Minnesota

The Sustainable Passover Seder

I had a blast at my good friends' Passover Seder last night. Awesome people, an exciting story ("Let my people go!" Moses demands each year), and terrific food. My wife and I made the matzo ball soup again this year, this time a more local, organic version - free range chickens, organic chicken broth, home-made matzo balls (with locally raised cage-free eggs, all from The Wedge Co-op) - and even the kids asked for more.

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Whole Foods Up Close: Local, Organic Values (Part 1 of 3)

whole-foods-4-renee-howard

About a month ago, I went to the Minneapolis Whole Foods Market looking for local meat. I’ve been a Minnesotan long enough to know that our produce choices are severely limited in the winter months, but I figured there’d be plenty of local pork and beef to bring home. Turns out I was wrong - there was almost none. I left Whole Foods confused and surprised, and I left them a note. The next day, Renee Howard sent me an email.

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Thousand Hills Cattle Company: Grass Feed, Midwestern Beef

One of my favorite things about writing the Simple, Good, and Tasty blog so far is that I get to share information about people and companies that are working hard to do something good for themselves, their families, and their communities.

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Bryant Lake Bowl Serves Up Sustainable Food

Bryant Lake Bowl is unlike any other place I've been. The front of the place is a bar/restaurant with a terrific beer list (including local favorite Surly and several Belgian beers) and some of the best tofu and egg scrambles in town.

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The Every Kitchen Table Blog: Why CSAs Aren't Enough

Some of my favorite writing on the topic of local, sustainable food these days comes from Rob Smart in Vermont, whose Every Kitchen Table blog (and Twitter posts) cite some of my favorites (Michael Pollan, Eric Schlosser) as inspirations. Smart's March 27 post, explaining the downside of the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model, is especially good.

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Local Coffee Beans - in Minnesota

Today's Star Tribune reports that John and Maggie Torsvald of Dawson, Minnesota (about 50 miles west of Montevideo) have been growing coffee on their organic farm for more than 30 years. From the Star Tribune:

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Tour de Farm: Great Chefs on Location at MN Farms

tour-de-farm-farmThanks to Hidden Stream Farm's mailing letter, I just got wind of Tour de Farm, which is the new way I'm thinking of organizing my summer.

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Choosing a CSA

CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) provide opportunities for people to eat locally, the get the kinds of foods you would normally find at local farmers markets, and to take part in the agricultural process. Most CSAs require some sort of ongoing commitment, such as a monthly fee in exchange for a weekly box of locally grown vegetables. Depending on where you live, the weekly box may include a wide assortment of mostly-root vegetables (kale, cabbage, squash, turnips in Minnesota, for example) or of anything else grown on a particular farm, in a particular climate. Many CSAs encourage their members to work at the farm for a day or more, to better understand the farming process and to get closer to local, sustainable food. Some require it. When I tell friends that I recently joined the Harmony Valley Farm CSA, they often start asking questions. Why did I join it? Am I concerned about the cost?

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