Growing & Tasting Storage Radishes
Mon, Aug 03
|Fondy Farm at Mequon Nature Preserve
Do you grow Daikon? Beauty Heart? Nero Tondo? Are you curious about growing a radish that can be picked in the fall and stored until early summer? Eaten raw or fermented to perfection? If so, please join us!
Time & Location
Aug 03, 2026, 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Fondy Farm at Mequon Nature Preserve, 9011 W Donges Bay Rd, Mequon, WI 53097, USA
About the event
Do you grow daikon, Beauty Heart, Nero Tondo, or other storage radishes? Are you curious about growing radishes that can be harvested in the fall, stored into early summer, and enjoyed raw or fermented? Join us for a hands-on afternoon in the field.
Christine Johnson of Michael Fields Agricultural Institute and Stephen Petro of Fondy Food Center will facilitate a lively conversation about our beautifully round and oblong friends in the brassica family. We will cover everything from seeds and weeds to harvesting, cleaning, storage, and sales.
Story-telling and personal experience will be encouraged! We will weed radishes in the field with different tools, plant radishes (because we believe in the future), and celebrate attendees’ perspectives on how to talk the roots home. We will also be having some delicious TASTE TESTS with raw and fermented radishes.
In the spirit of this HMoob proverb, we will share our experiences and ideas about growing storage radishes to extend sales and feed community members with locally-grown and culturally-relevant produce through Wisconsin winters. -Stephen Petro (Fondy Food Center)
Bring your own lunch and dress to be out-standing-in-a-field. Water and radish snacks will be provided.
HMoob interpretation will be provided by Zongcheng Moua or Mayhoua Moua.
Event Hosts
Stephen Petro works with farmers and food-system partners through Fondy Food Center. He brings practical growing knowledge, a love of good food, and plenty of enthusiasm for talking a-round farms, fields, and roots.
Christine Johnson is a first-generation farmer in northern Illinois, where she co-operates a 15-acre shared farm that uses Certified Naturally Grown practices to produce a wide range of vegetables, cut flowers, and grains. In her role as Farmer Education Coordinator at Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, Christine draws on her lived experience to help farmers find the information, resources, and relationships they need to build viable, sustainable, and joyful farm businesses.
Questions?
Contact Christine Johnson at cjohnson@michaelfields.org or (262) 642-3303, ext. 107.
About Michael Fields Agricultural Institute
Michael Fields Agricultural Institute is a nonprofit organization advancing agricultural systems that sustain the land, provide nutritious food, support thriving farm businesses, and strengthen communities. Through research, education, policy, and farmer support, MFAI works alongside farmers and food-system partners to build a more resilient and equitable future.
About Fondy Food Center
The Fondy Food Center cultivates wellness in the Lindsay Heights and Amani neighborhoods and the Greater Milwaukee Area by focusing on issues of healthy food access and economic opportunity. We operate local farmers markets throughout the year, provide access to land, resources and support to local farmers, and work with partners to build a better food system for our community. Learn more at www.fondymke.org
