Box Tops has helped local schools earn over $800 million for things like helping build playgrounds, installing computer labs, and funding other programs that enrich their school communities since 1996, and are featured on some of your favorite Natural and Organic brands like—Cascadian Farms and Annie’s.

We’ve always placed great importance on listening to our consumers. After learning that over 90% of Annie’s consumers wanted Box Tops on Annie’s packages*, we’re pleased to announce that you can now find Box Tops on many of Annie’s products including: mac & cheese, fruit snacks, cereal, frozen snacks, granola bars, and more.

Help us continue to help schools earn cash, by clipping Box Tops! From Wednesday, Aug. 16—Tuesday, Aug. 29, visit our stores to find specially marked packages stickered with TWO BONUS Box Tops. You’ll find many of your favorite Annie’s & Cascadian Farm products on sale too! So, keep clipping your Box Tops, and help support your local schools!

Each box top is worth 10 cents to redeeming school when clipped from box tops products and sent to the redeeming school. Only BTFE registered schools can redeem box tops. Limit $20,000 per school per year for box tops redeemed through the clip program. See www.boxtopsforeducation.com for program details.

*Source: Annie’s Box Tops Study, May 2015

Creamery Café’s staff thanks everyone who attended our first Farm Table Dinner, featuring pasture-raised Red Wattle pork from Pork and Plants Heritage Farm. Chef de Cuisine Matt Kappra, with support from Sausage Production Supervisor Kyle Wondrasch, offered a delectable menu of head cheese, pork rillette, loin sliders, bratwurst, pork pibil and even a summer cherry pie made with pork lard. Beverages paired with the food – beer from local brewing cooperative, Fair State, and cider from Sweetland Orchard – provided balance and delight! As part of the dinner, we were honored to host Eric and Ann Kreidermacher, the farmers at Pork and Plants.

Seward Co-op Creamery Café may be a pit stop on your way to work or a go-to lunch or happy hour choice for your family. To many of us, it’s more than that. We’re happy to offer the Creamery Café as a space to learn about food by sharing experiences with those who bring it from the farm to the table. Stay tuned for more opportunities to engage with local farmers, producers, and community members in the future.

Seward Co-op Creamery Café may be a pit stop on your way to work or a go-to lunch or happy hour choice for your family. To many of us, it’s more than that. We’re happy to offer the Creamery Café as a space to learn about food by sharing experiences with those who bring it from the farm to the table.

Join us at the Seward Co-op Creamery Café for a dinner event on Tuesday, Sept. 26, from 6 to 8:30 p.m., featuring two farm partners just west of the metro area: York Farm (Hutchinson, Minn.) and Rebel Soil (Litchfield, Minn.). Farm owners Andy Cotter & Irene Genelin and Andy Temple & Aimee Haag—along with their certified-organic and sustainably grown produce—will be our special guests for the evening. Creamery Café staff are delighted to feature a variety of vegetables, fruits, greens and sprouts showcasing the season’s harvest. Beverage pairings from Indeed Brewing and Feral Kombucha are available for $15. Tickets are limited, so grab your seat at our “Farm Table” right away!

Follow the Seward Co-op and our Creamery Café on social media and visit our website for future opportunities to engage with local farmers, producers, and community members.

York Farm

World champion unicyclists turned second generation farmers Irene Genelin and Andy Cotter embarked on their farming adventure together in 2010. Andy’s family originally bought the farm in 1971. As the local food movement gained momentum and Andy became interested in balancing food production and sustainability, farming became appealing to the General Mills IT professional. In 2002, Andy bought the farm for his residence. Today, York Farm is in their eighth season and has a dozen acres filled with rows of certified-organic grapes, strawberries, apples, plums, pears, currants, gooseberries, apricots, and Arctic kiwi.

