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For all of humanity's life on earth--save for the last few years--truly fresh food has been on everyone's menu. Today's consumers who want quality food, grown and distributed in an environmentally and socially conscious manner, might ask, "How can I find such food? And what can I do to ensure its availability?" Jefferson County organic farmer and organic-standards expert Eric Kindberg has an answer for that question: just tell your grocer, "Make mine fresh."
"Fresh food" is food with the shortest path from the field, bakery, abattoir, dairy, or cackling chicken to our tables. Fresh fruit and vegetables, bakery products ground daily from whole grains, dairy, and eggs and livestock products consumed shortly after harvest or production provide the highest nutrition for health and vigor. But there's more to it than that--the implications of saying "Make mine fresh" are far reaching. If enough of us make freshness our standard of excellence, and if enough of us insist on fresh fruit, vegetables, bakery, eggs, dairy, and poultry in our stores, it can make a major difference. Here's how:
• "Make mine fresh" allows consumers a face-to-face dialogue with their food providers. Children and their parents will usually find themselves welcome to visit local, small-scale farming operations to see how their food is raised.
• "Make mine fresh" motivates producers to use the best practices in growing and processing food.
• "Make mine fresh" makes life better and more economically viable for small-scale local growers and family farmers by providing them with a local market.
• "Make mine fresh" supports the economic health of the local community and redirects the continuing globalization of food production that is causing large-scale dislocation of rural populations and disruption of rural economy.
Eric Kindberg loves what he does, and he does it well, but as with all certified organic farmers, he can't keep doing it unless he's got a place to deliver his products and get a reasonable price for them. Kindberg's Ripplebrook Farm is situated on 80 acres of lovingly tended land north of Fairfield along the South Walnut Creek. At Ripplebrook, Kindberg grows kale, lettuce, leafy greens, Irish and sweet potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, broccoli, etc., as well as cereal crops such as wheat and rye. He also produces organic poultry, eggs, and beef. All food from Ripplebrook is certified by several organic certifying agencies. His products are available at Everybody's Whole Foods Market in Fairfield and occasionally at local restaurants. Everybody's also carries local greenhouse grower Dean Goodale's certified basil and vegetables, and fresh vegetables from Miller's Farm, a certified organic Amish farm in Kalona.
Fortunately, these conscientious growers have good company elsewhere in Iowa. Janette Ryan-Busch grows certified-organic produce at her Fae Ridge Farm just north of Iowa City, and sells it fresh to New Pioneer in Iowa City and several Iowa City restaurants as well. At Catnip Farm in Guernsey, Ericka and Rich Dana have five certified-organic acres of herbs and flowers, an apiary that produces organic honey, and free-range hens that produce eggs that she sells locally and through an email-based CSA (community supported agriculture) group. Both of these certified-organic growers also sell at their small on-farm stores, and you can see them most Wednesdays at the Iowa City Farmer's Market.
Biodynamic and biointensive experts Billy and Dawn Hunter of Aurora Farms in Jefferson County are big on spreading the word about growing healthy soil that grows healthy food. They offer regular classes on every element of growing food that is fresh, produced locally (as in, right in your own back yard) and free of any chemicals or fertilizers. There are at least 25 other small-scale, community-oriented growers in Iowa; you can look them up on the Alternative Farming Systems Information Center Website that lists CSA farms, http://www.biodynamics.com/ usda/states/IAfarm.htm.
We can do ourselves and our community a good turn by buying fresh, locally and organically grown produce, eggs, dairy products, bakery and processed food products produced by local or regional small-scale farmers, bakers and other food producers. Some of the best tofu available anywhere is produced by American Pride Soyfoods here in southeast Iowa. Owner Alex Green has deliberately downsized his distribution area from 12 states to eastern and central Iowa. He did this for the sake of a manageable scale and pace of business, and to maintain a relationship with his customers that reflects a consideration of their needs as well as his company's.
Look for "Make mine fresh" organic products when you shop. If you don't see something that you want and you think it is being grown locally, ask for it. Store managers need to hear from people who want locally grown food whenever it is available, and you'll usually find that they like customer feedback on this topic.
"Make Mine Fresh." It's a small step for any one of us to take, but it can become a big step for humankind if enough of us take it. Think global, act (and eat) local. It can work wonders for our health, our environment, and the hard-working people of goodwill who produce the food we eat.
