ABOVE: Blue Dirt Farm Owner Scott Haase, left, and Cup N’ Saucer and The Cup food truck Chef and Owner Seth Lintelman stand underneath his board of local vendors he uses while they hold the pork for the carnitas smash tacos. Lintelman said using local ingredients and food sources has been central to him since opening his restaurant in 2013.

FAIRMONT – For the first time in the program’s four-year history, Martin County will be featured in the Region Nine Development Commission’s (RNDC) Local Foods Month initiative.

The initiative is designed to showcase ingredients and food sources popular or important in a given area. For Martin County, the dish is a Pork Carnitas Smash Taco, capitalizing on the county’s status as Minnesota’s largest pork producer. The dish is a collaboration between the Cup N’ Saucer of Sherburn and Blue Dirt Farm of Blue Earth.

RNDC Environment and Sustainability Planner Sabri Fair said participation in the program mostly depends on collaboration.

“First, the number of farmers that are interested,” he said. “Then, which restaurants are we interested in partnering with a local farmer?”

Before this year, the program had run for a week instead of a month. By extending it moving forward, Fair said they wanted more time to fully embrace the collaborative spirit.

“We wanted more time to celebrate those partnerships and build deeper relationships between the farmers and the restaurants,” he said.

Fair said he gauged Cup N’ Saucer and The Cup Truck Chef and Owner Seth Lintelman’s interest in the program around a year ago. He later looped back around and confirmed Lintelman’s interest. From there, Region Nine set out to find a farm to work with.

“We reach out to local farmers in January or February and say, ‘Hey, we’re gearing up for local foods month again, would you be interested in having a partnership with a restaurant this summer?'” Fair said. “We take that list of the farms interested, what products they have or will have, and we go out and call restaurants. Start filling up our roster that way.”

Lintelman and Blue Dirt Farm Owner Scott Haase first collaborated on an event in Mankato last fall. Haase said getting involved was pretty natural due to being in the area for around 15 years at this point, while Lintelman said it had been on his radar for a while.

“I’ve seen posts from people about the local foods week and things like that over the years and never really thought about it,” Lintelman said. “Then they contacted me this year and asked me if I’d be interested in doing something with that. Since they started doing it for the whole month.”

The taco itself will consist of pork with seasonings like orange zest, coriander and thyme in a carnitas-style blend and slow-cooking style. The meat will be placed on the flat top, and a tortilla will be smashed on top of it. It will be topped with pico de gallo, avocado, and cilantro.

Overall, Lintelman said it has been super easy for the two of them to work together.

“I know Scott has good product,” he said. “I get a hold of him, and I say, ‘This is what I want.’ We get together, and then I make what I want with it. It’s a really easy process because I know the quality of product Scott has.”

Looking at the full slate of events for August, Haase said he hopes celebrating local Martin County pork invigorates future food journeys.

“[I hope] they get curious and start to look more deeply as to what makes something taste better,” he said. “I want people to eat better food all around, not just from my farm. Pay more attention to what they eat. Happier, healthier population.”

From the chef side, Lintelman said he is excited to highlight small-scale pork operations like Haase’s to promote Martin County’s pork options.

“I hope people take away the fact there’s a pork producer that does the good quality of meat Scott does,” he said. “That they find him, track him down, buy pork from him, and he gets more business out of it because of that.”

The Cup Truck will be serving the pork carnitas smash taco at the Martin County Library’s Summer Shindig from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Aug. 6, LakeFest from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Aug. 10, Taylor Prime Labels in North Mankato from 11 a.m. to 1:3- p.m. on Aug. 14 and at Arnold’s Park Farmer’s Market from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Aug. 23.

Any additional dates added later will be posted on The Cup Truck Facebook page at facebook.com/cuptruck/. More information can be found on Blue Dirt Farm at bluedirtfarm.com/