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From http://www.atozproduceandbakery.com/
There’s a farm outside of Stockholm, Wisconsin — a jewel of a Mississippi River town just an hour or so from the Twin Cities — that does something I don’t think any other farm in America does.
Every Tuesday evening from March to around Thanksgiving, from 4:30 to 8:00, they turn their farm into a pizzeria, complete with brick oven.
Yes, I know, there are other farms that serve pizzas. But this is the only one I know of where virtually everything that goes on and in the pizzas, including the grain for the flour of the crust, comes from the farm where they’re baked. That includes the pork sausage and the beef, the peppers and the kale, the basil and the tomatoes, the onions and the cheese. The olives and mushrooms are about the only ingredients they can’t provide themselves. Yet.
You wanna talk locavore? I gotcher locavore right heeeere. And yes, it’s all organic, in case you had any doubt about that.
The place is called A to Z Produce and Bakery, and to judge from their website they have lots of other good things besides once-a-week pizza. I must go there someday. (Though I think I’ll take their advice and wait until after Labor Day, when the summer crowds drop off.)
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yum!
PW!
Unless there are caves on that farm, they are unlikely to be able to produce the mushrooms.
Hmmm…on edit it looks like they might be able to produce portabellos in the right conditions.
pw! yum yum and double yum!!!
PW!
The locavore and organic movements are pretty strong here in Missoula and a number of the store (including chains) stock Montana grown products and several restaurants use local ingredients as much as possible. Even the University of Montana is trying to source as much of their ingredients for the dining halls in state.
Obviously, they grow their mushrooms in the space between Scott Walker’s ears.
Wow. This place looks awesome.
Evenin’ PW, Firepups!!
Aha! I knew there must be a use for that space! I imagined them using it as a recording studio.
How was the move? I need to get up and see your folks soon. Maybe I can meet with you too then.
I can’t imagine the acoustics being very pleasing.
The move went great. We’re all settled in, kids just finished their first week of school. We like it a lot so far.
How’s the job?
Actually, a lot of mushroom production is done under artificial conditions, rather than in caves. We have a couple of outfits here that do that. Of course we also have scads of wild mushrooms available (morels, chantrelles, porcinis, matsutakes, and oysters).
MARGARET!
They could get morels and chanterelles in season, though the season for morels at least is quite short.
DRDICK!
How is the Great State of Montana? A bit less waterlogged, I hope?
If all goes well, they can expand into the vast, humid recesses of his mouth.
I just love the fact that almost everything for that ‘za comes, not from thousands of miles, but maybe a few hundred yards, away. At most.
Kinda like Robin Williams’ “New York Echo:”
“Hellooooo!”
“Shut the fuck up!”
Considerably less waterlogged as it has basically not rained for a month. We are now having fire season, which I had hopes we would miss this year. The fires are not too bad, but there are several nearby which means we are breathing smoke all the time. School starts back up on Monday, so I have to psych myself up to go back to work. Did get up to Glacier last week and had a close encounter with this fellow.
Is anyone else seeing IP address + email address at the bottom of every comment? I’ve sent a screengrab to the techs, but I’m wondering if it is a browser fart or a real tech problem?
Not me.
Ah, the job! It’s been an odd week. I got promoted, (twice really), and some very strange things have been aligning in that regard. Anybody interested in hearing the story?
Indeed! Indeed! Tell all.
I admit, I know very little mushroom lore, fungus being one of the five things I refuse to eat, (when I can avoid it).
After two-plus yhears of unemployment, you get a double promo right after the probation is up? You gloat, girl!
OK, must be a browser problem then. UGH. As you were…;-)
So sad, as they are among the finest eats on earth. But then again, it just means more for me. 8-)
Please! Details, Peg!
Yes! Let’s hear it!
Promoted?! Yes, yes! Tell it, girl!
Eeek! Thanks for the heads-up! I’m certainly not seeing that.
If I was a smart dating service, I’d buy ad time on politics web sites and specifically ask for rotation on evenings.
That said, my diving plan for the evening got canceled, the fellow I was headed under with seeming to have met a lot of burlesque performers recently and suddenly having had “something come up in down in Portland” at the last minute.
Pardon the non-sequitur stream of thought. With that out of the way, I remind everyone to cancel the outrage at the antics of the political class, and that we ask ourselves on an ongoing basis how we can live our lives in a way that saps the establishment. “Change from within” through participation in this political and economic system seems a dubious proposition indeed.
Pardon the second non-non-sequitur stream of thought. I’ll swim off now.
Dayum, Dr.Dick; you have a gift for encountering wildlife! And taking great pix.
