Profile 100: A success Story! originally published in Hometown Focus

Did you know that Natural Harvest Food Coop was born in the basement of Mesabi Unitarian Universalist Church?

In the early-to-mid-seventies, a health-conscious group of Iron Rangers met regularly in the basement of Mesabi UU church in Virginia to put together a bulk order for whole grains and natural peanut butter and other healthy stuff. They called in their order to Duluthian Arno Kahn who ran a wholesale collective called Common Health Warehouse that served co-ops. He would deliver the next week and the group would meet again to divide up the bulk delivery into individual orders. Some of the local folks involved in what was known as the East Range Food Buying Club were Susan Helland, Lennie and Tom Rukavina, Deb and Paul Monacelli, Dean Johnston, Ann and Butch Folman and Michelle Greene. They bulk purchased flour, oats, peanut butter, and other staples. Those I talked with for this story remember about twenty folks being involved.

Arno Kahn had a hand in starting a number of co-ops. He grew up in Chicago, but came to Atikokan, Ontario to canoe as a boy. He went to college in New York (and studied sociology, just like me) and organized several co-ops in New York including a co-op garage. In 1970 a friend invited him to a party in Harlem where he met Catholic Worker Association folks from Duluth. When he decided to move west from New York, he decided to stop in Duluth, and he never left. The basement of the house he rented housed a buying co-op and he was inspired to start Common Health Warehouse in 1974. He helped establish the Duluth Whole Food Coops and established Builder’s Commonwealth, a worker cooperative construction business still in operation today. When he was pressured by the MN Department of Labor & Industry to change from the co-op model (the state liked profit sharing but not loss sharing), he realized that he couldn’t win against the state bureaucracy and bought the business.  But he has stayed involved with co-ops in the area. He remembers driving up to Mesabi UU to deliver orders and was glad to hear that Natural Harvest has grown and prospered.

In the mid-to-late seventies, the East Range Food Buying Club began to look for a location for a more permanent business. By 1979, the new Natural Harvest Food Coop had opened at 119 Chestnut Street with Michelle Greene (now Robillard) as manager. By 1991, the business had grown enough to require much larger space, and the log store on Bailey Lake was built. Two decades later, it had grown enough to require yet another, larger, building. This one is on fourth street north, on Silver Lake, and opened in 2017. Those early members like Lenny (now) Lampi and Susan Helland have membership numbers like 4 and 43.  My number, joining in 1991, was 775. Those joining today have numbers beginning at 4880! But, like many innovative ideas, it started with a few progressive folks meeting in a church basement.

Today, Natural Harvest Food Co-op has $4 million in annual sales and has expanded far beyond selling “health foods.”  The hot bar on weekdays provides nutritious lunch options for the community with an entrée and two delicious soups that change each day. The deli offers a full menu of foods to eat in the three dining areas or to go. The “Change Within Reach” round-up program generated over $21,000 in 2022 which was granted to twelve local nonprofit organizations. The Co-op also gives out a $2,000 microgrant to local farmers with proposals for an improvement to their operations. Fourteen local growers provide produce to the co-op in the spring through fall months, so the co-op supports local growers. Customers can see photos of the farmers and their farms in the posters mounted above the produce section.

The Co-op building has a beautiful community room with a view of Silver Lake where nonprofit groups can meet. The Co-op offers regular classes in this room, equipped with a kitchen, on everything from proper knife use in the kitchen to feeding your mitochondria. Folks who raise chickens in the area can stop by to pick up produce cuttings and spoiled produce for chicken feed. The co-op’s solar panels generate significant energy to offset the store’s energy use. And the Co-op donates about 18,000 pounds to the food pantry each year. Natural Harvest Food Co-op is an exemplary community-focused, community-owned business.

Over the past two years, the co-op has added pollinator areas to the outdoor dining patio and a solar awning to generate more energy. Summer days see many folks enjoying the outdoor dining overlooking Silver Lake. Membership costs a one-time fee of $100 but is not required to purchase at the store. The store also accepts SNAP benefits. And Wednesdays offer a senior citizen discount!

With a board of directors of nine and a staff of about thirty-six, manager Briana Sterle is busy fulfilling the mission. “At Natural Harvest Food Co-op, we are committed to a sustainable future through communication, cooperation, and education. We provide quality food, products, and services for the health and well-being of our families, our community, and our planet.”

This is a local business that is grown on the Range, still locally owned and managed, and supporting local growers as well as the rest of us who want to purchase healthy food. Bravo!

Profile 99: Thoughts on retiring..... (Copy)

This is column #99 and I’ll be retiring from this Grown on the Range column at #100. I’ve tried to write the stories of as many farmers/growers as I could find on the Range over these past few years and lately, I’ve been thinking about retiring farmers. There’s lots being written about the average age of farmers in the U.S. these days—57.5—and about how we’re going to maintain food production if younger folks aren’t entering farming at the same or better rate than retiring folks are leaving. Many retiring farmers don’t have a transition plan for passing on the farm to a family member because there is no family member who wants to take it on. In some of these cases, the land is sold to developers who offer the best price. Since 2002, the U.S. has lost forty million acres of farmland to development—commercial buildings, housing, other purposes. And with a growing global population, that’s the opposite of the way we need to go.

When I was growing up in Illinois, I spent summers on a farm run by my two great uncles who had no children. But there was a big difference—they rented their land from the guy across the road. When they retired and moved to town, someone else rented the land. It’s still under production today. Nearby, my sister’s in-laws retired from the farm they owned but remained involved in the farming until their health would no longer permit it. My nephew now farms that land. Luckily, there was a family member who wanted to farm. But that isn’t always the case. Young folks today who graduate with degrees in agriculture are often saddled with student debt to the extent that they can’t afford the huge investment in land and machinery.

That’s one reason some are proposing farm apprenticeships, perhaps at the high school or community college level. Young folks could learn the trade both academically and on-the-job without acquiring a huge student debt. And retiring farmers might find a good fit for passing the farm on through creative land leasing or long-term sale to an apprenticed farmer. There’s another glitch, though: most farms depend on at least one off-farm income for health and retirement benefits. Young farmers face the same needs. Imagine how a robust national health care program would change that dynamic!

One thing is for sure: with one-third of current farmers planning to retire in the next decade, we need powerful programs to assist with farm transition, both for retiring and for aspiring farmers. In Minnesota, the Department of Agriculture hosts a FARMLINK program to connect retiring farmers and new farmers, buyers and sellers, renters and landlords, and employers/employees online at https://www2.mda.state.mn.us/webapp/props4sale/ . Retiring farmers can create an account to list their farm for sale or rent or to hire an apprentice. There’s also help available in setting up a transition team. This spring, the University of Minnesota Extension is hosting three Multi-Generational Farm Transition Retreats with hands-on planning and discussion in Mankato, St. Cloud, and Crookston in February and March. The retreats run on Friday evening and Saturday. Check the website for details. These are coming up very soon!

Renewing the Countryside is another Minnesota organization offering help. They host the Farmland Access Hub at www.farmlandaccesshub.org . The program has a full staff of Farmland Navigators who are available to advocate for and work with farmers around land access and transition. The service is free. The hub also has a marketplace where available farms are listed. The Land Stewardship Project of Minnesota’s website offers a “Farm Transitions Toolkit” that is available online and consists of over 155 pages of tools, forms, and resources. The Toolkit was put together by the Land Stewardship Project with the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, the National Center for Appropriate Technology, and the Farmers’ Legal Action Group. http://landstewardshipproject.org/farmtransitionstoolkit

Land for Good, an East Coast organization, has also published a free, very helpful workbook “Farm Succession Planning: Where Do I Start?” https://landforgood.org/wp-content/uploads/LFG-Farm-Succession-Planning-Where-Do-I-Start-Workbook.pdf

I spent some time looking through research on retiring farmers as I was writing this, too. It’s probably accurate to say that farmers don’t retire in the same sense as other professionals. They have built up years of relationship with their land, they know every nook and cranny. They have formed networks of mutual help in the farm community, and they have acquired an enormous skill set known as “farm hacks” that only come from doing the work and solving problems with what’s on hand. We need to be careful that, in offering older farmers assistance with farm transitioning, we don’t hang them out to dry.

It seems like there should be a path for them to continue contributing their expertise, and their labor if desired, as long as they can. This might be a valuable resource for beginning farmers. We have a National Young Farmers Coalition https://www.youngfarmers.org/ and Duluth has a chapter—maybe there should be a National Old Farmers Coalition or something similar. They could form local chapters and be available with their wisdom and skills. The men and women who have spent their lives farming represent a resource we should honor and promote. I hope this either exists, or that one of you readers will take this idea and run with it!

Profile 98: Humans helping forests survive, originally published in Hometown Focus

Jack LaMar of Early Frost Farms with his first load of seedlings

Dotted across the northern Minnesota landscape are about twenty-five farmers and nursery owners who are doing something you’ve likely never heard of. They’re growing tree seedlings for a “forest assisted migration” project begun in 2020 in conjunction with the University of Minnesota-Duluth. What is forest assisted migration and why do we need it? Well assisted migration is the movement of species with a little help from humans. Warming temperatures across the state have begun to change the nature of our forests. Minnesota’s climate has already shifted 240 kilometers to the north—that’s 150 miles! We’re used to having boreal forest in the far north, mixed forest a bit south of us, broadleaf forest in the central part of the state and prairie in the southwest.  The temperature changes that the state has been experiencing mean that, by 2070, we won’t have boreal forest at all, and the prairie will advance to just south of Duluth.

That will be a real challenge for a northern Minnesota economy dependent (logging, hunting, tourism) on a boreal forest environment.  Researchers at the University of Minnesota-Duluth have for several decades been studying whether wild plants and trees can adapt quickly enough to keep up with climate change. The answer is no. So if we want to have forest in northern Minnesota, we humans need to assist: forest assisted migration. Gathering seeds from trees in central Minnesota, sprouting them and growing them to about four inches, then planting them into the current forest will enable them to replace the Paper Birch, Aspen, and Black and White Spruce that will be struggling to survive in warmer temperatures.

This is a massive effort! The farmers and nursery owners are part of a “Farm and Forest Growers” cooperative, and the seedlings they raise are being purchased by The Nature Conservancy for strategic planting. Private individuals and area Soil and Water Conservation Districts are purchasing and planting too. The local project aims to have one hundred growers with 10,000 trees each by 2027. They just received funding form the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR) and the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) to help support growers in the effort. And there’s a new tool to help. The Nature Conservancy and American Forests published a new online tool called the Reforestation Hub which lets interested growers explore every county in the contiguous U.S. to find out where the greatest needs are and visualize results. Minnesota needs to reforest 2.9 million acres.

It's not just aesthetics---the “what will we do without our forests” lament—that’s driving this. Forests are powerful carbon capturers. They pull carbon dioxide (that gas we have way too much of) out of the air and give us oxygen. I remember seeing a cartoon a few years ago saying that if trees gave off wi-fi, we’d be planting them by the millions. Too bad they only give off oxygen! In terms of climate change, the big deal is that they store carbon. So we get a double reward for doing forest assisted migration--we get to preserve a more species-diverse and resilient forest and feel like we’ve done something substantial to help mitigate climate change.

Planting oak seedlings last year

The farmers and nursery owners who are participating are part of something new, and they’re learning every season what works best to grow trees from seed. Red Oak, Bur Oak, Yellow Birch, River Birch, and American Basswood are predicted to do well here in the future. Jack LaMar of Early Frost Farms in Embarrass just planted eleven thousand one hundred Bur and White Oak for 2025 delivery. He owns the now-closed greenhouse in Embarrass and is using the large, protected spaces for the seedlings. Jack has more space available if there are growers who are interested. Across northern Minnesota, the seedlings are being grown in greenhouses, open fields, high tunnels and at existing nurseries. The technical term is “climate-smart seedlings.”  They are grown from seeds gathered in the current mixed forest areas of Minnesota which have a climate much like we will have in fifty years.

