 Members of the "Soul Food" support group (from left): Rosie Hauge, Lois Stavish and Betty Hines, prepare a meal with the help of Chef Fallon from Sprout. Senior Resource Director at Horizon Health Kristine Hoheisel works with caregivers each day. Through her work, it became apparent to her that many caregivers who could really benefit from a support group would not go; as they felt it would only put them behind in their caregiving duties. Others said they did not feel comfortable sitting in a group setting.
Hearing this, Hoheisel's thought was to change up the traditional support group setting so she could get more caregivers to go and receive the benefits of a great caregiver support system. Horizon Health has created a unique, nontraditional support group to help the many caregivers in need. "Soul Food" incorporates cooking into the support group, which allows caregivers the opportunity to talk with other caregivers while making meals to take home. Soul Food meets monthly at Sprout in Little Falls with a licensed social worker from Horizon Health and a chef from Sprout. Betty Hines, program participant, said, "It's just wonderful. It's such a great concept." Horizon Health is partnering with United Way, Crow Wing Power and the Central Minnesota Council on Aging to provide this program. "It is so neat to observe this group as they are so upbeat and excited to be here," Hoheisel said, "They are having so much fun preparing meals together all while supporting each other." This group meets the first Thursday of the month from 10 a.m. - noon at Sprout, 609 13th Ave. NE #8, Little Falls and they will leave with a meal for them and their loved one. Anyone interested in joining this group is asked to call Kelsey to RSVP at (320) 468-2788. Reservations are required so the proper amount of ingredients can be available. As host for the Rural Arts and Culture Summit, Grand Rapids shared its successes and struggles with visitors from 25 states.  Artist Heidi Jeub's Tiny School of Art & Design. First Friday Art Walk in Grand Rapids, Minn. Photo by Holly J Diestler. GRAND RAPIDS, Minn. – In a classroom inside a defunct, historic elementary school, a few dozen “students” peppered the morning’s teachers — three arts leaders — with questions. For two days, attendees of the Rural Arts and Culture Summit had seen firsthand how this northern Minnesota city incorporated the arts into its city government and its public spaces. How, exactly, did that happen? Could they do it, too? “It took six years. It didn’t happen overnight,” said Ed Zabinski, who was on the Grand Rapids City Council when it created an Arts and Culture Commission. “If you’re watching from a distance, it’s like watching paint dry. It’s painful. But it is important, because in the process they made sure the people who had negative things to say had that opportunity. “They checked all the boxes, touched all the bases.” In early October, about 350 people from 25 states gathered in this Mississippi River city of about 11,000 to talk about how the arts can boost small communities. Hosting the three-day, multivenue conference gave the city, better known for its paper mill, the chance to share its successes and struggles in the arts. It honored the old — KAXE, the longest-running rural public radio station in the country. It showed off the new — a handful of public art pieces scattered across the city.  Public art, including this temporary sculpture of colorful fungi on a bridge spanning the Mississippi River, has been popping up around Grand Rapids this year, thanks to the city’s Arts and Culture Commission. At left is Sonja Merrild, commission chair, with artist Nicole Camene. Photo by Michele Anderson. In past years, Springboard for the Arts hosted this biennial conference on the campus of the University of Minnesota, Morris. But Springboard, a nonprofit that connects artists and communities, wanted to see what the event could look and feel like in a new spot, said Michele Anderson, the organization’s rural program director. Grand Rapids, with its state-of-the-art performance venue and its downtown art gallery, its high-profile indigenous arts community and its new city commission, seemed like an ideal spot, she said. The city is also honest about the area’s challenges, including an economy historically dependent on mining and forestry. “The transitions the region is facing are really significant,” Anderson said. “They’re showing how to look those challenges right in the face.” Sculptures sprouting On a new pedestrian bridge spanning the Mississippi, flat, colorful fungi sprout. Artist Nicole Camene affixed the final mushroom, sculpted with wood, cardboard and yarn, to the slender railing just as a tour group of conference attendees approached. “Public-space art is kind of like my passion, where I feel most connected to people and place,” Camene said. The Minneapolis artist attended a