Community Supported Agriculture

Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA's, are local farms that produce food for members that pay for a share of the farm products. The farms can offer anything from just straight vegetables to fruit, cheese, meat, soaps, or anything in between. Shares are picked up at set locations, or at the farms themselves, on a weekly, semi-weekly or monthly basis.

I've talked of my CSA so much I often get questions about what it is and how to find one. I'll provide a couple of great links below to resources or farms themselves, but first I'd like to address the most common questions.

How much food do you get? It depends. I choose an every other week share and I get 2 pretty hefty boxfulls a month. You can pick every week, or you can also share a weekly with another person or family. I have a family of 5 and find that we can either eat or freeze what we get with no problem and usually don't have to stop at the store in between.

What kinds of food do you get? The food is seasonal based upon what is growing or being harvested at that time. If you are not familiar with what is in season, the Minnesota Grown website has a produce availability calendar that can tell you. If you like many types of food, or you are open and willing to try different things, you will probably enjoy the variety in the CSA. I know mine also offers many recipes to coincide with the food so I know how to cook it. I've been pleasantly surprised to try new things (I still rave about the baby white turnips with greens, bacon and balsamic viniagrette!)

What is the biggest difference between a CSA and what you get at the grocery store?
Namely, variety. The grocery store will ship in food from around the world to provide things that the majority of people want - your basic foods like iceberg lettuce, cucumbers and apples - year round. The CSA will give you what is available in your climate at the specific time of year it is available. The upside is there is way more variety. Things you probably never knew existed. Hong Tsai Tai, Rainbow Chard, sweet baby Peppers, Fennel, Beauty Heart Radishes. We even got baby dwarf cantaloupes that tasted somewhat like oranges.

I have to say that last year I ate way more vegetables - both in volume and in variety - than I ever had before. My kids tried new things and learned they liked them (spinach!). I didn't analyze it but I believe my grocery bill stayed the same. I just stopped buying vegetables (and fruits and cheese) from the grocery store and got them from the CSA instead. The other upside is that I knew I had fresh, organic, quality food with flavor that we've all been missing.

So, what are you waiting for? Here are some great links to get you started.

Minnesota Grown Website (in addition to the seasonal calendar has links to CSA's)
Local Harvest (nationwide directory of CSA's)
Harmony Valley Farms (the CSA I use)

Tips for buying local

While searching the blog world I found a great little blog called Married to the Farm. The author, Jena is from Michigan but I loved her Tips for Buying Local. Thanks Jena!
I also read some disturbing news about McDonalds that will ensure that I won't be going there again, not that I went there much in the first place.

On another more local note, it was deer hunting opener in Minnesota this past weekend. While never a big fan of hunting, I have gained a new appreciation in recent years. My understanding is that there are only so many days to hunt and they are pretty limited. There are only so many tags that can be had (limits, so to speak) and that there are, in essence, more humane ways of hunting.
Last year my husband went hunting for the first time. Not really being a fan himself, he wants to ensure that the deer doesn't suffer and is not hunted needlessly. Frankly, I'm guessing that the whole process that most sincere hunters practice is a lot more humane than what happens to most cattle at many of the large scale corporate farms that exist.
To top it off, I try to adhere to what the Native Americans did for so long when they were the only ones on this land. I give thanks and gratitude for the deer that sacrificed it's life for my family to have food.

Go loco, er, local

So far I've written a lot about food (one of my favorite topics as many of you know) but I want to include other items as well, such as clothing, household products, really anything that you might spend money on.
The best place to start is local stores. Back in the day (which day? I'm not totally sure) all stores were locally owned. No big box chain MegaMart with $1 items made in China. Now I do realize these stores do have some positive aspects. I'd just like there to be a happy medium.
I live in a relatively small town, about 25,000. We have a quaint, historic downtown area with a great history. There are stores downtown that have been in families for generations. The problem is we are becoming a "bedroom" town - one where people only go home to sleep - and they work and shop and have fun elsewhere. Most people in my town barely know we have a downtown.
Explore your town or neighborhood! You never know what fabulous gems you may find!
Here is just a taste of what I've experienced in this town over the last 7 years:

• A coffee shop that didn't take credit cards. I forgot cash one day and they owner let me come back the next day to pay - no questions asked.
• A downtown business group fundraiser with some amazing deals at their silent auction.
• Antiques stores with just about anything you could want, and then some. Last week I bought a locally hand made repurposed wool sweater for my daughter that was adorable!
• A yoga student of mine who gave me all her old canning jars and wouldn't take money for it.
• An amazing photographer that no longer charges me sitting fees because I've given or referred her so much business.
• An e-mail to save a great local restaurant.
• A bank where the employees know me by name and I don't need to show ID
• A small hardware store that often has things that Home Depot doesn't with amazing customer service.
  

This is just a sampling of what I've experienced. When you buy chain store you may appear to get consistency or better prices or more selection but I encourage you to explore the alternative. When I go to the small store that is locally owned I can often meet and deal with the owner. They can negotiate or bargain with me, they can custom order for me, they can recommend for me. When I spend money I like knowing that it goes not only to support the person working there, but also the owner and his/her family who also live in the community. And if the product also comes from my community, that is a true home run.