Btw, are there still glaciers in Glacier Park? I hear there soon won’t be…very sad.
Uh-oh! Hope Mama wasn’t around!
I’ve figured out the cause. Don’t worry about it.
Still there (my parents-in-law were just there), but shrinking fast from what I hear. In the not-too-distant future, the park’s name will be nothing but fodder for endless children’s questions.
Okay here goes:
Some of you remember my talking about the arrogant young man, (let’s call him Smith), who quit and moved to another state rather than face the humiliation of me being hired for the position he wanted. He was operating the cutter at the time, while I was hired to oversee the end stages of production. More on that later.
The week started off on Monday as usual and I was given more responsibility, having come off probation and become a regular employee. So, go to Tuesday and another long time employee, (we’ll call him Sal), came in late and left barely an hour later, saying he had to go “do something”. He came back around one and quit his job. He had been offered another position and while it was much more lucrative, it was outside instead of in the temperature controlled environment he’d been working in for the past several years. Anyway, a couple of hours notice and he’s gone.
Myself and another employee, (who was hired to replace Smith and we’ll call Robert), had to work extremely hard to cover his workload while all the time we’re getting much busier. Then Thursday rolls around and it turns out that the other state didn’t work out for Smith and he wanted to move back. Sal having left, the boss offered Smith his old position operating the cutter and he’s accepted. Meanwhile, I get bumped up another notch and take on more responsibility including the incredibly complicated book maker.
So today, I find out we had a salesman make a stupid promise and I had to take a self taught crash course in the book maker. I was able to crank out enough copies to placate the customer until Monday and so was something of a hero. Meanwhile, Sal comes back and says that after working for one day, he wasn’t able to drag himself into work on time at his new job and though he’d been getting away with it where I work, they weren’t so tolerant and they fired him. He came back today to get his check and beg for his job back but that job’s been filled by Robert and Smith has his old job back. plus according to the company rules, he can’t be considered for re-hire since he didn’t give notice. Whoops.
So in the end, I wind up in charge of much more, get to be the hero and starting Monday, I get a lackey who we hired today. After working for three months, I’m now the senior most person in my department at a company with barely any turnover at all. Weird eh?
Oh yeah and I looked up the place with the tortie tj but I just can’t take on a kitten right now. I’ve been living at work this week. Kuroneko’s already furious!
There are indeed, though they are shrinking rapidly. Here is a picture of Grinnell Glacier from last year/
Wow. quite a story. But, you deserve it as long as you waited for this to come along (if that’s the right word), and as hard as you searched.
Somehow, I’m not surprised you were able to teach yourself the new task and wind up the hero. Congratulations!
Awwww. Well, understandable. Promotions often do that…make you work longer or harder, I mean.
Dare we ask how Neko shows her furiousness?
Weird, yet wonderful. You deserve the good fortune.
She sulks mostly, silly cat.
Poor Kuroneko. Under the sink? Well, she’ll get over it, eventually. With luck, you won’t be spending so much time at work forever.
It’s off to bed for me. Peace out, y’all!
Oh, niiiiice.
Oh, the next picture, labeled “Swiftcurrent” is gor-gee-ous. And the next two, as well! Beautiful. If I could travel, I’d like to see something like that sometime.
I can see why it’s worth living around there.
Wooo-hoo! Congratulations! Well earned, I am sure.
Night EDP.
Good for you! Congratulations. (And ear skritches to Kuroneko!)
‘Night!
Those pictures are from Many Glacier and the Swiftcurrent River on the east side of the park. A truly gorgeous area.
Night, EDP.
Ooooooo.
I should toddle off as well as I want to get to the farmers’ market early tomorrow so I can get the best choices (speaking of locavore). Take care all.
Me too. Good night everyone!
Good night all. Oya.
I’m sorry this post is torture!
Delicious, delicious torture.
I hate you.
Robbie and Ted do a hell of a job with their pizza and (from what I hear) their CSA produce. It’s pretty good pizza (sometimes great) but what’s really wonderful is the vibe and the community. People come from many miles away, and I’ve seen over 200 people sprawled out on the lawn. The wait time can be well over an hour, but you can poke around farm looking at the critters and the produce. You’d never find the place if you weren’t looking for it – a few miles inland from Stockholm and few turns off the county road just a little ways past St. Sophia’s Liberal Catholic Church (seriously – and nothing to do with the guy in the pointy hat).
In response to the mushroom comment, there are plenty in these hills. I’m especially looking forward to the Shaggy Manes, which ought to make an appearance as soon as we get some rain. If you happen to find some near home, pick, cook and eat them right away. They turn to black goo in a few hours, but before then they’re better than morels.