workshop in Grand Rapids, learning about grants they were offering to create public art projects. Camene had been reading about the symbiotic relationship between trees and fungi. After digging into the Blandin Paper Co.’s efforts around sustainability, she thought mushrooms might make an apt metaphor for balancing consumption and protection of the area’s resources. “It’s complicated,” she said. “We need toilet paper and things to write on. But at the same time, we can try to find a balance.” The temporary fungi join four new permanent sculptures that have popped up in Grand Rapids this year. There are two new murals, too, and two pieces of sidewalk poetry. The flurry of public art is rooted in the work of the Arts and Culture Commission, formed in 2013. The group drew up a plan for arts in the city. It launched an artist residency program, offering makers studio space in the Old Central School downtown. It persuaded the City Council to earmark 1.5% of funding for public-works projects for public art.  During a panel on rural prosperity, experts shared stories and ideas. From left, Pam Breaux, president and CEO for National Assembly of State Art Agencies in Washington, D.C.; Susan DuPlessis, community arts development director for South Carolina Arts Commission; Em Johnson, executive director of Blue Sky Center in New Cuyama, Calif.; Michele Anderson, rural program director of Springboard for the Arts in Fergus Falls, Minn. Photo by Holly J. Diestler. They knew little about how to pick and place public art, said Sonja Merrild, the commission’s chairwoman and director of grants for the Blandin Foundation, which plays a key role in community development here. “We were in over our heads,” she said. A small group photographed a building where they thought a mural might look nice, a street corner where a sculpture might work. “This is where we think art would look pretty,” as she put it. Then they hired Forecast Public Art, a St. Paul nonprofit, to help create a process for selecting, paying for and placing artworks, Merrild said. “They make the process really defensible.” Summit attendees seemed to appreciate the city leaders’ honesty, Merrild said later. Plus, “because Grand Rapids is pretty far up here in the woods, I sensed some surprise that we could have an arts community that was as significant, frankly, as it is.” ‘It is who we are’ The summit dug into plenty of numbers. The economic impact of the arts, the return on investment. But it started with ceremony.
On Friday morning, Gary Charwood of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe said a blessing and lit some sage, inviting the hundreds of people gathered in the Reif Performing Arts Center to “feel free to come and smudge if you choose to.” They did, waving the smoke toward their faces and over their heads. Light, sweet smoke filled the auditorium. During the opening plenary, the speakers introduced themselves by describing the sights and sounds that reminded them of home. Musician Annie Humphrey described a scent. Growing up on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation just west of Grand Rapids, “all I wanted to do was leave,” she said. But while in the Marine Corps, stationed in Japan, she received a package from her father, a man unlikely to write letters, much less send packages. “I opened the box up,” Humphrey said, “and I saw what it was and I walked away to be by myself.” Inside the little cardboard box was wild rice. She stuck her face inside and breathed. “Nothing smells like wild rice,” she said. It made her realize that “I can’t live anywhere else.” Humphrey, one of many Native American artists onstage at this year’s summit, spoke plainly about the racism she’s experienced in Grand Rapids. The coolness she encountered at the store. The rude comments her niece heard at a coffee shop where she worked. “The feeling and the energy in this town is quite strange,” Humphrey said. “I’m not sure what can be done about it. It’s a huge problem. Where do you start?” Other panelists shared similar struggles. In Duluth, considered an artsy town, the work of indigenous artists has been invisible, said Moira Villiard, arts and cultural program coordinator for the American Indian Community Housing Organization. But that’s changing. She pointed to the massive red mural downtown of an Ojibwe jingle dress dancer and water protector, a bandanna covering her face, completed in 2017. It is “one of the only depictions of persons of color by a person of color,” said Villiard, who recently received a grant from Forecast Public Art to design four community street murals. Villiard cautioned arts advocates to consider the language they use around arts-making in small towns. Specifically, “creative place-making,” a buzzword in this crowd. “Place-making — as if a place isn’t already something,” Villiard said. People shouldn’t be “creating a new history when you