is local food bliss. Blueberry Fields of Stillwater brings a sweet mixture of this bliss to their guests each year.

**Updated article 7/10/25**

Two women in straw hats standing in a blueberry field.

Summer took over Blueberry Fields of Stillwater in early 2022, and she is just as in love with the farm, connections to the earth, blueberries, and customers as the previous owners. 

Blueberry Fields of Stillwater

As Summer explains, “I was looking to make a change and for a place where I could be more in tune with nature, while still being part of the community. When I saw the Blueberry Fields of Stillwater property, I just knew it was where I needed to be. The love, care, and hard work that Bev and Mike O’Connor put into the Blueberry Fields was evident; the land just sang to me. I am so grateful that they were willing to let me carry on what they had started. They have been so helpful and supportive to me in teaching me the craft of blueberry growing hands on here at the Blueberry Fields of Stillwater.”

Getting the how to pick info from staff at blueberry farm before picking our own.

Same great blueberries, same ORGANIC farming practices, new smiling face. I’m in!

Is it the farm’s rolling hills and pastoral setting? Or the acres of immaculately maintained spacious rows all bursting with blueberries? Maybe it’s all the energy and love that farmers have poured into the land?

If you’ve never picked your own blueberries before, no worries; they’re every bit as easy to pick as strawberries and raspberries. You can just roll them between your fingers and the ripe ones will pretty much fall off. You can easily tell the ripe from unripe berries.

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Local Food For Thought

June 13, 2018 / / 3 Comments

I love that when I took a step back and looked at why I care about local food so much, the answers came full circle! Of course, nature had her answer all wrapped up like that. And just for the record, no one knows exactly what ‘local food’ means… some say it is food grown ‘within 100 miles’ of the purchase, others say ‘in my state’.

Here’s a quick(ish) look into why I believe taking the extra effort to eat local pays off in dividends larger than we can measure.

Nothing beats sun ripened home grown tomatoes!

Local Food Tastes Better 

Fresh + local food just tastes better. Exhibit A> The Tomato. Homegrown varieties will leave you smiling as you savor the layers of flavor that drip off the sun warmed juices. The store bought, often packaged version of tomatoes  we get up North in winter are pale pink, mealy, styrofoam imposters. Don’t even get me started on eggs 😉

Nutritional Value

Food loses nutrients after it is harvested- up to 30% in three short days! Being able to pick a salad out of my garden or buy from a farmer that harvested earlier that day means more nutritional ‘bang’ for my buck or my work than buying food that was shipped across the country. Not to mention food flown/shipped here from another continent before it was ripe. Continue reading

It’s All Good: Organics

May 3, 2018 / / 3 Comments

There’s something comforting about meeting people who are doing exactly what they’re supposed to be doing. It’s even better when they’ve taken over the family farm; better for the land, the crops, the animals- and better for us lucky people who get to eat the food they raise.

Butch and Hunter Cardinal of All Good Organics have worked hard to find their groove and they’ve really hit their stride after figuring out their unique niches.

Butch is a 5th generation farmer – OF THE SAME LAND making his son, Hunter, the 6th generation! This family has been farming their slice of heaven at 6657 Centerville Road in Hugo since 1866. The way they have farmed has swung the pendulum over their 152 years of land stewardship. “Everything was organic back when my dad was born- but then, by the 40’s chemical fertilizers and pesticides showed up. And these guys were of the mind that if a little is good, more is better. When my dad came home from WW2 it was all about the chemicals; they meant less weeding,” but it took over 50 years for most farmers to figure out that the chemicals had some major downsides.

Butch knew what we could grow as a conventional grower with the pesticides and herbicides, but he’s worked with them and didn’t want them around-. “I mean, just read the labels and directions on some of them, if I need to put on full suits and respirators to apply, I don’t want that stuff sticking around in my soil or my food.”

So when his dad asked him to help with some pumpkins years ago, he countered with wanting to grow organic vegetables too. They’d been growing conventional hay for years prior.

