Fresh, healthy, locally grown food can transform lives.

Megan Myrdal has dedicated her life to helping people eat healthier — and more joyfully — one decision at a time.

This interest started early. Myrdal is a West Fargo-based registered dietitian and local food advocate now. But she grew up in Park River, where she learned about food from her grandmother on the family farm just outside of town.

A family food tradition

“My grandma is really who I credit for why I do what I do,” Myrdal says. “I’ve heard people say that parents teach us grit and grandparents teach us passion — and I’m totally the product of that.”

At a time when many farm women gratefully welcomed time-saving shortcuts, Myrdal’s grandmother, Rosemarie Myrdal, did things the old way. She soaked and slow cooked the beans grown on the farm. She tended a garden and pickled, canned and preserved the remainder of every harvest. She even ground her own wheat and baked bread from scratch.

“She was kind of countercultural and never took those easy xes,” Myrdal says. “She was always so deliberate and thoughtful about food.”

She also reminded her granddaughter that passion alone isn’t enough — Myrdal also had an obligation to share her knowledge in service to her community, just as she herself had done. In addition to her work on the farm and her duties as a wife, mother and grandmother, Rosemarie Myrdal also served as a North Dakota state representative and lieutenant governor under Ed Schafer.

“She said, ‘You can care about this stu , but you have to do something about it too,’” Myrdal recalls. “You have to do good in your community that brings people together in an inviting, non-threating way.”