haven’t addressed the history that’s already there. “If you don’t think there’s a story of the place, you’re wrong.” Packing the gallery On Friday evening, attendees milled around downtown Grand Rapids for First Friday, a monthly event marked by arts and food trucks. The air was chilly, but people watched as a stocking-capped painter captured the stately Old Central School on his canvas. They ducked into shops where artists displayed their wares. They packed the MacRostie Art Center, sipping wine, perusing jewelry and checking out “Beyond Borders,” an exhibit by Native American artists. Many lingered before a pair of red paintings. In one, titled “For My Sisters,” an Ojibwe jingle dancer raises a feather fan and a protective arm. Behind her, red shadows appear — an army of women, dancing in formation. Artist Hillary Kempenich of Grand Forks, N.D., doesn’t usually depict her Native subjects in traditional regalia. “I try to show us in our modern form,” she said. “But for this, there’s a story that needed to be told about uplifting women.” The jingle dress dancers have been called forward to work on the problem of missing and murdered indigenous women, she said. “We can heal ourselves — heal the world, as well.” Kempenich, who’s from the Turtle Mountain reservation, came to the conference hoping to find direction in how to help Grand Forks build a “better, sustainable arts community.” “We don’t have spaces like this,” she said, gesturing at the gallery. The North Dakota Museum of Art is “bringing art into the space from around the world, which is super-important. But we also need to be supporting the artists and creating a creative economy in Grand Forks. “So what’s happening in Minnesota has been really inspiring.” LITTLE FALLS -- Students from three different central Minnesota schools will be featured artists at the indoor marketplace set from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 26 at Sprout in Little Falls. Sprout Growers and Makers Marketplace highlights cultural arts through performances and cooking demonstrations at each monthly market. The October market will highlight talented students in both music and culinary arts, a news release stated. The market will also reveal a new art installation made by a young artist, as well as have free art activities for all ages. Sprout Growers & Makers Marketplace season includes six monthly markets from October through March. The first of the season this month will gather a variety of food producers, artisans and artists who make their homegrown, handmade products available for community members to purchase. The market takes the form of a mini monthly festival, offering entertainment through performances and cooking demonstrations. The October performance is organized by Todd Peterson, Little Falls High School band teacher, and includes a mix of students and teachers in a first-of-its-kind jazz ensemble. The six member jazz combo includes Peterson; Joel Pohland, band director at Pierz Healy High School; and Carl Mathwig, Pierz Pioneer Elementary band teacher; as well as a student from each of the schools. Playing jazz standards from the Big Band and Swing eras, plus Latin and modern jazz, the group will perform three sets during the market from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Following the band performance, there will be a cooking demonstration at 1 p.m. in the Sprout kitchen, with samples available for market attendees. Students from Sauk Rapids-Rice High School’s ProStart Program will demonstrate a butternut squash-apple bruschetta, using ingredients sourced locally from Sprout’s Food Hub. Mary Levinski, the instructor for the program states, “This is a great recipe, we tried it out and the students loved it, even though they typically do not like squash.” Sauk Rapids-Rice High School is one of 50 schools in Minnesota that offers the ProStart Program, a national two year culinary training program that provides real-life experience opportunities, culinary techniques and management skills to high school students. Market attendees are encouraged to come to the event hungry, to taste the samples and to dine at the Cabin Fever “pop-up restaurant” that will have lunch, craft brews, and wine available during the market. Local food and art producers interested in participating in the market can become a vendor by visiting www.sproutmn.com/vendors. Another feature of the market is a new art installation by Andreas Nordrum, a young artist from Laporte, who created a life size Migizi, Ojibwe for “Eagle” out of red willow and cedar wood. The willow was woven to create the tail feathers, and the Migizi’s head was hand carved out of cedar wood. The majestic piece now hangs from the rafters of Sprout’s facility.  A new art installation by Andreas Nordrum, a young artist from Laporte, who created a life size Migizi, Ojibwe for “Eagle” out of red willow and cedar wood.
