Warm summer greetings from the whole flock here at Ferndale Market! Although the summer season brings lots of work here on the farm, it’s a bit quieter on our delivery route, now that colleges and schools are out for summer.
It’s official. We’ve moved our first flock of turkeys to range, so spring has officially begun! There’s always something special about seeing this first flock run out onto the fresh spring grass for the maiden voyage through the pasture, and it’s the most visible reminder of what makes our type of farming so distinct.
“What future trends do you see coming in agriculture over the next 10 years?” This was the question asked of a speaker at a recent local foods event I attended, and I didn’t envy the need to reply with a short, coherent answer. Reading a crystal ball is never easy, but the future of agriculture seems especially unclear.
Our son is six years old, so it seems most of the stories I read these days involve talking mice, bears learning manners, or aliens in the elementary school. Stories are becoming common in the world of food too, as consumers want to know their food was grown in a way that aligns with their values. I tend to think that’s a good thing.
The Star Tribune ran a recent series called The Future of Food. It was a lot to digest – bad pun, I know – but I’d definitely recommend the read to anybody who’s wresting with the intersection of modern food and farming. The story accurately captures the questions and concerns from both sides of the table: farmers and consumers.
I grew up on my family’s farm, so I attended public school here in Cannon Falls. It was a relatively small school system (I graduated with 120), so we tended to know our classmates and students in neighboring grades. I had a friend in my grade named Barbara, and another classmate, Ryan, who rode my bus and played on my junior high basketball team.
The staggered plantings rise up to the horizon. The shortest row is Steve's hopes to extend the sweet corn season. It will mature right as the cold weather hits, but, if the temperatures agree, it will mean a couple more days of sweet corn for Josephson's customers. In the field neighboring Steve and Sue Josephson’s house, rows of sweet corn rise in steps away from the bordering county road. The closest stalks are no higher than mid-calf while the far rows have bulging ears that will be harvested in two days time. “Each planting lasts 5 to 7 days and then we move to a new planting,” explains Steve. This staggered planting of their five different sweet corn varieties keeps the corn supply steady from mid-July until the first frost. Each variety matures at a different time, allowing them to make the most of the sweet corn season. Pollen sheds from the tassels of this sweet corn stalk. [...]
For Bob Draheim, owner of Busy Bee Honey Farm in Cannon Falls, MN, bees began as a accessory to his farm in Byron, MN about 20 years ago. “We had a pick-your-own strawberry, pick-your-own raspberry farm… We needed the bees to pollinate raspberries, so I bought two hives of bees,” Bob recalls, “We had such a good raspberry crop that one year, the second year we started with the bees, and we were like, “God, we got to get more bees!” Eventually Bob sold the berry farm to move closer for his job as a rural mail carrier in Apple Valley. “I had a couple times in January that I couldn’t make it up County Road 5, south of Pine Island. I got stuck and I said nope, this is enough. So we sold the place and moved up here,” Bob remembers. “Got out of the raspberry, strawberry business. Kept the bee business.” He has been cultivating these little pollinators [...]
The long rows of green beans in Sno Pac's fields near Caledonia, MN Most CEOs would feel out of place in a farm field, but not Pete Gengler. He is the fourth generation of his family to farm and freeze vegetables for Sno Pac Foods in Caledonia, MN and it is in a farm field that he feels most at home. “I started out picking strawberries when I was 5. I worked in the plant from then on. My brother did more the field stuff as far as harvesting and such, I ran the plant. Around the time we were 12-13 years old, we were in charge of crews at the plant. I don’t know when I took over. I guess probably about 25-30 years ago,” Pete laughs. “I never thought I would do anything different. This was my whole goal my whole life.” The first beginnings of Sno Pac’s organic frozen vegetables happened around 1900. Pete’s great [...]
On many evenings, you can find Grant Schultz in the back of Costas Candies and Restaurant, patiently stirring a pot of bubbling caramel. For two to three hours he keeps vigilance over the hot confection until it is ready to pour onto a marble slab to cool for the night. Costas Candies and Restaurant has been a main stay in Owatonna, MN for almost a century, but the Schultz family is new to the candy kitchen. Grant had grown up in that community and when he married his wife, Julie, they served Costas candy at their wedding. “Never in our wildest dreams would we have thought this would be our future, but we are loving it,” smiles Julie. Three and a half years after that joyous occasion, they purchased the candy shop and restaurant in 2009 and have continued the location’s long tradition of handmade candies ever since. Candies are stacked neatly in Costas' candy case. Handmade candies have [...]