Southeast Minnesota Food Network
This wholesale network of food producers grew out of a project first funded in 2001by the Experiment in Rural Cooperation, a University of Minnesota partnership, and the Community Design Center, of St. Paul, Minn., "We provide restaurants, buying clubs, co-ops, grocers and institutions with one-stop ordering for top quality foods from nearly 40 regional producers, with products ranging from dairy and vegetables to meats and honey."

Food Co-ops, Health Food Stores, Organic Food Stores by State
For stores in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin and elsewhere:
Local Harvest Store Directory
Organic Consumers Association Directory

The Splendid Table
This Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) program seems to have a large following of talented chefs. See The Splendid Table web site. You can listen online, too. You'll find many references and links to high quality food ingredient sources there. Plus, the address of Heifer Project International, a non-profit that teaches sustainable farming to needy families in 110 countries worldwide.

The Slow Food Movement
Here is an international web site that offers the antithesis to fast food. Its Italian cuisine focuses on quality ingredients and the pleasures of cooking, eating, and sharing meals with friends. See Slow Food©. See the Slow Food article on the basin's "Decatur Magazine ," featuring the area around Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. Anyone can become a member of this organization that presents the Slow Food Award for the Defense of Biodiversity.

Pleasant Ridge Reserve Cheese
In August 2001, the Upland Cheese Company of Dodgeville, Wisconsin won the American Cheese Society's prestigious Best of Show award for its "Pleasant Ridge Reserve," among nearly 377 specialty cheese competitors.

United States Standards for Grades of Dandelion Greens
If you're not treating your dandelions with herbicide, you may want to consider them as a healthy food crop (great source of Vitamin A) for your table. The USDA even has a standard for grading them. The Food Network encyclopedia (4,000 terms) defines the French word, "dent de lion," or "the lion's tooth." Recipes, too.

Heartland Food Network