Just Food Co-op

We love our local farmers and producers!

Nearly a quarter of all of Just Food Co-op’s purchasing dollars go to buy foods that are locally-produced. We’d like to introduce you to a few of the folks that grow your food.

Produce

Featherstone Fruits and Vegetables

Jack Hedin and Jenni McHugh
Rushford, MN
www.featherstonefarm.com

Featherstone produces over 40 different crops for fresh delivery to food co-ops and other Midwest food outlets, and has operated a successful Community Supported Agriculture program for more than 10 years.

The farm’s philosophy is rooted in the belief that the freshest, best-tasting and most-nutritious fruits and vegetables come from sustainable systems—an alternative to petrochemical-based industrial agriculture—and a source people can get to know and trust.

Gardens of Eagan

Farmington, MN
www.gardensofeagan.com

Gardens of Eagan is a 100-acre, urban-edge, vegetable farm, providing certified organic produce to the Twin Cities and surrounding communities. Its proximity to a metropolitan area allows the farm to serve as an educational resource to consumers and farmers through its 501 (c) 3 non-profit, The Organic Field School.

Gardens of Eagan is a demonstration of the logic, elegance and viability of ecologically based, organic food production. Originally in Eagan, Gardens of Eagan was established by Martin Diffley in 1973 and co-operated with Atina Diffley. It is now owned by the Wedge Community Co-op and run by farm manager Linda Halley.

Hoch Orchard

Harry and Jackie Hoch
La Crescent, Minnesota
www.hochorchard.com

Hoch Orchard and Gardens produces 50 varieties of organically grown apples, including Honeycrisp, Zestar, Sweet 16, Fuji, Keepsake, Ginger gold and Sansa on its 25-acre farm near the Mississippi River bluffs, and some new varieties that are just coming into production.

In addition to apples, the Hochs produce wine grapes, red raspberries, strawberries and other berries, like black, purple and yellow raspberries, blueberries and blackberries. They also grow other tree fruit, including plums, apricots, cherries and some peaches.

Living Water Gardens

Steve & Miriam Klingbeil and family
Wells, Minnesota

The Klingbeils have grown nearly 7,000 hydroponic tomato plants for the past 17 years, from seed to maturity, from within the protection provided by the acre of greenhouses on their property—without contaminants and pesticides.

Today, the farm produces several types of tomatoes, including grape, vine-on and beef steak. According to the family, Living Water is the perfect name. It means “full of life, full of water, full of healthy nutrients.”

Rock Spring Farm

Chris and Kim Blanchard
Decorah, Iowa
www.rsfarm.com

Rock Spring Farm is a family-owned farm growing delicious, wholesome, organic produce and a diverse array of livestock on 80 acres. Part of one of the original homesteads in the area, the farm includes diverse landscapes—fertile bottomlands, forest, pastures, oak savanna, and a clear running stream.

The Blanchards have grown vegetables professionally for almost 30 years combined. Their produce is grown following strict organic guide-lines, without the use of chemical fertilizers or pesticides, and vegetables, herbs and flowers are certified organic by the Midwest Organic Services Association.

Dairy

Cedar Grove Cheese

Plain, WI
www.cedargrovecheese.com

Cedar Grove cheesemakers craft 4 million pounds of cheese a year from milk bought from more than 30 Wisconsin farmers, who have pledged not to treat their cows with artificial growth hormones, animal enzymes or genetically modified ingredients.

Working in concert with nature is an important part of Cedar Grove’s business, which relies on a “Living Machine” to clean wash-water in a beautiful biological way, and actively promotes recycling and energy reduction programs.

Cedar Summit Farm

Dave and Florence Minar
New Prague, Minnesota
www.cedarsummit.com

For three generations, Cedar Summit has produced non-homogenized milk, cream, yogurt, ice cream, butter, hard cheeses and sour cream. Owners Dave and Florence Minar stopped using petrochemical herbicides and fertilizers in the 1970s, substituting good tillage and crop rotation practices to manage the land. They have adopted a grazing system where all animals are pastured on the land for at least seven months and fed stored grasses the remainder of the year. No antibiotics or added hormones are used.

Faribault Dairy

Faribault, MN
www.faribaultdairy.com

The historic sandstone caves of Faribault Dairy are home to three premium blue-veined cheeses: Amablu® Blue, Gorgonzola and St. Pete’s Select. All three are made from raw cow’s milk in traditional open vats, hand salted, and cave-aged in hand-dug sandstone caves. The cheeses vary in aging (from 75 to 100+ days), physical attributes, and flavor. Faribault Dairy’s cheese makers vary the types of starter cultures, processing conditions, and ageing temperatures to attain the desired profile.Each natural artisanal cheese wheel is produced by hand from whole milk, not machine made, under standardized conditions.

PastureLand Butter

Dodge Center, MN
www.pastureland.coop

PastureLand is a co-op of four family-operated, grass-based organic dairy farms that produces milk, cream, ice cream, cultured butter and artisan cheeses.PastureLand cows harvest their own feed from grazing pastures before being moved to fresh pasture. They are housed outdoors year-round and produce milk that is rich and distinctive, like the milk of European dairies. No antibiotics or hormones are used to enhance the growth or production of its dairy herds.

Shepherd’s Way Farms

Steven Read and Jodi Ohlsen Read
Nerstrand, MN
www.shepherdswayfarms.com

Owners Steven and Jodi Ohlsen Read (and their four sons) make cheese by hand with milk from their own sheep near Northfield, Minnesota. They make several different cheeses, including Friesago, Shepherd’s Hope and Big Woods Blue, as well as others available on a limited basis, like Hidden Falls, Harmand and traditional Ricotta.

Meat

Hidden Stream Farm

Eric and Lisa Klein
Elgin, Minnesota
www.hiddenstreamfarm.com

Hidden Stream Farm produces grass-fed beef, pork and chickens with no chemicals or antibiotics on a family farm located near the bluffs of the Mississippi River. The animals are raised using a grass-based system, allowing the Klein family to farm in a more environmentally friendly and sustainable way, while producing products free of any unwanted antibiotics and/or hormones.

Thousand Hills Cattle Company

Todd Churchill, CEO
Cannon Falls, MN
www.thousandhillscattleco.com

Thousand Hills grass-fed cattle are raised on small Midwest farms and processed at a state-of-the-art USDA-inspected facility in Cannon Falls, Minnesota. Pasture-raised cattle live low-stress lives, making them healthier and a source of more delicious, health-promoting food. Buying products made from pastured animals means you are eating food raised as nature intended while you support small family farms, safeguard the environment, and promote animal welfare.