The WBL Winter Farmers Market:  December 9  
10am – 2pm at Tamarack Nature Center

So many local people and groups have made this event a success even before the first shopper sips hot cider or scores a squash…

BearPower, The  “community-wide movement helping White Bear Lake area families eat well and be active”.  I applied for one of their Ambassador Grants and wouldn’t you know it, they saw the value in holding a local foods winter market.  They agreed it was one way to help people eat healthier, less processed foods a little longer in to the ‘off season’ and inspire more home cooked meals along the way.  Big thanks to Julia of BearPower, who was always encouraging and dependable.

Then, of course there are the farmers & food producers (listed and linked below) who know their customers well enough to know they’d be supported at this market. But some didn’t know me, or even where the market was going to be at first. They took a chance and committed to the event.

Pine Tree Apple Orchard,  wanted to come and sell cider and pies, but couldn’t stretch their staff to make it work (because serving their orchard store customers had to come first) and was almost lost to the market.

But, once our White Bear Area Food Shelf committed to having volunteers available to help serve up cider, Pine Tree generously agreed to donate cider instead, giving the Food Shelf a chance to bring in donations.  Please consider making a stop out to Pine Tree for one their amazing apple pies!

Tamarack Nature Center Building in Summer

Tamarack Nature Center made renting the facility easy as pie! (I’m obviously still thinking of Pine Tree’s apple pies) Thank you Joyce and Marcy! What a perfect location for a health focused farmers market. The building is just right and there are miles of walking trails right out the door!

KaytJoyceDesign …and then to make it all look legit, I wrangled a White Bear Lake newcomer, Kayt. She whipped up a logo that wowed us all!! I mean, let’s look at this logo again

Is it just me, or are you all feeling the Christmas spirit too?!?

…and we haven’t even gotten to talk about the food yet!!

I’ve had so much fun (and learned so much) hand picking this unique blend of top notch local vendors. You’ll find small start-ups to established family farms. It was my goal to gather an intimate, yet well-rounded group of local foods to shop, and I think we’re there

Our Local Farmers & Producers:

All Good Organics: variety of winter storage vegetables, frozen summer vegetables, homemade canned items, eggs

Dahl Hobbie Farm: jellies, jams, raw honey, chutney

Douville Bakery: quick breads, pastries, granola, trail mix, maple syrup

Eichtens: variety of locally sourced and crafted cheeses

Gilbertson Farm: humanely raised beef and pork, variety of variety of winter storage vegetables

Great Harvest: yeast breads, rolls, scones

Ingredients Café: scratch made butternut & apple puree, and tomato basil soups

Olive Branch Oil & Spce Company: olive oil and vinegar blends, spice blends

Weeds Greens: micro greens, fresh herbs, baby greens

As if you needed more incentive to come and shop after that list, BearPower is giving away reusable bags to the first 100 shoppers!

There’s a little something for the kids too- Chomp the BearPower Carrot mascot will be walking the market giving out high fives and photo ops.

 So get ready to sip some cider, shop local and walk (off that extra pastry you couldn’t turn down) all in one place.

See you on December 9^th!

No really, I’ll be there too!

I’ll be ready to talk all things local food: backyard chickens, composting, raised garden beds, seed saving, growing your own, preserving your own, and/or finding the best local food resources. I’ve even got a fun little basket of my garden grown goodies to raffle off!

My mission in getting this winter market (and my website) together is to help us ALL make healthier, more sustainable food choices- one step at a time.  One key point I learned early on was that I can’t grow it all. It is also way more fun, tasty and inspiring to eat what other local farmers grow. It feels more natural, being part of the cycle of food. We all have a place in the food system.

There I am with Betty, one of my four girls.

I began cultivating relationships with local farmers long before I decided to start the blog and social media spaces last spring. My love of growing good food and buying local stems from growing up in my parent’s gardens, on the north side of White Bear Lake.

As newlyweds we raised chickens, but had to send off our hens to a friend’s farm when we found our new home in White Bear Lake. But I still wanted chickens… So, in April of 2016 I worked with City Council member, Bill Walsh and the great city staff, to change the city’s ordinance- allowing for raising backyard hens. Here’s the link to finding out more about backyard Hens in WBL .

Join me as I explore the many paths to eating healthy local foods. You can subscribe (in the  sidebar) to get new blog posts or follow the White Bear Lake Winter Farmers Market Facebook event page to see more vendor information.

There really is something special about “bloom where you’re planted”– I believe that truth holds for “eat from where you’re planted” too.

