Local Foods for Big Stone Area

Hello All,

Thanks to LadyHawk for starting a new forum for those of us interested in local foods and a vibrant farm economy in Big Stone County. I'm looking forward to what we can imagine and do together on this forum.

My family moved back to my husband's family farm in September 2007. My husband and I have three little kids (preschool to 3rd grade) in the CGB schools. We consider ourselves part of the local foods movement-- bringing regional food self reliance back to our area. We strive for healthy, delicious, food that supports the local economy and our area farmers.

Local Foods can benefit the Big Stone Area through:

• Economic Development and more money staying in our area
  
• Improved health by eating more fresh and whole foods
  
• Environmental benefits, like lowering the "Food Miles" travelled since the average meal travels 1,500 miles from where it is produced to your plate
  
• Community self reliance and improved community food security (should we really depend on China for our broccoli and Argentina for our beef?)
  
• A "taste" of place -- Big Stone Lake is said to have the perfect microclimate for growing apples. So why eat those bland Red Delicious apples from New Zealand?
  

Last July Ken Meter came and talked to a large group of us in Clinton about the economic potential for our area. His research shows that if we bought just 10% of our food locally, we could retain $38 million per year in our region! I'll ask Ken to contribute to our discussion here.

My best to all of you. Hope you enjoy some of those seed catalogs on this blustery January day.

KathyD

Kathy Draeger sent me a message today alerting me to the launch of the food and farm forum. This certainly provides an important way for people to connect around building a local foods initiative in Big Stone. It is an attractive web site and I am certain it will focus some good work.

Kathy asked me to re-check her numbers -- which may have been her polite way of asking me to re-check my own!

The figures in my Powerpoint seem to have been low. The actual numbers are: If local consumers bought 10% of their food directly from farmers, this would bring in $33 million of new income to the region; if 15% were bought directly from farms, it would mean $50 million of new income.

If other findings of the study would be useful, here is the link:

http://www.crcworks.org/crcppts/mnwestsum08.pdf

Best wishes on your local food organizing -- let me know if there is any way I can assist.

Ken

Ken,

Thank you so much for stopping by and for looking at those numbers. It's amazing to think that $50 million could be generated if we could produce/buy local foods in this region.

If you are still hanging around Ken-- what are you seeing happening in other really rural areas like the Big Stone Area? We really don't have any large metro areas (like Sioux City or the Twin Cities) close by and our population base is smaller. What is successful elsewhere in the country.

Thanks again Ken!

Kathy

This is an exciting addition to the forum! I read your posts -- so are you looking at having a larger farmer's market in the area? More goods available throughout the year? It's hard being in MN with the short growing season (fruits and veggies), but having the ability to buy other goods -- such as grains, beans, meat, fresh eggs, etc. is exciting to me!

I look forward to more information!



nascargirl

I think that growing the farmers market is a good place to start-- bring in both more growers and customers. There is a couple in Milan with a winter greenhouse and they sell greens in the winter time. She is doing quite well. I've heard a few others say they would like to have a winter greenhouse to supply some fresh produce in the winter. The UM Morris campus is starting some work on "season extension" to make the growing season longer.

I so agree with you that eating seasonally during a Minnesota winter leaves a lot to be desired. Let's see -- would that be a keg of lutifisk on the porch and some boiled potatoes .

A “winter greenhouse” is a fantastic way to provide a number of citizens with food shares throughout the winter. In Morris (where I am), Carol Ford provides food shares to a limited number of residents throughout the winter with her greenhouse. Unfortunately, the waiting list to become one of her customers is very long, and her food output is of course limited to the size of the greenhouse.

It would be interesting to crunch some numbers to see how much energy Carol requires to sustain her greenhouse throughout the winter, where her power comes from, and how many people she can feed. The result could be compared with the energy required to deliver supermarket food, which as Kathy pointed out, travels thousands of miles on average.

If there are citizens in Ortonville who have established greenhouses, let them speak up! I suggest forming a relationship between the growers and the Granary food coop in downtown Ortonville. Carol Ford delivers food shares (essentially re-used cardboard boxes filled with whatever vegetables she has) to the Morris Coop, where each customer is responsible for picking up their own order.

Another idea is having a “community greenhouse”. Similar to community gardens in which each person either tends their own plot or contributes to the entire garden, any medium sized greenhouse could be leased to a group of people who wish to grow their own food in the winter. I am not sure if such a facility exists near Ortonville already. I could see this potentially strengthening the local food scene as well as the community of Ortonville.

Gordon Hicks

Ummm, is that a trick question? Probably not. You will be happy to know that Big Stone City is the home of Lou's Greenhouse with 17 greenhouses that people travel for hundreds of miles to shop at every spring. They even come from the Twin Cities.

Click here to see his website.

Lady Hawk wrote:

Click here to see his website.

Wow! I did not know about this .

Very neat, and I will definitely be visiting in April. Hopefully it's done snowing by then..!

I and a few other locals visited Carol Ford's greenhouse in December and took some notes and photos. I will post information on this in a new topic line, for those who are interested.

Lou's Greenhouse is a great place if you are able to actually grow a garden for yourself. I know individuals who also go to the Colony in Graceville and purchase many, many different goods.

Unfortunately not all of us have a garden space or a green thumb -- I did not inherit my mother's love of gardening -- and I look forward to the Farmer's Market in Ortonville to add to what I purchase at the local grocery stores. There are many of us that would be happy to support local growers AND the local grocery store. I look forward to more discussions and updates on this forum.

I applaud those that have taken up this interest!


nascargirl

I wonder if lou would be willing to rent some greenhouse space for those who would like to grow spinach, lettuce peas and other cool weather crops during the winter months.
I know there is an organic grower of veggies in the area, the idea of a greenhouse for an extended season is appealing.
Ask the people you buy veggies from if they use any chemicals when growing their food. You might or might not care about that but it is good to be informed.
joelie