So, Butch brought the farm back to organic practices, and they’ve been certified since 2010. By USDA NOP (National Organic Program) the transition period is three years. Now they plant 25 acres of vegetables, many started in the 1,800 square foot greenhouse. Like most organic farms, they’ve got a ‘full circle’ approach, using each resource in many ways, and always keeping their eyes open for opportunities.

Even their little red Farm Store has a great back story. The first year they were growing organic veggies they were selling form a tent (along with a short-lived attempt to sell at farmers markets). But then the tent blew away. Next they built a shed, but outgrew that in a season. So, in 2012 they decided to ‘Go Big and Stay Home’ and built their Farm Store with coolers, freezers and a self-serve system that just feels like the good old days. Even in the depths of a Minnesota winter they are open 9-5 so you can grab a bag of fresh picked spinach, lettuces or kale, carrots, a pack of frozen squash, pickles, preserves or dried spices- all right from the farm. They work with other local farmers to bring in eggs and honey.

Some of the happy chickens who will roam free this summer!

Besides growing vegetables from Asparagus to Zucchini, they also raise meat chickens and hogs each season. This year they got 225 ‘Cornish Cross’ hatchlings which were already hanging out in the fresh air, scratching for bugs and munching grass when I was visiting. They’ve almost completed a new mobile chicken coop, called a ‘chicken tractor’ that will be ready to take the chicks into the fields any day now. He’s also waiting to pick up his hogs until the season moves ahead a little.

Preserves round out the veggies over the Winter in the farm store.

Butch estimates they are about 3 weeks behind for the season already. Last year they were planting potatoes out in mid-April, and already had the brassicas and onions in the ground. When I visited last week, everything was still on hold in the greenhouse thanks to that late April snowstorm.

In case you’re in the same boat, I asked Butch to give us his tips on planting overgrown tomato starts  (like mine are since they’ve been waiting under the grow lights much to long!

The All Good Organics greenhouse is in year-round production for the farm. They keep some hardy crops rolling from fall into winter, and start new lettuces, kale, green onions, radishes and spinach mid-February into March. “I’m lucky my dad had a thing for collecting 5-gallon buckets,” Butch joked, “because we really use a ton of them now.” By planting in bigger buckets rather than small starter flats they can let the plants keep growing without the transplant shock, it also saves a lot of labor by not having to take the time repotting each plant.

Butch has had a few years to work on streamlining his processes. He’s also got the perfect outlook for a farmer, “Something fails every year, but I don’t let that bother me because each year something turns out to be a big success too.” He’s able to take a step back and see the way nature balances things out. This year, Butch is “trying” – (please visualize his air quotes) parsnips- again. He’s pretty sure he’ll get them to grow like crazy… some season 😉.

He definitely doesn’t let a little failure slow him down. Like with Ladybugs. Butch sets free hundreds of ladybugs in his greenhouse to keep the aphids under control. He’d been searching for a good supplier and finally found a great resource through eBay for happy healthy ladybugs that won’t break the bank and ships for free.

You too can search eBay for “live lady bugs” and go organic like Butch in this video…

More Lady Bugs = Less Aphids

Like all good farmers, Butch loves planting and loves his land, “I know where every rock is, especially the ones that shake the tractors.” His joy for farming his way manifests itself as a delicious meal on your table. That love of farming was passed down from his father, who at 91 years old, was getting the roto tiller attachment ready to start opening up some fields as I spoke with Butch. Of course Butch was just as anxious to get out there, he’s got a lot of people counting on their CSAs for the season- there are a few left if you want to SIGN UP FOR THE ALL GOOD ORGANICS CSA.

For Butch and his farming family all the work, all the risks, all the failures and successes add up to “All Good”.

It’s time to let the professionals get to work with their tractors, I’m heading back out to get my fork in the dirt.

Keep Digging In!

Michelle

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