Can’t wait to Dig In to all the food I’ll be bringing home from the market- wonder what I’ll make first!?!

Michelle

*Bring cash, as not all vendors take credit cards!*

The post A Winter Farmers Market is Coming to Town! appeared first on Forks in the Dirt.

Ron, Grace, Gina & Karin Costa in front of a CSA delivery van. Photo Credit Paul Dols

Costa’s is that rare breed of medium size family farm that fills up its community with both good food and good will.

*Full Disclosure: I received two vine ripened tomatoes for writing this article.
They were totally worth it  

Yes. Farmers are busy. CSA providers are busy. Roadside Farm Stand operators are busy. Vegetable wholesalers are busy. Greenhouse flower growers are busy. So, one family that runs a business including all of these; yes, you could say they’re BUSY! And yet Karin Costa can make you feel like you’re the only person at a bustling Farmer’s Market as she talks with you about corn, the weather, or you kids- sometimes all those points blended into one seamless sentence.

Karin helping my boys pick out their dinner.

This family fully understands that they get to stay busy precisely because they pay attention to their customers, and all those farming details. From seed, to soil; from picking crews practicing food safety (they are USDA Food Safety Certified for the last 6 years) to making those personal connections at market. You can tell they love what they do- not just because Ron took on the farm for a 3rd generation, but because they smile even when no one is looking.

Grace Costa working their Farmstand with a smile.

As their website says:

 “We firmly believe in local agriculture because it supports local farmers who care about the impact of their farming and because it helps support local economies. We run our entire business under the mindset “From Our Field to Your Fork” because that’s the way food is supposed to work.”

Earlier in May when the crops were just coming in, greenhouses in the background.

Since they moved the family farm from Little Canada to their current location in Grant back in 1990, they’ve kept innovating and adding ways to serve their community. My favorite (hi)story was how their flower business began; they first started growing a few hanging baskets, just because they had unused space above the flats of vegetables in the greenhouse. That first year they sold out of the baskets, so they added more… and more as the years went on. Constantly searching out ways to engage with their local customers lead to them adding the CSA branch of their business a few years ago.

Their Roots Run Deep
The Costa family has been selling at the St. Paul Farmer’s Markets since it was at its original location, over 70 years ago; back before the ‘middle men’ wholesale companies were so prevalent and grocers would buy direct from farmers. They’ve been selling  at the White Bear Lake Farmer’s Markets for over 25 years.

Their commitment to getting you the freshest food is apparent in all the ways they’ve made it easy to buy from them. Being lots of places to sell to the public might seem like a no-brainer, but it takes a lot of planning, extra trucks, more staff and lots of set up and tear down to make it to all these farmer’s markets. They also see less produce get onto local table through markets than wholesale, but they value the face to face connections.

Here’s the Costa Farm & Greenhouse Summer 2017 Lineup

Farmstand at their Farm, 9411 Dellwood Rd in Grant MN:
Open Daily now – Mid-September. 9:30am- 6:30pm.

Farmer’s markets: Wednesdays- Aldrich Arena
Fridays- White Bear Lake & St. Thomas Moore
Saturdays-  St. Paul Downtown & Mahtomedi.
Full Listing of times and locations HERE .

Oakdale HyVee Display featuring Costa Produce

Even the JW Marriot restaurant, Cedar & Stone,  lists them as one of their Favored Local Farms!

A few steps closer to their farm is the Oakdale HyVee, which featured them as a featured local farmer.

 CSA: This season they have close to 500 Community Supported Agriculture Shares going out to families across the metro. Get on their email list now to ensure a spot on next summer’s list. info@costafarm.com

 

View of May row crops from Karin’s Cart.

You can also always contact them via email, or their Facebook page, or subscribe to their blog. They are easy to connect with, and ready to show you how the details add up to delicious local food.

While riding around the farm on “Karin’s Cart” I saw first-hand how obsessed they are with the details.

They get the soil tested at least three times a year to understand exactly how to best feed the crops they’re growing down to the row. The land they farm on in Grant, MN is sandy and doesn’t hold nutrients well, so they feed (fertilize) their crops as needed. Karin describes their farming philosophy as responsible and innovative, but not chasing after organic.

Being able to build relationships with the people who buy their food, through CSA newsletters and emails and meeting people at markets, “we hope to build a trust with them, that while we do spray to keep the worms out of our corn, we do so with non-neonicotinoids and as sparingly as possible,” explained Karin. I can attest to the fact that there are weeds (sometimes big enough to decrease crop yield) that were not sprayed, and plenty of dragonflies, butterflies and birds flying around the fields as we meandered through.

