Are you planning on running for the Board of Directors at Seward Co-op?

All candidates are required to attend one orientation meeting and one board meeting to be eligible to run in the election.

Orientation meetings are Wednesday, July 22 at 6 p.m. and Saturday, July 25 at 10 a.m. in the Seward Co-op Creamery building at 2601 E. Franklin Ave.

Board meetings are held on the last Tuesday of every month, at 6:15 p.m. at the Co-op Creamery administrative offices, second floor. Upcoming meeting dates are: July 28, Aug. 25 and Sept. 29.

Information on candidate packets and other important deadlines here.

Seward Co-op is planning on the creation and installation of original pieces of artwork for the Friendship store. The building design designates two wall locations for local art work, one on an exterior wall, and one on an interior wall that will be visible from the outside.

Our goal is to honor the history of the site and its cultural impact. We want to celebrate the communities and events that have made the neighborhoods around Friendship home.

For more information, contact LaDonna Sanders-Redmond at lsandersredmond@seward.coop.

Download the RFP for the project here.

Please submit proposals via email. The submission deadline for proposals is 10 p.m. on Friday, July 31, 2015.

For a brief background on the cooperative movement within the African American community, read these articles by LaDonna Sanders-Redmond:

Additional historical materials:

Bryant Central Co-op 1977 (PDF)
Bryant-Central Co-op facade (image)
Kenneth “Mo” Burton (image)

Don’t throw those radish greens away!

Planted last fall, garlic bulbs won’t be harvested for another week or so. Once harvested, in order to store they will need to cure for at least a few additional weeks. Luckily, garlic plants offer up a scape to keep us sated while we wait. Garlic scapes are the flower stalks of the hard-neck garlic varieties that grow in our cool (cold) climes. They emerge in early summer and curl elegantly a few times before they are snipped, diverting the plant’s energy from producing bulbils to developing a bulb.

Garlic scapes (above) have a fresh verdant garlic flavor and may be used in place of garlic cloves. Slice thinly and sauté with greens or add to stir fries. Chop with herbs and olive oil — add an oily nut to make a pesto or capers to make a salsa verde — and serve with grilled bread and burrata or toss with grilled vegetables and pasta.

Grilling mellows the garlic bite of the scape. Toss them with olive oil, salt, and pepper and place them directly on the grill. Turn once and sprinkle with a little more salt. Remove when the scapes are slightly charred and tender but not soft. Grilled scapes make a delicious complement to grilled meats.

There are many early root vegetables available at the moment with their greens intact. This is an indication of freshness, as the delicate greens deteriorate before the longer-storing roots. It is also a culinary bonus, since both the greens and the roots are edible.

If you purchase green-top kohlrabi, radishes, turnips, carrots, or beets, don’t discard the greens. Instead, remove the greens and store them separately. Once cooked, turnip and radish greens resemble mustard greens, kohlrabi greens taste like kale, beet greens like chard, and carrot greens may be used in place of parsley as a garnish, in a pesto, or in dressings.

As the weather heats up we may see a decline in supply or the end of some crops that thrive in cooler temperatures. Rhubarb appears to be in steady supply at the moment, but it may be affected by peaking July temps. Luckily rhubarb preserves well and can be frozen, canned, or pickled.

Rhubarb is most often prepared with sugar to moderate the tartness and served in sweet settings — jams, cakes, and pies. However, rhubarb can easily make a statement in savory dishes as well. I particularly enjoy rhubarb cooked with star anise and ginger, strained and pureed, as a sauce to accompany a seared duck breast. This would be equally delicious alongside pork chops or wild game.

Hoch Orchards and Gardens, run by Harry and Jackie Hoch (above), is a family farm near La Crescent, Minn., with a long tradition of growing fresh fruit. A handful of the farm’s original trees, planted in the 1940s, can still be found on the farm, though production is concentrated on newer varieties. Besides 50 varieties of apples, Hoch Orchards also grows grapes, plums, apricots (cold-tolerant varieties they have developed right on the farm), cherries and berries. It is a testament to Harry and Jackie’s farming ability that they are able to grow such high-quality fruit organically, as apples are very vulnerable to pests and disease.

