Jim Riddle and Joyce Ford will lead us on a tour of Blue Fruit Farm. The field day will focus on their unusual fruits, including 5 varieties of black currants, 8 varieties of honeyberries, 5 types of plums, and numerous blueberry varieties. We’ll discuss the farm’s rainwater collection; solar-powered irrigation system; deer fencing; and bird netting. Jim Riddle, farm co-owner and chair of the Organic Farmers Association steering committee, will lead a conversation about national organic policy issues. Includes lunch from Blue Heron Coffeehouse. Register by emailing Rachel Henderson at henderson.r@gmail.com.

Demonstrations include cold hardy grapes for winemaking, designing containers, growing strawberries and raspberries in Minnesota, integrated pest management for homeowners, pollinator friendly gardening, quality tomatoes for the home garden, and trees and shrubs information.

Enjoy free food (while supplies last), music, and games during this special celebration for a unique community organization. As usual, visitors have the opportunity to engage local producers and gain a deeper understanding of the local food scene and choose from a wide variety of local farm products available for purchase.

Today, PZFMA represents an ideal seldom seen in practice—100% Local and 100% Farmer Run. The markets feature only local products sold directly by the producer. All vendors and their produce sold at market must originate from within 45 miles of the Greater Princeton-Zimmerman community. This is stipulated in the organization’s bylaws and enforced by an elected board of farmer-directors. Despite these restrictions, the variety found at PZFMA markets is stunning. It consists of: a wide variety of vegetables including rare Asian and European varieties, meats including beef, pork, chicken, turkey, and duck, fresh fruits including apples, blueberries, currants, raspberries, and strawberries, various syrups, baked goods, and canned goods, milk-based and plant-based soaps and lotions, apiary products, and annual and perennial
plants. Just as it was conceptualized in the mid-1980s, PZMFA showcases the agricultural diversity of the Princeton-Zimmerman area and continues to be an exemplar of rural American entrepreneurial spirit, bringing economic vibrancy to our Main Streets.

PZFMA is a farmer organized, non-profit corporation headquartered in Princeton, MN. It holds
farmers’ markets at Lions Park in Zimmerman on Tuesday evenings during the summer months and
Saturday mornings in downtown Princeton year around.

Plant Sale:
The plant sale, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Federation offices, 974 Seventh Street West. Plants include indoor and outdoor; vegetable and flowering; perennial and annual. Reductions at 2 p.m. Potted, labeled contributions welcomed.

Pollinator Puppet Show!
Join producer and presenter Dawn Pape at the C.S.P.S. Hall, 383 Michigan at noon or 2 p.m.
Meet Mason—a boy who is afraid of bees. Discover how Mason conquers his fear of bees and feels like a superhero on a mission to save bees after he meets a talking mason bee. Yes, a bee sharing his own name!

Growing Science at Keystone’s West 7th Community Center
Students from the University of St. Thomas research urban food production. Growing Science tests whether coffee chaff, a waste product, is effective mulch. A portion of proceeds funds reforestation in Ecuador’s Mindo Cloud Forest.

Green Space and an urban trail
Pleasant Place is an urban green space reclaimed by neighbors working with MN Nature. Artistic installations double as fitness stations. Signage illustrates a “Tree Map” for the Little Bohemia Trail. In addition to the Tree Trek, experience several pollinator perennial gardens and Pollinator Hill; a newly planted fruit tree orchard; and a wall of hops.

Guidebook, part one: eleven yards and gardens!
The gardens include English, backyard forest, memorial, straw bale, whimsical and pollinator. Locations are grouped for a leisurely walk guided by the centerfold map. As you walk from garden to garden, note the modest housing of the neighborhood including small frame, brick and limestone worker cottages, and larger three-story homes.

Guidebook: part two, history of Little Bohemia
The second half of our tour book features the history of neighborhood establishments and profiles of immigrant neighbors.

Reservations required.

Must be 21+

Join Redhead Creamery for their 3rd annual open house, featuring live music by the The New Riverside Ramblers. Food and beverages – including pan fried cheese curds – will also be served. On-site only flavored cheese curds will be sold throughout the open house.