Rebel Soil

Rebel Soil’s farming practices “rebel” against modern agricultural methods dependent on harmful chemicals, cheap labor and heavy machinery. Aimee and Andy vow to grow healthful, freshly harvested produce free of harmful pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers. Farming on their small, four-acre farm in Litchfield provides them with daily opportunities to do more than simply grow produce, the couple also advocates for increased access to clean food, a healthier environment and stronger community ties.

Purchase tickets here!

Share a traditional Nigerian meal with us on Monday, Oct. 23 at our Annual Owner Meeting. Guest Chef Tunde Wey, along with Seward Co-op’s Diversity and Community Engagement Manager LaDonna Sanders-Redmond, will engage co-op owners in an open dialogue around the real cost of food using the 1863 Homestead Act to spark the conversation.

The 1863 Homestead Act was critical to the founding of Minnesota and paved the way for the evolving nature of labor on the land as experienced by many small family farms, migrant farmers and food service workers. It encouraged Western migration by providing settlers 160 acres of public land. In exchange, homesteaders paid a small filing fee and were required to complete five years of continuous residence before receiving ownership of the land. By 1862, most of the land that was still available for homesteaders was located in subprime farming regions prone to wildfires, damaging wind and problematic pests.

Together, we will discuss the acquisition of land for arriving immigrants, the emancipation from slavery of Africans Americans, and Native American Indian removal caused by the Act, as well as its effect on racial discrimination, wealth inequity, and its impacts on rural and urban communities.

Annual Owner Meeting Menu

Egusi Stew with Pounded Yam
The Nigerian Egusi soup, prepared with melon seeds, is popular in West Africa. The soup is thickened with the ground seeds, and is prepared by most tribes in Nigeria in many different ways.

Pounded Yam
Pounded yam is one of the Nigerian fufu recipes. It is eaten with Nigerian soups, dipped into the soup like bread.

Moi
Bean cake made with African honey beans.

Stewed Chicken with Pepper Sauce

Desserts
House-made by Seward Co-op
Triple chocolate cookies
Made-without-gluten peanut butter cookies
Vegan peanut butter chocolate chip cookies
Vegan poppy seed cookies

Fruits, Veggies and Dips
Provided by The Wedge Catering
Fruit and nut trays
Raw veggie trays
Roasted veggie trays
Parmesan and artichoke dip
Roasted red pepper hummus
Spinach dip served with crostini, flat breads, Tuscan bread and crackers
Roasted vegetables

Beverages
Local beer
Wine
Non-alcoholic beverages: organic apple juice, organic milk, Joia soda, LaCroix,
Peace Coffee

* Please note that the annual meeting will be photographed.

August is P6 Month, and Seward Co-op will be celebrating all month! Your favorite small, local, and/or cooperative P6 producers will be in the stores sampling and we’ll be giving away $20 Seward Community Co-op gift cards to shoppers every weekend!

The P6 label calls out products that meet our highest values, which align with the Ends of the co-op, and show our commitment to supporting a strong, independent, local food system. When you buy P6, your dollar goes further! Buying P6 products not only supports your local co-op, but flows resources back to the small-scale, local, and/or cooperative producers–many of which pay their staff a living wage and provide them benefits. From 2010-2016, Seward Co-op’s total P6 sales have nearly tripled from $7,380,200 in 2010 to $19,829,496 last year!

Seward Co-op proudly launched P6 in 2010 as a tool to help shoppers identify products that meet their values. In order for an item to receive the P6 label, the producer must meet two of three criteria: locally produced, cooperatively owned, and/or small-scale.

• Local defines a product grown or produced in the five-state region (MN, WI, IA, ND, SD).
• Cooperative is defined by cooperative ownership of the business or non-profit.
• Small-scale producer is defined using these guidelines: independently owned and operated, selling direct to our stores or through a local distributor with a regional distribution area.

We pay special attention to products from international sources, or whose main ingredient is from an international source, like a chocolate bar or coffee. The international ingredient must be sourced from a small-scale farmer co-op in order to receive the P6 designation. This extra level of attention is because of rampant exploitation in international commodity food chains.
We hope that Seward’s cooperation with the other P6 co-op members inspires you to support your co-op, area producers, and the equitable relationships embodied in a co-op supply chain.

