I think we've turned the corner here in western North Dakota!

Ilene and I attended the annual Downtown Festival in Minot Saturday (Sept. 6) and we had an awesome day with our North Star Farms booth, which was part of the North Prairie Farmers' Market.

It was great financially, it was great for new contacts, it was great for answering questions a curious public has and it was great because we are now beginning to get larger order inquiries for produce.

As we finish our second full season of being certified organic, we are now finding that people are responding to our organic production. Oh! We knew it all along because since we started we've had a few regular customers who sought out the organic vegetables.

But the festival in Minot showed us, hands down, that organic and locally grown is what people want. That was unmistakable yesterday as Ilene and I were busy throughout the day, selling out of several items. And what I find intriguing about this phenomenon is that it's the younger generation and the elderly that appear to be the most savvy.

In fact, as we were breaking down our booth in a steady drizzle at the end of the festival, people were still coming up to us to make purchases and tell us how much they appreciate seeing locally grown, certified organic produce being marketed in Minot.

In March 2006, when we decided to take the plunge into certified organic, I remember the pundits telling me, "that's a lot of paperwork," and "it's too expensive." Initially, it was a lot of paperwork, but now it's a routine. And like Ilene tells people, it's just good business anyway to keep detailed records.

But, we completed all the paperwork and paid the fees in 2006 to get our property inspected because I knew we were going to see the day we had yesterday, but I honestly thought it would be another year or two before the residents of western North Dakota would respond in this way.

Regardless, we've had two seasons under our belt and we are ready for the sales and to educate our customers on the benefits of organic produce. Now, we need to start thinking about the 2009 growing season and what is going to be important to our customers.

In a month our market season will be over, but before that happens, we have at least two more regular markets and the Souris Valley Grape and Garlic Festival in Minot Sept. 20. And judging from the Downtown Festival, Sept. 20 should be another great day of making contacts, educating the public about the benefits of organic and earning a bit of income for our labor to grow and harvest the best quality produce in western North Dakota.