Wow...waht a beautiful spring and summer season. The rains proved to be just what we needed, and they came at opportune times scattered throughout the summer. I think we irrigated once all summer.
It was exciting for us at the farm this past growing season, I'll highlight just a couple of ventures we really enjoyed:
* We partnered with Gosch's Grocery in Randall to provide local produce to a rural grocer. The owners and employees at Gosch's were /are great people to work with and kept us fairly busy week to week for the whole summer.
* From this partnership, the UMN published an article documenting the sucess and failures of farmer and rural grocer partnerships. There are a few hurdles to overcome, but we found the experience to be very rewarding and would like to continue into the future.
* We began to establish a partnership with Pillager School District for their summer food service program. Budgets were alrady set for the food service, so it made it difficult for them and us to get product to the school. Hopefully, we can talk a little sooner this year to get local produce to the school.
* From the school partnership, we were introduced to Fun Stop, a Pillager child day care facility that the school district provides nutritional meals to throughout the summer. We had about 30-35 kids come tour the farm, have lunch and just plain old fun for an afternoon. I know we really enjoyed having the kids around, and we hope they enjoyed themselves as well. Samantha Stewart and Kim Bauer, from the UMN Snap-Ed Program and SHIP Coordinator helped intiate the Fun Stop tour, and are great resources and local proponants for the local food to cafeteria movement.
* We attended and spoke at the grand opening of Sprout Growers & Makers Marketplace located in Little Falls, which is an indoor year-round market for locally produced food and artworks in central Minnesota. http://sproutmn.com/marketplace/
* IQ Magazine from Little Falls interviewed and wrote a nice article about the History and Future plans of the farm as we transistion into future endeavors. https://www.ifound.org/initiative-quarterly/archives/ "Still Growing"
* And last but not least, we would like to THANK all the great people that trust in us to deliver them a wholesome product from the farm. We really do appreciate your loyality.
It was exciting for us at the farm this past growing season, I'll highlight just a couple of ventures we really enjoyed:
* We partnered with Gosch's Grocery in Randall to provide local produce to a rural grocer. The owners and employees at Gosch's were /are great people to work with and kept us fairly busy week to week for the whole summer.
* From this partnership, the UMN published an article documenting the sucess and failures of farmer and rural grocer partnerships. There are a few hurdles to overcome, but we found the experience to be very rewarding and would like to continue into the future.
* We began to establish a partnership with Pillager School District for their summer food service program. Budgets were alrady set for the food service, so it made it difficult for them and us to get product to the school. Hopefully, we can talk a little sooner this year to get local produce to the school.
* From the school partnership, we were introduced to Fun Stop, a Pillager child day care facility that the school district provides nutritional meals to throughout the summer. We had about 30-35 kids come tour the farm, have lunch and just plain old fun for an afternoon. I know we really enjoyed having the kids around, and we hope they enjoyed themselves as well. Samantha Stewart and Kim Bauer, from the UMN Snap-Ed Program and SHIP Coordinator helped intiate the Fun Stop tour, and are great resources and local proponants for the local food to cafeteria movement.
* We attended and spoke at the grand opening of Sprout Growers & Makers Marketplace located in Little Falls, which is an indoor year-round market for locally produced food and artworks in central Minnesota. http://sproutmn.com/marketplace/
* IQ Magazine from Little Falls interviewed and wrote a nice article about the History and Future plans of the farm as we transistion into future endeavors. https://www.ifound.org/initiative-quarterly/archives/ "Still Growing"
* And last but not least, we would like to THANK all the great people that trust in us to deliver them a wholesome product from the farm. We really do appreciate your loyality.