 The Creative Cart Studio is a traveling art studio by Maria Ervasti, a K-12 Art Educator at Verndale Public Schools, that will pop-up with free painting activities at the October market. Due to a partnership with Hunger Solutions Minnesota, families and individuals eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program can also double their dollar at the Sprout Growers & Makers Marketplace and the Sprout Mobile Market. Shoppers with SNAP can swipe their electronic benefit transfer card at the market to receive an additional dollar for every dollar spent up to $10 in “Market Bucks.” SNAP is a federal food assistance program. Benefits are placed on an EBT similar to a debit card. To find out if you qualify for SNAP, call the Minnesota Food HelpLine at 888-711-1151 or visit mnfoodhelpline.org for more information.
The activities are funded through a grant awarded to the Region Five Development Commission by ArtPlace America’s National Creative Placemaking Fund.  Filming of "Who's At Your Table?" takes place. The documentary explores connecting cultures across the dinner table. Submitted photo When is dinner more than just dinner? When stories are told. And connections made.
That's the premise of a new documentary, which focuses on the stories of immigrants and other minorities living in the small towns and rural areas of central Minnesota. "Who's At Your Table?" brings together people of widely varying experiences to share a family-style meal and tell their stories—where they came from; how their cultures shaped them; and how they find life and acceptance in Minnesota. It's the extension of a TEDxGullLake Talk delivered in 2015 by Arlene Jones, a Brainerd farmer and founder of Sprout Growers and Makers Market in Little Falls. She cohosts the dinner with Martin Jennings, a grants administrator and member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. Dinner guests include two Somali refugees, a Liberian refugee and entrepreneur, three former Amish members, a mother of seven multicultural children, and a chamber of commerce director in a small town finding new growth and conflict with the influx of first-generation Americans. Most of the dinner guests met each other for the first time at the gathering. When to watch What: "Who's At Your Table?"—television documentary. When: 9 p.m. Monday, June 24, repeating 8 p.m. Thursday, June 27. Where: Lakeland Public Broadcasting. "The face of central Minnesota is changing," narrator Jennifer Smith of Brainerd said at the outset of "Who's At Your Table?" "There is more color to who we are. More depth to our traditions. More stories about from where we came." With that introduction, the guests begin telling their own origin stories. Abdi Daisane, a Somali immigrant who now runs a preschool in St. Cloud, discusses growing up in a refugee camp and sharing what limited food was available. Fortuna Alexander, a Liberian immigrant, tells how she became an entrepreneur to finance an orphanage in a country ravaged by civil war and Ebola. Business owners and former Amish members Enos and Mary Schwartzentruber explain what it's like moving from one culture into another without ever leaving town. The hour-long storytelling and discussion is more about cultural understanding than conflict, Jones pointed out in a news release. "Food was the motivator," she stated. "The heritage behind the food was what we used as the platform to bring all these people together. To share a meal as you would with your family and begin to tell our stories about what it is like to live in central Minnesota to possibly be an immigrant and to possibly be someone who is here who is different, who has had a different struggle." The documentary will premiere on Lakeland Public Broadcasting, beginning 9 p.m. June 24 and repeating 8 p.m. June 27. It was created by Resilient Living MN, a production arm of Happy Dancing Turtle in Pine River, which also organized the TEDxGullLake conference. Region Five Development Commission and ArtPlace provided funding, along with assistance from Sprout and Lakeland Public Broadcasting. The "Who's At Your Table?" dinner represented a rare opportunity for people of differing cultures to come together, tell their stories and listen to others, said co-host Jennings. "Hopefully, this work and this conversation will help others think a little more differently about communities that they typically don't see or think about," he said.  