My garden, my love.

We haven't been dining out as much lately. The fact is, dining out has been temporarily replaced by dining in.

Why? Mostly because we've been hitting the markets hard and buying lots of seasonal produce. It's hard to resist a great deal on fresh produce! Ramps, asparagus, strawberries, sweet peas, and lots of herbs have been making regular appearances, and we're loving it.

Also, evenings and weekends are best spent in the garden, where so far we've planted tons of perennials in our new flowerbeds, plus edibles: 10+ varieties of heirloom tomatoes, heirloom peppers, heirloom onions, asparagus, heirloom green beans, heirloom dill, heirloom basil, strawberries, blueberries, and rosemary.

Daily, I wander through the yard, checking out the growth of the plants. I'm constantly monitoring growth rates, soil dampness, weeds, and bugs. I think about my garden about once every 5 minutes when I'm not actually in the garden. It is my seasonal infatuation.

This year, I've fallen for the colorful tomato cages they're selling at Fratallones Ace Hardware in the Twin Cities. They're SO adorably adorable!




[where: Sustainable Food, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Twin Cities, Minnesota]

Minnesota Shepherds Harvest Festival This Weekend

Media Contact: Julie Mackenzie
Email: julie@greatwool.com
Cell: 612.961.9625
www.shepherdsharvestfestival.org

On May 8th and 9th, the Minnesota Shepherds Harvest Festival will paint a pastoral
scene, just minutes from the metro area at the Washington County fairgrounds in Lake Elmo, MN. City dwellers of all ages are invited to enjoy fiber artists, demonstrations and the many breeds of sheep, rabbit, goat, llama and alpaca on display.

This year, the festival is sharing the secrets of animal husbandry and encouraging more people to step into the mysterious world of shepherding. Classes on small flock
ownership, how to measure wool quality, breed displays and discussions with local
shepherds make this the richest all around experience for those longing for a rural
lifestyle. “Every year people come here asking about how to raise sheep and we want to help them make the leap.” says Pat Ryan, a founding member of the planning
committee.

In addition, over 120 vendors sell every type of animal fiber as well as rare handspun yarns, spinning wheels, pottery, horn, lanolin and even vet supplies. Classes run the gamut from beginning spinning to working with natural dyes -nowhere else can you find such a breath-taking range of opportunity.

A Kazakh Yurt, live music, book readings, sheep shearing and dog-herding
demonstrations bring history, art and cultural diversity to the festival. And the Fiber Sandwich, a charity spin-in, attracts hand spinners from around the region to raise money for Heifer International.

Shepherds Harvest has been building the wool community in Minnesota for over a
decade. Pairing with Llama Magic it offers a unique opportunity for families and fiber lovers to shop, learn and enjoy themselves in one fun-filled trip. Now they can be shepherds too.

Festival Hours: Saturday, May 8th 9:00 – 5:00 and Sunday, May 9th 10:00 - 4:00.
Free Admission and Parking.
Travel advice: Wear comfortable shoes and warm sweaters - there’s lots to see!
For more information visit http://www.shepherdsharvestfestival.org

[where: Sustainable Food, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Twin Cities, Minnesota]

Dining Out for Life Tonight

Don't forget to stop at your favorite local restaurant for Dining Out for Life tonight. There are plenty of the restaurants we love that are serving up locally sourced products, including (but not limited to) Birchwood, Town Talk, and Galactic Pizza.

From Dining Out for Life:

This year, over 155 participating restaurants
in the Twin Cities, Duluth, Red Wing and Rochester
have agreed to donate a portion of their proceeds
to The Aliveness Project, a local nonprofit organization
that provides on-site meals, food shelf
& other supportive services
for individuals living with HIV/AIDS and their families.

Last year's Dining Out for Life raised $127,000 in donations from restaurants, sponsors and individual diners!
This year, our goal is $130,000!

For a complete list of restaurants in our area, click here:

http://www.diningoutforlife.com/minneapolis/participating

[where: Sustainable Food, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Twin Cities, Minnesota]

Black Sheep Pizza: Pizza Done Right

We finally had a weekday off in early April, and the first thought that crossed my mind (besides sleeping in) was having lunch at Black Sheep Pizza. Gerg was all for that, as a pizza lover.

Black Sheep makes their pizza in a coal-fired oven, and they're burning Anthracite coal, which burns relatively cleanly with little soot, making it ideal for their purpose. They're making their sausage and meatballs in house. They source their cheese from Wisconsin. Black Sheep founder Jordan Smith was quoted in a piece by Heavy Table:

“I try to buy local ingredients where it’s applicable, and do business with local vendors so that the dollars stay in our local economy. Sometimes it gets overlooked how critical that piece is, in the buy-local movement. I’m not going to get olive oil from Minnesota. But I can buy my olive oil from a local company as opposed to a multinational company like US Foodservice or Sysco.

