Organic Food

We've got just a few reservations still open for this Sunday's local food event at Spoonriver. If you've been to a Simple, Good, and Tasty event before, you know that the food is just part of the fun (here are a few pictures from our last event at Lucia's). Still, the food is an important part. Here's a sneak peek at the menu:

Star Tribune Photo by Kyndell HariknessMy family and I (pictured above) are happy and amused to have been featured in a Star Tribune article by Julie Pfitzinger this weekend entitled "Eat Well, Be Well." Most people who know us don't think of us as the world's healthiest family, although this quote from the article is certainly true:

Providing natural, fresh, organic and local foods has been at the core of Mississippi Market Co-op’s offering since they opened their first store in 1979. This past weekend, the market celebrated their 30th anniversary and an official grand opening at their newly opened West 7th Street store in St. Paul. It was also Annual Meeting time for the market’s 9,000-plus cooperative owners and the event brought together members, a distinguished speaker panel, and the co-op leadership to talk about the future of co-ops and how Mississippi Market can lead the way.

Every Tuesday morning, the supplier, under cover of pre-dawn darkness, packs up his truck in rural Minnesota to make his weekly delivery. His drop-off site is a nondescript, middle-class home in a Minneapolis suburb, where his regular customers begin to converge around 8:00 a.m. They drive up, park, pick up their orders, leave cash, then return to their everyday lives.

What they’re doing is illegal, but the contraband isn’t cocaine, krugerrands or even Cuban cigars.

It’s milk. Straight from the cow. Whole, non-pasteurized, non-homogenized, non-industrialized, raw milk.

I can't remember an event I've been as excited about as the one I'm co-hosting with Lucia Watson this Sunday, 10/11. The Twin Cities' first official "Know Your Farmer" event, fittingly held at Lucia's, is a chance to meet - and eat with - some of the best, most interesting farmers in our state. Even better, Lucia has designed a menu entrely from the foods these farmers have produced.

Here's a video of New York Times food writer Mark Bittman speaking at the TED conference in 2008. Mark is as compelling a speaker as he is a writer. And I can't think of another time someone used the phrase "cow farts" in a presentation and it wasn't even a little bit funny. Here's what the good folks at TED wrote by way of introduction:

In this fiery and funny talk, New York Times food writer Mark Bittman weighs in on what's wrong with the way we eat now (too much meat, too few plants; too much fast food, too little home cooking), and why it's putting the entire planet at risk.

Take a look:

Last May, in my family's backyard garden, we planted five varieties of tomatoes, three varieties of lettuce, plus fennel, squash, cucumbers, beets and onions. Oh, and one pumpkin seed that our daughter found on the floor of her first-grade classroom.

The first thing to ripen, the lettuce, was fantastic. The cool weather was perfect for nurturing those tender leaves. But the tomatoes were a major disappointment; not enough heat and humidity for them. And neither the fennel, the squash, the cucumbers or the onions had a great year. The beets, the last I saw of them, were just one day away from being picked when some nighttime visitor – a raccoon? an opossum? – got to them first.

Is it possible to miss a bag of mixed salad greens? We've been getting them from our Harmony Valley Farmshare like clockwork, but this week, we're bag-o-mixed-salad free (fortunately, we've still got a bag of spinach). I'm totally okay with that, mostly because I've been eating tomatoes like a crazy person, thickly layered on my hummus sandwich nearly every day for lunch. I've also taking to grilling just about everything that comes, including cauliflower, which is fantastic with olive oil, black pepper, and sea salt. I haven't tried my celeriac yet, but I'm hoping to this week, especially now that I know I can grate it and fry it up like a potato pancake.

The list of things in my life that happen according to schedule is a pretty short one. Haircuts? Maybe you get them every 6-8 weeks, but I haven't been to a barber - much less a hairdresser - in more than 10 years. I just shave my head when the spirit moves me (see my picture for evidence). Housework? I wish - in my house, we're more likely to clean like crazy people just before guests come over (or when there's something sticky on the floor) than we are to pick a weekly time.

Satellite image of the Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone, courtesy of Phytoplankton Dynamics Laboratory, Texas A+M University

Every time I take a bite, I can’t help but remember two of the biggest ecological challenges we face. Both are caused directly by agricultural practices. Both are driven by the U.S. appetite for cheap food, and lots of it. Here they are:

1. Factory farming degrades the oceans.

What more I say? Last night's pig roast and potluck at Boom Island Park in Minneapolis was awesome. As in, I'm still in awe of the event. The night was really perfect - fantastic weather, delicious sustainable and organic food,and truly amazing people - about 150 of us!

Lucia's Restaurant at NightWho is your farmer?

Most people know their hairdresser, insurance agent, doctor and many others, but few today know their farmer, perhaps the most important person in their lives. Knowing your farmer can change your health, your approach to cooking, your respect for food, your stewardship of the earth and even your social and political circle. This dinner will introduce you to 12 different farmers and producers.

I didn't know what to expect at the Minnesota Cooks stage, located outdoors at the Minnesota State Fair's Carousel Park, but I was pleasantly surprised at every turn.