I also saw rows of black plastic mulch; a relatively new farming innovation that keeps weeds down, and greatly reduces the need for irrigation. It also requires specialized equipment to lay the plastic and the drip line to water underneath it, and a specialized planter. It was a large investment a few years ago, but Karin is happy with being able to use less water, less chemicals, and less tractor time. Another bonus is the early spring growth boost the crops receive because the black plastic heats up the earth quicker. Like all things there are positives and negatives to this system. Costa’s is currently looking into recycling the agricultural plastics they use. The recycling of these plastics is an upcoming and exciting opportunity to close this loop in food production.

I have used this thick black plastic in my backyard garden to heat up the soil in the spring, and in another area to kill weeds by leaving it pinned down all summer long. My small scale and ability to reuse the same plastic again and again differs greatly from market farms- even though it’s a petroleum based product, it has its place in growing food for the big guys and for many backyard gardens.

Early May, before the summer squash went completely bonkers.

Karin cheers on us home vegetable gardeners and loves how many more people are growing their own produce. She also knows, from trial and error, that what works for the home gardener doesn’t always work for a large-scale farm. From which varieties of vegetables will hold up getting to market, and what techniques are used to grow them.

When you’re farming around 100 acres of vegetables, much without irrigation, “you need to give the investment of seed and land the best chance at getting to market and feeding America- feeding your neighbors,” Karin said.

Eggplant flowers are just so darn pretty.

Costa’s feeds many of us shopping at Twin Cities Metro grocery stores through their relationships with fifteen produce wholesale companies. A large part of Ron’s responsibility (apart from the hands-on farming) is making connections with those companies to sell the large amounts of corn, kale, beans, tomatoes and bell peppers that ripen and only have a few days to go from just picked to past their prime.

I learned so much about our local food system listening to Karin explain the steps from seed to table. There are single use boxes to ship all produce purchased wholesale, delivery costs, what to do when a wholesaler rejects a shipment of very perishable produce etc. No matter the scale farming is a risky business!

They make efforts to see that as much produce as possible feeds neighbors, even if it gets rejected by wholesalers; for too much size variation, too curvy, too small or too big. (Remember that not all tomatoes come out perfectly round and uniformly red the next time you peruse a tomato display in January.) When Costa’s has a surplus or an unexpected rejection, they give generously to Second Harvest Heartland, a total of 1,125 lbs of produce in 2016! They nurture an ongoing relationship with the St. Jude’s Catholic Church FoodShelf. They also have a growing relationship with Habitat for Humanity; where they donate their unsold flowering annuals to the program, giving newly moved into houses some added curb appeal.

So whether Ron is planning the field layout, or Karin is getting the greenhouse up and running for the season- or either/both of the girls are working in the farm stand- this family is all in on farming for your family.

Grilled Corn as the Star of Summer Dinner

And trust me when I say their corn is scrumptious no matter how you prepare it- but my new favorite way is to remove husks, butter and salt it, and grill it on a HOT grill for a few minutes, letting the sugars from the kernels help caramelize the corn. Now, if that doesn’t scream summertime, I don’t know what does.

Dig In to all the fresh veggies Costa’s has to offer! Consider canning, or freezing some of this locally grown goodness for the winter too. Nothing beats a stockpile of food preserved at its peak

Michelle

The post Cultivating Good Will & Good Food at Costa’s appeared first on Forks in the Dirt.

These women just had to be my first ‘full on’ farmer interview. They have helped my kids fall deeper in love with many veggies, they’re the only certified organic farmer at our local White Bear Lake Farmer’s Market and they are a great example of giving back and educating their own community.

Let’s back up, shall we so you too can fall head over heels with Mhonpaj’s Garden (pronounced mon-pahs).

May is the head farmer, and Mhonpaj, her daughter is the farm manager; their care and love for each other is mirrored in the farm. “She’s my shining star,” Mhonpaj says of her mother.

When I walked into their greenhouse up in Marine on the St. Croix I was hit by two things; May’s smile and the amazing smell.

May at her greenhouse

May’s smile is positively contagious, and the smell of warm earth was heaven after the cold snap mother nature had thrown at us. ( fingers crossed for no more frost!). If you’ve ever taken a stroll through a commercial vegetable greenhouse, or even a floral greenhouse, you’ll remember the smell of chemical fertilizers clinging to you.