That's the kind of philosophy I like to support. It makes me wonder if they're aware of Valli dell'Etna Olive Oil, a family-run olive oil business with distribution in Minneapolis?

I digress. Back to the pizza.

We'd heard that the wait can be long at Black Sheep, so we thought a weekday lunch would be the best option. When we arrived at 1:30pm on a Monday, there were two tables of couples enjoying pizza, and a couple of people at the bar. "Huzzah!" thought I, "This plan is going splendidly."

After looking over the menu, recalling recommendations from friends, Heavy Table, and a couple other reviews, we settled on a starter of roasted vegetables.

The roasted vegetables were mighty in flavor. The onions melted in my mouth. The mushrooms were packed with tangy, garlicky flavor. They were served with a surprise dollop of goat cheese. We ordered them with a side of their savory and zesty marinara.

As for our entree, we selected the 12" fennel sausage, hot salami, onion and cracked green olives pizza.
The flavorful crust was chewy and a bit crunchy and handled the ingredients with aplomb. Green olives and hot salami are bold in flavor, but the star of the pizza show was the house made fennel sausage, which brought a balance to the other salty ingredients. With their zesty marinara doing its thing in the middle, we had a winning combination on our hands and in our bellies.

Find your winning combination!
Black Sheep Pizza
600 Washington Ave N
Minneapolis, Minnesota
(612) 342-2625

[where: Sustainable Food, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Twin Cities, Minnesota]

FRESH the Movie Returns to Minneapolis

Source: Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture

FRESH the movie returns to Minneapolis just in time for Earth Day with showings at the Riverview this week! Wed & Thur @ 7pm. Come @ 6:30 to check out info from all of our partner organizations:
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
Land Stewardship Project
The Wedge Coop
Organic Valley and much more!

FRESH celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. Each has witnessed the rapid transformation of our agriculture into an industrial model, and confronted the consequences: food contamination, environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources, and morbid obesity. Forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical vision for a future of our food and our planet.

Among several main characters, FRESH features urban farmer and activist, Will Allen, the recipient of MacArthur’s 2008 Genius Award; sustainable farmer and entrepreneur, Joel Salatin, made famous by Michael Pollan’s book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma; and supermarket owner, David Ball, challenging our Wal-Mart dominated economy.

*April 21st: Sponsored by Haberman. *

*Post-screening Panel moderated by Tracy Singleton of the Birchwood Cafe featuring: *
Megan O'Hara, Homegrown Minneapolis
Loretta Jaus, Organic Valley
Jeanne Lakso, Linden Hills Co-op
ana Sofia joanes, FRESH

*April 22nd: Sponsored by The Wedge Community Coop. *

*Post-screening Panel ** moderated by Tracy Singleton of the Birchwood Cafe**featuring: *
Jim Harkness, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
Linda Halley, Gardens of Eagan/ Wedge Co-op
Susane Moua, City Backyard Farming
Danny Schwartzman, Common Roots
ana Sofia joanes, FRESH


Tickets are $9, $7 with student id. available at www.brownpapertickets.com ; the birchwood cafe counter AND at the door each night of the show on a first come, first serve basis.


[where: Sustainable Food, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Twin Cities, Minnesota]

A New Gig at Minnesota Monthly

After a few phone conversations and a handful of emails with Minnesota Monthly's dining critic and senior editor Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl, Elizabeth Dehn, Jason DeRusha, Stephanie Meyer, and I have teamed up with her to write Minnesota Monthly's Dara&Co blog.

My team role: MNMO's sustainable food correspondent.

I'm looking forward to my role, which involves writing about interesting local producers and products and sustainable practices.

You can read my first blog post here: http://www.minnesotamonthly.com/media/Blogs/Dear-Dara/April-2010/Heirloom-Season-Has-Begun/

I intend to continue to write this blog and www.reetsyburger.com, in addition to the work I'll be doing for Minnesota Monthly. So it seems all of my days and many of my nights will be devoted to reading, researching, and writing about sustainable agriculture and sustainable foods, and I'm definitely not complaining about that.

[where: Sustainable Food, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Twin Cities, Minnesota]

Ag Awareness Day at the University of Minnesota

Tuesday, April 20th, 2010 marks the first annual Ag Awareness Day on the Minneapolis Campus of the University of Minnesota.

Where: Northrop Mall
When: ALL DAY
What: Booths from campus and industry groups complete with
activities and freebies

Contact Jason Kaare at kaare002@umn.edu for more information on the
event.

For more information, go to www.facebook.com/AgAwareness

[where: Sustainable Food, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Twin Cities, Minnesota]