MOORHEAD — The Chef’s Table/Day on the Farm planned for Sunday, Sept. 13, at Doubting Thomas Farms near Moorhead has something for everyone.
Kids can enjoy petting the baby goats, foodies can graze on the chef-prepared specialties and outdoor enthusiasts can learn about topics like bird migration or pollinator-friendly plants.
But the event also spotlights some cutting-edge developments in agriculture, including a robotic weed-annihilator that effectively kills pesticide-resistant waterhemp, a tour of a perennial sunflower plot that could revolutionize how that commodity is raised, and a peek at elderberries as a promising specialty crop.
Those who are interested in attending are asked to register for the event, which will help with food preparation and planning.
Day on the Farm founder Noreen Thomas, pictured here, has more recently incorporated local chefs into the annual event as another way to promote local foods and talent.
Contributed / Noreen Thomas
The day can also instill deeper lessons on agribusiness opportunities, says Noreen Thomas, the Day on the Farm creator and the organic farmer who launched Doubting Thomas Farms.
“Small farms can create multiple income streams, identify customer bases, test products and add value to what they grow,” Thomas says. “The principle behind it all really is ‘From growing to earning.’”
Incredible crops of the future
Attendees will be able to see cutting-edge research first-hand, including an acre of perennial sunflowers developed by Brent Hulke, a USDA research geneticist in Fargo.
“Sunflowers are an annual crop but he’s developed perennial sunflowers,” Thomas says. “That means you plant it once so you don’t disturb the soil and you don’t have to water it. It’s kind of the future.”
The sunflowers are highly sustainable and serve multiple important functions. Once the heads have been harvested so oil can be extracted from the seeds, the stalks can be grazed down by cattle.
They’ll then spring up next year to provide oil forage and early ground cover.
Traditional commodity sunflowers are notoriously hard on farm machinery because of their thick, fibrous, woody stems. Hulke’s perennial crop has been developed with slender stems, making them easier on equipment, Thomas says.
Two visitors to Doubting Thomas Farms this summer checked out the USDA’s perennial sunflower plot, which could be an important step in revolutionizing this commodity.
Contributed / Noreen Thomas
The sunflowers also contain squalene, an ingredient that is widely used in cosmetics. Traditionally, that lipid is extracted from shark liver oil, so the plant option would be “much more sustainable,” Thomas says.
Overall, the idea is so promising and progressive that “it’s like ag in 20 years probably,” she adds.
Visitors to the farm can see another promising perennial crop: elderberries. These antioxidant-rich berries are used in syrups and teas and are believed to shorten cold and flu symptoms.
They hold great potential for this region because they thrive in cold northern climates and there’s a surging market demand for them.
Right now, the U.S. health and wellness supplement industry imports 95% of its elderberry ingredients, when the plant could easily be grown in North Dakota, according to the Midwest Elderberry Cooperative.
The North American elderberries are shown to contain five times the antiviral properties than those grown in Europe, Thomas says. There’s also an elderberry syrup plant being built near Albert Lea, Minnesota, right now.
The killer bots vs. the monster weeds
North Dakota and Minnesota farmers are especially plagued by weeds like waterhemp because they’ve grown so resistant to herbicides, Thomas says.
The answer could be an army of squat, yellow robots running across fields 24/7. Thomas says the bots cut off the canopy of the pesky plants, exposing them to the hot sun and effectively killing them.
Clint Brower is the Kansas farmer whose quest to decrease herbicide use on crops resulted in developing the weed-cutting robots. Now the head of Greenfield Robotics, he will be at the event.
Kids enjoy petting the dairy goats, which are brought by a local teacher so they can learn more about agriculture and where our food comes from.
Contributed / Noreen Thomas
Local farmer Ethan Johnson will also be there with his bot, which he rents out to other farmers.
This demonstrates how smaller producers can find creative ways — either by renting, custom-hiring or banding together to buy and share a robot — to take advantage of this promising technology, Thomas says.
The event will feature another cutting-edge technology project. Several NDSU 9doctoral. candidates will demonstrate their soil sampler, which placed fifth worldwide in an international robotics competition, Thomas says.
Arts and crafts activities, a farmers’ market and a photo booth are among the activities at the Chef’s Table/A Day at the Farm on Doubting Thomas Farms in rural Moorhead.
Contributed / Noreen Thomas
Chef Andrea Baumgartner will be there from 2 to 3 p.m. to sign her popular cookbook, “BernBaum’s: Recipes from Fargo’s Nordic-Jewish Deli.”Chef Joe Swegarden of Heart-n-Soul Community Cafe will serve a tasting menuCandace Stock, executive chef of the
Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library
in North Dakota, will serve sumac-infused lemonade.A farmers market, featuring jams, jellies, apples, melons and other local treats, will be held from 1 to 3 p.m.
Sabrina Halvorson, a University of Minnesota Extension master naturalist aka “The Fumbling Forager,” will show how pollinator plantings can support biodiversity.A panel made up of an organic farmer, Audubon representative and a naturopath will talk about what plants boost our health, organic planting and bird-related topics.A master gardener will be on hand to answer home gardeners’ questions.Representatives from the local Audubon will be on hand to answer questions about birds and migration and provide binoculars for birding walks.
Vendors will be selling products such as their homemade soaps.Karin Boom of LaMoure, North Dakota, will guide attendees through a fiber-arts craft for families,Aimee Klein will do caricatures.A photo booth, featuring a giant “frame” for individuals or groups to pose in, will be available.
Travis Johnson, a teacher from Climax, Minnesota, will bring his dairy goats for kids to meet as well as the caramels he makes from their milk.A kiddie barrel train will wind around the farm.A kite runway will invite kids to try out flying a kite. If they like it and want to try again, parents receive kite-building instructions so they can try it at home. Lynn Park of Dilworth will guide kids through an art project.Lawn games and kiddie “grain” pools (which resemble sandboxes) will be available.
Registration is required to attend. Tickets start at $13.49. Reserve a spot at
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-chefs-table-a-day-on-the-farm-tickets-1998658590647
For 35 years, Tammy Swift has shared all stages of her life through a weekly personal column. Her first “real world” job involved founding and running the Bismarck Tribune’s Dickinson bureau from her apartment. She has worked at The Forum four different times, during which she’s produced everything from food stories and movie reviews to breaking news and business stories. Her work has won awards from the Minnesota and North Dakota Newspaper Associations, the Society for Professional Journalists and the Dakotas Associated Press Managing Editors News Contest. As a business reporter, she gravitates toward personality profiles, cottage industry stories, small-town business features or anything quirky. She can be reached at tswift@forumcomm.com.
Dining and Cooking