Switching to Gardening Mode

So, who's planning a garden for this year? After a year of lying fallow and enjoying the fruits of our membership in Open Hands Farm CSA, I am definitely itching to start some seeds and get my hands dirty in the garden this year.

The good folks over at Just Food Co-op in Northfield are offering some get-ready-to-garden classes in the next several weeks. The first class is tomorrow! Call them to register: 507-650-0106.

Full disclosure: Just Food has been a client at my place of employment, but as I've made clear before, I am a longtime member and supporter independently of that business connection.


Garden Fertility: How to Grow Good Soil
Tuesday, February 8, 6:30-8:30 p.m. in the Just Food Community Room
Cost: $15/$12 owners
Jennifer Nelson of Gardens of Eagan will expound on the importance of healthy soil. GOE's claim of "Dirt First!" is no empty slogan. An organic farmer's most important job is growing the soil. GOE will pass on some of their secrets for the benefit of your garden.

Pruning 101
Saturday, February 12, 2-4 p.m. at Thorn Crest Farm, 11885 Cabot Ave, Dundas
Cost: FREE
Come out to the orchard and learn how to prune apple trees and raspberry bushes. Gary Vosejpka, owner of Thorn Crest Farm, will give a hands-on demonstration of the techniques in the orchard and raspberry patch. Learn the appropriate time and basic skills necessary to prune for maximum production. Wear boots and dress for the weather. Expect deep snow out at the farm.

Ready, Set, Garden!
Saturday, February 19, 10 a.m.-12 p.m. in the Just Food Community Room
Cost: $15/12 owner
Sara Morrison, owner of The Backyard Grocery, will be discussing seed starting, companion planting and getting the most out of your backyard garden plot this season. This two-hour class will include instruction on choosing plant varieties, seed companies, seed starting equipment, planting mediums and seedling care, as well as ways to plan the garden so all inhabitants get along and thrive. The class will be a verdant mix of horticulture, history and general backyard garden fun. Be sure to bring your questions! www.thebackyardgrocery.com

Beginning Beekeeping
March 3, 7-8:30 p.m. in the Just Food Community Room
Cost: FREE
If you’ve thought about having your own backyard honey supply, this is for you. In addition to the culinary benefits of keeping bees you can help to increase the number of pollinators in our community. Find out what equipment you need, how to choose from the different kinds of bees, how to manage hives during the season, and whether to manage your bees organically. Learn about resources for classes, equipment, and beekeeping groups. Local farmer and beekeeper Chris Sullivan Kelley will share the basics of the apiculture trade.

Seasonal Eating Calendar
Tuesday, March 8, 6:30-8:30 p.m. in the Just Food Community Room
Cost: $15/$12 owners
Join Jennifer Nelson from Gardens of Eagan to learn how to plan your life around local, seasonal foods. Create your seasonal eating calendar of when and how to plan your garden, weekly menus, working with CSA deliveries, winter eating and more. With a little planning, your family can live a healthier, seasonal lifestyle while eating real, good food.

Call 507-650-0106 or stop by the store to reserve a space in these classes.

New Eat Local Post

I've just written about some of my favorite locally produced foods that are available at this time of year, on the Eat Local Just Food blog. The folks at Just Food Co-op are gearing up for the Winter Eat Local Challenge, taking place the first week of March. Participants aim to eat about 50% locally produced foods during the week -- and even in Minnesota in March they'll learn that that's not hard to do these days, which is part of the point of the challenge. Full disclosure: Just Food Co-op has recently been a client of the firm where I work and I've been very involved in that account, but my history of writing about local food issues, my involvement in their Eat Local blog, and my commitment to what Just Food stands for all predate any client relationship. Read my blog post here.

Interested in Local Food/Sustainable Ag? See "Fresh" Aug. 7

Received from Just Food Co-op (Full disclosure: Just Food is currently a client in my professional life, which I usually keep separate from this blog. Regular readers of Penelopedia will know that my support for the co-op and issues surrounding local food and sustainable agriculture long pre-dates any professional relationship with Just Food.)

“Fresh” Showing for One Night Only in Northfield

Food has been in the news a lot lately, from problems with our food system to the struggles of farmers. A new film called FRESH celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are reinventing our food system. Forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical vision of our food and our planet’s future. FRESH addresses an ethos that has been sweeping the nation and is a call to action America has been waiting for.

