It’s simple to eat Local year round!

Minnesotans can enjoy a varied and local diet all year round – that’s right, even during the winter months! All it takes is a little planning and investment:

Produce: Now is a great time to stock up on roots and other storage crops at the Market! Ask your farmers for best storage varieties.

All herbs dehydrate well: basil, oregano, thyme, savory, sage, marjoram and parsley. Some of the more succulent herbs, like basil, parsley and sage need accelerated dehydrating in a dehydrator or oven. The others can just be hung upside down in an open area to dry.
Greens, like kale, Swiss chard, collards and spinach are easy to freeze and make great additions to soups, pasta sauce and other dishes throughout the winter. Here is a guide to preparing vegetables to freeze on the Minnesota Extension Office’s website.
Root vegetables, like carrots, parsnips, beets, turnips and celeriac keep well in the refrigerator for months. Just put them in a plastic bag and keep ‘em cold!
Potatoes, sweet potatoes will also keep for months if stored in a cool (45-40 degrees), humid environment (like your basement!). They want to be in the dark, so don’t put them near a window or overhead light.
Onions and garlic will keep for months in cool, dark, dry and well-ventilated environments. You can hang onion or garlic mesh bags in your home, or box them between layers of newspaper to keep them dry.
Squash! also like to be kept cool, but if you’re cramped for space, don’t hesitate to store them under the bed! These nutrient-rich veggies also freeze well; just peel, seed and chop before storing in freezer bags.
Apples love the cold and store extremely well in plastic bags in the refrigerator. In fact, Honeycrisps, available at Ames Farm and Sweetland Orchard, are known for the storage capacity! If you’re looking at this list and wondering how you’re going to put anything else in the fridge, have no fear! Sweetland Orchard will store them for you and then deliver them to the Twin Cities until their supply runs out.

Whole Grains:

Whole grains are easy to store: just put them in a sealed container and keep them dry! However, the fats in some grains, like cornmeal and oats will go rancid if kept out for too long, but that’s easily remedied by refrigerating or freezing them. Stock up on wheat berries and cornmeal from Home Hearth Grains, oats, hot cereal, pizza dough mix, cornmeal, flour and more at Sunrise Flour Mill and Minnesota-grown wild rice at Northern Lakes Wild Rice.

Meat, Poultry, Eggs and Fish

Meat CSA’s make getting pasture-raised beef, pork, lamb, poultry and eggs an easy way to keep your supply of animal products close to home and support local farmers. Braucher’s Sunshine Harvest Farm and MN Valley Organics have monthly drop sites in the Twin Cities throughout the winter.
Bulk Packs of 20# wild Alaskan sockeye salmon are available for pre-order and pick up at MCFM through October 15th at Wild Run Salmon for $259 ($12.95/lb.). If you are short freezer space you can make arrangements with Wild Run to keep your fish and pick it up as you have more room in your home freezers! Contact Matt Oxford at wildrunsalmon@yahoo.com to order yours.