Michael Pollan, Mark Bittman, and many others have given sustainable foodies reason after reason to advocate for reform of the food system and local food in the US. Their work is incredibly well-researched and poignantly written. I stumbled upon another good reason to support food system reform from a lesser known source a few weekends ago. I was at the Bancroft, Wisconsin, VFW for a family reunion listening to my dad and his cousins reminisce about their Uncle Ralph. Ralph was a dairy farmer in central Wisconsin who was rather fond of asking, “If a fly won’t land on it, why would I want to eat it?” Good question! The fact that I don’t have a good answer means that the effort it takes to eat real, local, and sustainable food is well worth it.

Check out this quote from President Obama's interactive health care strategy meeting yesterday (via The Huffington Post):

This 6 minute video, filmed in 2007, features the terrific Nina Planck describing her relationship with food, the science behind dietary advice, and why it's better to eat real food than poor imitations. Planck is practical and personable. I'm a big fan of her approach.

My kitchen counter, covered with this week's farmshare bountyWhat am I going to do with all of this stuff? It's taking over my kitchen! My fridge is still nearly full from last week's Harmony Valley vegetables! My fruit share includes an entire bag full of apricots! I've been eating salad greens and sautee mix non-stop for weeks! I don't know if I can eat another basil vinaigrette.

It's pretty hard not to be inspired by Fred Haberman. Although he apologizes profusely - and repeatedly - during our lunch for being exhausted ("I was at the farm before 5 this morning," he says, "I'm starting to feel dizzy"), Fred is articulate and passionate as he describes Haberman's company sponsored organic farm.

Last Sunday, my family and I (and a few friends) took the opportunity to visit the Kingfield Farmers Market in South Minneapolis. It's been ages since I've been there, but pretty much everyone I know raves about it. It's easy to see why.

I had the great pleasure to meet with Amanda Simpson, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty’s Residence Manager, and Brian McClung, Governor Pawlenty’s Director of Communications, last week. Over the course of an hour, our far-reaching conversation centered on the role of local food at the Residence, also (briefly) touching on Minnesota food policy and what’s to come. (I even got a tour of the garden.) Amanda and Brian were refreshingly candid, and I was glad to meet them and see their work first-hand.

I've written glowingly about the past about A Backyard Farm, a company started by Joan James and Coleen Gregor this summer to help people construct, start, and farm raised beds on their own yards (You can read my previous post on A Backyard Farm here), so I decided it's time to update you on our garden's progress, and our experience with Joan and Coleen. Here goes:

What a fun night we had at the Red Stag Supper Club in Minneapolis! The room was gorgeous, the food was superb, and the company was best of all. The photos, taken by my friend, fellow foodie, and excellent blogger Kate Sommers of Les Petites Images, tell the story way better than I can.

We're happy to introduce Ben Solberg, our newest writer and photographer. This is his first article for Simple, Good, and Tasty.

Here goes - words and picture straight from the Harmony Valley Farm newsletter:

Ah, I just love our Minnesota weather. One minute it’s 85 and humid, and the next thing you know it’s mid-60s and feels like fall. This past weekend was one of those sweatshirt-craving, appetite-confusing weekends at the market. My brain was saying summer but my mouth was pleading for stew. Lucky for me, the St. Paul Farmer's Market is in full swing and I can appease my fickle palate in all sorts of ways.

By now, many of you know the drill; here's what's coming from my Harmony Valley CSA this week. The following list, hints, and information, and photo is provided by Harmony Valley Farm, but the recipes - oh, the recipes will come from you, I hope!

From the Mississippi Market website:

MISSISSIPPI MARKET TO OPEN NEW ST. PAUL LOCATION TODAY

Located on West Seventh, new store is double the size of Randolph location; includes new full-service deli with juice bar, hot bar and salad bar, plus indoor and outdoor seating; and is built with eco-friendly features to LEED-Gold standards

Mayor Chris Coleman to speak at opening day Peace Pole dedication ceremony on Thursday, July 16 at 10 a.m.

I received this letter from Susan Berkson, longtime environmental health advocate and co-host of "Fresh & Local" (on AM950, Saturdays, 8 am), in response to my question regarding her role at the Minneapolis Farmers Market, and whether the market is misunderstood within the local community. I liked the letter so much I decided to publish it, with Susan’s permission, of course.

My role is busybody. Not really. Bless the market, they asked me to host their new radio show and I said, Yes, and. Yes, I will host and I want to do social media and help with x, y, and z. So here I am.

I recently had a chance to help the great team at Riverbend Farm in Delano, MN pick and pack their weekly CSA/farmshare harvest (they produce 80 shares each week). Riverbend is a terrific, well-respected farm, which provides foods to many local Twin Cities restaurants, including the Birchwood Cafe, Common Roots, Corner Table, and many others. Here are the photos I took, along with a few notes from the day.

This is an excerpt of an article I wrote for Live Green Twin Cities. To read the entire article, click here.

How is it that we ran out of nearly everything this week? I'll admit that the amaranth wilted before we had a chance to try it (entirely our fault), but we enjoyed all sorts of salads, veggie skewers, and other fine meals this week (my wife added chard, breadcrumbs, and locally-raised bacon to our pasta tonight and it was fantastic), even eating our way through our entire fruit share.

This is an excerpt from the full article “Local D’lish aims to be the cream of the crop” published by Live Green Twin Cities on June 30, 2009.

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.