We won’t have the same kind of forest then, but we’ll have a forest, if we can meet this challenge. Meredith Cornett, the Climate Change Director for The Nature Conservancy in Minnesota and North/South Dakota, has done some calculations. To meet a recommended goal of reforesting forty percent of the 2.9 million total acres needed in Minnesota by 2040 would require 43.3 million seedlings per year. Northern Minnesota’s goal of one million seedlings a year by 2027 will be a start. Growers are paid by The Nature Conservancy for the seedlings they raise and given technical assistance and some equipment as well by the local project. If you’re interested in becoming a grower, contact David Abazs at the Northeast Minnesota Regional Sustainable Development Partnership (218-940-2196).

Profile 97: Farmers teaching Farmers for innovation! originally published in Hometown Focus

Over the past two years, I’ve had the pleasure of working with Jenna Ballinger, of Forge North Creative, to make a series of educational videos for area farmers.  They are now posted at www.arrowheadgrown.org/farmer/producervideos.  There are thirteen short videos filmed at area farms.  Here are the titles and presenters:

How to promote your cottage foods     Heather Mahoney, Heather’s Home Goods

Digital marketing for farmers     Jenna Ballinger, Forge North Creative

Business planning for farmers     Char Conger, Business Consultant

The value of having multiple distribution channels     Ryan Pesch, Lida Farm

Cornering a market with farm-made pizza     John & Emily Beaton, Fairhaven Farm

Developing a unique experience with agritourism     Jack LaMar, Early Frost Farms

Marketing to retail stores    Ryan Pesch, Lida Farm

Setting up a farm stand     Jeff Camell, Hidden Pond Farms

Generating online sales for farmers     John Byers, Alfred Smith’s Farm

Creating a unique experience with U-pick flowers     Kate Paul, Owl Forest Farm

Building brand awareness and a farm destination     Andrea Simek, Simek’s Farm

Selling eggs and meat birds for family flock owners     Cindy Hale, Clover Valley Farm

Word-of-mouth marketing for your CSA     Janna Goerdt, Fat Chicken Farm

The goal of making these videos was to help new farmers to establish themselves in the local food business and to help experienced farmers add elements to diversify and sustain their farms.  We made these videos as part of a USDA grant to help Iron Range farmers and growers sustain and strengthen their sale of local food.  Of course, the other side of that coin is getting Iron Range consumers to buy local food.  The Arrowhead Grown website seeks to help by providing an areawide farmers market directory.

While many area farmers and growers sell at farmers markets, that doesn’t work for everyone.  Of all the farmers and growers I’ve interviewed for these ninety-seven profiles to date, only one is able to survive without an off-farm job.  For most, more than one adult in the household has an off-farm job.  It’s not just the money, it’s health care benefits they need.  For all farmers, whether they sell at farmers markets or not, Minnesota Grown, an effort of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, helps farmers and growers to market their goods through an annual statewide directory and website.  There’s a new phone app too, called Farmish, that is searchable by geographic area.  Facebook groups like Farm Direct Minnesota and Iron Range Grown are platforms where folks post what’s wanted and what’s for sale.  Anythinggrown.com is also an area directory with listings of markets and individual producers.

It's a tricky proposition to ramp up farm production without equivalent consumer demand, but it’s also challenging to ramp up consumer demand when there’s not enough local food to meet that demand.  In both situations, folks get discouraged.  Having been involved myself in the promotion of local food for more than a decade, I think I can safely say that right now, there is more local food being produced than there is consumer demand.  So GO farmers and growers and GET GOING consumers!

The future is bright.  Though we are in USDA Zone 3a up here, the Minnesota DNR’s Climate Trends website predicts “substantial warming during winter and at night, increased precipitation and heavier downpours, and…increased summer heat” over the next twenty years.  My tomatoes will appreciate that last change!  For farmers and growers, this is good news.  Minnesota is home to 68,000 farms—the tenth highest total in the country.  According to the latest U S Census of Agriculture (from 2017—the 2022 results are due in February 2024), St. Louis, Cook, and Carleton Counties are gaining farms.  If the trend continues, there will be more local food available and those of us advocating the purchase of local food will need to entice consumers to support their local economies by buying from local farmers and growers.

Back to the videos.  We made them to encourage farmers and to provide specific information and techniques to increase sales. I hope those of you who farm and grow food will enjoy and learn from the videos, and that all of us who buy food (and that’s ALL of us, right?) will make a concerted effort to buy local.  A 2018 study published by the Iron Range Partnership for Sustainability with support from the Department of Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation showed that, if we even buy twenty percent of our food locally, that will provide 248-694 jobs for the Range and keep $51 million in our local economy.  Let’s make this happen! 

Profile 96: Community Food Forests! originally published in Hometown Focus

Local kids discovering ripe raspberries at the AEOA Community Food Forest

Having a Community Food Forest in your town is rare across the U.S., but we have TWO in Virginia!  The AEOA Community Food Forest is located on 12th Avenue West between Pine Mill Court and the Iron Trail Motors Event Center.  The Olcott Park Food Forest is located behind the greenhouse in the park.  Both are open to the public for picking and harvesting.

What is a Community Food Forest (CFF)?  It’s a perennial garden made up of fruit and nut trees, herbs, grapes and vining fruits and berry shrubs.  And it is open to the public.  Both of Virginia’s CFF’s are on city land.  Both were planted by nonprofit agencies using grant funds.  And both are very young—the AEOA CFF was planted in the spring of 2019 by the Rutabaga Project and neighborhood volunteers.  The Olcott Park CFF was inspired by this and planted in the fall of 2020 by 4-H and the North St. Louis County Soil and Water Conservation District.  Both have added plantings since then with grant funding.

The new entrance kiosk at the AEOA Food Forest awaits planting and signage coming soon!

At the AEOA CFF this year, there were gooseberries, honeyberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, rhubarb, asparagus, plums, apples, pears, aronia berries, chokecherries, grapes, cherries, and dill along with many other herbs.  The nut trees will take a few years to mature but will eventually yield hazelnuts and pine nuts.  The Olcott Park CFF yielded strawberries, raspberries, currants, gooseberries, blueberries, and thimbleberries.  And the AEOA CFF just got a new entrance kiosk thanks to AEOA supplies, Daria Kallal (volunteer designer) and Ellen Taube (volunteer builder).  St. Louis County 4-H hosted a pizza garden day camp at this CFF.  Children harvested strawberries and took home a pizza garden in a bucket.  This food forest includes a large pollinator area, and children got to see Monarch caterpillars and learn about their survival.  The Soil and Water Conservation District also hosted a pruning workshop at the Olcott Park CFF.

Kids enjoying the Olcott Park Community Food Forest during the 4-H camp this year

Research on CFFs is not too plentiful, but a 2021 master’s Thesis from the University of Montana identified twenty-eight peer-reviewed studies on CFFs.  The studies revealed that most CFFs prioritized not only food production but also community building.  They provided hands-on learning environments and social gathering places, giving community residents a sense of “place” and “belonging.”  Many provided environmental education as well.  The thesis identified eighty-four CFFS in the U.S., most established since 2008.  A 2020 study from the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development (https:foodsystemsjournal.org) surveyed CFFs around the world.  They identified over two hundred worldwide.  (If that figure is correct, it would mean that our little Virginia, Minnesota has one percent of the world’s food forests!)  They found that over half are in rural areas like ours, and half are less than an acre in size, like ours.  The majority of the world’s CFFs focus on providing education and community building.  Some sell their produce, and others offer it free as we do.  So, we in Virginia are part of a global movement.

Harvesting from the Olcott Park CFF at 4-H camp—-yum!

That movement is known by various names: Place-Based Food Systems, Local Food, and Slow Food and includes farmers markets, community gardens, farm-to-school programs, CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture), and urban agriculture efforts as well as CFFs.  All these efforts are aimed at bringing food production to the local level, helping folks to connect with local food, and supporting local growers.  Ironically, these systems are historically how we all got our food, but they disappeared with industrial agriculture and global supply chains.  They are being reintroduced because they save enormous amounts of energy and transportation costs, and they avoid global and national supply chain interruptions.  Food from local sources is much fresher, but, in our growing zone, it is seasonal, and most consumers aren’t accustomed to eating only what’s in season.

Here we can learn from local indigenous communities whose food traditions focus on seasonal eating and preserving food for year-round use.  Freezing, drying, canning, fermenting, smoking, salting, root cellaring and underground storage techniques yield a year-round food supply.  Folks are beginning to learn these skills more and more.  But most of us rely on a global food system that gives us anything we want anytime we want it. Easy-peasy, but not sustainable. The local food movement harks back to what is possible if we truly want to eat local.  CFFs are one small part of a larger movement to connect us with the place we live and the community with whom we share it.

Profile 95: Rustic Cedar Homestead, a dream come true, originally published in Hometown Focus

We’ve just toured the homestead and as we sit down at the kitchen table to talk, Nina says “I wish we had done this twenty years ago.”  “This” means picking up everything and moving from a Twin Cities suburb to establish a homestead in the Northwoods.  Although they just moved here permanently two years ago, their journey started almost twenty years ago when Nina and Joel Ribar trudged through deep snow to take a look at this land.  Fifteen acres of solid forest with a beautiful clear lake very close and lots of cedar.  They bought the property, an old icehouse for temporary shelter, and started coming up with their three-year-old on weekends to create their dream, piece by piece. Back then there was no electricity or water and a very long and winding road to this secluded spot.

 Today, it is Rustic Cedar Homestead, with running water, electricity, the basics of a homestead including, of course, a wood-fired sauna.  Nina has recorded much of the progress over the past two years on the Rustic Cedar Homestead YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@rusticcedarhomestead ) The introductory video describes Nina, Joel, Kyle, Eric, and Owen as a “family of five who moved from a 2000-plus square foot house in the suburbs to a 384 square foot cabin in the woods.”  The videos are entertaining as well as informative—and a great tutorial for anyone wanting to try homesteading.  The cabin today has more rooms, in-floor heat, plumbing, and qualifies as a “house.”  Now that they live here full time, the projects are moving more quickly ahead.  A Facebook page keeps up with the progress too (https://www.facebook.com/RusticCedarHomestead ).

Other than the house, the largest (17x72) and most unusual structure is the “greenhouse in the snow.”  It came as a kit, but the instructions were very vague.  Luckily, Joel had some experience with things like this, and it has come together well.  Parts of it are underground and it has a low profile above ground.  The center is a trench four feet deep and about five wide that runs almost the whole length, with ground-level entrances and steps down at each end.  On each side of the wide trench, retaining walls rise to ground level, and the two 72x6 feet growing areas extend outward to the transparent sides and top. The ends are corrugated metal, providing stability.  The well nearby feeds soaker hoses that water the growing areas.  And in the trench, Nina has potted plants and starter trays.

Down each long side of the greenhouse run multiple large rubber tubes eight feet underground where the temperature is a constant fifty degrees.  The tubes open into the greenhouse at each end, so the air is taken in at one end and blown out at the other end, providing circulation at a constant fifty degrees during the winter.  With the sun beaming in and the warm air circulating, it’s comfortable even in the coldest weather.  The chickens call this trench their winter home and stay warm and cozy while the snow flies and the wind howls. Nina sells their eggs at the Virginia Market Square Farmers Market and at a new market in Cotton, not far from their home.  Produce from the greenhouse is branded “Geothermal Growers,” acknowledging the uniqueness of the operation.

