Silkey Gardens Strawberries

Among the local foods I've purchased at the co-op lately are Silkey Gardens strawberries. (Check the "Local Foods Recently in My Kitchen" sidebar item for others.) They were marked as Minnesota Grown, but I wasn't familiar with the name so I checked out their website and their listing with the state department of agriculture's Minnesota Grown directory. Turns out they are about as local as you can get -- they are right down the road on 115th St., technically still in Northfield, adjacent to Dundas. Their Ag department description reads:

A family owned small fruit farm and orchard offering pick-your-own and pre-picked strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, apples and more.

Their website notes that they are just in their third year of production, and so far strawberries are the main crop, though they will have limited quantities of blueberries and raspberries and hope to expand their offerings of these and the other fruit mentioned above as their plantings mature. Pick-your-own hours are most days 6-11:30 a.m. and 6-8 p.m., but they ask pickers to call for current conditions before coming out (the number is 507-645-4158).

I've eaten my way through my first quart of Silkey Gardens strawberries the last several mornings, and bought another today. I've not had a good track record of eating enough fruit and vegetables -- especially fruit -- in recent months. I'm trying harder (and finding the food tracker at MyPyramid.gov to be a useful tool to help make sure I eat a more balanced diet). Local strawberry season makes it easy to change my ways.

Recipe for a very pleasant breakfast:

• One slice of Just Bread multigrain bread made by Brick Oven for Just Food co-op, spread with...
  
• chunky natural peanut butter (I definitely go for the with-salt kind and the chunkier the better), accompanied by...
  
• 5-10 ripe strawberries, plus...
  
• half a glass of orange juice, and
  
• tea or coffee
  

On another local-foods note, I have been invited to write an article about eating locally for the next issue of ComPost, Just Food's member publication (also, I'm sure, available at the store), which will highlight the annual summer Eat Local challenge. Watch for it in a few weeks.