Stephanie (Chatfield) Wall shops with zero waste living in mind. Instead of purchasing yogurt in plastic containers, she brings along mason jars and gets many of her dry and wet goods in the bulk section or at Farmers Markets. By Sheila McCoy, Morrison County Record Zero waste living. That’s what Little Falls native Stephanie (Chatfield) Wall strives for. Now living in Seattle, Wash. with her husband Zach, and their son, Wesley, Wall plan to return to Little Falls to share her passion. The Zero Waste Living workshop will be held Wednesday, June 5, at 7 p.m., at Sprout, 609 13th Ave. NE, Door 8, in Little Falls. The event is co-hosted by Purple Carrot Market, Sprout and the Little Falls Farmers Market. Stephanie (Chatfield) Wall shops with zero waste living in mind. Instead of purchasing yogurt in plastic containers, she brings along mason jars and gets many of her dry and wet goods in the bulk section or at Farmers Markets. The concept of zero waste living is to examine habits and practices to find ways waste can be minimized. “What I have learned since I started is that you can’t go back. You start thinking of all the ways you reduce waste. It’s inspiring and it’s fun,” she said. Wall said although she grew up with her parents, Tom Chatfield and Joelle Zylka, instilling valuable conservation skills, it was ultimately a blog by Bea Johnson that inspired her in 2010. “I’m not sure how I stumbled across that blog, but I was drawn to it because of her beautiful kitchen,” she said. “When I started reading her blog about how much trash we produce, it really got me thinking about my own waste.” Wall said she was fascinated by the fact that Johnson, who had a family of four, had been able to minimize their waste to 1 liter of landfill waste per year. “Now they’re down to a half a liter,” she said. Wall said it’s easier to get started by just taking it room-by-room. For her, the kitchen was the starting point. Instead of using plastic bags when she went shopping, she brought along reusable cloth bags. Rather than buying packages of certain foods, she opted for filling up mason jars she brought in the bulk section of the store. “That was one way I started reducing my personal waste. Then it just snowballed from there,” she said. Other ways to minimize waste are to use bamboo toothbrushes, wool dryer balls, cotton towels, natural loofahs and kitchen scrubbers. Using reusable water bottles, to-go coffee tumblers and utensils helps eliminate plastic water bottles, disposable coffee cups and plastic cutlery. It is never too early to instill zero waste living in the younger generation. Pictured is Wesley, the son of Stephanie Wall, after a shopping trip to the bulk section. Wall said reducing waste doesn’t just have a positive effect on the environment. It also produces a simplified life and has also saved her time and money as she is more mindful of what she accumulates. By shopping locally, interacting with growers at the farmers market and other stores, she has gained various relationships, as many have become friends.  It is never too early to instill zero waste living in the younger generation. Pictured is Wesley, the son of Stephanie Wall, after a shopping trip to the bulk section. Wall is one of four co-founders of a grass roots community called “Seattle Zero Waste.” At first, the four started getting together over food and drink to talk about sustainability and zero waste living. About a year later, they started holding monthly meet-ups.
“We only had two people come the first time, but we kept putting out our invitation on our personal Instagram accounts for people to meet us,” she said. As time went by, more and more people attended the meet-ups. “We empower and inspire people to reduce their waste through meaningful relationships and collaboration,” she said. The group continued to grow and started a group on Facebook, which now has nearly 1,800 members. Wall believes the more people start to think about the waste they produce, the more potential it has to change policy. She finds it challenging to see the amount of the trash that is produced worldwide. “Not in a judgmental way, but seeing how much trash is produced, makes me think about the challenge of how do we move our society to a circular economy instead of a linear economy. Circular meaning products that are thought through in a way where they don’t go to a landfill, but they are either reused or can be composted,” Wall said. Wall encourages people to come to the workshop to learn more about ways waste can be eliminated. By Sheila McCoy, Staff Writer, Morrison County Record  Matéo Mackbee, chef and owner of the “Model Citizen the Restaurant” in New London, who has 13 years of experience as a chef, was named Master Chef at Minced in Little Falls, May 10. Staff photo by Sheila McCoy With three chefs, three courses and three mystery ingredients in each, only one could walk away with the title, “Master chef.” That’s what Minced, “The finer version of Chopped,” was about, May 10, when three chefs competed against each other at Sprout in Little Falls. It was the second year the event was held.