Seward Co-op’s Board of Directors is seeking candidates for the 2017 board election. If you feel strongly about the cooperative business model and want to help shape the future of our co-op, please consider being a candidate. The election will begin in late September, ending at the annual co-op owners meeting on Oct. 23. In order to receive a Board Candidate Application, attendance is required at a board meeting this summer. We welcome all interested co-op owners to attend.

Prior to each of the summer meetings, the board will hold a Candidate Orientation Session beginning at 5:30 p.m. Please arrive early so that the session can begin promptly. The Aug. 29 meeting will be held at the Franklin store. Board meetings officially call to order at 6:15 p.m. Mark your calendars now for Aug. 29 if you think you may be interested in running for the board, and please email board@seward.coop in advance to indicate your intention to attend.

Click here for more information about the board of directors generally. Please email board@seward.coop for further information about the upcoming meetings and this year’s election.

Local produce season will be peaking very soon—when almost everything is available to us, from spring vegetables like herbs and radishes to winter crops such as cured onions and squash. And of course there’s the fruit; we will soon see local peaches, melons, and then apple and pears.

If you look around Seward’s produce departments you will see staff pick signs letting you know which produce staff members are enjoying, and I’d like to take this opportunity to share my favorites! As a produce buyer for over 10 years, I’ve developed relationships with many local farmers and farm groups and I’ve eaten the best they have to offer. Some of my “picks” include:

• Wheatfield Hill’s sweet corn arrives early and stays around late in the season, consistently delivering sweet and plump kernels.

  

• Hmong American Farmers Association (HAFA)’s okra and ground cherries—coming soon!—Local okra is the only kind to eat and HAFA’s Indian variety is firm and velvety.

  

• Hearbeet Farm’s beets and greens—These beets are pristine and available from June all the way through April. Char, collards, and kale are all perfect staples to have in your diet!

• Featherstone Farm’s kale and sungold cherry tomatoes—Some of the largest bunches of kale I’ve ever seen are grown at Featherstone. Their sungolds are bright and sugary-sweet every time.

• Wisconsin Growers Co-op provides the first local watermelon of the season, and they can’t come soon enough! As the season progresses we will see between seven and ten different varieties.

  

• Sin Fronteras’ tomatillos—coming soon!—Simply roast and blend into salsa verde for a refreshing summer dip!

• Partner Farms’ peaches are dynamic, lively, fresh, and juicy. Cinderella Plums are my absolute favorite stone fruit and Seward Co-op will be the only place in town that has them. Don’t delay, once these arrive they won’t last long!

All of the local farms Seward buys from are certified organic, growing organically, or using high level integrated pest management practices. You can be assured that you’re getting the freshest, most nutrient dense, and most cared for local produce available.

The wait for harvest season is over, and our partner farms have reported the fields are rife with ripe, flavorful seasonal produce just begging to be eaten. We live for this time of year at the café. Last week we debuted our new summer menu, and we’re excited to share it with you! Now is the time for local produce to shine, so diners can expect our local vegetables, locally sourced proteins, and housemade toppings to fluctuate as the season ebbs and flows. Stop in and check out our specials board or follow us on Twitter (@CoopCreamery) for specific details.

The Creamery Café intentionally sources from farms that may be too small or lacking the resources to support the sales and customer demand of our retail stores. In an effort to support up-and-coming farmers grow their operations and keep money right here in the community we share. The small produce farms we’ll be working with this season are Rebel Soil and York Farm. As the season progresses, there may be special guest appearances on the plate from Sin Fronteras, too! We’ll fill in any gaps with produce and protein from larger partner farms with which we have established relationships. The farms making this strategy possible include Wisconsin Growers Cooperative and Heartbeet Farm. The cooperation among our organization, our farmers, and our diners contributes to the creation of wealth in our community one dish at a time.