..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!
All in Products
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 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.
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.
Rhubarb Torte and Peach Cream Pie were the desserts Shawn and Dave Schneeberger brought to our Locally Grown Meal. True to our local meal challenge, the two sourced ingredients from the area including Millerville Co-Op Creamery Butter, Swany White Flour and eggs purchased from a six-year-old who is using the egg money to buy a splash pad. The desserts were flavorful and not too sweet or too tart. Just right.
It was a first for Leon: pan fry cheese curds, but these curds were a great part of our appetizers. Made with fresh cheese curds from Redhead Creamery with bacon from Haffner Family Farm, it was great served with locally sourced salad and a cheese and meat board with cheeses from Redhead Creamery and Fruitful Seasons Dairy.
Noreen Thomas and her furry friend live near Moorhead, MN on a certified organic farm. Noreen and her husband, Lee, raise organic crops and have added value to their crops by selling items like oat groats, pearled barley, rolled oats and more on their website’s online store. doubtingthomasfarm.com.
Leon is our personal chef for our Local Growers Meal.
We had another locally sourced meal last night with Shawn and Dave Schneeberger joining us. It was also National Personal Chef day and Leon was honored by us all with special gifts and many thanks for a wonderful meal!
Thanks, Leon!
Sarah Thacker is a self-taught bread baker who started making sourdough during stay-at-home orders during the height of COVID-19. She made her first loaf a year ago and once she started, she couldn’t stop. She started her cottage food industry business Pass the Bread last October and takes orders via her Pass the Bread Facebook page and on Instagram.
Emily McCune operates a cottage food business, Sugar High Bakery and Confections. She also makes infused edibles. Her focus is on local. She sources local flours, sweeteners and goods for her baking.
Need a gift idea? Local growers offer many gift giving options. Check it out.
Alise Sjostrom is the redhead behind Redhead Creamery cheese. Partnering with her husband, Lucas, and her parents, Jerry and Linda, she makes cheese on the family dairy farm near Brooten, MN. Jerry and Linda milk 200 cows with a portion of the milk produced going direct to the nearby cheese plant where Alise, joined by Linda, makes cheese two to three times a week. Brie, munster, cheese curds and variety of cheddars are produced at the farm. It’s the realization of an idea Alise had when she was just 16.
Camp Aquila Pure Maple Syrup is produced in Otter Tail County MN by Stu and Corinne Peterson. The award winning syrup is testament to the Petersons’ focus on quality.
In these uncertain times, local growers can help meet food needs. Contact them.
