By William Peterson

NOTE: The second annual Dine Fresh Dine Local event will be held in the Twin Cities on Tuesday, Oct. 11. Some 15 restaurants will be featuring locally produced food during the day-long culinary affair. Featured here are Birchwood Café, which is participating in Dine Fresh Dine Local, and Riverbend Farm, one of the local suppliers of the restaurant.

Tracy Singleton and Greg Reynolds in front of the Birchwood. "I have a relationship with these [farmers]," says Singleton. "I wouldn't want to do it if I couldn't do it that way." (Photo by William Peterson)

So what do you do with 50 pounds of organic rhubarb? Well, if you ask Tracy Singleton she’ll tell you: Pies, tarts, jams, even chutney. Yes, rhubarb chutney.

That kind of creative menu manipulation has served Tracy Singleton well as she balances running a profitable restaurant with supporting local farmers. She is the proprietor of the Birchwood Café (www.birchwoodcafe.com), which is nestled in-between the bungalows of South Minneapolis’ Longfellow Neighborhood.

One of the farmers who helps Singleton put her support for local foods where her customers’ mouths are is Greg Reynolds, a certified organic farmer from Delano, just west of the Twin Cities. Reynold’s Riverbend Farm has been certified organic since 1994. He and his wife Mary cultivate 30 acres in a four- year rotation and provides produce to around 20 other area restaurants and co-ops. Reynolds is one of a handful of local food producers that Tracy works with on a weekly basis.

The Birchwood Café has been in the Longfellow area in one form or another since 1926. A cafeteria-style food ordering system is a nod to the café’s original incarnation as a dairy. Tracy entered the café’s history about 10 years ago; four years later she and Reynolds teamed up to bring local cuisine to a whole new level.

They both concede there are some issues with local “slow food,” or food that runs counter to the importing of industrialized, commodified grub lacking in taste and freshness. Singleton says that Minnesota’s weather can “keep them on their toes” and make it difficult to procure locally produced food at certain times of the year. Reynolds agrees that Minnesota’s short growing season poses some problems, as does the day-to-day moodiness of Mother Nature. A freak hailstorm, for instance, can devastate a crop of greens, leaving salad lovers out of luck for weeks. Fortunately, the ever-rotating menu setup at the Birchwood is ideal for dealing with such catastrophes.

Singleton tries not to be to preachy about organic and local produce. She says there’s a fine line between marketing and informing. She feels her neighbors and customers would rather eat good food than hear about it.

But the restaurateur knows consumer education is part of the process of creating a local food community, and so Singleton publishes a newsletter to inform her curious Birchwood community. The popular newsletter covers everything from kohlrabi to the “Coffee Club.”

Both Greg and Tracy cite their individuality as a core value of their operations. But the value of networking is not lost on them.

“A distribution system would save me about two entire days per week,” says Reynolds, who makes his own vegetable deliveries. “The trouble is that it would also cost some of my individuality and my products would edge towards becoming commodities. At that point, the race to the bottom begins.”

Tracy works with Greg and her other producers over the winter to determine what crops her restaurant will need for the next growing season.

“It’s mutually beneficial because then they know they have a market for their product,” she says.

And when the shipments arrive she often consults the same growers for recipe ideas. That gives these local farmers an edge multinational food suppliers such as Sysco lack. It’s this communication and personal interaction that Singleton feels makes local producers so special. It gives her a piece of mind that she can pass on whole-heartedly to her customers.

“I have a relationship with these [farmers],” says Singleton. “I wouldn’t want to do it if I couldn’t do it that way.”

William Peterson is a Land Stewardship Project communications intern. You can sign up for Tracy Singleton’s newsletter and check out the weekly updated menu for the Birchwood Café at www.birchwoodcafe.com. Riverbend’s produce can be found in the Twin Cities at various natural food stores, including The Wedge, Lakewinds, Seward, Mississippi Market, Eastside Coop, and Linden Hills.

To listen to an MP3 file featuring William Peterson’s interview with Tracy Singleton, click here.

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