Tag: local farmers (Page 1 of 2)

Dream of Wild Health Indigenous Farm

Dream of Wild Health Logo
Dream of Wild Health Logo

Seeds and centuries of gardening knowledge feed a community at Dream of Wild Health farm.  

Inspired by the people it serves and centuries of gardening knowledge, Dream of Wild Health embodies working with nature. One of the oldest, continually operating Native American nonprofits in the Twin Cities, Dream of Wild Health’s intertribal working and teaching farm brings together the best of seed saving, Earth-focused farming practices and youth development. In short, this farm is flourishing.


“We are working to repair the health of our relatives through food,” says Neely Snyder, St. Croix Ojibwe tribal member and executive director of Dream of Wild Health. “We believe food is medicine. This starts with our young ones, so they understand that nutrition is vital to our overall health.

“Our families wanted to reclaim their traditional relationship with the Earth, which is how the organization began,” Snyder says. “We are working to restore the health and well-being of our community through increased access to the foods that we grow.”

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Digging in to Farm to Table

Farm to Table means different things to different people. But everywhere I look people are digging into the backstory of their food. I see more of us asking questions about local, organic, sustainable and regenerative. What I don’t often hear are questions about the farm families that bring us that food. So, when the Twin Cities Mom Collective invited me to talk with some women farmers of Common Ground Minnesota, I was all in.

The two organizations recently brought together local moms like myself with Minnesota farm women to ‘talk turkey’ and corn, soybeans, beef production, etc…

The Setting

We met at the iconic “Farm at the Arb” which has been restored to all its glory. The barn itself is rustic chic and the gathering lawns, landscaping and vistas put it over the top! As stunning as the Farm is, it is only one historic chapter in the story of the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum (the Arb).  

The University of Minnesota has managed the Arb’s 1,200 acres since 1958. It boasts seemingly endless display gardens, plants, tree and shrub collections and educational offerings. This place is a mecca of sorts for Midwest gardeners and nature lovers alike.

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Winter Market: January Refresh

This Farmers Market brings the best of Minnesota’s harvests deep into Winter and features a few new health-focused vendors along with local favorites. Join us for the White Bear Lake Winter Farmers Market Season Finale; 9am-1pm on January 12th, 2019. Browse over a dozen local vendors indoors at Tamarack Nature Center, 5287 Otter Lake Road, WBT, MN 55110.

Shop Local, Eat Local + Healthy!


We can all use a little health boost after the Holidays, right! Bonus if we’re feasting on food grown close to home. Yes, even in January Minnesotan’s can enjoy local food. Like fresh greens, locally and humanely raised meats, fresh eggs and cheese- along with local honey, storage vegetable crops, breads, soups, and our furthest sourced food: wild Alaskan caught salmon!

Thanks to our neighbor farmers using high tunnels, greenhouses and indoor lights we can enjoy fresh food through the Winter. We’ll also have a wide variety of canned and frozen produce, jams and herbal products available. We welcome the “Brick Oven Bus” food truck and Platense handmade Empanadas to tide you over while shopping.


January Gift Basket Giveaway!!

Vendors have come together to offer an amazing assortment of local love- Register to win the day of. Details HERE!

Community Driven Market

This market is a true community driven event, bringing together many local community organizations. Pine Tree Apple Orchard donates free Cider tastings, which the White Bear Area Foodshelf volunteers serve up.

WBL Seed Library table

Our own White Bear Lake Seed Library will be sharing seed saving ans starting information. Ramsey County Master Gardeners will be onsite answering gardening questions and giving out free “table top” organics recycling kits. The Pollinator Friendly Alliance will have info on how to help our wild pollinators! Tamarack Nature Center will be sampling their honey and maple syrup and have a take home “seed art” project.

The coordinator of the market, Michelle Bruhn, also runs Forks in the Dirt and will be sharing some vegetable garden planning techniques. You can also register to WIN a One Hour “Veggie Garden Planning Session” with Michelle right HERE.

January Market Vendors

All Good Organics: variety of fall and winter vegetables, spices, sauerkraut.

Bell’s Maple Syrup: Pure Maple Syrup tapped from Sugar Maples in Cushing, MN.

Dahl Hobbie Farm:  Raw honey, honey-based 12 spice cough soothing formula, jams.

Eichtens Cheese & Bison:  variety of locally sourced cheeses, sausages and wild rice.

Gilbertson Farm: humanely raised beef and pork, chicken and eggs.

Great Harvest: yeast breads, rolls, scones, cookies and scruffins.

Hart & Soul Herbal: quality controlled, naturally sustainable herbal products.

