Introduce yourself! Who are you and where are you located?

My name is Lindsay "Lou" Wirtanen. I joined the Greener Pastures Team in September 2022 as the Farm-to-Table Program Manager.

After spending years of traveling and exploring communities across the world, I eventually settled in Minneapolis to be near my family. After graduating from the University of Minnesota, I held careers in teaching, project management and hospitality. In 2021 I became internationally certified in Permaculture Design. Outside of my work at Greener Pastures, I enjoy making pottery, am teaching myself to paint, practice photography and I grow a regenerative food forest at my home in south Minneapolis.

Why did you choose to work at GP?

I think regenerative farming is one of the most radical things a person can do. It pushes back on our industrial agricultural systems, which are extractive and exploitative in nature. Regenerative farming works in cooperation. For example, a berry hedge serves as food, fence, wildlife and domestic animal forage, as well as pollen for bees to make honey. This stewardship of the land is truly a labor of love that involves a lot of time and dedication. I feel passionately about supporting anyone bold enough to do this type of work. I am excited to further connect to this community of like-minded people.

What’s one thing about Greener Pastures’ mission you want people to know?

I appreciate that Greener Pastures takes  a “start where you’re at attitude”, focused on what’s possible in our food system and our communities, rather than using scare tactics or shame. I feel that Greener Pastures is solution-focused. I feel connected to community, to educational resources and I feel empowered  to take action! No matter where you’re at, you can start today, exactly as you are, making small choices as you’re able and expanding when possible. 

What is one memory that makes you think of food?

As a child, I would watch old cooking shows on PBS, such as Julia Child. I would watch them intensely, feverishly writing down all of the ingredients as fast as my little hands could, begging my mom to cook the fragmented recipe. And you know what? She would try! Growing up in rural Alaska, we didn’t always have access to all of the ingredients, but she would do her best to try to make it work! I loved cooking with her. It lit a flame inside of me.

That’s beautiful! Tell me more about your upbringing.

I spent most of my childhood in nature. Our home was surrounded by woods that I would play in, picking wild berries, making mud pies and gardening with my mother. It was not uncommon for moose to show up in the yard or see herds of caribou on my way to school, it was just part of the way of life in Alaska. Animals were to be respected. On top of that, my father took us fishing and shrimping nearly every weekend. I was constantly either on the river or out on the ocean. These practices taught me from an early age a reverence for the amount of labor that goes into our food and the importance of using every part of an animal.

What is a food fact that drives you to make changes in our food system?

Amongst the many, many other things it does, industrial agriculture is degrading our topsoil. This exploitative practice means that agricultural land is less nutrient dense, which also means the food we’re eating is getting less and less nutritious. Exhausted soil is incapable of supporting life, be it plant, animal or human. And without the help of plants anchoring the soil in place, the soil erodes, causing several other problems. Some experts predict that if we continue soil depletion at this rate, we may only have 60 years of crops left on earth. While that prediction may seem extreme, it feels like a gut check of where things are at systemically. It motivates me to keep supporting this work and to connect with people shifting the landscape back to more sustainable practices.

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