This pumpkin could make some serious pie

This past weekend I made a most fabulous Maple Glazed Pumpkin Cake. It was quite impressive partly because it was a gluten free/wheat free/dairy free cake (I made it for friends that follow that type of diet) and also impressive because it was the moistest cake I think I've ever had.
I casually mentioned that I made it with pumpkin I had left in the freezer from last season. They joked, "you mean not pumpkin from a can?" and "you mean pumpkin comes some other way than in a can?". Seriously, you are missing out if you've never actually had fresh pumpkin. It is a variety of squash and can be cooked like most other winter squash. The only problem is it's size. You will see, however, that there are generally separate types of pumpkin sold - for carving/decorating and for cooking (the cooking ones are much smaller). I usually cut it down in to small parts, cut the seeds and the rind off and then steam in batches in my steamer over a pot of boiling water. I then puree it in the food processor and freeze for pie, cake, bread, muffins and more.
Which brings me to the local part. It is pumpkin season and at least in our part of the world you can even drive by patches in random spots (across the street from an airport??). Very near us in Shakopee is Peter's Pumpkins, Seever's (they have a great corn maze and I believe the patch by the aforementioned airport. The only other one I've been to is in Bemidji at the Lazy Acres Farm, which also has a corn maze. This time of year many of the apple orchards sell pumpkins, and the pumpkin patches have corn mazes so you can get apples, pumpkins and some entertainment too. If you have a great pumpkin patch or maze I'd love to hear about it!

Apple Picking

Apple season here in southern Minnesota begins in August. One of my favorites in the southern metro is Minnesota Harvest Apple Orchard. They've got a great website that details each of the varieties they grow, their seasons, their best uses and more. I found it incredibly helpful to review before I went. I think they're easy to find and are set up well - easy to park, very regular wagon rides to the trees, helpful handouts on picking and lots of helpful people. They also have horse back riding, if you are so inclined.

Emma Krumbees is probably a little more well known. It's a little further down the road but they have a larger full service restaurant and store. When we were there we didn't actually pick apples (although we bought some), we took advantage of their other offerings - a Scarecrow festival, pumpkin picking and tractor/hay rides. We did also have lunch at the restaurant.

One of my friends goes to Deardorff Orchards in Waconia. They have 100 acres and 5000 trees with 15 varieties. yum.

Since apple season is in full swing around here, you can find an orchard near you on the Minnesota Grown's website. They have a great apple quick list.

Well, I'm off to the store to buy the food stand attachment part for my KitchenAid mixer. I'll need that to make my applesauce. Crabapples are great for making homemade applesauce. I have to admit it is really easy if you have a food strainer and nothing beats the smell of cooked apples throughout your house (it's a smell better than baking an apple pie!). Yum.

Minnesota Homegrown

Recently while at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, my aunt Caroline was gracious enough to buy me the Minnesota Homegrown Cookbook. Part of my inspiration for writing this blog came from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and part came from this cookbook. The cookbook features restaurants and they farmers they partner with to bring fabulous local food to the table in communities throughout the state.
I love it because it's recipes feature foods unique or popular in our region, such as wild rice, bison and walleye. I also enjoy trying new recipes for foods that we get in abundance during certain seasons - rhubarb and zucchini specifically. There are also heritage or nostalgic recipes, those celebrating the various nationalities that populated our state. Linzer Tart, Norwegian Rommegrot Cream Pudding, and Corn Posole Bison Stew.
So far I've made Strawberry Rhubarb Muffins - they were light and moist, and a Beet Salad that was delicious. Tomorrow I plan to make the Wild Rice Zucchini Pancakes.
Additionally, there is a resources section at the back of the book to find some of the products available making it easy to find local products. I'll be featuring some of those resources in the coming weeks.
Bon Appetit!

Let's get started!

I don't even know where to begin! There are so many great things being offered in our area. Since my goal is to be able to not only share information on what's available, but to also offer firsthand experience with products and services, I'm going to begin with soap.
I am a really picky soap user. Frankly, most soaps (even many natural soaps) bother my skin. I used to really like Avalon Organics lemon verbena soap, and so of course, they stopped making it. I also found a lemon soap I like at Trader Joe's. We only have 2 of those in Minnesota (St. Louis Park and Maple Grove), neither of which is terribly convenient for me in Shakopee. What we do have is Blue Heron Soap.
Made right here in Shakopee, they make soap out of all natural, non-animal ingredients using a "time-intensive cold pour method". I'm not sure what that is, but I like it. I'm also quite fond of things that smell great in a subtle, natural way. Not the overwhelming, choking way of most commercial hygiene products. I'm usually partial to lemon soap (it helps me wake up in the morning) but I really love their oatmeal-almond soap. It cleans and exfoliates! I know you can buy off their website and if you happen to go to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival they are usually there handing out samples.
Another soap company I've recently noticed is All Things Herbal, located a little further north, near Brainerd, in Pequot Lakes. While I haven't used the soap yet, I just saw (and smelled) it at the store at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chanhassen. They also use only plant based oils and is crafted and cut by hand.