Wait, is the local food movement ‘normal’ now?

For a host of reasons, I became a farm apprentice in the year 2000 just north of the Twin Cities. You have to know that at the time, that was a pretty countercultural move. Instead of putting my new college degree to work and starting a career, I stepped into a world filled with dreamers, radicals, old hippies, and people into new age-y stuff from crystals to veganism to primal therapy. Like any young adult I had sought out something edgy, and, in doing so, found a community of really good-hearted and earnest people working to make the world a bit more caring toward other people and the planet.

America at the time (same as today) was racing towards more. More business, more money, more wealth, more development. The Twin Cities were growing fast and I thought that soon every acre of farmland was going to be made into one large strip mall. The solution? Let’s unplug from this fast-moving car a bit and at least change how we eat. Get off the well-worn path to the big box grocery where the only food on menu was cheap, laden with preservatives and pesticides, and mainly benefitted corporations – certainly not the farmers, animals, or the communities wrapped up in the agricultural supply chain.

I thought it was a compelling argument, but, at the time, who was listening? NOT MANY. The message came via messengers who were bunch of weirdos – idealistic college kids or back-to-the-land types who were knitting their own underwear or just smoked too much pot. Impractical idiots who convinced only some other impractical idiots who were already their friends. But, over time, it’s not the message or lifestyles of the messengers that mattered. It was the product. Good food is just good food and when customers got better tomatoes, they wanted more. Over time this little corner of the marketplace grew.

This past week I had a U of M dean in suit and tie tell me to keep up the good work of building local food businesses since it’s part of this larger movement. Man, the local food movement IS now normal. My reflection here at the end of the season is that, even though the movement may not be as countercultural as it once was, the world does seem to have caught up and that’s a good thing.

In the box – LAST ONE!

• Butternut squash: Tan one
• Pie Pumpkin
• 2-3 Delicata Squash
• Yellow Potatoes
• Carrots
• 2-3 Turnips
• A few Shallots
• Spinach
• Garlic
• Napa Cabbage
• Fresh Rosemary
• A couple Rutabagas

Do you ever say, “Looks like a good winter project?” This time of year I always seem to collect those, which isn’t much help to get myself through the work before me. The challenge, however, comes whenever you get to winter and those same projects become spring project or next year projects which at some point become never project. The intention of making it happen is still there, but you get the idea.

I’ve been walking around the farm lately and telling myself a good number times, “Boy, that would be good to get done.” The list so far has cut and transport firewood on hill (been sitting there 2 years), clear brush growing next to shed down the hill, fix Allis Chalmers G sitting in front field, fix Farmall H sitting at end of driveway, build packing shed lean-to, plus about 6 other things I see daily.

The expectation is that I’d feel great when I get the lingering project done, which is true, but I still have to DO IT. Oftentimes, the time I expected it to take isn’t even that great – relief from the burden of thinking about it may be as little as a few hours. My favorite example was filling the holes left in our stucco house from when we had insulation blown in the walls. We “temporarily” put a little foam there to cover the hole which my parents one day spray painted gray to match the stucco. Whenever I had some time, I just needed to putty some stucco into the holes. I thought about this for EIGHT YEARS. Every day I came home and thought, I should get to that. For EIGHT YEARS I ruminated, estimating it would take a whole weekend. One Saturday, I got the gumption to make it happen. Total time – 45 minutes! I totally felt better too.

Maybe this weekend we’ll all get to that list.

In the box:

• Buttercup Squash
• Carnival Sweet Dumpling Squash: I really like this variety. It’s a sweet version of an acorn, which has the texture I like. Check out this roasted recipe: https://heartbeetkitchen.com/roasted-sweet-dumpling-squash-with-brown-butter/
• Salad Mix
• Tomatoes
• Italia Peppers
• Colored Pepper
• 1-2 Hakurai Salad Turnips: White radish-like things. Just peel outside off and eat them with a little salt. You can also slice into a salad (hence the name).
• Green Cabbage
• Kale
• A Red and Sweet Onion

With a couple notable exceptions, I get to a place in September before the first frost where my brain and body stop wanting to cooperate. Have you ever had this? They say life is a marathon, not a sprint. I agree. Each farm season is also more like a marathon than a sprint, but it doesn’t matter. When you’re on mile 20, your body is like “I don’t want to do this anymore,” and your mind agrees 🙂

Still, I’ve done this 20 years, and, although I may not have the energy of my 26-year-old self, I am wise enough to know that (1) it totally slows down when we get a frost, (2) three weeks go by much quicker than one realizes, and (3) my apprentice, Mason, does have the energy to power through. It certainly helps to have a partner in crime in the field. Also, after I deliver the last box, Maree and I are off on Amtrak to Montana and will be sitting in the hot springs in no time. It’s always good to put a carrot at the end of stick to motivate yourself!

In the box:

• Russet Potatoes
• Slicing Tomatoes
• Colored Peppers : Most are Italia pepper so a long variety (sweet, not hot). Should be sweet when mix of green and red.
• A couple Jalapenos: Some are red, so check your pepper type before using – pretty easy to tell apart from the Italia Pepper (I hope)
• Cantaloupe
• Korean Melons: Small yellow melon with stripes. It’s a very crunchy melon, but great flavor – reminds me of an Asian pear
• Carrots: Not the most beautiful carrots we’ve dug, but they are here. The root crops (carrots + beets) have not been doing well where we planted them this year.
• A couple Delicata Squash: Yellow/white with green stripes. Easy done in the oven as half rings – https://www.rachelcooks.com/how-to-cook-delicata-squash/
• Garlic
• Red + Sweet Onion
• Salad Mix
• Cherry Tomatoes

Close, Ryan.

I love this time of year. I love the cool mornings. As I sit here in my living room drinking hot coffee, I feel the cold air seep through the window. The cool damp of the morning will give way again to sunny, warm afternoons. All those crops we waited for so long for start to mature. Tomatoes turn in the same way the sumac turns its own brilliant red this time of year as the day and night temperatures diverge. Some crops still hold out. Hey peppers, when will you start to turn colors?

I also love that I can see the end of the line this time of year. At the beginning of the CSA season, I never think about the number of weeks because it’s like thinking about how tall Everest is when you first set off from basecamp. The trek seems so long that I just might reconsider taking on the quest. But, now, there are only 4 weeks after today’s delivery. AND Maree and I are going to sitting in some hot springs in Montana the first week of October, so I have a goal to motivate me!

In between now and me going on vacation, there’s still effort on a number of fronts. Yes, we’ll have to expend a lot of energy to pull in some big crops still in the field: winter squash, russets, rutabagas, and a lot ripening tomatoes. But I also have a little final push to help put on the Deep Roots Festival on Sept 14th and also this ‘little’ project of raising funds and doing construction to expand Manna Food Co-op, which has become something of another part-time job.

But in all of these examples, I’m not alone. I do have the support of others to carry some weight, and, in all things, this is all we can hope for. Good things we can work on together which feed and improve this one world and one life we have.

In the box:

• Tomatoes
• Cherry tomatoes
• Green pepper
• Colored pepper: I had to hunt to find this mix of peppers with color. Most are Italia, which are long green-red. These are sweet.
• Anaheim peppers: Small, light-green peppers. Do have heat!
• Watermelon
• Cantaloupe
• Yellow potatoes
• Red onions
• Radishes
• A couple ears of sweet corn: Yes, it’s the end of the line. Miso ate the rest.
• Salad mix
• Eggplant