Outside the greenhouse is a large, fenced garden with all the crops you would expect to see here in northern Minnesota.  Beyond it, this whole cleared area is part of a large hilltop which alters the angle of the sun in noticeable ways.  One side of the hill slopes down toward the lake and the other toward the entrance.  When I ask Owen, the youngest son, what his favorite part of living here is, he answers “the lake” without hesitation.  It’s about 45 acres, very clear, good for swimming, fishing, and tubing, and the bog around it is a great place to forage mushrooms.

The largest moveable structure on the land is a chicken tractor, an insulated coop built on to a towing trailer and surrounded by a portable electric fence to keep predators out.  Nina tells me that they just added an automatic chicken door to the coop that opens at 6am and closes at dusk, keeping the hens safe at night.  The hens provide two dozen eggs a day, and the whole operation moves to a different area of the property about every six days.  This not only gives the hens fresh grazing, but also serves to fertilize large areas in turn, building up the soil gradually.  Pigs and sheep are next in the homestead’s plans for clearing land and building soil.

One of the sweet things about living in a rural area up north is the sense of community among local folks.  Rustic Cedar Homestead is outside of Cotton, Minnesota, where Old School Lives (https://www.oldschoollives.com/) has revived an abandoned school into a thriving community center.  There are apartments for rent in the building, a bunk room that folks can rent for out-of-town guests, a thrift shop, two gyms, a youth room with a pool table, a discovery center for little kids, a loom room where folks can take weaving classes, a coffee shop, and much more.  It’s an amazing accomplishment for a community group to vitalize an old school building like this!  Recently, Nina and a couple of friends started a small farmers market there too.  See https://www.oldschoollives.com/about-4   

Like most northern Minnesota growers, Joel has an off-farm job.  Nina homeschools Owen and he is a vital part of the venture too.  His next learning experience is in designing websites so that Geothermal Growers produce will have an online home.  Eventually, they’d like to add a hoop house for season extension, almost a necessity in our short growing season.  And maybe a CSA for close-by friends, but that’s about five years out.  For now, harvest season has begun, and food preservation is underway.  You can meet Nina and Owen at the Virginia and Cotton Farmers markets.  Virginia 2:30-6pm Thursdays at Silver Lake and West Chestnut and Cotton on Mondays 12-2 at Old School Lives.

Profile 94: Paradise at Valhalla

Valhalla, according to Merriam-Webster, is a place of honor, glory, or happiness.  And that’s just what this land seemed to be when Kate Smith and her husband, TJ, found it online an hour after a real estate purchase near McGregor fell through.  It was 2017 and they needed a place, so they drove up to see it.  There was electricity, but no water, a very old house in not very good condition, quite a few outbuildings, and a camper.  It used to be a farm with a milking cow, pigs and sheep, and a potato farm years before that.  But it had grown over for sixty-five years, so their tour of the land took them through significant brush.  Their young son, Sam, wasn’t even tall enough to see over the vegetation.

But they fell in love with this place and saw it transformed in their minds into Valhalla Ridge Farm.  That’s what it is today.  One hundred acres of happiness and a ridge that’s part of Wolf Ridge.  The day I visited, Kate was getting ready for the Festival of Skalds, a unique Norse festival held in Angora.  It’s very reminiscent of the Renaissance Festival farther south in Minnesota.  Kate makes tinctures, teas, potions, herbal remedies…an entire apothecary in her kitchen. She just published the farm’s website where she sells these preparations, and she was getting ready to offer them at the Festival of Skalds. 

The website has now been up for a couple of weeks.  Check out https://www.valhallaridgefarm.com/ for details.  The description on the website reads “Valhalla Ridge Farm is a small business dedicated to providing natural and holistic health solutions for the whole family.  We specialize in apothecary medicine and herbal remedies and believe in the power of nature to heal and strengthen the body.”  And that’s apparent all over the farm.  There are fields of herbs and wildflowers to forage for remedies and acres of woods with wild mushrooms and medicinal plants all around.  They’ve also planted huge gardens with vegetables and fruits of every kind and special herbs for maintaining health.

Out near the log garage TJ restores old bicycles—it looks like there are at least 50 here--and provides them free or at cost to those who want a bicycle but can’t afford one.  Nearby is the old house, with beautiful Finnish log construction visible where the siding is gone.  The house is leaning badly and is on the list of buildings to be restored.  But it’s also been a treasure chest of original furnishings and memorabilia that Kate and TJ have returned to the owners.  Someday it will stand tall again and house this family of three.

Finnish log construction on the old house.

The kitchen where Kate makes her remedies is one end of a tiny house that she ordered online from Amish builders.  It’s very small, of course, but for now it houses this family and their five dogs!  The first year they lived here, they stayed in the old trailer on site—and winter, as usual, was brutal especially on the electric bill for heating.  Now they heat with wood from their “hundred-acre woods.”  Not too far from the house they’ve cleared a horse enclosure for their miniature pony, Tina, and her companion Charlie.  Babe, their 1,000-pound pig, died two years ago, but used to get out of this enclosure and come to the front step for treats. Now that enclosure is on the list for expansion.

Doing laundry outside!

But everything takes time, and money.  TJ has an off-farm job as most Iron Range farmers do.  And they grow most of their own food.  But restoring an old place is an expensive and long-term project.  The well they put in had to be drilled through 325 feet of bedrock!  There’s an outhouse and a shower house, but laundry is done outdoors in an old wringer washer.  The beautiful 1898 tamarack barn will need some work, too, but Kate hopes that it can be a meeting place, maybe for classes or events.  There’s also an old icehouse, and Kate and TJ’s favorite feature, a beautiful old root cellar built into a hill along the entrance.  Kate wants a “summer kitchen”, too, where cooking and remedy-making can happen in a large, airy preparation area.  All part of the dream.

The beautiful tamarack barn.

The old root cellar, still standing and sturdy.

Kate’s daughter came back awhile and cleared an area for camping—Valhalla Ridge Farm will eventually join HipCamp.  Check it out at www.hipcamp.com.  According to the website, “Hipcamp is the most comprehensive resource for unique outdoor stays. Discover and book tent camping, RV parks, cabins, treehouses, and glamping.” And it’s all on private lands, many of them farms just like this.  There are so many places to explore here in the deep woods of these hundred acres.  Bunny Hollow, as their son has named it, is a magical fairy-garden-type place just off the driveway.  And there’s the ridge to hike and explore.

Greenhouse. built from salvaged materials.

The final structure I visit on my day at the farm is the greenhouse, built entirely out of recycled windows, wood and doors.  It’s the newest addition to the homestead.  In the center is an old tree, about ten feet tall, that came from their original home and has the initials of Kate’s children carved into it.  Plants flourish in here, and you can see the extensive outside gardens through the glass. Inside there are herbs drying and craft projects begun in this sunny space. You can learn more about all that’s happening at Valhalla Ridge Farm at the Facebook Group “Valhalla Ridge Farm, learning and sharing homesteading skills,” where Kate posts regularly.  

https://www.facebook.com/groups/215765626300788

A small segment of the outside gardens at Valhalla Ridge Farm.

Profile 93: Local is FRESH! originally published in Hometown Focus

Tammy and Ben in front of their on-farm store

While he was working on his degree in agronomy and horticulture at UM Crookston, Ben Clayton started Clayton’s Produce.  Eighteen years later, the business has grown from sweet corn to over a dozen fruits and vegetables.  All grown on a farm near Pokegama Lake that was originally owned by Ben’s great-grandfather.  His father still lives there and raises cattle.  Ben and his wife Tammy have built a house on the property too.  The day I arrive for a visit is pea-shelling day.  A 1927 sheller is running as we talk, and fresh peas are filling up the on-site farm store.  What’s left after shelling is fed to the neighbor’s sheep.

The 1927 pea shelling maching

Ben uses manure from his father’s cows to fertilize the corn, and crops are rotated every year so that all the acreage is regularly supplemented with manure.  There are 33 acres planted in vegetables.  All are started from seed in the farm shed, then transferred to the hoop house when the weather allows, then out into the fields……all 30,000 of them!  Each crop is planted into raised bed plastic (plastic over a row of raised soil) and twenty-two thousand pounds of straw per acre are placed in between rows as mulch.  Ben, Tammy, and their crew do all the weeding by hand, and all the harvesting by hand too.  They irrigate from Pokegama Lake with a drip system, thank heaven as this year’s rains have been very few.

Ben also has 200 acres in soybeans and field corn, a more traditional commodity crop sold on the open market.  But all the sweet corn and vegetables are sold directly to customers, either at the farm store on-site or at the farm stand at Glenn’s Army Navy in Grand Rapids.  At the beginning, Ben sold from a truck, but eventually that couldn’t handle the volume.  They like working with local businesses to sell their products and folks can find their frozen sweet corn and peas at S&S Meats in Grand Rapids year-round.  The lines are long at the stand as folks who’ve tasted their sweet corn want more.  Ben wants to “do things right” on the farm, he says.  The only crop that is sprayed is corn, to prevent worms.  None of the vegetables or fruits are sprayed.

Ben is a full-time farmer, but, as with most farm families, Tammy has an off-farm job as an accountant.  She can take enough time off to staff the farmstand during the heaviest harvest season.  Early in the year, strawberries are abundant at the on-site farm store just a few miles south of Grand Rapids on LaPlant Road.  Now peas have been added.  The larger farm stand in Grand Rapids opens about July 20  and they pick and transport truckloads to the stand each day.  This is about as fresh as it gets.

I ask about “staffing” as I can see that the weeded rows of crops must take hundreds of hours of care.  They have 5-6 helpers at peak season.  But Tammy and Ben devote more than full time to this endeavor.  It was all sweet corn at first, then came tomatoes, onions, potatoes, cabbage, green beans, watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumbers, squash, peas, kohlrabi, and strawberries entered there somewhere along the line.

strawberries on raised mound plastic

This is one of the most week-free, orderly farms that I’ve visited over the years of writing this column (this is the 93rd story!).  As far as the eye can see, neat rows of beautiful, healthy crops stretch to the horizon.  The plastic helps to prevent weeds and drip irrigation keeps the foliage clean and disease-free.  Baskets of colorful flowers hang on each fencepost on the way into the farm from LaPlant Road.  And Ben’s mother grows gladiolas, which are glorious as you enter.  They can sell her glads at the stand in town, too. The farm also grows peppers for Steve’s Pepper Sauce in Grand Rapids.

Ben takes pride in offering fresh produce at reasonable prices. Someone (I assume Tammy) maintains a website (http://www.claytonsproduce.com/) as well as a Facebook page (with 4.7 thousand followers!) and an Instagram feed.  Believe me, that takes lots of effort!  Their motto is “Clayton’s Produce - because anything less just isn’t fresh!”  I headed home with a carton of freshly shelled peas and nearly finished them before I got home—they were delicious.  So check out the store on the farm at 31353 LaPlant Road, Grand Rapids, or the produce stand at Glenn’s Army Navy at 701 NW 4th St, Grand Rapids, open daily 9-6 beginning around July 20.  Every dollar you spend on local food stays in our communities and multiplies.  So why not buy local?

Profile 92: Lots of locally made goods at Iron Range Earth Fest, originally published in Hometown Focus

According to the American Independent Business Alliance, a phenomenon dubbed “The Local Multiplier” occurs when you spend your dollars at a locally owned and independent business instead of a chain store or online giant. Your dollars recirculate through your local economy 2-4 times more than money spent at a non-local company. As your dollars move through your community, the money generates more local wealth, charitable contributions, and jobs.  There’s a perfect opportunity coming up to buy locally: the 2023 Iron Range Earth Fest. From 9am to 3pm in the Toyota Arena at the Iron Trail Motors Event Center, area exhibitors and vendors will share what they have available with curious shoppers.  From goats milk soap to felted wool slippers, you’ll be able to find originals crafted from local supplies. 

