Blog

Vendor Spotlight: Sunshine Harvest Farm

Learn about Mill City Farmers Market’s long-time meat vendor Sunshine Harvest Farm is a 4th-generation family farm in Webster, Minnesota–about 40 miles south of Minneapolis. Owner Mike Braucher, his son Brandon, his brother Patrick and neighbor Sharron bring a variety of cuts of beef, bison, lamb, pork, chicken and eggs to our market year-round. The…  Read More

Farm Visit: Winter at Bean Market

Were you as excited as we were to see Napa cabbage at our winter market on December 15?? Xai Lor and her husband Tongsee Xiong, owners of Bean Market farm, are known affectionately as the “farming wizards” at Mill City Farmers Market. Decades of farming experience in Laos and now Minnesota has given them the know-how to…  Read More

Why Buy Local

Why Buy Local?

We understand that shopping locally isn’t always the most convenient or the cheapest. However, when you buy locally grown vegetables, handmade bread and pasture-raised eggs, you are paying for the whole cost of the product. Local, sustainable farmers and makers don’t externalize the costs onto the environment, our community’s health or themselves. Shopping local also has…  Read More

Best with Bread

“Life is too short to eat bad bread.” That’s the slogan on the back of Jonathan Kaye’s t-shirt and his business motto. As the owner and lead baker of Heritage Breads artisan bakery they are truly words he, his staff and growing cult following of customers are living by. Heritage Breads makes a variety of…  Read More

Your Ultimate Local Gift Guide

Visit our Winter Market on December 1st, 8th and 15th from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. inside the Mill City Museum for your holiday grocery AND gift shopping this year! Shopping local is not only a way to find high-quality food and unique presents for your loved ones, but it is also a way to support…  Read More

6 Things You Need to Know About WEI

This week on the blog, we’d like to highlight one of our few year-round, full-time farms: Women’s Environmental Institute (WEI). Located 60 miles north of Minneapolis in North Branch, WEI is not only a farm, but also a non-profit working for environmental, racial and food justice through organic farming and policy strategies. Here’s six more things you…  Read More

What it means to be Certified Naturally Grown

Mike Noreen, a 13-season veteran of the Mill City Farmers Market and owner of Burning River Farm, is no stranger to the question “Are these carrots organic?” In 2006, Mike chose to certify his farm, now located 80 miles northeast of Minneapolis in Frederic, Wisconsin, as Naturally Grown rather than USDA Organic. Many customers believe…  Read More

Everything You Need to Know About Winter Squash

Winter squash is up there with pumpkin spice and sweater weather when it comes to the highlights of fall and winter. There are almost countless varieties of beautiful shapes and colors of these locally grown treasures, but such large and tough-skinned vegetables can also be intimidating. Let’s break down what you need to know about…  Read More

Greens for Good

Gleaning at the Mill City Farmers Market Originally published in The Journal. “What exactly is gleaning?” is a question with which Nell Gehrke, of the Mill City Farmers Market’s Greens for Good program, starts many of her Saturdays. Her volunteers often guess that it means green cleaning or glamorous cleaning, a la “glamping,” but contrary…  Read More

Shahiya turmeric lamb merguez kebab

Taste Shahiya

Originally published in The Downtown Journal. Shahiya Chutney is a Minneapolis-based company that blends powerful Ethiopian flavors to create an exceptionally unique hot sauce. Owners Zahra Ismael and her son Ibrahim Mohamed bring their family recipe to downtown Minneapolis for the Mill City Farmers Market every Saturday. Shahiya Chutney, like the market, is working to…  Read More