Farmers Market

Perennial Plate Video: From Farm to Market with Loon Organics

Earlier this week, Alicia Jabbar wrote an illuminating post about farmer's markets from the farmer's point of view. You get up at the crack of dawn, work in the dirt -- in the blistering sun and the pelting rain -- picking and cleaning vegetables, all to just pack it all up the next morning. Then you drive, unpack, sell, talk endlessly, offer samples, re-pack and drive again. This is the process that brings snap peas for $4 a quart to a farmer's market near you. This is fresh food grown by real people. I don't know about you, but I usually take it for granted.

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Farmers' Markets from the Other Side of the Table

I’m a morning person by nature; I’m often the first one in the office pounding out more work in the first few hours than I do later in the day. So last summer, when I ventured to Virginia to work on a farm, my tendency to wake up early helped me face the weekly, pre-dawn job of preparing for our weekly trip to the farmers’ markets.

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The Connection Between Meg Ryan Films and Locally Grown Strawberries

I don’t just love strawberries; I love them, love them, LOVE THEM! Never, until recently, did I think I would feel this way about this ubiquitous berry. Never, until recently, had I eaten a strawberry for any other reason than their nutritional value. (I’d throw them in a smoothie and suck them down in liquid form to simply get it over with.) Never, until recently, did I eagerly accept a strawberry when it was offered to me with an enthusiastic “Have one!”  Never, until recently, did strawberries invoke any passion in me, only obligation in the name of my own heath and well being, and in the desire to be polite and not offend anyone.

But recently my luke-warm feelings about strawberries changed during an impromptu date with a strawberry from a very different place. This strawberry was sort of a distant cousin to the strawberry I had had a unfulfilling relationship with over the years – a nature-vs.-nurture-debate sort of strawberry.

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Farmers' Markets Spring Forward: Picking and Choosing the Market for You

Midwestern farmers' markets are the stuff of midwinter’s – and really, even midspring’s – dreams.  When we sit down and contemplate the changing weather, the growth potential, and the veritable expansion of our own resources, we tend to imagine gardens. Farms. Food production in a variety of levels – gardener or not. We just can’t help ourselves.

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Does Local Food "Enhance Community Cohesion?" Food Writer and Devil's Advocate James McWilliams Says No

 Food writer, fellow, professor, blogger, and locagrarian contrarianJames McWilliams:
Food writer, fellow, professor, blogger, and locagrarian contrarian
Community. It’s a name for the place where we live, but also for the social connections that we live among. In yesterday's post, it was a word used by two people on two occasions to describe the benefits of opening a new food co-op in the Orono/Long Lake area, and a new farmers market in Edina.

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A New Farmers Market and a New Co-op Make News for the New Year

There’s potentially good food news for two Twin Cities communities in 2010: a new farmer’s market and a new food co-op.

According to the Star Tribune, Edina may finally get its own farmer’s market, “if a proposal that's going to the Edina Park Board in January makes its way through city review processes in time.”

Strib reporter Mary Jane Smetanka writes, “The idea of adding an Edina farmers market came out of a two-year, $1.6 million grant that was received by Bloomington, Richfield and Edina. The Statewide Health Improvement Program grant came from the state health access fund, funded by a fee paid by health care providers. The money goes to activities that are aimed at promoting health.”

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What Gives? Tracy's Guide to Gift-Giving for the Simple Good and Tasty Shopper: Part Two

In the second installment of this gift guide – written while the beginnings of our first major snowfall are floating to the pavement – I thought it would be good to offer you some shopping alternatives that don’t necessarily separate you from your bunny slippers. Or your cup of hot Northwoods cocoa (see yesterday’s post).

I found some local Minnesota gifts that would be simple, good and tasty to give; they're all available online, and they all meet my shopping criteria, which I outlined in yesterday's post:

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Galactic Pizza Serves Pies With a Conscience

We've entered the period of summer when local produce gets so plentiful and bold that it almost becomes overwhelming. Farmers market tables bulge with color and are rivaled only by the swell of the crowds that flow between them. It's the pinnacle of the season for anyone that enjoys gastronomic adventures at home. I often find myself returning from a farmers market with bags full of vegetables and no idea how I’m going to use them all.

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Weekend Fun at the Mill City Market

I had a fun and educational time at the Mill City Farmers Market on Saturday, chatting it up with Marjorie Hegstrom, the Director of the Market. Arriving at the Market at 6:30 am - just before the first of several rain showers - I was able to watch as farmers and food artisans (who had arrived as early as 5:30 am) set up their shops in anticipation of the crowd. I was lucky to be there with Mette Nielsen, expert photographer and local food enthusiast, who took the pictures you see here.

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Fixing a Broken Food Distribution System

wired-foodSeems like every few days I'm approached by someone with a local food focused business idea. Distribution is broken! We need a year round farmers market! CSAs are not the answer! Here's what I say: Yes. I've seen King Corn, FRESH, The Future of Food, and others.

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