Here's a sampling of what will be available.  Tamarack Farm of Hibbing will be selling the soap, made from organic oils and fresh goats milk from their herd as well as buckwheat hull pillows and products from reusable and recycled materials.  Three Mares and an Old Woman of Embarrass will offer hats, shawls, and slippers made from sustainable natural fibers.  Emma’s Roots of Britt will offer handmade bags, aprons, table runners and more.  And Stitches by Lois of Virginia will have handmade purses, wallets, coin purses and kitchen items for sale.  Birch Botanicals, also of Virginia, will sell their popular skincare products and herbal remedies made from locally foraged wild plants.  TR’s Earrings of Hibbing will offer handcrafted jewelry with wood inlay, leather, and birch bark as well as beaded earrings and bracelets. The Spice & Tea Exchange from Duluth will offer loose-leaf teas, custom spice blends, honey, and soy candles.  My Kind Creations of Chisholm will sell upcycled home décor and functional items.  Augustyn Artworks of Bovey will offer handmade pottery—mugs, stoneware bowls, and pendants as well as unique horsehair pots.  Linda’s Luminaries of Brimson recycles glass into beach glass used in solar lights, votives, wind chimes, and suncatchers.  Crystal Connection of Mt. Iron will be selling healing crystals.  And Pomifera Shaklee will be selling wellness products.  Prairie Restorations, a Minnesota company offering native landscaping using plants native to Minnesota for home landscaping, prairies, shoreline, and woodland restorations as well as raingardens will provide information on all of their goods and services.  If you want to plant native this year, this is your go-to resource! 

If you’re looking for good local food, there will be lots of choices.  Heather’s Home Goods of Embarrass will offer canned goods from Heather’s garden, baked goods and organic chicken eggs as well as sewn items including grocery totes from repurposed feed sacks.  Chelsea Morning Farm and Never Summer Sugarbush of Two Harbors will be selling maple syrup and canned goods and will take orders for heirloom plants.  Best Friends Bites will offer handmade dog treats with no preservatives for your furry friends.  Northern Minnesota Meats will be providing information on their new USDA meat processing plant in Mt. Iron.  Kelly’s Kitchen of Grand Rapids will sell baked goods, cupcakes, sugar cookies and gluten free items.  Fat Chicken Farm of Embarrass will be selling CSA shares for this summer!  CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture where a customer buys a share of the farm and receives weekly deliveries of fresh produce.  And Karl’s Bread of Tower will offer cardamom bread, bagels, and biscotti as well as their popular sourdough breads.  For lunch, in the ballroom just past the exhibition area, Go Figur’s will be selling a buffet of good tastes, including a Smoked salmon bowl (wild rice blend, broccoli slaw, pickled veggies, nori, avocado, smoked salmon, spicy mayo), Hummus wrap (hummus, lettuce, cucumbers, onion, tomato, bell peppers, tortilla), Turkey wild rice chili, Fluffnutter sandwich (bread, peanut butter, marshmallow fluff), Pulled pork (pretzel bun, coleslaw, BBQ pulled pork butt), Gluten free brownies, Chocolate chip cookies, Coffee, Ugly potato chips, Chocolate milk, sparkling water and soda. Be sure to arrive hungry!

Mark your calendar and come on out to Earth Fest to browse the exhibit hall located in the Toyota Arena.  Speakers, discussions, a repair café, children’s activities, a silent auction, local musicians, and free e-waste recycling will round out the day.  It all happens on Saturday, April 22, 9am-3pm at the Iron Trail Motors Event Center at 919 – 6th Street South in Virginia.  And it’s FREE.

Profile 91: A Finnish Immigration story contributed by Valerie Myntti, originally published in Hometown Focus

At Co-op Point

Preface: From Finntown’s Kaleva Hall in Virginia, to the Finland Coop (Minnesota’s oldest continuously operating co-op), to the unique Finnish log buildings of Embarrass, Finnish culture graces the Iron Range.  One of the hallmarks of that culture was, of course, the sauna, but the other hallmark was the establishment of cooperatives.  Here is one story, with gratitude to Valerie Myntti for sharing it.

My Family’s Immigration Story, contributed by Valerie Myntti

The early twentieth century Finns came to Minnesota because work was plentiful, the landscape familiar, and many Finns were already here. They found work as domestic maids—miners—in the lumber mills—and fisheries. They left Finland with only the shirts on their backs to escape grinding poverty and political instability with the hopes of a brighter future—much like the immigrants today who are seeking refuge in the United States.

My grandmother, Laura Jarvinen, found work as a domestic maid with a kind and generous family in Chisholm. My paternal great-grandparents, Isaak and Anna Liisa Myntti, settled on a farm in Pike Sandy and are buried there at Hope Lutheran Cemetery. My grandfather’s younger brother ran the Pike Sandy Co-op until his death in the 1950’s. My grandfather, Charles Myntti first worked in lumber mills in Winton and then in the Ely mines. My grandfather was from Vahakyro in western Finland. There is a Myntti Farm that still exists there today, in continual operation since 1550.  My grandmother was born in Karkkila. While they had suffered in Finland, they maintained their idealism. They were committed to creating their own unique version of utopia here in America, the land of democracy and possibility.

My grandparents, along with other Finns, embraced a uniquely Finnish worldview and a philosophy formulated in the old country.

It was a blend of ideas taken from:

n  The progressive ideology;

n  From The co-operative ideology-- with its concept of the “common good” and “mutual aid;”

n  From socialist values, which to them meant working toward a morally-conscious economy where the social welfare of ALL surpasses the value of private individual profits—an economy that emphasizes equality, justice & economic security for all;

n  And, of course, from the ideas generated by Labor Unions.

According to the Minnesota Historical Society, “From the beginning—many Finns were active in progressive politics spearheading the labor movement on the iron range, and along with other Nordic immigrants – the Finns played a dominant role in Minnesota’s protest politics.”

Finns came to the US from Finland with an already well-formulated, well-developed co-operative ethos. Deprivation under the Russians and an entrenched communal way of living in Finland made the values of mutual aid and the emphasis on the common good centerpieces of Finnish philosophy.  The notion of ENLIGHTENED Self-interest---- that promoted the common good over the individual--- was well-established and part of the Finns’ identity.

Finns created Co-ops on the Iron Range out of necessity and out of the desire for self-determination. Their creation of co-ops on the Range was directly related to the discrimination directed at them for the activities of the Finnish Union activists.  Local merchants, the company stores and wholesalers all sided with the mining companies during the labor strikes of 1907 and 1916 that were led by Finns. These stores refused to extend credit to the Finnish miners during this challenging and uncertain time.

Finns refused to be victims, and to that end created “consumer cooperatives,” retail businesses that were democratically run and owned by the workers who bought a share. As they had always done, the Finns banded together to help themselves and to render mutual aid. Finns lived under rampant discrimination--during this period, the word “Finlander” was used as a slur, along with “China Swede” and “roundhead”-- but they steadfastly built their co-ops  and their own cultural institutions.

They created co-ops that included dairies/creameries, car dealerships, mortuaries, grocery stores, coffee companies, hardware, gas, cafes/restaurants, clothing, butcher shops and credit unions to name a few.

Finns built cultural & educational institutions, including opera houses, theaters, social clubs, workers halls, newspapers, publishing houses, temperance halls, churches, libraries, book clubs, adult education centers, schools, nursery schools, sports leagues, colleges, and communal parks and summer camps like Co-op Point on Eagles Nest and Mesaba Co-op Park near Cherry.

Co-op members getting gas

My father, Donald Charles Myntti was born in Chisholm in 1923. Shortly thereafter, the family moved to Ely where he graduated from Ely Memorial High School in 1941. His father was a miner in the Pioneer Mine and one of the original men that helped develop Co-op Point. My father, Don, and his sister Onerva Delight spent every summer there while growing up in Ely. In the late 1920’s to early 1930’s approximately twenty Finnish men (“miners and co-operators” as they called themselves) under the leadership of a Finn named Mike Simonson, who was head of the Co-op Mercantile Association from Virginia to Superior, bought land on Eagles Nest Lake 1 between Ely & Soudan.

In addition to building twenty or so individually owned cabins, this association of co-operators created a large Co-op Park, where Finnish workers and their families across Minnesota and beyond were invited to camp and enjoy a lake experience each summer.  The original co-operators also developed a Co-op Summer Camp, where their children and other Finnish children, from all over the state, could have a summer camping experience and be immersed in the co-operators’ values.  Many present-day Finns remember attending these summer camps.

My father until the end of his life believed he had the happiest boyhood imaginable. And a wonderful life. Dad did not speak English until he was 7 and began school. He had all kinds of friends, both Finns and non-Finns. He built lifelong friendships that lasted until his death last April, four months short of 99 years old. He attributes his long, healthy and happy life to his Finnish upbringing--including the communal Finnish Sauna where folks of all ages gathered, and to the cold plunge afterwards in an icy cold northern Minnesota lake. He described that experience as “heaven”.

Profile 90: Animal, vegetable or.....62 minerals? originally published in Hometown Focus.

Something strange and almost hidden is growing on the Range.  Animal, vegetable, or mineral you ask.  Well, I generally write about animal and vegetable in this column.  But this time it’s mineral.  Sixty-two of them, to be precise.  They are plentifully available in an overlooked form, and that source is growing at a rate of 3-5% each year.  Technically, it’s referred to as WEEE, Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment.  It includes computers, cell phones, batteries, washing machines, refrigerators, televisions, even vacuum cleaners and toys.  For short, most refer to it as e-waste.  And when it ends up in a landfill, much of it leaches toxic chemicals into municipal solid waste. 

I had been inspired by a presentation by Dr. Roopali Phadke of Macalester College on recycling e-waste when Keith Steva and I had our first discussion about it.  It was February 2022.  Keith was going to run for office and I asked him to consider e-waste recycling as a job-creator.  We decided to dive down the rabbit hole.  Over the next few months, I dug up peer reviewed research on everything we could find about e-waste and Keith put the data into spreadsheets that helped us assess our data.  In May I started talking with Maria Jensen of Repowered in St. Paul about how their e-waste recycling business worked.  We eventually met in person in June to look at what Keith and I were digging up and analyzing.  Maria offered Minnesota-based data about the type and quantities of e-waste that Repowered was handling and helped me and Keith to understand the limitations of what Minnesota is doing at the present.  For example, there are no facilities in the U.S. that extract the final valuable metals like copper, nickel, iron, tin and aluminum.  And there are no crushing facilities in Minnesota.  Repowered sends demanufactured e-waste to be crushed in Wisconsin and it goes from there to Japan and Korea for final processing.  To get the metals the U.S. economy needs, we must buy it back on the open market.

According to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Minnesota currently recycles only about 23% of our e-waste.  According to the Global E-Waste Monitor, we in North America generate the equivalent of 46 pounds of e-waste per capita annually.  For Minnesota, that’s 266 million pounds of e-waste each year.  E-waste contains already-mined and infinitely recyclable metals that are growing in demand as we transition to a new energy economy.  But most e-waste hides in our closets, our basements, attics, garages and storage units—a mountain of valuable materials untapped.  Keith and Maria and I decided to try to project what that mountain of e-waste might mean in terms of needed metals and dollars as well as potential recycling jobs.  Using Repowered data as an indicator of the “Minnesota mix” of e-waste, and about 125 peer reviewed studies on e-waste content, Keith was able to track and predict the quantities of 62 metals in our e-waste mix.  Using market data on metals prices, he was able to place a value on the potential annual yield for those metals at full recycling capacity: $2.8 billion!  We were on to something, we decided.

