Fall 2021

ON THE COVER: Based on the number of times she's graced our cover, you can probably tell by now we love the artwork of Wisconsin nature artist Katie Musolff. This time she's sharing with us the beauty of the pumpkin, one of the sure signs of fall.

It’s been over eight years since we’ve introduced Edible Door to its readers in Northeastern Wisconsin. The subsequent years have been a blast, with more than 30 issues that we hope have brought some enjoyment and hopefully educated you on the ever-changing food movement.

I was one of those students. I didn’t know a whole lot about the farm-to-table movement, so I counted on an assortment of writers who kept feeding us story ideas and they proved to be great stories.

I don’t know if I mentioned this before in this introductory column, but in the more than 30 years that had been involved with newspapers and magazines I had never been associated with a publication that received the universal praise as this one has. I guess everyone likes food. And what made it all the better is that I owned a chunk of the magazine.

The unfortunate thing is that those preceding 30-plus years take a toll on a person physically. Leslie, Gina and I are responsible for much of the day-to-day operation of the magazine. One of those is distribution, a tedious and pricey proposition when your magazine is spread across five counties.

I’m pretty sure it contributed to the back surgery I had in January and have endured since. It also contributed to our decision to suspend publication of the magazine after this fall issue. Leslie didn’t retire from Nicolet Bank to take up bookkeeping and accounting duties with the magazine, and Gina has seen her sales role grow with a pair of arts magazines well beyond what she expected when we first started Edible Door.

This is a tough piece to write because all three of us love what we refer to as “our baby.”

I don’t know if I mentioned this before in this introductory column, but in the more than 30 years that I have been involved with newspapers and magazines I had never been associated with a publication that received the universal praise as this one has. 

Much to our pleasure, and relief, the magazine steadily grew through its early years and continues to prove profitable. As we’ve found from our sister publications within Edible Communities, there are so many more ways to grow the Edible brand throughout our area. We just didn’t have the stamina to do it.

For the past couple of summers we’ve been searching for new owners who could bring a fresh approach and enthusiasm to Edible Door. Unfortunately, we’ve found that age can rob you of that.

So this will be my last Eat Your Veggies column, and while I’m sure you can’t remember much of what I’ve shared with you over the years, allow me to remind you of a few of my favorites: In the spring issue of 2017, I introduced you to the “Quit Eating Diet,” the only weight-loss regiment I learned that worked. You may have remembered, I told you that, “As I write this I’m on my diet and, yes, the noise in the background is my stomach growling.” I admitted it was a bad plan.

A couple years later I was encouraging everyone to eat, particularly the stuff you didn’t want to eat. The column spawned a slogan I’m particularly proud of, “Don’t be a 6-year-old.” It would change the eating habits of a work friend.

There was my account of gardening in Vietnam, the foggy night that a herd of Holstein cows surrounded my wife’s car, and introducing you to my breakfast buddy, Jack, the jack fruit tree.

Sharing my thoughts on food, sometimes in unusual ways, will certainly be the one thing I’ll miss most. But, regardless, it’s been a wonderful ride thanks to all the great feedback we’ve gotten from you.

Jon Gast 
Co-Owner/Editor of Edible Door