Each chef came with a different culinary background. This year’s winner, Matéo Mackbee, with 13 years of experience, found his roots of the culinary art in primarily Creole and Cajun dishes — New Orleans style. “My grandfather, Renard Morril, was a chef on a ship from New Orleans to Africa. My summers were spent in New Orleans, watching him cook for us,” he said Although Mackbee was passionate about food for as long as he can remember and showed an interest early on, he avoided pursuing a career in it. “Food is something I have always been passionate about. One of my earliest childhood memories is walking home from kindergarten. Normally kids watch cartoons, but I would watch ‘Yan Can Cook’ on PBS,” he said. “The passion was there inside of me, but I ran away from it for a long time.” But when he lost his job in IT in the stock market crash in 2008, Mackbee decided it was time for a change. “When I lost my job in the crash, I wanted to try to find something I could do that would make me feel whole inside. So I went into cooking and never looked back,” he said. Mackbee said he enrolled in a culinary art school shortly after. Also competing in the final round was Jenna Brower Von Siebolds, who works as a chef at the “Prairie Bay Grill” in Baxter and with six years, she had the least amount of experience compared to the others. Although she didn’t take home the master chef title, Brower Von Siebolds was awarded the “People’s Choice Award.” The other chef, Thomas Kavanaugh, represented the ProStart program at Pillager High School. Despite his solid efforts, he was eliminated after the second round. The secret ingredients the chefs had to work with were challenging. As the theme for the event was east African cuisine, the secret ingredients were obtained from Somali grocery stores in St. Cloud and did not disappoint. In the first round for the appetizer, the chefs had to figure out how to include yellow potatoes, golden raisins and Somali coffee spice mix. The secret ingredients for round two, the entrée, were goat meat, chick peas and pitted dates. When the judges shared their opinion of the chefs’ creations, Minced’s celebrity guest and judge, Kara Carlisle from the McKnight Foundation in Minneapolis, said she had eaten the goat meat despite being a vegetarian. After all, it looked so savory, she said. The final round not only brought the judges dessert, but also the secret ingredients of black tea, guava juice drink and bananas. While the chefs were given 30 minutes to complete the entrée, only 20 minutes were allowed for the appetizer and dessert rounds. Despite the risk of the ice cream not hardening enough, Brower Von Siebolds amazingly pulled it off. Mackbee, on the other hand, impressed the judges with a recipe of an Ethiopian pancake with bananas foster topping and a berry sauce. Although all of the chefs felt the pressure to finish each dish within the allotted time, Mackbee said he embraces competition. "I’m an athlete at heart. I played soccer and basketball. Competing has always been a big thing for me,” he said. Mackbee said the biggest challenge for him was being unfamiliar with the kitchen and not knowing where different things were, along with running back and forth. Being named “Master Chef” was thrilling for Mackbee. But what made him even agree to compete was all Sprout stands for. “I love this organization and everything that is going on in here,” he said. By Pioneer Journal Staff on May 18, 2019 at 4:13 p.m.
Region Five Development Commission (R5DC) was awarded $92,500 from the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs (MDVA) through the (2018 Cycle II) Support Our Troops (SOT) license plate fund grant program. The MDVA SOT grant program offers a competitive grant process which allows organizations to apply for funding. These grants, ranging from $1,000 to $100,000, are focused on supporting and improving the lives of veterans and their families. R5DC will use the funds to support a program for 50 veterans residing in the counties of Cass, Crow Wing, Morrison, Todd or Wadena. Participating veterans will receive a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) food package twice per month, for one year at no cost. Cooking demonstrations and classes will be offered monthly by local food experts, chefs and nutrition educators. The goal of the VetCSA is to improve the overall quality of life for veterans and their families. This initiative delivers healthy foods and gives additional knowledge and skills on how to prepare them. Building a healthy lifestyle creates a positive effect on physical and mental health. The VetCSA brings veterans, families, growers and communities together, with food coming from Sprout MN and supporting regional growers and ranchers. For details on MDVA's Support Our Troops License Plate program found on the MDVA Website at the following link: https://mn.gov/mdva/resources/supporttroopslicenseplates.jsp New London chef earns Master Chef title at Minced: People's Choice goes to Prairie Bay head chef5/13/2019
LITTLE FALLS—Three central Minnesota chefs competed in a live cooking competition featuring mystery ingredients Friday, May 10, in front of a large crowd in Little Falls.