In the process of meeting regularly and clarifying the data we were finding, we discovered that Maria knew Roopali, whose original inspiration motivated my first call to Keith.  Roopali joined us and we began researching how many jobs are involved in e-waste collection and processing.  The Coalition for American Electronics Recycling Jobs report indicates that e-waste collection, demanufacturing, shredding and information technology asset collection/refurbishing activities generate one full time job for each 172,000 pounds of e-waste processed.   Other studies on job creation allowed us to tweak that number and come up with a projection of 1,738 direct jobs generated to recycle Minnesota’s e-waste.  That figure does not include the final extraction of valuable metals which we could repatriate to the United States for even more jobs.

That final extraction is happening overseas, mostly using smelting, the most common type of metal extraction process right now—also called pyrometallurgy.  But there is a promising biohydrometallurgy technique that is far less environmentally harmful than smelting.  Biological organisms (bacteria, archaea, and fungi) are used to convert metals to a soluble form and then recovered.  There is currently one company that has patented this technique for gold extraction and a growing body of research on using biohydrometallurgy to recover other valuable metals.  This has enormous potential for Minnesota.  Of course, we will have to step up our collection and recycling infrastructure to harvest these valuable metals from all the e-waste we generate.

But it’s not impossible.  Switzerland, with about the same population as Minnesota, collects and recycles 95% of its e-waste.  In the European Union, where robust e-waste legislation has incentivized the collection and recycling of all kinds of e-waste, rates are not quite as high as Switzerland but they are growing.  The U.S. lacks a consistent nationwide policy.  Each state has their own laws and regulations, and few states have invested in the infrastructure to allow the full capture of e-waste’s potential.  The Minnesota legislature will consider several bills which could use Extended Producer Responsibility policies to generate the funding necessary to step up our collection and processing potential.

So, there you have it.  What’s growing on the Range is growing all over the state: e-waste.  And we have the chance to be the place where it all goes to be transformed into that $2.8 billion of metals.  Are you in?  A summary of the study will be available on the Iron Range Partnership for Sustainability website this week at https://www.irpsmn.org/ewaste-recycling

Profile 89: Greens in Winter originally published in Hometown Focus

I grew up in the 1950’s with Popeye the Sailor Man telling us “I am what I am ‘cause I eats my spinach.”  (Each can of spinach made his biceps visibly bulge.) That was about as close to “greens” as the conversation ever got.  One cup, drained, of canned spinach like Popeye ate is a good source of Phosphorus and Zinc, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Potassium, Copper and Manganese. Not bad!  But who likes canned spinach? As a child, I sure didn’t.

Kids today are growing up in a world of widely available microgreens that are fresh, and they pack nutrients that rival Popeye’s muscle-building greens.  Broccoli microgreens, for example, contain Calcium, Magnesium, Phosphorous, Potassium, Iron, Zinc, Copper, Manganese, Vitamins A,C,E and K, lots of antioxidants, and a whopping amount of fiber and protein.  They’re fun to eat and much better looking than canned spinach. Microgreens are the shoots of vegetables picked just after the first leaves have come out.  They’re even more nutritious than fully grown vegetables.  And there are now a number of growers in northern Minnesota.

Chad and Nicole Martin’s Solid Rock Growers is one of those: a family business that moved to Grand Rapids four years ago. Twenty acres and an enormous pole building out in the country south of town provided just the space they needed.  They moved north from the twin cities in search of a more rural life.  (They claim that the promotional videos painting this life as idyllic don’t say enough about the amount of work involved, though.)  The pole building, complete with in-floor heat, is the main production site for microgreens and lettuce.  Enormous shelves complete with LED grow lights are home to lettuce of all kinds.  And rolling racks outfitted with grow lights hold tray after tray of a wide variety of microgreens.  I ask which is the customers’ favorite?  Bodacious Brassica Mix wins the prize.  I also spy pea shoots and sunflowers, two of my favorite microgreens.

Some of the lettuce is hydroponic, but all the microgreens are currently growing in soil.  And they’re misted with purified ocean water twice during their short growth period.  The business is not certified organic, but employs all organic products and methods.  Germination begins in large humidity tents that provide just the right dark, moist atmosphere needed.  Then the tiny sprouts move to the growing racks until they’re large enough to cut and package.  They’re watered with triple-filtered well water that is then put through reverse osmosis purification before being used.  The four Martin children help with planting, washing equipment, and packing.  Single types and mixes of microgreens are packed into clear plastic containers of various sizes allow customers to see what’s inside.  Solid Rock Growers has been selling mixed containers of microgreens and lettuce at Natural Harvest Coop and F&D Meats in Virginia and they’re involved in the Free Range Food Coop in Grand Rapids.

Chad does most of the growing, and Nicole recently launched a website (solidrockgrowers.com) where they sell directly to customers and offer a microgreens CSA with weekly deliveries.  They’ve also sold outdoors in a tent at various locations around Grand Rapids.  This coming summer, the family will add a large outdoor greenhouse for lettuce production.  The frame is up and all the equipment is on site to get started this spring.  They’ll be capable of producing large quantities of lettuce and hope to market varieties of fresh lettuce to area restaurants.  Over the next several years, the Martin family will put several acres of fields into production as well, diversifying their offerings, but keeping the focus on greens.

Like almost every other farmer I’ve interviewed for these stories, Chad has an off-farm job.  According to a study by researchers at the University of Missouri, 82% of U.S. farm household income now comes from off-farm sources.  A stable income and benefits, especially health care, are the most common reasons for off-farm employment.  In northern Minnesota, we don’t produce much of the state’s largest agricultural products: corn, soybeans, hogs, cattle and dairy.  With some exceptions, northern Minnesota farmers are specialty crop producers.  Specialty crops are fruits and vegetables and grains grown for human consumption (in contrast to corn and soybeans for livestock feed).  The farmers often know their customers well because they sell directly to folks in their geographic area or to small outlets like food coops, specialty stores and farmers markets.  Consumers are starting to catch on to the nutritional value of microgreens.

So how do you cook with microgreens?  Well, you can put them on sandwiches, in omelets, in soup, salads, on pizza or pasta or as a side dish with a bit of dressing or sauce. They make great smoothies, packed with nutrition!  And fresh microgreens last ten to twelve days in the fridge. The best thing about microgreens is that they grow inside, year-round, so you can get local fresh microgreens all through the long Minnesota winter. Popeye might even ditch his canned spinach for these delectables!

Profile 88: Boss Booch wants you to have a healthy beverage! originally published in Hometown Focus

Jill Burkes and Rob Wheeler at their farmers market stand selling Boss Booch

What do yogurt, kimchi, cheddar cheese, and kombucha have in common?  Right!  They’re each a product of fermentation.  Fermentation is the process where yeast and/or bacteria break down sugars into other chemicals without the help of oxygen.  Most of us have probably eaten fermented foods without thinking about the process, or the results.  My daughter started making kombucha a few years ago and I discovered that I like it.  Now my partner makes it regularly in a dark cupboard in our kitchen.  And more and more folks are applying for a Minnesota Cottage Food permit to make kombucha to sell at farmers markets.

Rob Wheeler of Hibbing is one of those folks.  You might know him as the bearded half of the band MorningBird, but he’s also the boss of “Boss Booch.”  Rob started making kombucha in 2017 and his business has slowly grown from a couple of glass gallon containers to eight or nine gallons on the kitchen counter and eventually to ten, five-gallon brewing jars in the basement.  The beverage is made from tea with sugar added.  Rob uses Ceylon Black or Gunpowder Green organic tea from Natural Harvest Food Coop in Virginia.  He adds organic cane sugar, and then the scoby.  Scoby stands for Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast.  It’s a gelatinous blob of pale brown stuff that actually looks revolting.  But it does the job of transforming sweetened tea into a beverage full of probiotics and stuff that’s good for your gut.  It also seals off the brew from air and any bad bacteria that might be in the air.  The magic happens under the scoby, in a dark room that’s reasonably cool.

Rob adds flavor after the initial thirty-day fermenting and lets it ferment another two to three days.  His flavors are unique—he forages them across northern Minnesota, especially at his cabin on Crane Lake.  Or he grows them in his herb garden at home.  Chagga from the woods, wild berries of every kind, wild plums, and apples make it into his kombucha as well as basil, lavender and rosemary from the garden.  Rob says the foraging is his favorite part of making the brew.  And his customers love the flavors, especially kombucha flavored with basil.  After the three day flavor ferment, he bottles it, then adds a bit of organic cane sugar and lets it sit another week.  That’s when the tiny bit of natural carbonation forms in the kombucha.

Thirty-two ounce Boston Round bottles are his preference and he also sells sixty-four ounce growlers—all in returnable bottles.  Rob has a Cottage Food “license,” which is actually an exemption from a more institutional license according to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.  It requires training and an annual fee along with registration with the Department.  Rob uses PBW, also known as a brewery cleaner, and boiled water to wash the bottles in a stainless steel sink.  They are rinsed in boiled water and then baked in the oven for twenty minutes at 180 degrees.  Then they’re ready to fill.

You can find all kinds of health claims about kombucha on the Internet, but I wanted to dig a bit deeper for information on its content and its benefits.  I found two very helpful articles.  The first, from the UCLA School of Medicine, published in the professional journal Nutrients in 2022, measured the microbial and chemical profiles of nine commercial kombucha products.  The second, from Stanford University, published in the journal Cell in 2021, reports on a seventeen-week randomized study of two diets and their impact on the immune system.  One of the diets was high in fermented items.  The results are very encouraging.  Here’s a summary.

The first study on the content of kombuchas found large differences in the chemical and microbial profiles of kombuchas, but all for the good.  The interactions between bacteria and yeasts (in the scoby), they found, lead to the formation of a wide range of “bioactive metabolites” including vitamins and amino acids.  These live microbes are what we call “probiotics,” and folks drink kombucha to add probiotics to their gut microbiome.  Your gut microbiome lives in your digestive tract and is linked to your health in powerful ways.  Kombucha, made from tea, also contains tea polyphenols, known for their antioxidant qualities.  If you want to pursue this, you can read the research here: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/14/3/670

The second study looked at the health impacts of two diets, one high in fiber and the other high in fermented foods.  They found that the diet with abundant fermented foods increased gut microbiota diversity (a good thing) and decreased inflammation.  Inflammation is associated with non-communicable chronic diseases that are on the rise around the world—think diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases.  And a decrease in inflammation means a boost for the immune system.  If you’d like to pursue this, you can read the study here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9020749/

Overall, kombucha and other fermented foods are a good thing.  And you’ll be able to find Boss Booch’s awesome flavored brew at the Virginia Market Square farmers market this summer!  We’ll see you there June 15!

Profile 87: Bury your Undies! originally published in Hometown Focus

We’re in the depth of winter here in northern Minnesota, we’ve put our gardens and fields to bed and the snow has blanketed everything.  But down under that snow, there’s a mighty village of microbes working hard to get ready for spring.  Meet the heavy lifters: fungi, bacteria, actinomycetes and archaea are active, maybe just a bit slower in the cold, but they’re cooperating to feed our plants.  It was just in 2010 that Swedish researchers discovered that soil microorganisms actually maintain activity during the winter, transforming carbon just like they do in the summer, but more slowly.  And they are legion.  There are more of these critters in a teaspoon of healthy soil than there are humans on the planet! 

