Filed under: The Shopping Experience
After so dry a summer, the fall has been a welcome rainy time. I woke up to the sound of thunderstorms. Stay in bed, I told myself, sleep in. I don’t really know how to “sleep in.” The day has so many possibilities, and I have to be awake to see them.
I had plans to walk around the marsh near the house with a friend. But the thunder and rain… “Raincheck,” I said. “Walk,” she said. When I came downstairs to grab some coffee first, the northwestern sky was glowing on the trees and a rainbow arched above. Golden trees. We walked. A falcon swooped above us. The smell of worms, wet and wriggly. More rain. Burrs in the dog’s fur. The perfect Saturday morning.
My hair still wet from the rain, I changed out of my soaked clothes and decided it was a day to go to Waconia and see Donna At the Farm.
At the Farm had been transformed from my summer haunt for Minnesota local food to a fantastic fall display of squash, pumpkins, apples, onions and more. The colors of fall are of a different palette than summer’s colors, and so warm and inviting. I walked through the barn first, just to take in the changes, see what produce was available, and say hello.
Corn was strung up in bundles hanging from the rafters. “Pop corn,” Donna told me. “Hang it until Thanksgiving, then you can store it or eat it!” I am not much of a popcorn eater anymore, but this was a far cry from the microwave popcorn people eat these days and only remoted related to the Jiffy Pop with the ever-increasing foil dome I loved as a kid.
So what do you do? Hang the corn to finish drying until Thanksgiving. Then, pop off the kernels from the cob. They can be stored in a closed jar in the refrigerator — or go ahead and pop the corn in oil or Crisco on the stove.
But you’ve got to be patient until Thanksgiving. And then go pop.
It’s been two months since I began the 50 Mile Diet. And one month since the experiment officially ended. The question that I am asked regularly now is, “Are you still eating local?” When I answer that I still am, but not with the strict “rules” I set forth for myself in August, I am asked why. Why eat local? Am I trying to prove something?
To be sure, I was trying to learn something in August, to explore the differences in the food bought locally, to support local farmers, to eat what was here and find out what my community grew.
And now?
I don’t think there’s any going back to my old way of eating whatever I fancied, regardless of its origin. I am changed. Even how I shop is different. Grocery shopping with me is no fun. I wander, reading labels, and my cart stays empty. Whereas grocery stores were once a source of treats and ‘I wonder what I’ll find today!’ kind of thinking, now I am doing analysis on everything. What is in this? Corn syrup? Where was it grown? Texas? Why do they add this stuff to it? Too much analysis you might think.
Above all, I want to know where all my food is from! I look at the potatoes on the shelf. Where are they from? There is no sign to tell me if they’re Idaho or Minnesota or wherever else potatoes are grown. I can choose from four or five beautiful varieties of potatoes — but still — the state, the county, the town, and the farmer are invisible.
I still have not brought home any California produce. No Danish or French cheese. No pineapples, bananas, romaine lettuce. No “fresh” mozarella from California curds. I don’t see this changing any time soon.
But if I’m invited out to lunch or dinner? Well, here’s the hypocrisy. I do eat what the restaurant or friend serves. Primarily this has meant green salad, although once I ate what must have been a very sad cow in a crowded pen, and he was very very good but I felt uncomfortable eating it. (sad cow disease)
The leaves are falling like crazy this week, there are little green tomatoes that will likely not ripen in my garden, and the high school football season is more than half way done. But I’m still trying to maintain my support of local fresh vegetables, fruit and meat.
Filed under: The Shopping Experience
I admit it. I have food boredom. Without California and imported foods to round out my diet, I’m just tired of eating the same old (good) stuff. I decided to go to Lakewinds and see what I don’t see on my normal rounds. I think I have a shopping pattern — certain aisles, certain parts of the store — and I might not be seeing something fantastic.
Squash. I haven’t really been seeing squash. There are so many varieties of local squash right now! They cost the same per pound at the register — I hope they don’t taste the same…
Featured above is a tremendous butternut squash, one of my favorites. I either eat it baked or make soup from it. Also shown are two types of squash I haven’t tried before. The orange one is known by various names: Uchiki Kuri or Orange Hokkaido or Red Kuri. It is also a winter squash with butter-colored flesh and a distinctive chestnut flavor (according to my googling). The smaller squash is a Delicata and is a good source of potassium, iron and vitamins A and C. (I need that vitamin C — without any citrus fruit in my diet, my intake of it is lower than usual.)
