Local Food

River Rock Kitchen & Baking Co’s local community impact starts with sourcing. Under Montana’s leadership, the bakery sources their ingredients from more than a dozen farms, mills, and cooperatives in Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin.

Freshly opened in June 2024, Half Pint Coffee Company brings a new coffee house to downtown Walnut Grove. The menu includes a full coffee bar featuring Half Pint Coffee Co’s freshly roasted beans along with baked treats, smoothies, teas and hand scooped ice cream.

On a rise in southern Minnesota that Rachel Davis’ ancestors called Poverty Knob, Kalvin, Rachel and their two young children (soon to be three in January!) raise a myriad of mushrooms at their ten acre solar- powered farm. 

“I’m not that great a cook. I’m a really good shopper,” laughs Beth Dooley, James Beard award-winning food writer, author of more than a dozen cookbooks, Star Tribune columnist, and a regular contributor to MPR.

The Black Radish is an urban oasis where sunflowers tower and ripe beans dangle in magical tunnels. Tucked into its south Minneapolis neighborhood, this farm fosters community through the weekly gathering of CSA pickup, the volunteers who make the work possible, and the yards that nourish local residents. 

Kerry, a Certified Cheese Professional, and Mike, who works as a Global Dairy Technology Manager for Cargill Animal Nutrition, create custom events that take you on a tasty tour of the delicious world of cheese.  Both are graduates of the University of Wisconsin who grew up in our neighbor to the east. Minnesota, however, has been home for nearly 30 years, giving them lots of time to discover a plethora of favorite cheeses throughout the land of 10,000 lakes.