Mycorrhizal root tips

They’re invisible to most of us.  But we know something about them.  Most of us know what fungi are, for example—even if we’ve only seen them in mushroom or mold manifestations.  Mycorrhizae are fungi that live around plant roots and interact symbiotically with the roots.  There are different varieties, depending on whether they grow their hyphae (the filaments that make up the mycelium) inside the plant roots or outside of them.  The bottom line is that they eat root exudates (excreted sugars) and poop good stuff that plant roots like in return.  And when it gets too cold for them, they set spores which will sprout as soon as the soil warms a bit.

Actinomycetes are organisms between fungi and bacteria.  They are like bacteria, but they can form branches like fungi.  And some of them can freeze and still keep on working—they have membranes that don’t burst when their innards turn to ice.  Bacteria are familiar to most of us as “germs.” They, along with the other microbes, transform nitrogen and store nitrogen, even in winter.  We think of them as “bad,” but they’re essential underground just like they are in our own human guts (google “gut biome” for more than you want to know).

A more primitive microbe than bacteria is the archaea.  These are single-celled organisms that outnumber all the others.  It’s estimated that there are thousands of species of archaea living in the soil.  They’re hard at work at thirty-two degrees.  Some of them are experts at oxidizing ammonia into nitrate which is essential for plant nutrition.  Researchers testing soil in Colorado in 2018 found a dramatic increase in the abundance of bacterial and fungal populations in midwinter followed by a decrease during the snowmelt period. In 2020, other researchers documented a similar “microbial bloom” sixty-five days prior to snowmelt and then a flush of Nitrogen after snowmelt when the microbes crash.  It’s an active cycle, keeping the soil teeming with life even in northern Minnesota winters….in healthy soil, that is.

Mycelium

So how can you boost your soil’s ability to keep all these bugs going?  There are steps you can take in the fall to help.  Don’t till!  Tilling is like taking a bulldozer to your soil, destroying the intricate webs created by all these creatures.  If you believe you must get some air into the soil, use a broad fork.  Don’t rake your leaves!  Or do rake them toward your gardens and fields and wildflower areas and use them as mulch.  Add compost as mulch or drench the soil with compost tea before covering.  You can purchase compost if you don’t make your own.  And you can find easy recipes for compost tea on the Internet.  Plant cover crops—plants native to your area.  Keeping roots in the soil always helps.  They prevent erosion and support microbes in addition to preventing weeds.  And leave the snow where it falls on your garden.  The snow blanket is a good insulator as well as being a fertilizer.  Did you know that, as snowflakes fall through the air, they pick up atmospheric nitrogen and gift it to your garden?

Snow insulates the ground and helps the underground critters

And in the spring, don’t rake the leaves or cover off or cut back perennials until the temperature has been above fifty for a week.  All of the insects, especially pollinators, who nest in leaf litter and dried winter branches of perennials are still waking up.  And we need them just as much as we need the underground critters.  It all comes back to life in its own good time.

I know you’re wondering how to find out whether the soil in your field or garden has enough   microbes.  This is the fun part!  And you can do it this coming spring.  It’s called “Bury your Briefs” or “Soil your Undies.”  Stay with me here…..all you need is a pair of 100% cotton briefs or undies.  Bury them in your field or garden when the soil warms in the spring.  After a couple of months, dig them up.  (Better explain to neighbors first.)  If they’re intact, you’re in trouble, or at least your soil is.  If all that’s left is an elastic waistband, your soil is full of enough microbes and you’re in good shape for the growing season.  Google Bury your Briefs or Soil your Undies and you’ll find numerous videos and contests and photos.

I’ll close with this wish:  May your undies be totally devoured and your garden grow well!

Profile 86: Winter reading for farmers and gardeners, originally published in Hometown Focus

If you’re a farmer or a food grower of any sort, this is your fallow season, the wintertime when you can catch your breath and maybe even read a bit.  I’m often asked what organizations or newsletters are useful sources of information about local food, whether you’re growing it, eating it, or promoting it.  So, I’d like to share a few that I find helpful and informative.

Me reading one of my favorite journals by the fire

In Minnesota, Renewing the Countryside, the Land Stewardship Project, the Lake Superior Sustainable Farming Association and AICHO’s Anishinaabe Food Sovereignty program are several that I’d suggest.  Renewing the Countryside is a good place to begin.  Current projects include a farmland access hub to help new farmers find land, farmers market hubs promoting aggregation and online sales, farm-to-school, and farm to childcare efforts, connecting and convening women in agriculture throughout the state, exploring on-farm food service, and farm transitions to assist retiring farmers to pass on their business.  With a mission of “Working for a more just, vibrant and sustainable rural America,” the organization sponsors training and events to support networking.  And, of course, they offer a monthly newsletter. https://www.renewingthecountryside.org/sign_up1 

 

The Land Stewardship Project’s mission is to “foster an ethic of stewardship for farmland, to promote sustainable agriculture, and to develop healthy communities.”  They recently published “Vision for the Future,” their five-year-plan focusing on core values of stewardship, justice, democracy, health, and community.  Seven initiatives are identified and will be the focus of the Land Stewardship Project’s efforts.  The organizational structure includes five program areas.  Farm Beginnings is the one with which I’m most familiar.  Last year, the Rutabaga Project sponsored several new Iron Range farmers’ participation in the year-long Farm Beginnings training.  Their Soil Health initiative promotes soil-building methods that improve carbon sequestration, water quality, and farm economics.  And, of course, they offer a regular newsletter. https://landstewardshipproject.org/building-people-power-2/

 

The Lake Superior Sustainable Farming Association is open to farmers and those interested in local food and sustainable farming.  Its members span northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin.  LSSFA’s main work areas are silvopasture and agroforestry, Minnesota Premium Garlic Project, Soil Health, Technical Assistance for Grazing, the Minnesota Asparagus Project, a Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship, and the Minnesota Dairy Initiative.  The Association hosts many events and trainings as well as an annual meeting/conference.  They are probably best known for the huge Lake Superior Harvest Festival held at Bayfront Park in Duluth each September.  They also maintain the “Superior Grown” directory of sustainable farming enterprises.  And, of course, they offer a newsletter.  https://www.sfa-mn.org/sfa-connect/

 

The American Indian Community Housing Organization, based in Duluth, offers the ZAAGA'IGANING Anishinaabe Food Sovereignty program, providing resources, online “spotlights” covering local efforts, and Indigenous Food and Art Markets.  The Indigenous First Art and Gift Shop selling local Indigenous food is open Monday through Friday, 10am to 5pm at 202 W. 2nd Street in Duluth.  Yes!  AICHO has a newsletter.  https://aichogalleries.us14.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=f3863090b8fbc3408982f7178&id=cd3d57575a

An organization that focuses on the Midwest and offers one of the best area organic farming conferences is Marbleseed, formerly known as MOSES, the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service.  The Rutabaga Project sent several Iron Range farmers to the conference last year.  Marbleseed supports “farmers in their transition toward sustainable, organic farming systems that are ecologically sound, economically viable, and socially just.”  It sponsors peer-to-peer learning in farmer-led programs as well as mental health peer support and “In Her Boots,” collection of educational gatherings and resources for women-identified farmers. Marbleseed’s annual conference is coming up February 23-25 in La Crosse.  They offer a newsletter in addition to a blog and podcasts.  https://marbleseed.org/news

Finally, there are several national organizations and publications that I follow. Forty Acre Coop is the first national Black farmer co-op since the Reconstruction era.  It offers Black farmers across the nation membership in a cooperative that pools the risk across everyone and increases market power.  And it’s based in Sandstone, Minnesota.  Farmers can explore member benefits here https://www.fortyacre.coop/benefits

Acres USA is one of my very favorite publications.  It’s a monthly magazine calling itself “the voice of eco-agriculture.”  I attended the annual eco-ag conference several years ago and it was fabulous!  Acres USA also has a well-stocked bookstore and offers online courses.  They produce the “Tractor Time” podcast available at Eco Farming Daily where you can browse materials on raising livestock, growing crops, building soil, and managing your farm and sign up for weekly newsletter  https://www.ecofarmingdaily.com/voices-of-eco-agriculture/tractor-time-podcast/   Subscriptions to the monthly magazine are available here https://www.acresusa.com/magazine/

Finally on my list of valuable resources are the organizations Slow Food USA and Civil Eats.  Slow Food is in over 160 countries, with over one hundred chapters in the United States. Slow Food USA was established in 2000.  They have abundant resources for eaters.  You can sign up for one or all of Slow Food’s many newsletters here https://www.slowfood.com/newsletters/   Civil Eats is something I recently discovered.  The organization is broadly focused on policy: “Civil Eats is a daily news source for critical thought about the American food system. We publish stories that shift the conversation around sustainable agriculture in an effort to build economically and socially just communities.”  What I find fascinating is the Civil Eats TV—so educational.  Check it out.  https://civileats.com/category/civil-eats-tv/   Happy New Year everyone!  And happy winter reading!

 

Profile 85: Inspiration from a Florida online market! originally published in Hometown Focus

Fresh citrus at the Red Hills Online Market distribution center

Last week I had the pleasure of visiting my daughter in Tallahassee, Florida to celebrate her 30th birthday.  It was unseasonably warm—in the 70’s and 80’s each sunny day.  And I was able to accompany her to her farmers market job on two occasions.  It was a great learning experience for me!  The Red Hills Online Market was founded as part of the Red Hills Small Farm Alliance, a nonprofit organization of Tallahassee-area farmers.  Four women in agriculture began the collaborative effort in 2010 with a mission to increase economic stability for small farms, increase access to fresh, local food, and offer educational and mentoring opportunities to local farmers.  They established a local C.R.A.F.T. chapter (Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training, an effort originating in New York in 1994) and continue to offer regular farmer-to-farmer training.  The market is the arm of RHSFA that increases access to fresh local food.  The Alliance initiated a “certified locally grown” label to help consumers identify food grown/made within 100 miles of Tallahassee. 

Abundant produce at Red Hills distribution center

The market operates online only, with orders opening Sundays at 8am and closing Tuesdays at 6am (www.rhomarket.com).  Deliveries happen on Thursdays to individual homes as well as 19 area “hubs.” Customers log on, shop, and pay for their purchases within that window.  On Wednesdays, the market staff set up their warehouse-like facility for vendor delivery. An order sheet for each vendor is printed out, then rows of shelves, coolers and freezers with product labels are rearranged to accommodate the volume ordered that week.  Insulated, reusable delivery bags are cleaned and prepared for packing, and non-produce vendors deliver their orders.  Early Thursday morning produce vendors deliver their orders.  Each order is checked in by a staff member who verifies that the vendor supplied what the customers ordered.

Jo Ann waits for a picker to bring an order for quality control and packing

And then the fun begins. Using printouts of each customer’s order, 8-10 “picker” staff begin filling orders from the shelves and coolers/freezers.  Each picker brings an order to the 6-8 quality control/packing tables for verification by another staff member.  Both the picker and the quality control person sign off on the order, then it is packed into insulated reusable bags with a color-coded summary stapled to the front.  The colors indicate the route/delivery driver the order will go to next.  Completed orders are placed on rolling shelves coded for each hub and driver.  About a dozen drivers pick up orders and deliver throughout the day.  Usually by 5pm the shelves are empty, and the week’s orders have been delivered. 

Bridgett inspects packed bags ready for delivery

Workers are hired on contract for an hourly rate and work Wednesdays and Thursdays.  The manager and assistant managers handle all the administrative aspects of the market including troubleshooting, communicating with vendors and staff, preparing a weekly newsletter, managing social media, and everything else that keeps this all going.  Red Hills Online Market uses “Local Food Marketplace,” one of the over twenty-five online platforms available to maintain inventory and process all orders and invoices. 

