Your local food producers and all the Twin Cities’ food co-ops would like to invite you to a day out on the farm.

Join us on Saturday, July 19 to explore the local food world, visit with your farmers, and see your food from their perspectives. The Eat Local Farm Tour, now in its fourth year, provides an opportunity for you to connect with land and people who grow and make your food.

You will find the scenery on the farms in the countryside to be picturesque; rolling hills, lush green land and happy cows. Your urban farm tour could include some fun folks on bikes in bee costumes that will lead you to the sweet honey and bees that produce it for you. You get to decide how you best want to connect to your food. Consider packing a picnic lunch for your family and taking in the beauty of the countryside. The co-ops also welcome you to stop by for lunch. You don’t need to be a member to shop at the co-ops, and you will find many of the foods that you saw in the fields on your co-op’s shelves. It’s that fresh!

Confirmed on this year’s tour are: Kohnert Organic Farms, East Henderson Farm, Cedar Summit, L and R Produce, Simple Harvest Farm Organics, Thousand Hills, Ferndale Farm, Humble Pie Farm, Bossy Acres, Singing Hills Goat Dairy, Gardens of Eagan, WEI, 10th Street Farm & Market, Big River Farm, Whistling Well Farm, Shepherd’s Way Farm, Star Prairie Trout Farm, Growing Lots, Beez Kneez, and Stone’s Throw.

Stay connected to the Eat Local Farm Tour and meet other tour attendees before the big day by following the tour’s Facebook page. Seward Co-op will have hard copies of the Tour Guide on hand in the store on June 26.

The local season is beautiful, tasty, but oh-so brief. The Twin Cities co-ops truly hope you’ll join us for an expedition of food, farms, and the Minnesota landscape on The Eat Local Farm Tour.

Keewaydin Farms, founded in 1976 by Richard and Mary Haucke, is now run by their son, Rufus Haucke with help from his children Karma and Aurora. Previously a dairy farm run with sustainable practices, the farm is now a MOSA certified organic vegetable operation. Rufus and his family raise 15 acres of produce for wholesale markets and a community supported agriculture program. Located in beautiful rural southwestern Wisconsin, Keewaydin Farms enjoys the serenity found only in the quietest places. It is a place where the scenery nourishes the soul, and the bounty of the farm nourishes the body. In these times of global markets, Keewaydin Farms is rooted in providing high quality products to its local community, because they believe these products are not only better for the planet as a whole but that people who eat locally grown products are eating healthier, better-tasting goods.

1. When did you begin farming and what inspired you to pursue it professionally?
I began my farming career in 2004. Actually, I grew up on my farm and as a kid, helped my parents with the daily chores of a small dairy. But 2004 is when it became my operation. Honestly, I never imagined this would be the profession I would choose. As a young adult, I moved to Colorado and lived there for about eight years. Over that time, I would come back to the farm a couple times a year. As the years passed I began to really fall in love with this place. The idea of working outside, surrounding myself with wonderful food and people became a passion that was to hard to ignore. My final year in Colorado I spent the summer growing a garden, and was amazed daily by the process of growing plants and the taste. It was after that summer that I knew I had to follow this dream and I haven’t looked back. After ten years of doing this work, I feel like I almost love it more. Honestly though, it was probably my stomach that inspired me 🙂

2. Will you describe your approach to farming?
We have been certified organic by MOSA since 2004. There was never a question in my mind about that approach. I have never had a desire to insult this beautiful land with harsh, toxic chemicals and I feel like my organic certificate is my proud declaration to the world of that commitment. Beyond that, I feel it is important to provide space for the natural world. Over the next couple of years, we are working on establishing strips of land between fields that will be left as natural areas. The plan is to plant them with prairie flowers and grasses. I love all the birds we have around here and want to give them the space they need to survive. We have 30 acres of woods as well and for the last three years, we have been planting small batches of trees.

3. What distinguishes your products from other local produce?
We are the chard people 🙂 Swiss chard is the first crop I started growing for market and have continued to grow it. I love the beauty we find in those bunches of rainbow chard, it looks like a bouquet when we are done bunching them. I also refuse to use plastic mulch on my fields, I know there are a ton of benefits but I just can’t bear to insult my soil with it.

