News & Articles

Annie Dugan of the Food Farm happily dispenses rutabagas at the Denfeld Whole Foods Co-op. Photo by Jim Lundstrom.

Back in the last century I lived for a time in Lincolnshire, the heart of England’s farm country, where I was introduced to a root vegetable called Swede.

While I’d never heard it called by that name, I was very familiar with the nutrient-dense, low-carb, high-fiber root vegetable because my Finnish grandmother always mashed them with potatoes at family gatherings and included them in her delicious pie-sized pasties, but I knew them as rutabagas.

I asked my English mates why they called rutabagas Swedes (boy, did the rutabaga name ever get a laugh) and was told they were originally brought over from Sweden, although Geoffrey, the village joker, said it was because all Swedes have weird shaped heads, just like the bulbous root vegetable.

Of course the Scottish have to go their own way, They call the vegetable neeps, probably a typically Scottish take on the vegetable’s taxonomical Latin name, Brassica napus.

I was reminded of all things rutabaga on Feb. 25 at the Denfeld Whole Foods Co-op when the Food Farm family spent the late afternoon giving away rutabagas grown last year on their Wrenshall farm.

“We’re doing propaganda,” joked Janaki Fisher-Merritt of Food Farm, smiling as a boy walked away clutching a rutabaga like a prized souvenir. “People don’t know what to do with them. But they’re delicious. Totally underappreciated.”

Fisher-Merritt and his wife, Anne Dugan, purchased Food Farm from his parents in 2010, but the roots of the operation run much deeper. His parents – John and Jane Fisher-Merritt – moved from Oregon to the Duluth area in 1975. A year later, John began working at the original Whole Foods Co-op on East Eighth Street. The farm has supplied produce to the co-op since 1976 — before it even had a full produce department.

“I was born in ’77,” Fisher-Merritt said, “so I’ve literally grown up with that relationship.”

Today, Food Farm cultivates about 19 acres of vegetables and employs eight or nine workers throughout the year, including several full-time staff. While summer brings an abundance of fresh produce, it’s winter that sets the farm apart.

In 1994, Food Farm launched the area’s first CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program, offering weekly food boxes to subscribers. In 2001, the farm built a root cellar to store crops through the long Northland winter — an investment that allowed Fisher-Merritt to return to the farm full time. The storage facilities have since been expanded twice, most recently this past summer.

“We don’t do winter growing,” he said. “Stuff doesn’t really grow in the winter. There’s just not enough sunlight unless you’re pouring in energy. Instead, we grow a lot in the summer and store it really efficiently.”

Inside the farm’s root cellars are carrots, potatoes, cabbage, onions, garlic, parsnips, beets, winter squash — and, of course, rutabagas. The system allows the farm to deliver produce from June through April, with May reserved for planting.

Rutabagas come last in the harvest, pulled from cold, muddy fields in miserable late-fall weather. They’re tough — able to withstand freezing temperatures that would damage more delicate crops like beets — but getting them out of the ground can make a farmer question his choices.

“It’s snowing and raining and miserable, like you picture the siege of Leningrad, people out searching in no man’s land in the middle of the night for that last turnip,” Fisher-Merritt said.

That hardiness is part of what makes rutabagas a natural fit for northern Minnesota. Still, many are unfamiliar with them. What in the world do you do with these things?

Fisher-Merritt likes them raw, but also enjoys peeling the skins into ribbons and sauteing them in butter with salt and pepper, which is something you can do without concern of waxy peelings. Unlike most grocery store rutabagas, Food Farm rutabagas are unwaxed.

“Some customers are so excited they can get them that aren’t waxed,” Fisher-Merritt said. “It’s weird to have vegetables covered in wax.”

The annual rutabaga giveaway began around 2018 as a lighthearted way to encourage CSA signups during the slower winter months. The CSA model, Fisher-Merritt said, reduces financial risk and allows farmers to focus on growing during the region’s short, intense summer.

“Summer’s so short here. We’ve got to have all our attention on growing stuff,” he said. “CSA frees us up to just do the farm work when we really need to.”

That stability was hard-won. For decades, his parents farmed largely as a labor of love. The rise of the CSA program and the expansion of the co-op helped push the operation toward profitability.

Fisher-Merritt, who returned to the farm full time in 1999 after college, describes himself as “obsessed” — in a good way.

“My teenage rebellion was thinking I could do everything better than my parents,” he said. “Then I got out of college and realized I was in charge of half the farm.”

He stayed.