Just Food Co-op, the Northfield Arts Guild, and the Cannon River Sustainable Farming Association Chapter will be showing the film “Fresh” at the Northfield Arts Guild Theater at 411 West 3rd Street in Northfield on Friday, August 7 at 7 p.m. (doors open at 6:30 p.m. Please purchase your tickets in advance at Just Food Co-op to guarantee a seat).

The film will be followed by a lively panel discussion, moderated by local CSA farmer John Ostgarden. Panelists are Atina Diffley (Consultant, Organic FarmingWorks, and former farmer and co-founder of Gardens of Eagan), Matthew Fogarty (Executive Chef for Bon Appetit at St Olaf College. His crew serves 32,000 meals per week while fulfilling Bon Appetit's mission to provide fresh food grown sustainably, and purchased locally whenever possible), and Erica Zweifel (Northfield City Council Member, Third Ward). Tickets are $10 and are available at Just Food Co-op (516 Water St S, Northfield) or online at www.freshthemovie.com. Seating is limited, and we expect to sell out, so get your tickets early!

Producer Ana Joanes is a Swiss-born documentary filmmaker whose work addresses pressing social issues through character-driven narratives.

After traveling internationally to study the environmental and cultural impacts of globalization, she graduated from Columbia Law School in May 2000, awarded as a Stone Scholar and Human Rights Fellow. Thereafter, Ana created Reel Youth, a video production program for youth coming out of detention. In 2003, Ana and her friend Andrew Unger produced Generation Meds, a documentary exploring our fears and misgivings about mental illness and medication. FRESH is Ana’s second feature documentary.

Among several main characters, FRESH features:

Will Allen - 6ft 7” former professional basketball player Will Allen is now one of the most influential leaders of the food security & urban farming movement. His farm and not-for-profit, Growing Power, have trained and inspired people in every corner of the US to start growing food sustainably. This man and his organization go beyond growing food. They provide a platform for people to share knowledge and form relationships in order to develop alternatives to the industrial food system.
Joel Salatin- world-famous sustainable farmer and entrepreneur, made famous by Michael Pollan (also in the movie) - author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Joel Salatin writes in his website that he is “in the redemption business: healing the land, healing the food, healing the economy, and healing the culture.” By closely observing nature, Joel created a rotational grazing system that not only allows the land to heal but also allows the animals to behave the way the were meant to – as in expressing their “chicken-ness” or “pig-ness”, as Joel would say.
David Ball -supermarket owner, challenging our Wal-Mart dominated economy. With the rise of Wal-Mart and other big chains, David Ball saw his family-run supermarket dying, along with a once-thriving local farm community. So he reinvented his business, partnering with area farmers to sell locally-grown food and specialty food products at an affordable price. His plan has brought the local economy back to life.

FRESH empowers us to realize that our individual actions in fact do matter. Throughout the film we encounter the most inspiring people, ideas, and initiatives around the US. And thus, FRESH showcases real people first and foremost, connecting audiences not with facts and figures or apocalyptic policy analysis, but with personal stories of change.

Rhubarb and Asparagus Time

Spring is really here: white-throated sparrows have been heard, the grass needs mowing, the rhubarb is growing nicely (I have a nice, deeply red variety, as you can see in the photo), and fresh local asparagus from Lorence's Berry Farm is now available at the co-op -- and, one assumes, at Lorence's! Had an exalted dinner tonight of salmon and asparagus. Heaven! The canine and feline members of the household thought so too when they received tidbits of the salmon skin.

For more musings on oh-so-welcome spring foods, you might possibly want to pop over to my recent post, and others, on the Eat Local Just Food blog, where the pleasures of rhubarb, asparagus, and strawberry shortcake are discussed at greater length. Not that we have local strawberries quite yet, but it won't be too long now.

