Your Arts Desire in Minnetonka or Look Local!

Don’t you enjoy doing business with local stores and vendors? It’s one of the main reasons we’re in the farmers market business (at least my wife is). I go out of my way to choose a local shop before descending on the Best Buy Company or Target Stores or Staples. I find I get better and more personal service and I generally become quite good friends with the owners.
by Charlie Leck

If I want to buy simple light bulbs or some kind of extension cord – a small lamp or lighting fixture –some outdoor lighting decorations – I don’t go running to a big electrical store or the Home Depots or Menards of the world. In this case I go to the wonderful little store in Hopkins called Electric Craftsman. The store is at 1424 Main Street in Hopkins. They’ve been giving us great service – repairing lamps, providing lamp shades and specialty light bulbs – for years.

I hope you’ll all think local before getting on line. It seems that Amazon owns tons of on-line shopping sites these days. They’ve become one of the biggest companies in the nation. Though it seems easy to shop that way, there are much more enjoyable experiences waiting for you in the small, privately owned shops in or near your own home town. And, you’ll be helping out local folks who are trying to run successful businesses. When you buy clothing, why go through Amazon or the big department store chains. There are several wonderful and local clothing retailers near my home and probably yours too.

On-line shopping puts zero into your local economy!
A hundred bucks spent in a locally owned and independent business puts about $68 into the local economy (in taxes, payroll and miscellaneous spending). Spend the same on-line and you put zero into your community.

Your Arts Desire
One of my favorite places to do my Christmas shopping is at a little art store and framing shop in Minnetonka, Your Arts Desire. It’s owned by Ken Herren and his wife, Melissa Williamson-Herren. I’ve been doing business with them for a terribly long time. How long? Oh, about 30 years or so. I keep going back because they’re so damned nice and because they always do this “satisfaction guaranteed” thing on their framing – or they’ll “redo” until you’re pleased. Amazingly, I’ve never once asked for anything to be redone. As I write this blog, I can let my eyes roam around my study and see dozens of pieces of art and photographs that they’ve framed so beautifully for me.

At Christmas time, Melissa wanders around the shop with me telling me about some of the wonderful, small pieces of art, art jewelry and useful pottery that they sell for local artists. The price is a bit more than I’d spend in a shop at the mall, but I know I’m supporting a local retail business and local artists when I buy from Milissa and Ken. And, the recipients of these gifts always seem pleased with what they receive.

Right now I’ve begun giving thought to restoring the patina on a bronze sculpture I have outside, along the driveway that approaches our house. It was done by the Minnesota sculptor, Paul Granlund. Anne gave it to me for my 40th birthday – a long, long time ago. It’s

called “Reflection” and I just adore her and often, in the autumn or winter, I’ll stop by to see her and talk to her a bit. Anyway, I gave Ken a call at Your Arts Desire yesterday and asked about restorers. He let me know that he’d be happy to help me find someone and promised to call around for me. I can depend on Ken and I’ll know he’ll get back to me. That comes from years of doing business with him.

On the web site of Your Arts Desire, I saw that they have a little blog, so I read through some of the postings. If you’re interested in getting to know them (Ken and Melissa), taking a look at their blog would be a good way to do it. You must scroll down a little ways on their page to find their most recent postings. From the top it looks as if they haven’t written anything in awhile. Not true. Melissa posts quite regularly and it’s interesting stuff. Nevertheless, I’m going to encourage Melissa to write more often, to reorganize that page, and to give some time to introducing us to some of the artists they represent.

Ken himself is quite an accomplished artist and it is my goal to own and hang something of his here in my home someday.

Well, it’s one small example of making sure you do business locally. Not only am I helping out a small, small business, but I’m making friends at the same time. One of these days I’ll even convince them to stop calling me “Mr. Leck.”

CSA, for instance!
We really recommend that you all think about becoming CSA members, wherever you live. That’s Community Supported Agriculture. I’ll bet there are plenty of them in your community, wherever you live, and you’ll discover wonderful features and benefits by doing business with them. We’re members of a couple of them and get fresh lettuces and a host of wonderful seasonal vegetables each and every week. Here’s a list of CSA vendors in Minnesota. You should be able to find a list for your part of the nation too.

The 3/50 Project
You should also take a look at the 3/50 Project that Ken and Melissa explain on their web site. The project, as I’ve linked to it here, leads you a free app, Look Local, that you can put on your smart phone. The app will help you find local places to shop near you. It’s an app that “helps you locate fabulous ‘mom and pop’ businesses you’ll love and won’t want to miss whether at home or on the road!” Doesn’t that sound great?

When you think of making a purchase, Look Local! You’ll be helping out a neighbor.

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My Gyro

It’s the weekend and I’ve got to prepare something for something, and I’ve been thinking about my gyros, and this and that!
by Charlie Leck

What can I tell you? I know my blog is not about cooking or food recipes, but, I’ve just got to…

(And this comment makes me wonder just what my blog is about – oh, well, one critic who likes it calls it “very eclectic”)… Really, I just write about whatever strikes my fancy on a given day.