Ingredients Cafe: scratch made soups and handmade gnocchi to go.

Platense: Tasty Argentinian handmade frosted nuts, popcorn + serving ready to eat Empanadas.

Morsels: Handmade granola bars + bites, cookies, cupcakes and caramels

Sailor Mercy: Hand crafted batches of immune boosting Elderberry Syrup.

Sassafras Health Foods: Promoting Healthy Living as a way of life with supplements and other whole food based items.

Unity Farms:  A variety of popping corn, spices and cold processed soaps.

Weeds Greens: High quality and huge variety of locally grown microgreens.

Wild Run Salmon: Wild caught Alaskan Salmon sold by the fisherman.

Me and Chomp the Carrot at the December Market

As market coordinator, my mission is to help us all make healthier, more sustainable food choices. Our choices result in healthier lives for us and our planet! Follow the WBL  Winter Market Facebook Event Page for up to date information and specials. Full vendor and community table list on Forks in the Dirt on the WBL Market page.

*Don’t forget to bring Cash as not all vendors take cards*

Dig Into the New Year with me and our local growers and vendors!

Michelle

December Farmers Market is Coming to Town

Ready, Set, GIFT!

We can’t wait for you to Shop Local + Eat Local with us at the December 8th White Bear Lake Winter Farmers Market! There are so many delicious gifts waiting to be found… We’ve curated the best local food growers and makers to give you a chance to do lots of your holiday shopping in one place! Don’t forget to fill your own Holiday tables with local foods too!

We all know receiving a consumable gift is the best…so giving them is the easy choice!

Extras for the Holiday Market

  • Ramsey County Recycles will be giving away FREE REUSABLE BAGS to the first 100 shoppers!
  • Chomp, the BearPower Carrot Mascot will be on site for photos from 9-10!
  • Fresh Roasted Hot Coffee from Ox & Crow Coffeehouse

 

Don’t forget to Enter to Win this Locally loaded Gift Basket ~ The December Market Giveaway!

Entering to win here will also start your monthly email membership with Forks in the Dirt!

Meet the December Farmers and Makers 

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.

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 Sharing their amazing Breads!

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!

Green Bros Micros: The Green brothers, really- Brandon and Nick Green recognized the benefits of urban farming and took the plunge to start growing micros as a delicious, nutritious addition to your diet. Fresh and local GREENS in our MN winters are such a treat!

Hart & Soul Herbal: Vanessa Hart crafts an all natural line of apothecary healing and aromatherapy products. Using the fewest steps between God and consumption, these high-quality-controlled naturally-sustainable unrefined products are made in small batches in White Bear Lake.

Sigrid of Hoppel Poppel sharing her German sourdough style breads

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.

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. **NEW ITEM: Hand made Gnocchi at the December market** 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!

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!

Mark and Linda of Suzi Q’s Dang Good Western Dressing!

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!

Unity Farm: Moses of Unity Farm is an emerging farmer with a bumper crop of popcorn, tomatoes and peppers. He’ll be sharing his dried, canned and blended produce. Moses is a farmer with the Minnesota Food Association. 

Community Driven Winter Market!

We’re so lucky to have HUGE support from so many local community groups. These people make this Winter Market a true event, and we’re lucky to have them!

Pine Tree Apple Orchard has once again donated their Hot Apple Cider! It will be served by White Bear Area Emergency Food Shelf volunteers. Let’s help hungry neighbors while shopping local 💚

Two happy shoppers with their FREE table top composting kits from Ramsey County!

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

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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Pick Your Own Blueberry Farm

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.Rows of netting covered blueberry fields

**Updated article 7/10/23**

Two women in straw hats standing in a blueberry fieldSummer 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.

So- 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 as strawberries and raspberries. You can just roll them between your fingers and the ripe ones will kind of fall off. You can easily tell the ripe from unripe berries. Continue reading

One Year of Digging In!

Ringing in 2018!

Let’s Celebrate One Year of Forks in the Dirt!

Looking back over the first year of sharing food stories and info with whoever would listen- I had to stop and say THANK YOU! Thanks for making me so happy I took that leap of faith!!

I’ve learned more than I could have imagined; about growing food, farmers, food systems and building websites- but I also had a chance to distill what is important to me. I got to hang out with dozens of farmers on lovingly cared for land. I got to eat my way through a delicious summer and ate mostly locally grown (home preserved) food all winter.

Karin Costa helping my boys get their weekly sweet corn fix!

Officially, my website had 4,469 reads and lots of engagement over the many different posts on the blog, Facebook and Instagram… again, thanks for showing up!