I’ve got the small Delicata in the oven now. I’m curious to try it!
Filed under: The Shopping Experience
I love cold cereal in the morning. My daughter has turned me on to an alternative to my homemade granola — Kashi’s GoLean Crunch! Honey Almond Flax. It’s not local, but in my quest for variety in my breakfast, I’ve drifted back to Kashi’s products.
I pulled out the box of Frosted Flakes, the box of Cheerios and the box of Kashi GoLean Crunch! to do a little box by box, side by side comparison. Whereas calories matters to me, this isn’t what I’m particularly interested in. I’m interested in corn ingredients.
As noted last week, Frosted Flakes, with its 146 calories per cup, has as the first four ingredients: milled corn, sugar, malt flavoring and high fructose corn syrup. Cheerios with 100 calories per cup has as the first four: whole grain oats, modified corn starch, sugar and oat bran. And Kashi’s GoLean Crunch? Kashi Seven Whole Grains & Sesame blend, evaporated cane juice crystals, soy protein concentrate, and brown rice syrup. And what’s in that blend? Whole hard red winter winter, long grain brown rice, barley, triticale oats, rye, buckwheat and sesame seeds.
There are other things to look at in terms of nutrition, I realize, though the Kashi cereal rates the highest on potassium and protein, but fares worse on calories and fat. But the foods that are giving me the calories and fats in Kashi cereal are different than the food (uh, that would be corn) giving me the calories and fat in Frosted Flakes.
Filed under: The Shopping Experience
With a frost on the garden this morning, it’s clear that fall has hit Minnesota. That signifies the official start of apple season! And that means the Arboretum’s SummerHouse is now called the AppleHouse.
A quick stop there found lots of people asking lots of questions about the huge variety of apples sold there. I grabbed a bag of Ginger Golds and a bag of my favorite, McIntosh, and headed home. With my birthday past, it’s more important than ever to eat an apple a day….
Filed under: The Shopping Experience
In the waning hours of this day, my fiftieth birthday, I could take stock of my life. I could talk about what I’ve accomplished, what I’ve written, what I’ve photographed, the children I’m raising, the web sites designed, the loves, the lost loves, the books read, the books shelved….I could pause and reflect. Or…
Or I could take stock of what I’ve eaten this week, and in particular, today.
I’ve fallen a tad off the local wagon. And fallen hard. A craving for Frosted Flakes set in immediately. I haven’t eaten Frosted Flakes since I was about ten. Now, its sugary crunch hits the bowl about once a day. I checked the ingredients. Forget about local. Well, it’s midwestern processed food. Corn, with sugar, with corn syrup with a handful of vitamins so moms let their kids eat it. Aha! Now I know the diet to do — the corn free diet!
Today’s food consisted of birthday cake at my morning meeting (can’t say no), surprise birthday cake at lunch (who could say no?), and then Dairy Queen birthday cake instead of supper (wouldn’t think of saying no!).
So how do I feel? Ugh. It’s time to toss Tony the Tiger and return to local foods. This week I will be exploring the varieties of apples available now around town! (…as soon as I shake this sugar buzz…)
Filed under: The Shopping Experience
Heard at the Lakewinds cheese counter:
“You see, it’s not all organic.” The woman gestured to her male companion. He nodded.
I smiled to myself.
“And it’s not all local.” Again the man nodded.
Again I smiled.
“And not all the local is organic.” He nodded, probably confused.
I smiled and walked away.
So who cares? What do we want? What can we buy? What’s the point anyway?
The 50-mile diet values local food, organic or not. But given the choice of local organic or local not organic, I’d choose organic. But given the choice of local non-organic or nonlocal organic? Generally, I’ll choose the local choice. This is in part because many of the local products I found were not certified organic, but they were pesticide free.