Farming, he said, offers a balance between planning and physical work — a way to quiet anxiety by stepping outside and getting something done.

“Seeing something actually physically manifest itself in the world,” he said. “It’s a good combo.”
And if that manifestation happens to be a lumpy root vegetable with a public relations problem?
All the better.

“Just take it,” he tells a hesitant passersby at the giveaway table. “We always have extras.”
Interested in knowing more about Food Farm and their CSA program, https://foodfarmcsa.com.

RUTABAGA RECIPES
(handed out at the Whole Food Co-op Rutabaga Giveaway)

“Cheesy” Vegan Rutabaga Casserole

Prep Time: 30 minutes                   
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Serves: 4
Ingredients
3 rutabagas/approximately 1 1/2 lbs
1 lb sweet potatoes
1 large sweet onion
2 Tbsp water
1 bunch of kale
1 C vegetable broth
1 C raw cashews1 C roasted red peppers (approx 2 whole – jarred/canned work)
1/2 C nutritional yeast
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
olive oil cooking spray
parsley for garnish
Directions
1. The night before you plan on making this recipe, soak your cashews in water so they are completely submerged. Overnight they will become soft and plump.
2. Coarsely cut kale and sauté in a skillet over medium heat by adding 1 C of vegetable broth to the pan instead of oil. Cook until the vegetable broth has evaporated and the kale is wilted, then set aside.
3. Dice onions and sauté in a pan with 2 Tbsp of water until onions begin to soften and the water is evaporated, then remove from heat.
4. Drain the water from the cashews. Using a hand mixer, puree the cashews, red pepper, and the nutritional yeast together.
5. Mix thyme, garlic, salt and pepper (by hand) into your dairy-free cheese sauce.
6. Thinly slice rutabagas and sweet potatoes into 1/8 inch coins. You can do this using a knife or a mandolin slicer.
7. Lightly spray a 2.5 quart casserole dish with olive oil cooking spray.
8. Imagine dividing your dairy-free sauce into thirds. Place the first third onto the bottom of your casserole dish. Then build layers as follows: rutabagas, onions, sweet potatoes, kale. Add a second layer of cheese sauce, then again – rutabaga, onion, sweet potato, and the remainder of the cheese sauce.

9. Bake the casserole in a 350º F oven for 40-45 minutes, or until the casserole is fork-tender.
10. Allow the casserole to rest for 10 minutes before serving, then sprinkle with minced parsley.
From https://simpleseasonal.com.

Creamy Roasted Rutabaga and Parsnip Soup
Roasting these roots brings out their sweet flavors, complemented by savory garlic and rosemary.
Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds rutabagas
1 pound parsnips
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled
2 stems fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
1 1/2 cups half and half
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
Preheat the oven to 400 F. Peel the rutabagas and parsnips and cut into ½- to ¾-inch pieces. Place in a large roasting pan with the onion, garlic cloves, rosemary, salt and pepper, and drizzle with olive oil.
Cover tightly with foil and roast for 20 minutes, then shake the pan and roast an additional 20 minutes.
The vegetables should be very tender when pierced with a paring knife. Take out 1 cup of the vegetables and reserve. Let cool. Remove the fresh rosemary stems.
Transfer the remaining vegetables to a blender (or use an immersion blender) and add the stock and half and half. Secure the lid and puree. When smooth, transfer to a soup pot, add the reserved, non-pureed vegetables, and reheat over low heat and stir in parsley.
Serve warm with crusty bread.
From https://www.grocery.coop

Cornish Finish Michigan Pasties
4 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup shortening
1 ¼ cups ice water
1 teaspoon salt
5 ½ cups thinly sliced potatoes
2 carrots, shredded
1 onions
½ cup diced rutabaga

1 ½ pounds lean ground beef
½ pound lean ground pork
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 ½ teaspoons monosodium glutamate (MSG)
1 cube beef bouillon
½ cup hot water
Whisk together flour and salt in a large bowl. Cut shortening. Make a well in the center of the mixture, and quickly stir in ice cold water. Form dough into a ball. Set aside.
Dissolve the bouillon cube in the hot water. Combine uncooked vegetables, uncooked meats, salt, pepper, monosodium glutamate and bouillon.
Roll out pastry dough into 6 x 8 inch rectangles. Place about 1 1/2 cups of filling in the center of each rectangle. Bring 6 inch sides together, and seal. Cut a slit in the top of each pasty. Place on dull, not black, baking pans.
Bake at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) for 45 minutes.
From allrecipes.com