*Some* of the topics covered:
Composting, Community Gardens, Farmers,  CSA’s, Planting Tips, Farmers Market Shopping Tips, Farm + Food Events, Raising Backyard Chickens, Pollinators, Food Hubs, ForagingHealthy Eating Recipes + Canning Recipes, Food Shelves, Growing for Food Shelves, the first ever Winter WBL Farmers Market and our WBL Seed Library– wheee! Continue reading

CSA’s So Many Ways

I’m already a pretty big fan of supporting your local farmer, and YOU all are my wonderful community- so “Community Supported Agriculture” is an obvious sweet spot.

**Updated 2/21/2023 with current links**

Turnip Rock Farm’s very own Farmer Josh

CSA’s (Community Supported Agriculture) have been around for in some form or another since the mid 1980’s- which first struck me as a much shorter history than I’d imagined. But, then I realized that the CSA idea came about jointly from both Farmers and consumers looking for new ways to grow good food- and eat good food.

This was one way to make a concrete change in how those consumers ate, and who grew their food. The basic idea of a CSA is that farmers get the purchase price up front to help cover costs of the upcoming farming season. With farmers knowing that they have that money, they are able to move forward with confidence, and maybe without a bank breathing down their necks…

Half Share from 2017, Photo Credit: Big River Farms

The rewards for a member of a CSA are manyfold; fresh in-season produce boxed up and ready to go weekly at a pick up location of your choice, often with a newsletter or recipe ideas included. As I see it, the biggest reward is building a relationship with a farmer.

My husband and I purchased our first CSA back about nine years ago to get fresh, locally grown produce while I was still working full time. It is kind of funny that I can’t remember the name of the farm, but I do remember I picked up my weekly boxes from one of the quaint little shops (The Nest) in downtown White Bear Lake. I never met the farmer, and there was never an invite from the farmer to do so.

CSAs give you a few of everything each week, instead of everything all at once! Photo Credit, Costa Farm

Things have changed, on both the farmer and the consumer sides. Farmers are being more proactive in forging relationships, and consumers are looking for more than good food grown cheap- more and more, the people buying CSAs are doing it for a chance to connect to a farm, a farmer, a piece of land…and to benefit from the GOOD food these farmers provide.

Now that the CSA idea has had time to take root- it has also branched out in a few different directions. For this article, I’ve chosen a few local farms that represent the wide variety of options available to those of us lucky enough to live around the Twin Cities. Each of the following farms has a unique twist to them, showing again there’s so many ways to grow good food!

I would absolutely recommend any of the farms covered- but I’d also urge you to do your own research too, there are more and more (yay!) CSAs popping up every year. Currently, according the powerful MNGrown CSA search engine there are 86 CSAs in Minnesota. Use these ‘case studies’ as a launch pad to get yourself thinking what you want out of a CSA… Continue reading

Cultivating Good Will & Good Food at Costa’s

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

 

 

 

 

Secrets to Shopping Success at Farmer’s Markets

Dig In Deep at the Farmer’s Market

An early season market haul 🙂

I’ll admit it, my first few trips to the farmer’s market were pretty much like trips to a grocery store. Most of us are just not used to shopping directly from IRL farmers. While I can respect shopping a farmer’s market like a grocery store (you’ll still get super-fresh, tasty, nutritious foods) …for me, part of the Farmer’s Market experience is being able to connect with the farmers. I’m looking to knock out a few chains in the old food chain by visiting. And then there’s the plain old fact that the food tastes phenomenal! Sometimes even better than even your own home-grown produce, I mean these people are the pros after all. Through the last decade I’ve gathered some tips to help you make the most of your market visit.

Ask Away!

I get it- at first asking questions can be a weird thing; maybe we’re too “Minnesota Nice”, or maybe we’re just not used to being able to ask anything about our food. But really, isn’t getting closer to ‘Farm to Table’ eating why you’re at the Farmer’s Market? Don’t be worried about offending a farmer by asking them why their farm isn’t certified organic; you’ll learn so much about the how and why of their farming techniques you can’t help but feel good about eating it.

Here are some questions to get you started:

“Where is your farm?”
“When was this picked?”
“Do you use organic methods?”
 “Any new crops coming next week?”

These questions should get most farmers going! They’ve worked hard to grow and bring this food to market, their name and livelihood is dependent upon people caring enough to buy the food they grow again and again (another 180 from the supermarket).

White Bear Lake Farmers Market 2017

Powers of Observation

“There’s visual evidence behind the display table to give you big clues to how the farmer handles their food,” that’s a tip straight from a farmer who’s been selling at markets for almost 30 years. Continue reading

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