Hoch Orchards is certified organic by the Midwest Organic Services Association (MOSA) and is working with MOSA in a pilot project to create a certification process for domestic fair trade. Such a program would maintain standards that verify a farm is getting fair prices for its products and providing a living wage and healthy working conditions for its employees.

Many of Hoch Orchards’ products are biodynamic certified by Demeter (as well as certified organic), and their raspberries are particularly excellent this year. Come say hello to Hoch Orchard farmers tomorrow and ask them if biodynamics has made the difference with their sweet and zingy raspberries!

Wirth Grocery Co-op Board of Directors

Wirth Grocery Co-op isn’t a brick-and-mortar store yet, but they’ve announced a location, 500+ owner-members have already signed up, and Seward shoppers donated nearly $20,000 in “SEED money” to the new co-op in May 2015, by rounding up at Seward Co-op registers.

Wirth Board members attended a small ceremony at Seward yesterday so that a check could be presented by our cashiers and other staff for the SEED total.

Seward cashiers have championed SEED and made it into a major force for food-related non-profits, food shelves, and co-operative efforts like Wirth Co-op in Minneapolis. We were all very excited to present this check to Wirth Co-op!

The new co-op will be located at Golden Valley Rd and Penn Avenue N., in the Willard-Hay neighborhood of North Minneapolis (Google Map).

Seward picks a new SEED recipient month. The SEED recipient for June is the Brian Coyle Food Shelf. Check out their website to learn more about this great community food shelf.

Spring is moving quickly this year. Availability lists from local farms have been getting longer each week with the help of greenhouses and warm, wet weather giving plants a little boost.

We’ve already had a few deliveries of green and red tomatoes from Wisconsin Growers Co-operative (Mondovi, Wis) which taste more like summer than early spring. Rhubarb, scallions, and bunched radishes are reliably locally grown. And each week more varieties of bunched fresh herbs arrive – tarragon, chives, garlic chives, mint, and lemon balm are just the first of many that will be available throughout the growing season.

Our selection of local bulk greens has also become more diverse and delicious with a bin each of Heartbeet Farm’s (Zumbro Falls, Minn) arugula and a spicy mix of baby arugula, mizuna, and mustard greens offered alongside local spring mix and spinach. Heartbeet has also been delivering limited quantities of rainbow chard and we received our first delivery from Featherstone Farm (Rushford, Minn) the first week of June with beautiful heads of romaine, green, and red leaf lettuce.

Multiple local growers have been keeping us in steady supply of asparagus and in the past few weeks have received deliveries of tangy, citrusy French sorrel from Garden Farme (Ramsey, Minn).

After months of citrus, the fruit selection is becoming more interesting as well. We are often cautious when stone fruit arrives as the first taste can set the tone for the entire season. If the first fruits are mealy and bland, folks might be apprehensive to make a repeat purchase. Luckily, this year the early harvests have been delightful – the nectarines in particular, both yellow and white, are fragrant with a rich, honeyed flavor and smooth, juicy flesh.

This time of year it is easy to build salads. A recent favorite of mine starts with a base of Heartbeet spicy salad mix. Add thinly sliced radishes and scallions, roughly torn leaves of mint and fava beans (shelled, blanched, and skins removed). Shave on a few slices of pecorino and finish with a drizzle of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon, and a sprinkle of flaky salt and freshly ground pepper.

I have also been enjoying a composed salad of asparagus, blanched and refreshed, tossed in a sorrel infused butter, topped with a poached egg, and garnished with finely chopped sorrel and tarragon.

While nectarines are delicious eaten out of hand or in a dessert, they can also really star in a savory salad – especially when grilled. Halve yellow nectarines, brush with olive oil, and place flesh side down on the grill. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side. Toss spring mix or arugula in a honey mustard vinaigrette (teaspoon honey, teaspoon Dijon mustard, teaspoon white wine vinegar, ½ cup olive oil, salt, pepper – taste and adjust), add toasted sliced almonds, crumble on feta or goat cheese, then place the grilled halves on top and finish with flaky sea salt and freshly ground pepper.