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LOCAL FOOD, LOCAL POTS

Fresh_CSA_Veggies

Fresh veggies weeekly from our CSA Loon Organics

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SOMETHING IMPORTANT!
Like so many, I pay attention to the frequency with which I hear various subjects, to try to determine trends. That has to be tempered with awareness that where you are and what you’re doing may color what you hear.
That being said, I’m hearing from a lot of different directions and sources, that people are looking at trying to use more and more locally grown foods…both for health reasons, because it helps our local economies and because it “feels” better as well as tasting better. Amazing isn’t it? We’re beginning to figure out that the foods we eat and our health are linked.
There’s also something about linking to your local community that completes a circle. There is a commonality between food and handmade pottery, in nurturing us, our families and our communities. The level of humanity in growing, harvesting, preparing and serving food to each other is complimented by the use of utensils that have been made by people you know.
A couple of years ago there was an article in Ceramics Monthly, which we posted here, which explored this in more depth.
Recently, perhaps partly because the ‘growing season’ will be upon us soon here in Minnesota, we have become aware of the almost explosive growth of CSA farms, and local organic foods, changing what we eat to be more healthy and healthful.
There has been a spate of books recently that talk about these topics.
A few we’ve read and can recommend highly are:
The Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan
The Hundred and Fifty Healthiest Foods” Jonny Bowden
Good Calories-Bad Calories” by Gary Taubes
In Defense of Food” by Michael Pollan
Weeds and Why They Grow” by Jay McCaman (for gardeners)
If you have thoughts on this topic, and other good books to recommend on better eating, please share by posting a comment below.
Adam and Laura have taken over Katy and Peter’ August Earth CSA Farm and renamed it to Loon Organics. They’re still looking for some members, as is a new CSA “The Farm of Minnesota” being established by Dan and Donna Moe. They won’t be certified organic for a couple of years, but are using organic methods now (Website to come shortly). They can be reached at 320-587-7882.
Dan observed in a visit a couple of days ago that if you consider cost of food as part of healthcare, you can spend a smaller amount on food and pay for it in bad health later. Or you can pay more for food now, live better and have better health later with lower costs for medical care.
If you’re not in the Hutch area, we strongly recommend looking at www.localharvest.org which is an excellent starting resource for locally grown foods.
This is all another reason we’re so excited about our new line of Ceramic Flameware Stovetop Cookware. It adds another dimension to being able to use handmade pottery for cooking.

GLAZE NAMING CONTEST

Earlier this year, Betsy developed a new green/black glaze combination. It was a hit at summer art fairs. Food looks fabulous on it….but it doesn’t have a name! That’s up to you. It combines the rich warm black of Old Black Magic and a new kind of celery green…very like old celadons of ancient China and Korea.

As a starter, some of our other glaze names are, Old Black Magic, Midnight Garden, Tequila Sunrise, Todd Lake, Old Celadon, etc. There could be $25 bucks in it for you. Just click on the ‘comments’ section below and let us know your idea. Enter as many as you wish per comment.
We’ll make our decision (over a couple of glasses of wine down at Zella’s (Hutchinson’s spiffy new restaurant)) by December 15th.

HERE WE GO AGAIN

Here we go for the next 6 months. This morning we woke up to a good 4″ of fresh new snow. Not too much shovelling thought as the ground’s still too warm.

The back porch (above)…the view from the kitchen below.

But looking north off the back porch, it’s really beautiful (in a masochistic way).

The jeep and plow are ready….the tractor isn’t.
The pond has almost gone dry this fall with the lack of rain, but strangely there’s still a lot of corn in the fields. Farmers are trying to get it to dry naturally rather than by using gas dryers.

MINERAL POINT

HIDDEN ART GEM UNCOVERED!!! Travels with Tom & Betsy

On our way to Chicago for the Frankfort Fall Fest, we uncovered a hidden gem this year…Mineral Point, WI. It was an old mining town that had been pretty near shuttered in the 1950′s and 60′s. The a few artists discovered it and began to build studios. Shops followed. Now it’s an amazing array of galleries and artist studios.

Down towrds the bottom of the main street hill we were attracted by something on the ‘balcony’ of one shop. (You’re going to have to click on this to figure it out).

It’s the home of Howdle Gallery and Bruce Howdle. Bruce is most famous for his large ceramic wall sculptures (here he is working on one), but one of his fascinations is pigs.
He has done wonderful sculptures, mugs, wall pieces, you name it, with pig themes. Ask him how he came to have this old building and out comes the picture album. He’s done much of the work himself over more than 20 years. The character of the building is wonderful. We’d strongly recommend Clyde and Carolyn stop in….you too!
Mineral Pt. is about 1-1/2 hours SW of Madison…a bit out of the way, but well worth the trip. Look at their website for special celebrations during the year. For Chicagoans it’s an easy day trip. If you’re headed north or south along I-94, plan a few extra hours.

The Final Show

I’ve gotten a little behind here with fall production and development of a new line of pots for you.

The last shows were Frankfort (IL) over Labor Day weekend and our local Hutchinson show 2 weeks later.
Frankfort is a blast. It’s the first show we ever did back in 1992. Amazingly, we still have some customers who saw us at that first show come by. Since both Betsy and I worked right near by old neighbors stop by, too (well they’re not any older than we are).

And last year we came across a photo taken the next summer. This is what we looked like back then. A lot of pots, a lot of good friends and customers. We really do appreciate your support over the years.

Seems like we spent half the summer in rain….setting up or tearing down. At Edina we had the big hailstorm, Highland half a day rain, Evanston set up, Duluth set up, and finally Hutchinson. The first day was perfect, then came the second day….

Packing up wet is no fun. But all in all it was a great year. Thank you!