Northfield Area Farmers and Food Makers Work Together to Strengthen Local Food System, Host Recent Harvest Celebration Market and Farm Tour

Organized by Tracy Jonkman and Maddy Bartsch, Meet your Makers’ Harvest Celebration Market and Farm Tour (Celebracion de la Cosecha) 2024 was an off the beaten path market featuring not-so-common food and beverage items produced from local farmers in Northfield. This community event was celebrated last Wednesday, providing an opportunity to eat, drink and be merry while celebrating the harvest season with cultural dancers, delicious food, garden tours, conversations with growers and an emerging farmer's market.

The event was hosted by Sharing our Roots, an organization dedicated to land access and restoration that provides opportunities for emerging and immigrant farmers and gardeners, farm workers and business owners to engage meaningfully in the food system while building their businesses and brands. Some farmers raise beef cattle or sheep on the 163 acres of land, others grow diversified vegetables or flowers.

Tracy Jonkman, co-owner of Keepsake Cidery in Dundas and co-leader of Meet Your Makers, remarks, “Our community (Northfield and Dundas) has a small but dedicated group of people with a focus on local foods and the farms that produce them - definitely room for improvement, but a good presence.” She continues, “The town of Northfield itself has a couple of farmers markets and there are more and more businesses and farms having local producer markets, events and tourism-based events on the farm.” For Twin Cities metro folks who want a taste of rural life, the Northfield area is a beautiful day trip within easy reach.

As co-owner of Keepsake Cidery, an orchard and on-farm cidery with a tasting room, Tracy is no stranger to agritourism. In addition to welcoming visitors to the farm to enjoy their spontaneously fermented ciders, it’s not uncommon for Keepsake to host local food cookouts with guest chefs, as well as live music from local talent. Tracy

emphasizes how agritourism is a smart and efficient way to supplement income for small farms, saying “Each farm has the option of choosing how much or little to do and what time of year to do it based on slower or busier production cycles on the farm.”