The incredible, edible garden

The Edible Garden at St. Paul's Como Park Zoo and Conservatory is open for the season, with an array of vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers. All plants are grown from seed and every plant in the garden has at least one edible part. For visitors of all ages, it's designed to teach about planting and preparing foods that can be grown at home. Unusual plants this year include Jerusalem artichoke, tigger melon, vegetable spaghetti squash, polar bear pumpkins and a wide variety of peppers. At noon and 3 p.m. on Mondays through Fridays, the Conservatory gardening staff will give gardener talks about growing techniques, ways to harvest and prepare food from your garden, natural pest control and creative edible landscape design. For more info, visit www.comozooconservatory.org.

Connect the dots

Here's a family tree with some strong local roots. Longtime Walker Art Center director Martin Friedman, who moved to New York City after his 1990 retirement from the Minneapolis museum, lives near the respected Gotham Bar and Grill in Greenwich Village. Through him, the restaurant connected with his daughter Ceil Friedman-Cordioli, who lives in Italy and makes lauded small-batch hand-pressed olive oil under the Cordioli name. Her exclusive reserve for Gotham, bottled in 2014 and sold online, honors her mother, the late Mildred "Mickey" Friedman, an innovative Walker design curator. About 25 percent of sale profits from the oil go to a graphic design fellowship at the Walker established by Mickey Friedman. To order, visit shop.gothambarandgrill.com.

Tap into the fresh

From a tablet or mobile phone, you now can click to find a map of farmers markets and community food gardens in Hennepin County and home in on the closest by entering a home ZIP code or current street address. Then you can click on individual locations for an address, days and hours of operation, contact information and a website link, when possible. Users of desktop and laptop computers still can access the same information in larger format on the full map. To access, type ­hennepin.us/farmersmarketmap into your phone and go.

Taste staffers lauded

The work of two Star Tribune staffers earned honors in the MFK Fisher writing contest sponsored by Les Dames d'Escoffier International, which represents women in the culinary industry. In the print category, Taste editor Lee Svitak Dean won third place for "The Long Winter," her story on the food angles within the classic book by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and staff writer Kim Ode won second place for her story "The King of Brats," about a Hugo butcher whose bratwurst flavorings include Gummi Bears.

STAFF REPORTS