Lakes Area Sustainability Fest showcases local businesses and organizations - Brainerd Dispatch | News, weather, sports from Brainerd and Baxter

Feb 26, 2025

BAXTER — Northland Arboretum hosted the first ever Lakes Area Sustainability Fest Wednesday, June 26, with the help of Clean Energy Resource Teams.

Maren Butenhoff, who organized Sustainability Fest, said it was difficult to find vendors and exhibitors for the festival, but the University of Minnesota Extension’s connections to nonprofits and other organizations helped bring everything together. Butenhoff is an AmeriCorps member who works through Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships, which is a branch of the University of Minnesota Extension, and is about to complete her term with AmeriCorps.

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“There hasn’t been kind of like a community-centered, outdoor, fun, sustainability-based event before in central Minnesota,” Butenhoff said. “I wanted to bring the lakes area community together in an event to incorporate local businesses and organizations.”

Butenhoff said the four focuses of the event were clean energy, natural resources, agriculture and food systems, and resilient communities. A mix of vendors, nonprofits and government organizations tabled at the festival to promote themselves and these ideas.

Dave Endicott, Paul Sobocinski and Tom Nuessmeier represented the Minnesota Farmers Union at their table and explained the Union’s efforts to solve the meat processing bottleneck plaguing Minnesota. Sobocinski said he and his colleagues distributed a report called “Solving the Meat Processing Workforce Bottleneck” in 2021, when the bottleneck became apparent as COVID-19 hit.

The report addresses some factors of the bottleneck: COVID, but also a lack of skilled workers and issues with the succession of ownership of meat processing facilities. It goes on to describe recommendations based on data Sobocinski and his colleagues collected from interviews, including an apprenticeship program that can involve learning on the job.

Rachel Ingberg brought a variety of colorful mushrooms — whole, dried and powdered — to represent her business, Strictly Mushrooms LLC. Cultivating mushrooms year-round in a 9,000-square-foot warehouse, Ingberg said Strictly Mushrooms recycles or reuses as many of its materials as they can.

“These will have like a fish flavor,” Ingberg said, pointing out the yellow oyster mushrooms she had for sale. “The pinks, if you sauté them until they’re almost burnt on the edges, you’ll literally get, like, a hint of bacon. Lion’s Mane is a seafood substitute; chestnuts have a mild nuttiness to them and a crunchy stem.”

Ingberg said she was surprised about the many health benefits of mushrooms she had learned about since starting the business with her partner, Rob Prekker. Incorporating as few as two medium mushrooms a day into your diet can decrease your risk of cancer by 45%, according to an article posted by the Mayo Clinic.

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Katie Brine, president of Brine’s Fine Honeys, also found herself educating customers about her wares. Brine’s specializes in varietal honeys, which take on different colors and flavors depending on the nectar of the plants bees pollinate.

“About one in every three mouthfuls of food we eat is there because we’ve got pollinators like honeybees,” Brine said. “I’m also here to introduce people to the concept that there are varietal honeys, a lot of people aren’t aware that all honey doesn’t taste the same.”

Brine’s offered a variety of honeys, which varied visibly in color. Although some, like the mid-toned orange blossom honey, tasted distinctly like the plants they were made from, others, like the lighter Minnesota wildflower honey, had tastes all their own.

The Sustainability Fest also hosted representatives from Clean Energy Resource Teams, Habitat for Humanity, Lakes Area Music Festival and Waste Partners.

Caroline Julstrom, intern, may be reached at 218-855-5851 or [email protected].

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