This is not an “absolute” for me though. It might depend on the food (and my knowledge of the growing practices). For instance, given the option at Lakewinds for organic or nonorganic almonds, I generally save dollars per pound by choosing nonorganic. I don’t know what I’m trading off on this choice. Maybe someone can tell me 
Filed under: The Shopping Experience
For nearly 50 years I’ve eaten apples. I eat my apples whole, starting by eating around the middle, then off to the non-stem end, then the stem end. Sharing an apple with me has “rules” — eat where I was going next or don’t bother. If I’m intending to share, I slice the apple with one of those slicer/corer kitchen toys where you center the thing over the stem of the apple and press down. Eight nice pieces to share amongst your friends. It seems I never cut the apple across the middle. It’s assymetrical but you get to see the beautiful miraculous star in the center.
The Arboretum’s Summerhouse has apples. Ginger Golds are an early sweet wonderful apple!
Filed under: The Shopping Experience
I haven’t written too much about meat while on the 50 mile diet. This is primarily because of its availability in the local stores (except for lamb, which took some “hunting”).
I grew up eating quite a bit of beef. Hamburgers, sirloin steaks, flank steaks…my dad in particularly liked red meat. As an adult, I consume it much less often. But still — a good burger or steak is a nice treat. However, eating beef is no longer a simple issue for me. It’s not enough that it be local. Now, I want it grass fed. After reading the chapter “The Feedlot: Making Meat” in Michael Pollan’s book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, I don’t know how anyone can eat meat from cows who spend the bulk (and bulking) of their short lives in a feed lot. These lots essentially fatten cows on corn – a food that they are not naturally able to digest – to quickly add weight. This necessitates also “feeding” them antibiotics and other “foods” in order to make them able to metabolize the corn before their livers fail from the diet. Ugh.
“But Mom, the grass fed beef tastes funny.”
My son’s good-natured comment when we make tacos from grass-fed ground beef is not that far from his next comment, “Can’t you buy regular beef next time?”
What we’ve learned over the decades is that “regular beef” is really this corn-fed taste of beef. I don’t know if I can “taste” the corn or the grass when we eat beef, but I know there’s a difference. But is it better just because it’s what we’re used to? Gimme the happy cows…
Filed under: The Shopping Experience
One of the foods that was impossible to get this past August while restricted to 50 mile local was salad greens. When August ended and I went to buy greens, I found that they were only available from California. I just couldn’t buy them. But today, Marshall’s stand had two containers of greens. I bought them both, hoping they wouldn’t be bitter.
It was time for a salad celebration. I added fresh local raspberries, yesterday’s homemade mozzarella, my own corn relish, and a bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Joyous.
Last night, in the waning hours of my 50 mile local challenge, we went to Byerly’s for my son’s “got to have” foods. As we pushed the cart up and down each aisle, I realized that I had changed. I still read the “city of origin” of every single product. I put nearly every one back on the shelf. I bought the yeast I needed for the morning’s bread. The butcher who stays until ten was still there cleaning up.
“Where’s the midwest beef from?” I asked.
“Right now it’s from Minnesota.”
“Where in Minnesota?” I can be persistent.
“Near Windom.”
Whoo hoo. We bought two gorgeous sirloin steaks from happy cows. 129 miles from home.
I looked at the fruit, the greens, the cereal, the crackers and couldn’t buy anything else. Couldn’t? It all looked too processed or too non-local or too non-organic, or too something. For the woman who loves to grocery shop, this was not much fun. Today I will be back at Lakewinds and we’ll see if it goes better there as I try to expand back out to a more reasonable food distance. Or not.
Kohlrabi is one of the vegetables that reminds me about how far from the farm I’ve grown — that there are vegetables grown on farms around the country that I have not only never seen grown, but never seen served. When I first saw kohlrabi at the farmer’s market, I thought it looked like a heart with “arteries” and “veins” coming out of it. It’s a very cool looking vegetable. So I promised myself I’d try it this August. As the month nears the end, I realized I was running out of time.
I bought this kohlrabi at Marshall’s stand in Eden Prairie. I got a lesson from the Marshall women and one customer on various ways to prepare it. Cook it. Munch on it. Slice it. Stir fry it. It’s in the cabbage family. It’s also high in fiber, vitamin C and potassium.
I got home and began to slice it up. Crisp. Fresh. A bit cabbage-like. Good.