Taking home the 2019 Master Chef title at the Sprout-hosted event "Minced: The Finer Version of Chopped" was Mateo Mackbee of Model Citizen the Restaurant in New London. Also competing in the final round was Jenna Brower Von Siebolds of Prairie Bay Grill in Baxter, and eliminated after two rounds of competition was Tom Kavanaugh, representing the ProStart Program at Pillager High School. This was the second year Sprout produced the live entertainment, which resembles the popular Food Network show "Chopped." Chefs did not know ahead of time what mystery ingredients they would cook with, and ingredients represented and celebrated East African food culture. Ingredients were sourced from Somali grocery stores in St. Cloud and included goat meat, guava drink, black tea, Ethiopian spiced coffee mix and more. Mackbee edged Brower Von Siebolds in the dessert round, impressing judges with his Ethiopian-style pancake topped with a bananas Foster topping and a fresh berry sauce. Brower Von Siebolds took home the People's Choice Award, voted on by the attending audience. In addition to Model Citizen the Restaurant, Mackbee is also developing a new restaurant, Krewe, as well as a bakery in the 24 North Lofts in St. Joseph. The restaurant will feature a New Orleans-style menu, while the bakery will make French and Scandinavian pastries. Judging the competition were Tomas Zimmerman, owner and chef of A.T. The Black & White Restaurant in Little Falls; Habso J. Mohamud, author of "It Only Takes One Yes!"; Meadow Roberts, 11-year-old contestant from Food Network's Kids Baking Championship; and Kara Carlisle of the McKnight Foundation. The event was hosted by 2018 Master Chef Scotty Stocco and Brainerd Dispatch Community Editor Chelsey Perkins. Minced was partially funded through a grant awarded to the Region Five Development Commission by ArtPlace America's National Creative Placemaking Fund. This event was presented by Sprout MN, Region Five Development Commission, Central Lakes College and Three Cheers Hospitality. For more photos, go to https://bit.ly/2vQPfqf.  Share holders in Sprout’s Community Supported Agriculture receive a box of fresh vegetables and herbs weekly or bi-weekly during its 16-week season. By Sheila McCoy - Staff Writer: sheila.mccoy@mcrecord.com, Morrison County Record
Signing up for community supported agriculture (CSA) shares at Sprout in Little Falls not only gives members access to fresh vegetables. It’s also a great way to support local growers and know where the food came from, said Jessie Bavelli, food hub and marketplace director. Shareholders can choose to either sign up for a full or a half share. A full share gives members the opportunity to pick up a three-quart bushel box of vegetables weekly for the 16-week season, from about mid-June to September. Each box is carefully packed with a wide variety of products, such as vegetables, herbs and shelf-stable products. What kind of vegetables are packed depends primarily on the time of the season they mature. Some of the vegetables that are included in the box are cucumbers, leeks, different types of tomatoes, hot and sweet peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, eggplant, Brussels sprouts, carrots, potatoes, onions, varieties of squash, spinach, kale and more. Examples of herbs that are packed are rosemary, basil, thyme, oregano and more. Products such as wild rice, honey, local flour breads, jams and jellies, maple syrup, fresh eggs and rhubarb are also included. “All of the products are produced by multiple local farms. One of the benefits to the CSA model is that you have such a great variety. Through the season members can see well over 60 different products in their shares,” she said. The same amount of food in a box is given to the members who choose to go with the biweekly option. Instead of picking up the CSA share weekly, it is picked up every other week. Sprout has four pickup locations — Little Falls, Staples, Brainerd and Baxter. Those who are interested in signing up for a CSA share can do so by visiting www.sproutmn.com and clicking on the food hub link. Sprout works with several producers who are located within a 100-miles radius of Little Falls. Some of the growers are certified organic, while others are not certified, but follow the same principles as if they were, Bavelli said. The CSA program at Sprout was established in 2013, a year after Sprout was founded. It was a way to expand Sprout’s marketing effort beyond the wholesale they do with institutional accounts, such as schools, restaurants, hospitals, senior care facilities and more. They knew the community agricultural motto and the shared system would be the way to go, Bavelli said. “CSA help enhance the relationship between the grower and the consumer of that food. That relationship follows through the whole season,” she said. “As you sign up a member, you are essentially pledging to share any potential risks that come with growing in agriculture — the weather, droughts, crop failure and pest disease. Then of course, in return, you get to enjoy the benefits and the rewards from a successful farming season.” During the CSA season, Sprout sends a weekly email product list to its members, about where it is coming from and who the producers are. Every so often, Sprout includes various recipes in the emails with suggestions about how the members can use some of the vegetables and how to store food safely. “One of the benefits that is really important and is why we do this work is in general to support the small family farms that are producing this fresh and nutritious food,” Bavelli said. “They are a huge asset to our community and do a lot to help and better our communities through the work they do. Without them we wouldn’t be in this line of work,” Bavelli said. It is also an opportunity to educate the members on ways to enhance their culinary skills. By Sheila McCoy - Staff Writer - sheila.mccoy@mcrecord.com - Morrison County Record  Master Chef Scotty Stocco, who won “Minced” last year, will be returning to the live cooking competition, May 10. Not to compete, but to emcee the event. Staff photo by Sheila McCoy Three chefs — Thomas Kavanaugh, Jenna Brower Von Siebolds and Matéo Mackbee, are getting ready to compete in Sprout’s second annual “Minced.” event — the finer version of “Chopped.”
