..and welcome from The Local Growers.
Here you will find the stories about those individuals who grow food and make products locally.
These are some of the people I’ve met while looking for good foods - locally grown foods.
I know their journey. It’s one I experienced growing up on our family farm in West Central Minnesota. That farm was diversified. In other words, we raised several things - crops, hogs, dairy and chickens.
Our meals featured the garden produce my mom harvested, canned and froze and the meat, eggs and dairy products we raised.
It was wholesome food!
While I don’t live on that farm anymore, I am always on the search for locally grown foods. I invite you to join me in this great journey.
Let’s go!
Rotisserie Chicken was the entree at our latest Locally Grown Meal. The chicken was put over wood and coal in our Chef Leon’s Kamado Joe grill. Slow roasted with simple seasonings. Added to the meal are locally grown vegetables plus apple pie and a gluten free apple crisp. The meal featured all locally sourced items!
Ramona Heitmann and Doug Davidson operate two gardens that make up R&D Gardens. One garden is in Fergus Falls and the other near Beardsley. The produce is sold at the Fergus Falls Farmers Market
Ohe’s Outpost sells ground beef and select meat cuts plus Mary’s baked goods and Landon’s pictures of cattle and farm scenes at the Fergus Falls Farmers Market. Landon joined the Farmers Market last year and is expanding the marketing of the family’s beef products. It’s a family affair with Landon, his two siblings and their families plus the Ohe’s parents all chipping in where needed for crops and livestock. The cattle are raised on pasture.
Here are the recipes for our Locally Grown Meal in the Vineyard. Every course featured locally grown and produced foods from the bison from Rolling R Ranch to the salad, potatoes and dessert and wine from Dancing Loons Vineyard.
Learn about local foods and crafts from local growers. For more information and to get tickets for the day, check out lakeagassiz@sfa-mn.org
Here are 5 tips…and some bonus ones, too…for your next trip to the Farmers Market.
I am surprised by wild rice, especially the fact it is harvested here in Otter Tail County in West Central Minnesota! You need a license and can harvest it anywhere except on Native American lands. Paul Shol of Fergus Falls joins two friends in “ricing” as he calls it. During the harvest season - late August through September - they head out in a canoe and harvest from the wild rice stands in the rivers and lakes of the area.
Matthys Kroon moved his micro green production from South Africa to Minnesota when he moved his family to be closer to his wife, Roxanne’s family. The move is a plus for those who enjoy micro greens.
Our Locally Grown Meal featuring pheasant from Oakwood Game Farm was packed with locally grown and produced ingredients. Here are the recipes for the meal.
Our Locally Grown Meal featured pheasant raised in Princeton, MN. Paul Shol provided locally harvested wild rice and Dave and Janet from the Fergus Falls Farmers Market had butternut squash.
Locally grown in winter? You bet! Look for local products at your mom and pop grocery store, food co-ops or specialty stores and make connections with growers during the Farmers Market season inquiring if they have products available in the off season. We made a connection with one grower who raises cherry tomatoes under grow lights through the winter.