This Friday: Local Farmer Panel Discussion

Imagine grocery shopping in February and being surrounded by a wealth of locally produced foods! We're getting there, especially if you shop at the co-op, but we do have a way to go. How can we build the local foodshed so that more Minnesota food is available year-round? To (mostly) quote from the Eat Local: Just Food blog:

Hear from three larger local producers - Kadejan (free-range chicken), Whole Grain Milling Company (grains and awesome tortilla chips), and Cedar Summit Farm (milk and other dairy products) - as they talk about the challenges and importance of large-scale local farming. The panel will be moderated by local farmer David Hougen-Eitzman of Big Woods Farm.

Everyone is invited to this important free event- but PLEASE PREREGISTER ASAP. Spread the word, join your neighbors, and bring your questions for the panelists! We’ll have local cheeses to snack on during the panel.

Friday, March 6, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the Just Food Co-op Event Space (516 Water St. South, Northfield). Space is limited- Please call or stop in to reserve your seat.

I've almost finished reading Bill McKibben's wonderful book Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future, and with the messages of that book fresh in my mind I certainly plan to be there on Friday. This is such an important and exciting issue! If you're thinking of coming, please call the co-op at 507-650-0106 to let them know you'll be there.

New Post on Eat Local: Just Food

I have a new post on the Eat Local: Just Food blog about variations on the traditional potato-and-cabbage dish known in England as "bubble and squeak" -- a good option for a winter Eat Local supper.

Guest Blogger at Eat Local: Just Food

Along with several other Northfield-area local food advocates, I'll be contributing to the Eat Local: Just Food blog being launched this week by the Just Food Co-op to support the Winter Eat Local Challenge, coming up the second week in March. My first post, Getting What We Pay For, explores the idea that price is not always the most important thing to consider when shopping for food, and that putting our food dollars where our values are can be extremely satisfying.

Check out the blog, and consider participating in the Challenge, which encourages you to eat 50% of your food from the five-state area from March 7 to the 13th. The blog includes a helpful list of locally produced foods that are available now at the co-op.

Co-op Offers Vegetable Gardening and Wind Power Classes

Joey Robison of Just Food Co-op asked if I would help spread the word about these upcoming free classes at the Co-op (the first is tomorrow evening!). I am happy to do so. If you are thinking of starting a garden this year for the first time, or increasing the size or scope of your garden, or are wondering about the feasibility of adding a small wind turbine to your property, these sound as if they will be quite helpful. I heard Ben Doherty of Open Hands Farm speak a few weeks ago, and am sure that he will give an informative, accessible presentation.

Co-op Class: Gardening, Part 1- Plan your Garden
Thursday, Jan 22 2009 - 5:00pm - 7:00pm
Now's the time to begin planning your garden! Laura Frerichs, co-owner of Loon Organics, will discuss soil preparation, which plants can be direct seeded and which ones need to be transplanted, and how to schedule plantings throughout the season to maximize production. Held in the Just Food Event Space. Class is free, but preregistration is required at Just Food or by calling 507-650-0106.

Co-op Class: Small Wind Power
Monday, Jan 26 2009 - 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Ever wonder what it would take to power your home, business or farm with a wind turbine? Join instructor Dan Borek as he answers your questions about small wind power possibilities. Held in the Just Food Event Space, please preregister for this free class while you are at Just Food or by calling 507-650-0106.

Co-op Class: Gardening, Part 2- What to Plant?
Thursday, Jan 29 2009 - 5:00pm - 7:00pm
Erin Johnson and Ben Doherty of Open Hands Farm will lead a discussion on the different varieties available, what's new, and which varieties work well in our area and which don't. Held in the Just Food Event Space. This class is free, but please preregister at the front of the store or by calling 507-650-0106.

New on Penelopedia's Bookshelf... and a yummy snack

This Christmas Dave and I received two beautiful books from my daughters which I am delighted to add to that special bookcase where I keep books about nature, gardening, cooking, and eating locally... the bookcase that, in the end, was really the inspiration for the Penelopedia blog.

I'm not a WCCO listener, but those who are will, I understand, probably be familiar with Jim Gilbert, who hosts a weekly call-in show called Nature Notes. (You can subscribe to podcasts here -- look for Nature Notes about two-thirds of the way down the page -- and I plan to do that.)