My St. Paul Farmer’s Market Cookbook suggested a salad recipe for diced kohlrabi, onions, apples, sour cream, and french dressing. I omitted the french dressing and the onions. What isn’t good with sour cream? It’s definitely worth trying. If you sliced it up on a plate with carrots and celery and served it to your friends with dip, it would be eaten happily. (They would think it was jicama.)
Why buy a dozen ears of sweet fresh corn when you can buy two dozen? Here’s the reason. If I’m going to eat corn over the winter, it will be local corn. 50 mile local corn.
The internet has lots of resources for the person who wants to take the time to can or freeze produce. Since I am feeling a bit hot and tired of canning, I thought I’d do the freezing method. This involves blanching the ears of corn for about 4 minutes in boiling water and then dropping them into ice water for about the same amount of time. Then, the kernels are sliced off the cobs (about 2/3 of the kernel depth). When the sheets of kernels get into a freezer bag, they’ll break apart into individual kernels. The less air in the bag, the better.
As I was slicing the corn, though, I had this memory from childhood. I must have been about 7 or 8 and had no front teeth and my mom would slice the kernels off my cob. I loved it this way! When I’m done nibbling, I’ll get them into the freezer….
Filed under: The Shopping Experience
Bee bliss is raspberry bliss. Without the bees, we wouldn’t have the raspberries. Many of my friends — and certainly my kids — know I have an almost irrational intolerance for bees. I rarely sit on an outdoor terrace to eat a meal. Yet when I’m raspberry picking, I hear them, I see them, but no problem. I feel that they deserve the berries as much as I do. Sort of.
I drove out to Afton Apple Orchard this morning to pick. I haven’t mentioned this in a posting, but my raspberry/plum jam never set. Oh, I was supposed to follow a recipe? Without the high sugar content required, the pectin wasn’t enough to make it set. I’m learning…. So I was determined to make a good raspberry jam. Twelve pints and two hours later, my right hand stained red, and a Paula Red apple in my mouth, I drove back home.
Eight pints went into the jam. Three pints went into the freezer whole. And one pint in the refrigerator for snacking. My son helped make the jam. He was stirring regularly, and I could hear the sound of the spoon moving against the pot — until I asked him to be on the lookout for any wayward ladybugs. A moment of silence. Then I told him I had probably gotten them out already.
Afton Apple Orchard has a big field of raspberry bushes. The berry picking was just fabulous. And no bee stings. If you plan to go out there, call them first for directions because road construction made this a nearly 50-mile trip!
Today I was hoping to find something different to eat. Perhaps some new apples? Beets? Kale? My first stop was the Arboretum’s Summerhouse on Highway 5 in Victoria. They have a combination of gardening gifts and local cheese, butter, vegetables and fruit. Some are grown by the Arboretum itself. I bought some Zestar apples, which remind me a bit of a tart Macintosh. They had local grapes, which they suggested I taste before buying. The grape had seeds, which was reminiscent of childhood, but tasted like sweet wine. Good, but very sweet. I also found a recipe for corn relish in a book there.
I headed back to At the Farm for the corn. And more apples. And those sweet candy onions, some peppers, and more talking about the farm. I think this farm has the best local food around. This corn — really — so good you can eat it raw. As I was slicing the kernels off the cobs for my corn relish, I was popping them in my mouth. Sweet, perfect, oh my gosh good corn. I don’t think I’ve had it this good anywhere else!
Cooking corn relish makes the house smell vinegary and sweet. To my son, it was “open the windows” vinegary. To me, it was licking the spoon sweet.
Filed under: The Shopping Experience
It’s August 23rd and eating local foods has had its challenges. I need a change, something new to add to my diet. Something different. A quick noon jaunt 13 miles west to Donna’s At the Farm to see what was cooking. The smell when I walked in was sweet, pungent and I was suddenly hungrier than when I got there. Olivia was pickling beets. Beets, hmmm…She gave me a quick lesson on how to cook them and suggested I come back tomorrow for the pickled beets. I’m a little embarrassed to say that I’ve never cooked beets before! I’ll try that later with my local flank steak…
The variety of onions caught my eye over on the far counter. I bought some shallots, a cippolini onion, and a candy onion, shown below. The cippolini onion (pronounced with a “ch” sound) can actually be sliced and drizzled with balsamic vinegar. I think I’ll try that later along with a fresh tomato.
p.s. I cooked the beets up for dinner. I have to say, I don’t quite get them. They made beautiful red water, peeled easily, but tasted, well, like earth. Maybe I missed something about the seasoning?