So, what does a Florida market offer?  This is the fun part.  Of course, their growers and producers live in USDA Zone 8B and most of us are in Zone 3a.  Their tomato season is in June, but I still see a few, but this month is citrus season.  There are so many kinds of citrus I didn’t even know existed.  Browse www.rhomarket.com for a tour of amazing produce.  The day I help pack, we handle every kind of produce imaginable in addition to frozen meat, many kinds of soups and pies, and kombucha, artisan cheese, specialty baked goods, eggs, milk, hummus, honey, pecans, pizza dough, coffee, tea, and wonderful fresh turmeric, ginger, garlic, basil, thyme, sage, and cilantro.  I marvel at the varieties of bok choi and take special note of the watermelon radishes.  Some vendors offer a “farm share” filled with whatever is plentiful that week.  This week, the baskets are overflowing with greens of every kind.  The grits and cornmeal and cactus plants remind me that I’m in the south.

Greens, greens, and more greens!

I notice the same kind of camaraderie among producers and staff that I experience at our farmers markets here on the Iron Range.  And we talk a bit about that—it seems to me that folks who grow food for others are a special kind of people.  And those who spend their time aggregating and delivering it are too.  On Saturday, we stopped in at a Tallahassee area in-person farmers market located in the yard of a local church.  Some of the same vendors are there and many new ones.  We browse table after table of fresh produce.  Attendance is good and the produce is selling fast.  I get a serious case of Zone 8B envy!!

At the farmers market

But, as I must, I fly back to our Zone 3a and get stranded in Minneapolis by a snowstorm.  So, I’m writing this column from my friend’s dining room table while the snow continues.  I’ve brought the inspiration with me, though, and I dream of growing our markets up north to such abundance.  Happy Holidays, folks!

Profile 84: The Rutabaga Project's USDA Grant comes to a successful close, originally published in Hometown Focus

Three years ago, the Rutabaga Project was awarded a USDA grant focused on recruiting new farmers, providing them training in marketing their goods, and promoting the Arrowhead Grown effort to publicize farmers markets in northeast Minnesota.  The grant concluded on November 30 and, despite two years of altered plans due to Covid, met its goals.  The Rutabaga Project began in 2013 as a collaborative effort between the Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency and the Iron Range Partnership for Sustainability.  Its purpose has been to promote access to healthy local food.  AEOA has been the fiscal sponsor.  As part of IRPS, I volunteered with the project, providing my time as part of the in-kind match for the grant.

The funds were granted in 2019.  Just prior to that, a 2018 study by the Iron Range Partnership for Sustainability, “Local Food as an Economic Driver,” demonstrated that northeast Minnesota could feed itself, growing its own food, with a few exceptions like coffee and olive oil.  The good news is that recent USDA data show northeast Minnesota is one of the few areas in the country where the number of farms is actually increasing.  But we need many more farms and farmers to be food self-reliant.  In response to that need, one of the major goals of the USDA grant was to recruit six new farmers.

A “new farmer,” according to the USDA, is a farmer who has been farming less than ten years.  We recruited twelve new farmers, and almost all of them have been farming less than three years, with some just starting in 2022.  Heather Mahoney, manager for the Rutabaga Project, has reached out to new farmers across the Range and connected them with each other as well as with training.  Groups of new farmers attended the Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education Service conferences, the New Farmer U sponsored by Renewing the Countryside, the year-long Farm Beginnings course by the Land Stewardship Project, and water safety training and well testing with the North St. Louis County Soil and Water Conservation District.  The project also provided training in the use of online platforms such as Open Food Network to sell to individuals as well to retailers.

And the final training effort, a series of a dozen “how to market your farm” videos, will be published soon to the Rutabaga Project YouTube channel.  We hired a local videographer and traveled around the Iron Range documenting how successful farmers have diversified and promoted their products, from offering Community Supported Agriculture shares to U-pick flowers to pizza on the farm to hayrides and corn mazes, Airbnb lodging, microgreens, and online sales.  We spent time with a University of Minnesota Extension educator who runs a successful organic farm by offering a CSA and an on-site farm stand as well as selling at a farmers market and to a food coop.  We talked with a chicken expert about how to scale up and market a chicken operation for eggs and meat birds.  And a cottage food producer who has increased sales each year from her farm through social media and local fairs.  Finally, we filmed a farm business planner and a social media expert offering skills to new farmers.  All that training will be available for the foreseeable future, free, on the YouTube channel.

We had proposed an aggregated CSA, a community supported agriculture share program aggregating produce from five farms.  We implemented the “Grown on the Range CSA” in the summer of 2021, but the long distances between area farms made this model too expensive to sustain.  It was a great idea in theory, but the Range is so rural that the logistics proved to be a challenge, even though we chose farms as close to each other as feasible.  Live and learn.  Thank you to the five farms who participated: Homegrown in Embarrass, Early Frost Farms, Aspen Falls Farm, Bear River Farm, and Murray Family Farm and to AEOA Senior Services for covering the share costs for five lucky seniors in Virginia!

Rutabaga Project manager Heather Mahoney also spent a good deal of time assisting the Mesabi East Farm to School effort which has just expanded to purchase from even more area farmers.  USDA Farm to School grants are supporting similar efforts across the state.  According to the most recent (2019) USDA Farm to School census, 1,008 schools in Minnesota are participating.  The national Farm to School program includes edible gardens at schools and Farm to Early Care initiatives.

The Rutabaga Project grant also supported the Arrowhead Grown website, farmers market directory, billboard campaign and local newspaper advertising campaign.  Arrowhead Grown promotes farmers markets in northeast Minnesota.  Check out the listings for your area at www.arrowheadgrown.org  You’ll find video introductions to eleven markets on the Range as well as a comprehensive listing of farmers markets indicating where they’re located, when they’re open, and which programs are offered (SNAP, Market Bucks, WIC/FMNP, and Power of Produce Club for kids and seniors).  During the summers of 2021 and 2022, the Rutabaga Project ran Arrowhead Grown ads for six weeks in seven rural publications across the Range.  And the billboard stood along Hwy 169 just west of Mt. Iron for three months in the summer of 2022.  The Department of Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation provided matching funds.

The future beyond the grant includes using the newly established Virginia Farmers Market Hub online platform to help area farmers market to individuals as well as to grocery stores and restaurants.  It’s a delicate balance promoting demand for local food and ensuring that the supply is up to meeting the demand.  They never quite match exactly, but that’s part of the challenge—to incentivize farmers to produce more and individuals and retailers to buy more local food.  The 2018 study projected that if we spend just twenty percent of our food dollars locally, we can generate 248-694 jobs and keep $51 million dollars circulating right here!  We have a good start thanks to the USDA grant funding the Rutabaga Project’s work.

Profile 83: Harvest Meals of the Iron Range, originally published in Hometown Focus

Wild rice harvesting

Harvest meals are a tradition in most cultures.  I want to explore some harvest meals prepared and celebrated here on the Range going back in time.  I found a beautifully illustrated book free online from the University of Minnesota Morris: Eating with the Seasons, Anishinaabeg, Great Lakes Region by Derek Nicholas.  For the original inhabitants of this part of Minnesota, November is the Gashkadino-giizis, the Freezing Moon.  It used to signal the time to travel to winter camps.  Fishing the harvest of the fall spawn and drying the catch for the long winter are still traditional activities.  Harvest meals likely include fish, brussels sprouts, garlic, rutabagas, turnips, winter squash and of course, wild rice, according to this book.  The author is an enrolled member of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa who started his journey to revitalize his family’s culture and connect folks through the power of food at the University of Minnesota Morris.  Download the book and its beautiful illustrations free at https://digitalcommons.morris.umn.edu/student_research/8

So, what did the Finns who came later to the Range do for a harvest meal?  My friend Jeanne grew up on her grandparents’ Finnish farm near Virginia.  She remembers venison, chunked, and canned in quart jars for the winter, as part of a fall meal, with rutabagas and potatoes from the root cellar and pickled beets and cucumbers.  A standard holiday dish was “lanttulaatikko,” baked rutabaga mashed with egg and cream.  A little nutmeg, butter and some breadcrumbs made this into a baked delight.   Kekri, an ancient Finnish and Karelian celebration to mark end of harvest season, was still observed in rural Finland up to about one hundred years ago.  The central focus of that meal, in addition to the abundance from the fall harvest, was the Kekri lamb.

Sarmas

My friend Jody married into a large Slovenian family who settled in Aurora, Minnesota on a farm with huge gardens.  Fall harvest meals included blood sausage if they had butchered recently, and sauerkraut.  There would be fried potatoes—fried in cracklings (fried bits made by cooking down pork trimmings)—and lettuce or endive salad.  According to Jody’s Slovenian friend Rose, the endive was brought in after frost and kept in a cold room or the garage for as long as possible.  If not blood sausage, the meal might have centered on sarmas (kislim zeljem-cabbage bundles) and zeljnata solata (cole slaw).  It would almost always have included potica which is a favorite of Rangers of all ethnicities today, and probably some kind of soup with noodles or buckwheat dumplings.

My friend Toni remembers her Slovenian father preparing a huge booyah feast for his friends and co-workers in late October each year.  He had a huge iron kettle made and cooked the meat and vegetable stew over a slow fire all day.  He stirred it with a cut off canoe paddle.  The process began the day before with the roasting of the meat, probably beef.  At daybreak, the day of the meal he would add carrots and onions, potatoes, peas, green beans, tomatoes, and onions along with a huge cheesecloth bag of spices which remain a mystery.  At about 3pm, after the stew had cooked and thickened all day, the friends and neighbors from all around Eveleth would come by to fill their bowls with booyah along with many loaves of Italian bread.

There’s another Iron Range food that was enjoyed year-round, I think, and originated with Mike Giacomo, “Spaghetti Mike” who ran the Spaghetti Inn in Gilbert.  The story goes that a hungry man, after a long evening of drinking in the city’s bars, stopped in and needed something to satisfy his hunger.  Mike didn’t really have anything but stirred up what he could find in the restaurant: tomatoes, peppers, onions, celery, some spices, and ground beef or whatever meat he had left over and put it on a thick slab of Italian bread for his hungry customer.  It became a favorite among Gilbert’s bar patrons and somehow got the name “South Americans.”  There are many recipes floating around today and some folks make huge quantities to can or freeze and give away.  Diane’s food blog on the web calls South Americans “Iron Range Bar Sandwiches,” and recommends the recipe from Come, You Taste, B.J. Carpenter’s famous Iron Range cookbook.  You can buy homemade South Americans at Paul’s Italian Market in Eveleth.

No Iron Range review of fall/winter meals would be complete without the Norwegian lutefisk, made from dried whitefish cured in lye.  It is rehydrated for serving and has a jelly-like texture.  I must admit I’ve never tasted it, but I’m sure I will soon.  It is traditionally served with sides like pea stew, potatoes, gravy, and mashed rutabaga.  The meal probably would include lefse as well, a Norwegian potato flatbread cooked on a griddle.  A friend of mine sells homemade lefse at the Grand Rapids Farmers Market. 

Lefse on a griddle

I grew up in Illinois, so this has all been new to me.  My only experience with culture-specific fall meals was the Swedish potato sausage that my German maternal grandfather made with his Swedish wife.  I still try to find good potato sausage every fall.  And my paternal grandmother, a Volga German (Germans who lived in Russia) made wonderful bierocks, a pastry pocket filled with cabbage and savory meat.  I’ve never tried to make those, but recently located a Facebook page “Germans from Russia Food and Culture” (https://www.facebook.com/GermansfromRussiaFoodandCulture ) and I have my work cut out for me this fall.

I hope you can share a traditional harvest meal with those you care about, and I wish you a safe and healthy winter.

Profile 82: A Dream coming into reality--local cheese!

