12/9/2008 9:40:02 AM

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By Dawn Shuett
Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN 

CANNON FALLS -- John Peterson's decision to join the family business, a turkey farm started by his grandfather in 1939, led him to start a food market selling locally grown meat, produce and dairy products.

Ferndale Market opened its doors Oct. 15 in a former turkey hatchery on the Peterson farm near Cannon Falls. The business name honors the legacy of Peterson's grandparents, Dale Peterson who established the farm, and his wife, Fern, an environmentalist who pushed to bring recycling to the area.

	In the Market Ferndale Market, 31659 County 24 Blvd., Cannon Falls. (507) 263-4556. Open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Closed on Mondays.

The market is modest in size with coolers lining the walls of one large room and a few shelves of non-perishable items. Near the front entrance, there's a demonstration kitchen for cooking classes.

Of course, the market is stocked with free-range turkeys raised on the farm that is today managed by John Peterson's father, Dick Peterson. It also sells grass-fed beef and lamb, pastured chickens and buffalo meat from local producers; milk that's been bottled in Hastings and comes from dairy farmers within a 50-mile radius of Cannon Falls; and a selection of cheeses made in Minnesota and western Wisconsin among other specialty items.

The market, Peterson said, has the ability to reconnect people with local foods and encourage sustainable living.

"We're just trying to pull it all together under one roof," he said.

It's a shopping experience similar to a European-style market where people can buy fresh food they plan to prepare the same day.

"I think we're doing something completely different" than a conventional supermarket, Peterson said. The broader mission of Ferndale Market is to "foster intentional living and thus, intentional eating," he said.

Choosing locally grown foods has economic and environmental benefits, Peterson said. Consumers know where their food comes from and ideally, they know the people who grow it. It supports family farms and the local economy. And it reduces the carbon footprint by limiting the distance food has to be transported to consumers.

Ferndale Market gives Peterson the chance to promote his values concerning locally grown food while taking the family business in a new direction.

"At some point, we had to stand on what we believe in," said Peterson, a 1999 graduate of Cannon Falls High School. He and his wife, Erica, relocated to Cannon Falls last summer from Sioux Falls, S.D., where John worked as an admissions counselor at his alma mater, Augustana College.

His new job in overseeing the market isn't all that different than his old job at the college, Peterson said. He's still selling and promoting something that's important to him.

Dawn Shuett is a Farmington freelance writer.

 

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