Call this a blog about Community Supported Agriculture (read on)! Or, perhaps it’s a blog about Tzatziki Sauce and Gyros. Then again, maybe it’s a blog about the salad I’m preparing for tonight… or about the Minnesota Valley State Recreation Area… or about my indirect drive through the countryside to Belle Plaine and back. Take your choice!

We’re going to a pot luck dinner for a small group tonight at a friend’s house. It’ll be a nice evening. It always is at her house. She’s incredibly bright and she’s always prepared with good topics of conversation. Sometimes she’ll even play little mind games or word or thinking games.

“Charlie, you bring the salad, will you?” It seemed a fortuitous request at the time. Our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) delivery is always on Friday evenings and it includes big bags of nice, fresh mixed greens and spinach leaves. It’s hard not make a good salad when you start that way. But then, our CSA delivery didn’t get here last evening because the driver’s truck broke down.

Here’s how Local Harvest explains Community Supported Agriculture (CSA).

Here’s a list of CSA establishments in Minnesota presented by our state’s Department of Agriculture!

Here’s a better list of CSA farms in the area presented by the Land Stewardship Project.

“You could go down to the farm and pick up the order,” my wife suggested to me.

Saturday is a golf day and after that I want to get my car washed up for the weekend and I thought I’d sit around and finish The Art of Fielding (which will be another blog) so I can talk about it tonight… well, you know the deal on weekends, don’t you?

“Well,” I said to myself, “let’s make the best of this, Charlie. Get your camera all ready and pick an attractive route.”

I’ll need to make the pick-up down in Belle Plaine. It’s a nice little community right in the Minnesota River Valley. If I pick the best route down there it will be a pretty relaxing time and my dog can ride along to keep me company. It’s a little out of the way, but I can take Highway 25 just west of Watertown and go down as far as Young America. There I’ll pick up County Road 33 and drive through pretty farm country right down to the river. Then I’ll need to back-track east to Belle Plaine, but it’ll be along the Scenic Byway Road that goes north and east to the pick-up spot. I’ll be right at the southern tip of the Minnesota Valley State Recreation Area. I can pop in and find out what that’s all about.

Then, of course, I can hold this blog and post it only after I’ve reviewed the photographs from the trip and chosen a few to show you.

In the meantime, back to my gyros
My wife is off to the farmers market this morning, as she does virtually every Saturday morning (May through October). She likes to have little lamb recipes on the back of her business cards, so I got nice new ones all printed up for her yesterday and I came across this recipe for a Tzatziki Sauce that is so simply delicious and simple to prepare that I thought I ought to share it with you. Here’s how it’s all detailed on the business card.

Gyros: Grilled Leg of Lamb Gyros

Prepare a leg of lamb using the Sheepy Hollow leg of lamb recipe.
Thinly slice the lamb and place slices in the center of the pita bread.
Top with Tzatziki Sauce (below) and chopped tomatoes and serve.

Tzatziki Sauce

Mix Together…
medium cucumber, peeled and seeded and finely chopped
1 cup of plain yogurt
1 tsp of lemon juice
1 tsp oregano
½ Tspn olive oil
½ tsp salt
1 tsp minced garlic

As for my salad for tonight…
I’ll add some small cherry tomatoes to the mixed greens and spinach leaves and put in a few leaves from a Boston Lettuce. I’ll also add some very thinly sliced radishes, some chopped green onion and then sprinkle the top with some crumbled blue cheese and mixed sprouts. I’ll have a dressing on the side (a wonderful Tuscan Vinaigrette that I get at Whole Foods). I know, I know – I should make my own dressing, but I just can’t get close to this particular dressing that I like so much.

Enjoy the photos from my trip earlier today…

    My favorite little spot to have coffee in Watertown,
    just 6 miles or so west of home.

    Coming into the town of Young America on the edge of
    the metro area. From here on south its rural farmland.

    Fallen Soldiers
    This is a cemetery in Young America. I was passing quickly
    by and the sight of this stopped me. I paused and gave
    thoughts of thanks to the soldiers who died for their country.

    And we're talking some of the finest and most productive
    farmland in America here.

    The town of Assumption amounted to a church,
    a cemetery and a little curiosity shop.

    The Minnesota River isn't one of the prettiest rivers in

    the world, but it was very important in Minnesota's
    history both before the white man came and after
    white settlers started moving west of the Mississippi.

    Down in the Minnesota River Valley one can spot these
    very unusual buildings on the grounds where the popular
    Renaissance Festival is held each year. The festival is
    owned and operated by a good friend who sends tickets
    along to us each year.

By the way, if you’re not into Community Supported Agriculture, you ought to be. It’s really great and you can tailor your order to a single person or a large household. I’m nuts about it. Last year we gave a large subscription to a CSA to a refuge for abused women in St. Paul and it worked out great for them – a constant flow of whatever was fresh at the time. If you’ve got a few extra bucks think about doing something like that.

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Why not become a follower?
If you read my blog regularly, why not become a follower? All you have to do is click in the upper right hand corner and establish a simple means of communication. Then you'll be informed every time a new blog is posted here. If all that's confusing, here's Google's explanation of how to do it! If you don’t want to post comments on the blog, but would like to communicate with me about it, send me an email if you’d like.