Gilbert has taken years of his observations and those shared by his regular contributors and put together a substantial and beautifully illustrated paperback guide to Minnesota phenology called Jim Gilbert's Minnesota Nature Notes: what to look for, week by week throughout the year, with respect to birds, animals, flowers, foliage, crops, precipitation, temperatures, ice-out dates on the lakes, and much more. I love the little downward-tilting nuthatch perching on the "M" of Minnesota on the cover. I look forward to reading this book straight through and then returning to it again and again for reminders of what can be observed around us if we just take the time to notice.

The Farm to Table Cookbook: The Art of Eating Locally, by Ivy Manning, is a gorgeous hardcover that would look wonderful sitting on a coffee table. Organized seasonally, the book is intended to help those who buy what is fresh and in season and are looking for new and delicious ways to serve those early spring greens, wild mushrooms, orchard fruits or winter squash. As a winter meal, how about Twice Baked Irish Potatoes with Stout [as in Guinness] Onions & Kale?

Yet another treat on Christmas day was a snack I bought on a whim at Just Food co-op during its recent anniversary open house: Sing Buri Cashews with dried pineapple, peanuts, lemongrass and Chinese chili, from Sahale Snacks. To tell the truth, I had just about OD'd on nuts this holiday season, and my waistline shows it, but these brought a tangy, zingy, sweet, chewy new quality to rich but heart-healthy nuts, and the pouch is not so big that anyone will go too far overboard on them. Definitely recommended.

Eat Local Challenge, Day 1

The third annual, month-long, Just Food Co-op Eat Local Challenge got underway today. It's a fun way to be deliberate about supporting local food producers ("local" defined quite broadly to include anywhere in our five-state area) and enjoying the benefits, since these farmers can often grow varieties known more for their delicious qualities than for their ability to survive being trucked across the country, and they can pick and sell them when they are ripe and at their peak of flavor.

Knowing of my interest in eating more locally, Joey of the Just Food marketing staff invited me several weeks ago to submit an article on the subject for the Eat Local Challenge issue of their bimonthly newsletter, The ComPost. I was surprised and honored to discover that it ended up as the front page article. Longtime readers of Penelopedia will probably recognize some sections, reworked from previous blog posts.

Anyway, on this kick-off day of the Challenge I enjoyed:
Breakfast: a slice of my favorite toasted locally-baked "Just Bread" from the coop, topped with some Wisconsin cheddar cheese and slices of the first large tomato I've picked from my garden. Normally I would have had peanut butter rather than cheese and tomatoes for breakfast, but this was a nod to Day 1 of the Challenge.
Lunch: a small salad made with garden cucumbers and cherry tomatoes plus some California carrots. Also a slice of Papa Murphy's pizza left over from a couple of nights ago. I can't tell you anything about how local Papa Murphy's ingredients are, except that it's reasonably likely that at least the cheese is relatively local. Also, if it's already in my fridge, it counts as local enough!
Dinner: a Thousand Hills Cattle Co. hamburger on a bakery bun with fresh, utterly beautiful and delicious sweet corn from the Grisim's stand at 7th and Water, and a couple of garden cherry tomatoes. Plus some Kemps ice cream, which is probably sufficiently local (see earlier posts I've written about most regional brands of dairy products using milk from Wisconsin or Minnesota).

Whether or not you feel moved to participate in a formal or informal Eat Local Challenge, this is a wonderful time of year to patronize local produce stands, the farmers' market, and the co-op. Enjoy the flavors of the season.

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.

Just Food's Winter Eat Local Challenge & CSA Day

Northfield's Just Food Co-op is sponsoring its first-ever Winter Eat Local Challenge, March 3-9:

Even during the winter, there is a plethora of delicious ingredients produced locally. You can eat local in the winter too, and there's no better time to try than the Winter Eat Local Challenge! From March 3rd to March 9th Just Food Co-op challenges you to eat 50% of your diet from the 5-state area.

...Visit the store each day of the challenge from 4-6 p.m. and Sunday from 11-2 and meet one of our local farmers tabling in the aisles!

On their website, and available in print form at the store's entrance, is a week's worth of menus for local meals put together by Just Food's Deli Manager, Kirsten Lindquist, and an aisle-by-aisle shopping list for ingredients needed to prepare those meals. The shopping list could also give you great ideas for your own local meals.

