Grist for the Mill: Issue 26 Spring

Right now, Idaho’s evolving local food scene has more dynamism, flux and fragility than I’ve ever seen. Much of it has to do with our state’s rapid growth, which has lifted the restaurant scene while also burying prime farmland under concrete.

In Boise alone we’ve seen the metamorphosis of State & Lemp, the opening of Diablo & Sons, Petite 4, Madre, The Wylder and many more notable restaurants. At the same time farmers like Clay and Josie Erskine of Peaceful Belly Farm have fled the sprawl that threatened their Dry Creek Valley farm for more ag-friendly Canyon County. On top of that, the Boise Farmers Market is moving to a new location this season. It will set up shop farther from the downtown core, but promises a more stable longtime future—and, hopefully, a year-round market.

In the Wood River Valley, the Ketchum Farmers Market is also looking for a new home farther from its prized spot in the Town Square. Some market fans suspect that some influential downtown business owners consider the market unwanted competition rather than a community asset. Yet I’ve also heard exciting things about new restaurants like The Covey in Ketchum and that Kraay’s Market & Garden near Bellevue is expanding its role as a local food distribution hub.

In southeastern Idaho, food scholar Susan Swetnam tells me that the restaurant scene is still sleepy there, but that the Pocatello Farmers Market is wide awake and growing. “We now have long lines for an organic grower whose selection of specialty produce rivals almost any stall I've ever seen,” Swetnam says, “along with a guy who bakes bread in a basement brick oven, organic meat [and] local cheese.”

In North Idaho, writer Carrie Scozzaro says “Wallace is doing a good job promoting itself as a destination, including dining, but has almost no farming connection to speak of. Sandpoint, on the other hand, has a strong farmers market and food system, but has lost quite a few retail stalwarts . . .” (Carrie writes about the North Idaho food scene).

Farmer and Edible Idaho contributor Casey O’Leary takes her own measure of the Idaho food scene in this issue and although she finds plenty that could be improved, she reminds us of real progress: “Our state now houses almost 50 farmers markets, dozens of CSAs and an increasing number of restaurant and institutional buyers looking to source local food.”

All of this reminds me of spring weather: glorious sunny patches mixed with storm clouds and plenty of unpredictability. Edible Idaho’s spring issue reflects that while always leaning—because we can’t help it—toward hope.

So, have a read—and also remember that we consumers are the single most important component of a bright food system. Support your local farms and restaurants. Educate yourself on the issues. Get involved in food politics and land use policies. And don’t get discouraged. That’s the best way to insure a sunny future for Idaho food and farming.

Guy Hand | Managing Editor | @guyclarkhand