Finding Food in Farm Country

From our home in St. Paul we were within walking distance of Mississippi Market in Highland Park. Abundant fresh, local and diverse food. On Saturday I drove over 50 miles round trip to the Hutterite colony to stock up on local foods-- 50#'s of potatoes, tomatoes, squash, pumpkin, pickles, sauerkraut, some frozen turkey pot pies, jams, relishes, cucumbers and the last of the seasons watermelon. Delicious and wonderful harvest. Next year we should have some of our own. I'm grateful for my Hutterite "neighbors."

So I'm a mom and a local foods advocate living in rural Minnesota. My gold standard would be organic and local. In the mean time local would be great. Apart from the Hutterites farm market, my nearest grocery store is now 11 miles away and doesn't carry any local foods-- except for some of the Hutterite jellies, jams, and relishes. I asked about carrying some local eggs-- the Pride of the Prairie egg coop operates in this area. Bonnie, our grocer, said that she only has 1 choice for eggs on the food distributors list. If I could track down the contact information she would look into it. I told her it might cost more-- she said that people prefer the Hutterite jams and do pay more for them and so she would be willing to give it a try. Heck-- we go through a couple dozen a week ourselves.
It's interesting that I move from the smack dab middle of St. Paul where I have quick, easy and abundant access to local foods to a farm where it is much more of any effort to track down a local diet. I'm sure over time we will get grow more of our own-- but in the mean time I'm like many working families that depends on the local grocery store. Our food choices don't include much local/organic.
Kinda confirms Ken Meter's work on Finding Food in Farm Country

http://www.crcworks.org/wcmnsum.pdf