Local foods (defined for the purposes of this challenge as grown or produced in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota or North Dakota) currently available at the co-op include:

• dairy products: milk, cream, yogurt, cheese, sour cream, butter
  
• eggs
  
• grains
• beans
  
• pasta
• cereal
• tortillas
• salsa
• corn chips
• beef
• ham
• chicken
• bread
• jam
• cereal
• maple syrup
• potatoes
• mushrooms
• hydroponic lettuce
• sprouts
• and a variety of frozen fruits and vegetables, and other frozen foods

Just Food's e-mail news today also announces CSA Day on Saturday, March 8:

From 11-2 on Saturday at Just Food you can meet MORE local farmers -- our local Community Supported Agriculture farmers! Stop in to chat with them about their farming practices, what they grow, and how much a share costs. Then if you’d like you can purchase a share and begin to look forward to the weekly baskets of fresh vegetables picked for you throughout the growing season!

My family has been a member of a couple of different CSAs at various times over the past dozen years or so. Some weeks, especially when corn and tomatoes and potatoes and green beans and basil were in season, we felt we were in heaven. Other weeks, especially when the bag was full of beets and dark greens, we had a bit of a job to use up what we brought home. If you're not used to eating a lot, or a wide variety, of vegetables it can require some dedication to make good use of every weekly delivery, but you could consider sharing a membership with another individual, couple or family if you'd like to try it out. Some CSAs may also offer half-shares. You'll know your produce is the freshest possible and that you're doing something healthy both for yourself and for your local farmer.

Kudos to Just Food, both for offering plenty of produce and other products from local farmers, as well as for encouraging people to shop at the farmers' market and join CSAs.

We're Lucky to Have a Co-op!

Last night at Just Food Co-op a few of us sat around talking about Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Kingsolver and her family spent a year growing their own food or trying as much as possible to purchase it from local producers. She mentions her local farmers' market as one great source, and clearly enjoyed getting to know the people she was buying her food from. But she didn't mention having a local co-op.

People all over the U.S. are excited about the notion of eating more locally -- to lessen the fuel burden of cross-country food transportation, to enjoy a sense of connection, season and place in relation to their food, and so on -- but in many areas it seems people depend on searching out and going directly to farmers to find their local products. Not that there's anything wrong with that itself, but it can take more energy and dedication than most of us have to seek out these local producers and buy from them individually. It makes it much easier when a local store or market, like Just Food, does that research and legwork and brings a variety of local foods to one easy location -- and provides a place where those local producers can sell their products, helping them stay in business.

We're lucky to live in one of the areas (MN-WI) where co-ops are most prevalent. I hadn't realized that in some regions they are not at all common. We're also fortunate that Just Food has a real commitment to supporting local farmers and producers, since some co-ops and natural food stores, while focusing on organically grown food, don't (yet) make local food a priority.

On another locavore blog, people were recently discussing how they find the local food they eat, and the fact that it can be quite difficult. Here's what I wrote:

I foresee that our local co-op will be my major source of local food throughout the winter, though our little farmers' market, which closes regular operations about now, does offer an occasional indoor winter market. The co-op is pretty committed to supporting local providers, so if there is something reasonable I'm looking for that they don't have in stock, I imagine they would have a good network for tracking it down, if it's available. If they weren't here, it would be a very different story. I "heart" my co-op!

And I do!

Discussion of "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" at Just Food tonight

Barbara Kingsolver's 2007 book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, about her family's year of eating almost entirely from their own garden and local suppliers (and the associated joys of eating fresh food in season and raising an heirloom breed of turkeys), will be the topic of discussion at Just Food Co-op's book group tonight at 7 p.m. in the co-op's community room. The event is free and open to the public. This book changed the way I think about the food we eat and the way our culture relates to food.

Cornucopia of Local Goodies

This morning I stopped by one of the final farmers markets of the year. A few last hardy souls were there with their trucks, selling squashes (a wonderful variety), broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, salad greens, pies, jellies, eggs, flowers, and ornamental corn.