The live cooking competition will be held at Sprout, 609 13th Ave. NE, Door 8, in Little Falls, Friday, May 10, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Racing against time, the chefs will be making three courses — an appetizer, an entrée and a dessert. Only one can be named “Master Chef” while the others get “Minced.” The chefs come from different culinary backgrounds and are each given a box with a set of mystery ingredients. Figuring out what to make with the mystery ingredients within 20 minutes can be quite a challenge, last year’s winner, Master Chef Scotty Stocco knows all too well. Last year, he and the other remaining opponent were given pork rinds to use with the dessert they were making. Creatively, Stocco ground the pork rinds and sprinkled it over the desert. Stocco is returning to Minced this year. Not to impress the judges with his culinary skills, but to emcee the event. “Winning the first Minced competition was a great honor and being invited to host the second is sublime,” he said. Natalie Keane, who is the facility utilization director at Sprout, is looking forward to seeing how the chefs will do in the event. She is familiar with all three chefs. Chef Thomas Kavanaugh has 42 years of experience in the culinary arts and is representing the ProStart program at Pillager High School. “He is the mentor for the program at the high school that do culinary arts training for the students. Those students showcased Thomas’ skills because they went on to win third place at the state competition, the Minnesota ProStart Invitational,” Keane said. Chef Jenna Brower Von Siebolds works as a chef at the “Prairie Bay Grill” in Baxter and with six years has the least amount of experience in the culinary arts compared to the other chefs. “You wouldn’t know it though by tasting her food because she cooks as if she has been traveling around the globe for years,” Keane said. “She has a wanderlust style of cooking and likes to incorporate different techniques and ingredients from various culinary cultures.” Matéo Mackbee is a chef at the “Model Citizen the Restaurant” in New London and specialize in “farm to table” as he works with a lot of the local growers. He is also planning to open a new restaurant and bakery in St. Joseph. With 13 years of experience as a chef, Mackbee prepares primarily creole and cajun dishes — in New Orleans style. “What is fun about the competition is that you see the chefs and maybe you have been to their restaurants before, but in the heat of the competition, working against the timer, anyone can really come out on top,” Keane said. This year, the style of food Sprout is highlighting for the event is east African cuisine. “I think that will be a fun twist to the event,” she said. The dishes the chefs prepare will be judged by four people. One of the judges, Meadow Roberts, is a 10-year-old girl from Minneapolis, who competed in the Food Network Kids Baking Championship. Habso J. Mohamud is an author from St. Cloud and wrote the children’s book, “It Only Takes One Yes!” The third judge is none other than Tomas Zimmerman, the celebrity chef who is co-owner of the A.T. The Black and White restaurant in Little Falls. The Minced event’s celebrity guest and judge is Kara Carlisle from the McKnight Foundation in Minneapolis. Keane said she is looking forward to the event. “It is the best live entertainment,” she said. Those who visit Minced will have the opportunity to watch a special preview of Common Ground’s final episode at 4:30 p.m. and at 9 p.m. |