Cora and Jerry Johnston in front of their new facility

I am bearing witness to a huge dream becoming real, and it’s been a very long process.  Jerry and Cora Johnston had a small dairy farm with pastured, grass-fed dairy cows and a cheese license, something unique in St. Louis County.  Jerry moved the grazing herd of twenty-seven four times each day and brought them in for milking twice a day. Cora made cheese: aged Gouda in flavors like tomato basil and garden, and Farmhouse Cheddar.  They chose bulls carefully to breed dairy cows able to produce milk on grass and to withstand Minnesota winters.  And then they got a call that changed everything.

Dahl’s Sunrise Dairy was going out of business and was looking for a farmer to buy the bottling plant.  Jerry and Cora prayed about it and decided to go ahead.  That meant moving to a bigger farm, getting financing to build a large facility, and painstakingly disassembling, transporting and reassembling each piece of machinery from Babbitt to Floodwood.  It’s all there now, including a massive butter churn.  They’ve taken on debt and are selling cows to get by during the years-long process.  The dream is to rebuild the herd and re-apply for the cheese license and the permits necessary to run the bottling plant on this 200-acre farm.

In the interim, Johnston’s Riverview Farm milk is being produced by Crystal Ball Farms in Osceola, Wisconsin, an organic dairy.  I love the name crystal ball—it echoes the vision that the Johnstons have of their dream.  Twice each week, Jerry picks up empty bottles at nineteen locations selling their milk, takes them to Osceola and picks up a load to bring back and deliver.  They would love to do home deliveries, but that’s in the future when the local plant is up and running.  That future is hopefully 2023 if all goes well.

The 102x40 foot building has been constructed, complete with loading area and walk-in coolers, a bottle-washing room, and a milk-processing suite.  They plan to make cheese again, and cream and butter in addition to milk.  Johnston’s Riverview Farm milk is not homogenized—meaning that each bottle has cream on the top.  Customers sometimes think the milk is bad and call to check.  But non-homogenized milk just needs to be shaken.  Homogenization is an additional processing step requiring lots of extra energy to pulverize the cream into small enough droplets to stay suspended in the milk. 

Butter churn being readied for use

The dream involves a herd of about sixty dairy cows, several bulls to crossbreed for desirable traits such as good milk production on grass and weather tolerance.  The cows, as on their former farm, will get no antibiotics, no growth hormones, and they’ll get plenty of grass and fresh air, moving four times each day to fresh grazing ground.  The Johnstons will bottle once per day and do home deliveries of their milk, cream, butter, and cheese.  I’ll be standing in line for that cheese especially!  I hope they’re also able to sell at local farmers markets.

The Johnstons have crafted their dream in accordance with their values.  Their website introduces them by saying “We have a passion for a simple way of life and raising our own food. We homeschool our five children which allows them to help with the farm chores and be a part of our family business. Our long-term goal is to make our main income from our family farm.”  There is, of course, another way to do dairy: total confinement and zero-grazing.  AgriSearch research fellow in international dairy production at the QUB (Queens University Belfast) Institute of Global Food tackled the question “total confinement vs. pasture systems: what does the science say?”  And the science says, it depends.  There are advantages and disadvantages of each system.  Total confinement gives the farmer complete control—of the nutrition, the weather, and the breeding.  It can yield higher levels of milk.   It costs more than pasturing, but, with increasing herd sizes, those costs can be lowered somewhat.  On the other hand, grass is the cheapest feed available, cows on pasture experience decreased lameness, mastitis, mortality, and aggression.  They demonstrate increased comfort/lying behavior, increased fertility, improved milk content, and lower environmental impacts. (https://www.thedairysite.com/articles/3778/total-confinement-vs-pasture-systems-what-does-the-science-say)

USDA photo of dairy cow on pasture

The Journal of Dairy Science in 2002 published an article measuring milk production and economic measures, comparing confinement and pasture systems.  They also compared two breeds of cows, Jerseys and Holsteins, which complicates the results a bit.  But here they are, straight from the research: “In this 4-yr seasonal calving study, pasture-fed cows produced less milk, had lower feed costs, and lower culling costs compared with the confinement-fed cows. Jerseys produced less milk, had higher protein and fat percentages, and lower culling costs than the Holsteins. Overall, there was not a significant difference for income over feed costs between the confinement-fed and pasture-fed cows. Holsteins consistently had higher milk income over feed costs than Jerseys. Other factors such as manure management, labor, and some investments are projected to favor the pasture-based feeding system, but land needed for forage production may be less in a confinement system. Although many factors contribute to the economic success of dairy farm businesses, results from the current study indicate that pasture based dairy production can potentially be an economically competitive management system.” (White, et al, “Milk Production and Economic Measures in Confinement or Pasture Systems Using Seasonally Calved Holstein and Jersey Cows,” Journal of Dairy Science, 85:96-104, 2002)

These studies come from the farmer perspective.  What about consumers of dairy products?  Well, there’s research on that, too.  The New Zealand Veterinary Journal in 2020 published a study “Assessing whether dairy cow welfare is “better” in pasture-based than in confinement-based management systems.”  Twenty-first century consumers are interested in the conditions under which animals who provide their food have been kept.  Vegetarians and vegans, of course, reject all animal use.  But for carnivores, the animal welfare is a key factor.  This study acknowledges the current reality of dairy farming: both systems are heterogeneous and continually evolving.  Some confinement operations allow cows out to pasture periodically.  Some pasture operations provide winter shelter and, especially in northern Minnesota, supplemental grass products during the winter.  Between the extremes of total confinement and total pasture, there may be “the optimal system [which] gives cows an element of choice between both environments.” (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00480169.2020.1721034 )

But the labeling can be confusing to consumers.  Is there a difference between grass-fed and pasture-raised?  Yes, there is.  Grass-fed defines what an animal eats.  Pasture-raised defines where they eat it.  Some consumers make choices on this basis.  And in northern Minnesota with brutal winters, these choices are real.  You can’t have animals graze on fresh grass in the snow.  So, farmers who graze must import baled grass, raised to their standards, to supplement.  Farmers who use confinement methods also must purchase feed….and that’s where consumers can ask whether the dairy cow was fed hay/sileage (leaves and stems from corn, wheat, and oats) or something else.  It’s really a values choice.  Consumers are increasingly choosing food according to their values IF they can afford to make such choices.  And that is the topic of another article!

For the Johnstons, the dream is in sight and the hard work continues.  But the result will be a dairy farm that is unique for our area and local cheese!  I wish them well!

Milk bottling equipment being readied for use at Johnston’s Riverview Farm

Profile 81: Everything used to be local, and we can get there again...originally published in Hometown Focus

The kind of food system that supports your ability to “eat local” used to be commonplace in generations past.  Your grandparents and great grandparents ate meat, poultry, and eggs from local farms and vegetables from their own garden or a neighbor’s.  The local creamery supplied butter, milk and cheese.  Flour and salt were sold a the local “dry goods store” along with nonfood items.  There was no such thing as a supermarket where one could wander the aisles and choose their own products from an array of choices shipped from anywhere a railroad or truck could go. 

Take meat, for example.  This area’s abundant deer and wild meat fed everyone for centuries.  European settler/colonists brought beef and pork and, when farms no longer needed to raise work animals (the McCormick reaper was invented in 1831), many turned to these “meat animals.” And sold meat to friends and family.  The first meat packing plant in the U.S. opened in Cincinnati in 1818 and sides of beef were shipped by rail on ice cut from frozen lakes. The USDA was founded in 1862 but the first meat inspection act wasn’t passed until 1906. The first refrigerated meat delivery trucks did not make their debut until 1924. And the “boxed beef” that stores rely on today wasn’t a “thing” until 1967.  Most poultry came from local farms and backyard flocks. The “broiler” meat bird was not developed until 1920 and it was not until 1952 that specially bred broilers surpassed farm chickens as the number one source of chicken meat in the U.S.

Or vegetables---what we call produce today. The native fruits and vegetables of our area were foraged to feed humans well. Later, European settlers planted seeds they had brought with them, edibles, and medicinal herbs, in home gardens right outside the front door.  These evolved into “kitchen gardens” and eventually by 1800 moved to the back of the house. In the mid-1800’s, ornamental gardens took over and folks found their edibles elsewhere. “Lawns” became the thing after the turn of the century, and it was not until World War II that folks had to garden again out of necessity. “By 1943, 20 million “victory gardens” supplied more than 40 percent of all American produce grown that year, but interest in vegetable gardens and orchards waned with the war.”  (“An American Timeline: Home Gardening in the U.S.” by Jolene Hansen)

Or apples.  Minnesota has always had crabapples, but in 1868, the “wealthy” apple was discovered and the University of Minnesota along with the state’s orchard owners has been breeding apples to withstand Minnesota’s winters ever since.  The 1897 book Apples was just published online, and it catalogs the hundreds of varieties of apples that were being grown in Minnesota at the time. (https://open.lib.umn.edu/apples/  Today, the U.S. imports two-thirds of our fruits and one-third of our vegetables, mostly from Mexico and Canada.  And three U.S. states provide most of the rest: California, Washington and Oregon.

Minnesota was also known for wheat. Wheat fields started in southeast Minnesota but by the 1870’s had expanded to the Red River Valley. By 1890 Minnesota had become the national leader in wheat production with Duluth and Minneapolis the sites of major wheat markets.

Butter, milk and cheese?  In 1898 there were five hundred fifty cooperative creameries in Minnesota.  The Floodwood Creamer, Windom Creamery, and the Arrowhead Creamery in Esko were among the early creameries. Today, there are one hundred eighteen licensed dairy operations in the state and hardly any up here. Most of the milk from the few dairy farms left on the Range goes to Burnett Dairy in Wisconsin. But Johnston’s Riverview Farm in Floodwood is continuing to expand their bottling plant to serve the area. I’ll be profiling them in my next column.

We learned during the first year of the Covid epidemic that long supply chains cannot always be trusted, and many folks started trying to source their food from closer to home. That’s been a challenge particularly for meat since the number of meat processors has been hard pressed to meet the demand.  In response, two Minnesota community colleges have initiated meat processing programs and the NERCC facility in Saginaw recently opened a new processing center to help ease the backlog.  In Minnesota, for a local farmer to sell meat, they need to have the animals processed according to state law.

There are three types of processing plants in Minnesota: custom-exempt plants are inspected by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture four times per year, but there is no routine inspection of animals at the point of slaughter. Packages of meat processed at these facilities are marked “Not for Sale.”  The customer must buy the animal, or a portion thereof, directly from the farmer and, ideally, pick it up from the processor. The second kind of processing plant is called “Minnesota Equal-To” and has daily inspection by a Minnesota Department of Agriculture inspection. Animals are inspected before and after slaughter. This meat can be sold wholesale or retail but ONLY in Minnesota. Its label says, “Minnesota Inspected and Passed.”  The third kind of processor is USDA inspected on a continuous basis. This meat can be sold across state lines.

Poultry is a slightly different story. Small-scale producers can slaughter their own poultry (and rabbits) and sell directly to customers for personal or household use. If a producer wants to sell at a farmers market, their on-farm facilities must be enclosed and meet sanitation requirements. This is an area where mobile processing operations have been helpful. To sell poultry to grocery stores or restaurants, the farmer must use an Equal-To or USDA processor. In order to sell fish caught in Minnesota, one needs a commercial fishing license and a fish processing operation permit from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.

This meander through bits and pieces of the food infrastructure is not a definitive guide. But it sketches out a bit of where we have been with “eating local,” and how we might move toward it again.  Community gardens and home gardens are on the increase. Farmers markets are offering local options. Farm to School programs are introducing students to local foods. Meat processing options are increasing. And our number of farms is growing. It’s up to us to choose to support our local food system.  I hope this helps.