The morning's takings made a still-life worthy of capturing. Note the beautiful French heirloom squash at the right, looking like a pale pumpkin. The grower said her pumpkins had rotted from all the rain, but these had flourished, and would last well. Note also the deep purple cauliflower just behind the cabbage. The eggs were apparently from assorted breeds of hen; the white ones are actually a very pale blue. Also included here are Native Harvest maple syrup and bread I picked up at Just Food. The syrup (a must to go with baked squash, in my mind) is from the White Earth Indian Reservation's land recovery project, and the bread is a new variety from Brick Oven, baked especially for Just Food -- and called Just Bread.

It's a multi-grain bread made with all organic grains and local honey. I made a peanut butter sandwich with it after shopping, and ate it with a local Honey Crisp apple. Yum.

Become a Just Food Owner-Member

Since it opened nearly three years ago, Just Food Co-op has held a special place in the hearts of Northfield-area residents who value access to locally produced food and to organic, natural and/or bulk foods and personal care and household products. It's also a great place for people who simply appreciate top-quality food, from artisanal cheeses to fine olives to the freshest produce and dairy products.

If you shop at Just Food, appreciate their presence in the community, and are not yet an owner-member, consider this a personal invitation to become one. It's a great way to help ensure the co-op's financial stability, which not only benefits you as a shopper but also supports the local farmers and other food producers who provide much of the co-op's produce and other fresh food.

It's not like the '70s and '80s, when co-op membership meant store discounts in exchange for actually working at the store a few hours a month. The way it works now is that you simply purchase shares in the co-op. In exchange -- on top of the satisfaction of supporting a store that you value -- you get case discounts, member specials, voting rights at the annual meeting, a monthly newsletter, and more. Visit www.justfood.coop and click on Membership to find out more. There is a downloadable membership application, which you can fill out and bring into the store. The application form outlines options for paying the $125 cost in a single payment or in quarterly payments over the course of a year, which makes the cost quite manageable even to those on a tight income. You may also opt to give a gift membership.

I borrowed the image at the top of this post from a website, The Northfield Food System, I stumbled upon recently that reports on three major Northfield food suppliers from the perspective, at least in part, of their support for local food producers. It appears to have been an Environmental Studies course project by St. Olaf College student Jason Hendricks. The introduction concludes:

With farm bought foods giving way to frozen foods, the average consumer cannot help but lose their sense of place in the food system. It is no longer apparent where your food was grown and what was put into it. This web page will seek to discover how Northfield has responded to the loss of its rural identity, and whether a sense of locality has been retained through its food system.

As you'll see, Just Food emerges as the hero in this particular story. If you're looking for a sense of place in the food system, Just Food is where you'll find it in Northfield (along with the farmers market, of course). I encourage you to give it your support.

Harvest Festival this Saturday 12-4

Just Food Coop is holding a Harvest Festival, open to all, this Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. Their notice about the event announces:

Attendees can enjoy the live music of Bill McGrath & Ed Frost, Ozark Asher & Ann, Multe, and the Artech African Drummers. Tasty and free local food samples will be available, including Thousand Hills beef, Lofton Ridge bison, Brick Oven bread, Pastureland cheese and butter, Angie's Kettle Corn, Open Hands Farm soup, and more. Plus, visit with other local farmers whose products you can find at Just Food.

Other activities not to be missed include henna tattooing by the Northfield Union of Youth, a composting information table, the chance to reserve your plot in the Northfield Community Gardens for next year, and a kid's table where kids of all ages can get crafty!

I plan to be there!

The Eat Local Challenge

Just Food Co-op has announced details of the Northfield-area Eat Local challenge:

"The challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to eat 80 percent of your diet from food produced within the region from August 15 through September 15. That includes fruits, vegetables, meats, eggs, milk, ice cream, yogurt, cheeses, bread and anything else produced within the five-state region....

How you divide your percentages is up to you. You may want to measure your 80 percent by product weight or by your food budget. The easiest way might be to make sure four out of five of the items you eat or the ingredients you use are from local sources. No matter which way you do it, your meals will be supporting the local economy, protecting the environment and connecting you with the food and farmers of our region. They may even give you ideas for how to eat more locally during the less productive times of the year.

If you eat mostly local food already, perhaps you could try to eat 100 percent of your food from local sources. Or you may want to eat only foods grown or produced within 60 miles (labeled at Just Food with a green “local” tag). Intimidated by 80%? Try for 50%. We encourage you to challenge yourself."