In May’s greenhouse, only rich, pleasant organic soil smells wafted by…

May came to Minnesota in 1981, a refugee from Laos. She spent many years picking produce in the summers and assisting farms. Then she watched her mother, who had picked in fields while pesticides were being sprayed the next row over, lose her battle with cancer. At one point the doctors asked if May’s mother had eaten pesticides the cancer in her intestines was so bad.  Deeply affected by the loss, both May and Mhonpaj were determined to do things differently moving forward.

Mhonpaj’s experiences around food lead her to a degree in Health Education/Health Fitness. It was during a college trip to Thailand where she saw their practices of sustainable agriculture that she became hooked.

Around the same time Mhonpaj’s fiancé (now husband) took a position as the SE Asian coordinator at the Minnesota Food Association (MFA). He suggested her parents look at MFA because of their love of farming. May enrolled and took the 4-year organic farming program. The program included everything you need to know to become a certified organic farmer in Minnesota. They teach hands-on techniques, technical support, record keeping and marketing.

starting a second planting of green onions

10 years later they are organically farming 6 acres and *almost* making their livings from farming. They rent 4 acres at MFA, and feel lucky to have access to that certified organic land with irrigation, deer fencing and available tillage – all the costly infrastructure pieces that constrain many other farmers from getting started. They also rent and farm a 2-acre parcel in Stillwater.

I got a chance to speak with Laura Hedeen, programs manager at MFA about May. “Everyone values her expertise so much, her knowledge is evident when she teaches,” Laura said. May has been mentoring farmers informally for years, and now is in her third season as an official staff member of MFA, teaching organic farming to immigrant farmers.   “She teaches visually, and her techniques are really efficient, we’re lucky to have her help,” Laura added. Then Laura filled me in on a long and impressive list of speaking and teaching engagements ( MOSES Organic Farming Conference speaker, Keynote Speaker at the Immigrant and Minority Farmers Conference, children’s groups, farmers groups etc) that, of course, May didn’t see the need to share.

“Organic farming and gardening, it’s not just a technique, it’s a lifestyle,” was Mhonpaj’s immediate response to my asking if the organic piece was really ‘that’ important to her. Next she said, “what you’re putting into your body matters; what the vegetable comes with, I mean what they put on them, is just as important as the nutrition inside the veggies.”  So yes, people- this family is ‘all in’ on growing organic.

When I asked about the organic certification paperwork she said, “it keeps us accountable, and is a great way to build relationships. They were like consultants, they helped us set up tracking paperwork and our overall business structure.” 

“With our greenhouse and land we grow about 30 varieties of annual produce, and many Asian vegetables: like bok choi, mustard greens and lemon grass.” They supply fresh, organic produce to three farmer’s markets participants and a few restaurants in the area. The full list of where and when to buy from them can be found on the  Mhonpaj’s Garden webpage.

“We also take the time to harvest and donate our excess produce to different food assistance groups in the area,“ Mhonpaj proudly mentioned.

But, even farmers can get overwhelmed with the onslaught of ripe produce coming at them late in the season. Attempting to make the most of the harvest they work to preserve for themselves too: freezing, canning and drying food for the winter. Farmers who take on lowering food waste- my new heroes!

May enjoys sharing the love of food with her grandchildren. They each can plant seeds into their own flats and watch them grow over the season. “They get so excited seeing how much the seedlings grow in a week,” said May. Teaching a love of farming to the next generation comes naturally to this family. 

Their dream (and so many others) is to find affordable land to both farm and live on. So far they haven’t found the right spot or a sustainable business model. The high market value of land available to farm was mentioned in a recent Star Tribune article  and Mhonpaj was interviewed there as well.

“You’ll start seeing us at farmer’s markets in June. What is ready to harvest always depends on the weather. Please be patient- Spring is an emotional time of year for Minnesota farmers!” May reminded me.

One of the first things to come to market will be mustard greens. Here’s a simple warming  healthy Hmong recipe to try with some of our local flavors! I can’t wait to  find the first batch of mustard greens at market!

Mhonpaj’s tip for starting down a path to eating healthier; make a date with your local farmer’s market. “Schedule it in your calendar if you have to, but get yourself in front of fresh, in season food and the rest will take care of itself,” she says. Mhonpaj’s market stand will be featuring veggie cards that highlight nutritional values that each veggie specializes in. That turns a trip to the farmer’s market into a field trip for the kids.

She also suggests composting for those that can and I couldn’t agree more! Here’s my dot.com.post all about my love of the compost pile.

Let’s Dig In!

Michelle

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