Filed under: The Shopping Experience
There are some foods that go on my list of comfort foods. One is ice cream, which has been mentioned in at least 25% of the posts this month. Another is good rye bread. I have only one source locally for this bread, and that’s Cecil’s Deli in St. Paul. They are 20 miles from home, and when other life issues bring me to St. Paul, I can’t resist the stop.
Well, I tried to resist the stop. I drove half a mile down the road, trying to resist the allure of the place, because they also have the best corned beef in the state of Minnesota. No luck. I u-turned and headed back. Just for the rye bread. So good. So good.
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My second day in Vermont included a trip to Ben and Jerry’s Factory in Waterbury. Perhaps 600 calories of local ice cream later, I was quite full. What more can anyone say about Ben & Jerry’s except that it was local, delicious, caloric, and the tour was interesting as well. I need a business that I can sell for $326 million and retire.
Dinner, however, was more interesting. We wandered Church Street and found Leunig’s Bistro. I ordered Local “Free to Run” Veal Scallopini. Really. Served with flair over garlic mashed potatoes and an assortment of local vegetables, I had no problem eating my plate clean to the raspberry swirl around the edge of the dish.
While I’m thrilled to be heading home, a two-hour delay has left me hungry and looking forward to my own kitchen.
This is the sign hanging above the entrance of the City Market Onion River Co-op in Burlington, Vermont. So my daughter and I walked through the store looking for local. Would it be easier to eat local in the center of Burlington than it would be at home in Minnesota?
We were really impressed. 
The Vermont produce — both vegetable and fruit — were in abundance. Some were conventional, some organic and some transitional (not yet certified organic but on the path). It wasn’t just in the produce aisle, it was throughout the store — dairy, bakery, meat, nuts, grains, wine, beer — just about every aisle (but cereal, I think) had something made in Vermont. Friendly signs were clearly posted all over the place indicating the Vermont products. Of course not all the foods were local, but we were really excited.
Yes, it would be easier to eat local in Burlington, Vermont; the local food was easily accessible in one of the downtown grocery stores. Is it because there are more local products available in the area? Because the store supports the local economy and provides a market for these goods? Or is this what the community demands?
The store had a great sense of humor too….
Thanks to my daughter who tolerated me taking photos in a grocery store.
Filed under: The Shopping Experience
Not me. I’m no madwoman. But I buy it. Madwoman Foods is not only local, but has an awesome logo. How does their stuff taste? If today’s lunch is an example, they’ve got a good recipe for gluten-free pizza. Madwoman Foods is located in Minneapolis.
For a few weeks, I have pondered this issue: do I eat foods created within 50 miles of home that use ingredients that are from further away? If the cereal is “created” in Minnesota, but the grains and nuts are from California, is it local or not? At some point it gets meaningless and silly — and it’s easy to lose sight of the point of eating local. However I have been conservative on this issue and in general, have not been eating foods that are baked local if the ingredients are from more than 50 miles away.
In the case of Madwoman Foods, they “understand the importance of supporting local sustainable organic agriculture.” They also have a minimalist packaging style, healthy ingredients, and a lot of flair!
Filed under: The Shopping Experience
I think eating local is becoming trendy. Now there are ‘eat local’ signs even in Byerly’s. My son and I made our late-night trip there for his favorite foods. His foods are healthy, but not locally or even Minnesota-grown. While he tooled around the aisles, I searched for 50 mile foods. This is not the best store to find such items, but when I find myself there at 10 p.m. on a Wednesday night, well, why not look.
I was hunting in the cheeses when I found a great looking chevre goat cheese from Kimball, Minnesota. Where is Kimball? I took a chance — but it is 78 miles from here. A slight exception.
I was hungry and eager to get home to spread the cheese on the new loaf of wheat bread.
However the new loaf of wheat bread was not on the cutting board on the counter waiting for me. What was waiting for me was a guilty-looking dog with a half-eaten loaf of local wheat bread. She’s not done this before, so maybe the local stuff is more tempting.
I got a phone call one day earlier this month from a local farmer asking if I’d seen the Minnesota Grown Directory. Within an hour, I had a stack of them on my doorstep! This directory is available in paper (I saw some at the Arboretum Summerhouse), but also online at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s web site.
It has been a valuable resource to me so far, listing where you can get all sorts of food products around the state, including meat, vegetables, berries and honey. It also notes some of the CSA (community supported agriculture farms). If you’re particularly interested in CSA Farms, check out the Land Stewardship Project directory. This grassroots nonprofit organization promotes sustainable agriculture and communities. Find out more about them at their web site.
“There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that heat comes from the furnace.”
– Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac, 1949
This morning I journeyed 25 miles from home to the Homestead Orchard, where new owners Jim and Debbie have just opened for the season. I went to pick raspberries. Jim gave me a ride up to the raspberry patch. I sat on the bales of hay on the back of the wagon, all by myself, feeling about 8 years old. It was wonderful. I hopped off and Jim showed me around. Early Blush apples are ready to pick too, he said, showing me the row of trees. We pulled one off and I munched. He also showed me the plum trees, with almost ripe plums.
He drove off and I was alone in the summer sun, with the sound of crickets and bees. The ripest berries were hiding under the leaves. I picked a few pints and then headed to the apples. Apples are my favorite fruit (along with raspberries, blackberries, blueberries and melons…). Apples are a sentimental fruit — my dad loved apples, and I could always find his cores next to a book in whatever room he’d last been in. I filled a large bag with the Early Blush apples, filled a basket with plums, and bought a small bag of delicious locally made caramels, and headed home.
I’ve got apples in a large stock pot, on their way to becoming applesauce and apple butter. More on that later (hopefully). It’s been a long time since I made applesauce, and I’ve never made apple butter…
To get to the Homestead Orchard, take 394/12 West through Maple Plain. Turn south onto 92. You’ll see it on the left a couple of miles down.
p.s. I don’t know if it’s sauce or butter. But it’s a LOT.
Given that tomatoes are so abundant right now, I thought, ‘Why not make a spaghetti sauce?’ I went to Marshalls again over on Pioneer Trail and Highway 4 and asked about tomatoes for sauce. “Do you want canning tomatoes — a basket full?”
Canning tomatoes? Sure, she explained, these are the tomatoes that are ripe but might have a blemish — perhaps a soft spot or something like that. Customers prefer them “perfect.” Ah… canning tomatoes. Sounded perfect.
So the question is: Why get a dozen tomatoes when you can get three dozen?
Many years ago, I’d canned. Many years ago is a long time ago. A long time ago is long enough to forget. And I did.
Hah. I’m smart. Resourceful. And I have lots of tomatoes.
I scored the bottoms of the tomatoes, boiled them quickly, skinned them, cored them and then put them back into the pot to make sauce. Or pots, I should say. It was really a lot of tomatoes. I added the local garlic, the local red onions, the local white onions, the local basil, the local peppers, and then the “non-local” salt, pepper and other spices from the cupboard. And then I added more onions and more garlic. Can’t have too much garlic. And the tomatoes simmered into sauce.
I’ll spare you the part about not having any canning jars nor a pot big enough to boil the jars in. All that is settled at this point in the evening. The 8 jars are now making the “pop” indicating they’re sealed and ready to sit on the shelf for when tomatoes are no longer in season.
Filed under: The Shopping Experience
Ask your friends.
Really. Ask them this: What is the perfect food? I’ve been enjoying a wide variety of local foods: blackberries the size of a kids’ thumb, eggplants that belongs in a Monet painting, and chickens that surely ranged freely in a town near mine.
But the perfect food for any time of day (after 10 a.m.)? That would be ice cream. My daughter came home at midnight last night. “Mom, where’s the chocolate ice cream?” I opened one eye and said, “It is the perfect food, isn’t it? I’ll get some tomorrow…”
After dinner, the taste of garlic lingers. What’s the perfect food? Ice cream.
You go to a long meeting, listening and talking about technology and the community. It’s a few hours since you left home. You’re a bit tired and need a boost. What’s the perfect food after that? Yup, ice cream.
Who knew that this would also be one of the easiest foods to find locally?!?! Who knew?