4. What is your favorite way to enjoy your own produce?
Stir fry! I think we live off of that over the summer. Oh and who can resist a BLT: farm fresh tomato, bacon, lettuce and a fresh loaf of bread, its heaven on earth! Often I will graze all day long on the plants right from the field, raw. This year we have been doing a bit of grilling as well. So far, grilled asparagus has been on the menu a handful of times.

I heard a couple of days ago via the radio newscast, that, because of the chilly spring, Minnesota’s strawberry crop has been quite delayed.

Indeed. By my calculations, we’re maybe two weeks behind schedule, but we did get a good supply in from Hoch Orchard this week. Hallelujah-there is really nothing like local berries. Fragrant and tender but very fragile, you really have to eat them the same day you buy them or they suffer. Local strawberries, almost more than any other crop, reflect the weather. They need sun and dry conditions as they ripen to be at their sweetest. Too much rain and they turn too soft and the flavor is diluted. Not enough sun and they tend towards tartness. This first flush is slightly on the tart side, so one suggestion is to melt a pat of butter in a pan and sautee them for a moment with a sprinkle of turbinado sugar.

Francique Mangoes (left) are unique fruits, both in flavor and in origin. They are oblong and somewhat flattened, green to yellow skinned, with a superlatively juicy, brilliant yellow-orange flesh. They come from Haiti, often from farmers that may have just a single tree to harvest. By pooling their crop, those farmers can accumulate enough supply to make it worth it to ship to the US. The color of the skin does not necessarily reflect the ripeness of the fruit, so ask a produce worker to help you pick a good one if you have any doubt. I believe they are the only item in the store that comes from the island of Haiti. This American Life has an interesting story from a few years about Haiti and mangoes.

Lettuce is not something that most people think much about, but starting now and for the next month or so, you really should try some of the local lettuces. Sourcing from local farmers really expands the varieties that we can stock. While California sends us the four basics: Romaine, Green Leaf, Red Leaf and, if we’re lucky, Butter, Farms like HeartBeet, Keewaydin, and Featherstone can grow such poetically named varieties as Black Seeded Simpson, Marvel of Four Seasons, Salanova and Red Sails. As it would create quite a labeling hassle, we don’t generally include the variety names on our signs, but you will notice a distinct flavor and texture difference when you buy local. One word of caution-this lettuce tends to harbor dirt and no one likes a gritty salad. As soon as you get it home, pull the leaves apart and submerge them in water four fifteen minutes or so. Swish vigorously and then spin or pat dry. I like to store my prepped salad greens in the salad spinner and use them as I need them.

This week also saw the first appearance of local kale. In particular, we love the Red Russian Variety, which is green with a violet cast to the leaves and stem. It is tender and not at all bitter, and makes for good eating raw or cooked. Lately I have been enjoying a salad made with a julienned Gala apple, toasted walnuts and two torn up leaves of Red Russian with a nice shallot vinaigrette. Although Green, Dino or Red Kale could take the place of Red Russian, the latter will always be my preference in this application.

It seems that in the summer, stone fruit should always be recommended. Nearly all varieties are spectacular right now. But cherries and black plums are my current favorites. I come from a family of fruit lovers. Our summer picnics always included a bag of fat Bing cherries and my mom bought a huge bag of plums every week, which my sisters and I devoured almost immediately. The Red Raven plums we have right now, dusky on the outside, and ruby red inside, deserve this very popular poem (as did my mother, all those years ago):

This Is Just To Say

William Carlos Williams, 1883 – 1963

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

We are more than a week into June and, with more than $1.5 million in owner investments, we now have less than $1 million remaining to raise. We have been aiming toward June 30 — the end of our fiscal year — as our goal date for attaining the $2.5 million in owner capital needed to complete our expansion projects. While we could continue to raise capital throughout the summer, we are eager to redirect the energy behind this campaign toward more community building and realizing the Friendship store and the Co-op Creamery. June 30 is also the final day for owners to purchase shares of Class C stock and still receive the full 4-percent dividend from this fiscal year in July (although Class C shares will still be available for purchase after June 30 and eligible for the dividend from next fiscal year). At 60 percent of our goal, raising the remaining amount in less than three weeks isn’t impossible, but it will depend on our owners rallying in support of Seward’s expansion. If you are still considering an investment, we are here to answer your questions and assist with your investment. Stop by the Customer Service desk, or contact me at 612-314-2012 or jlivingston@seward.coop.

Thanks!

A Huffington Post article begins:

Is the ancient Indian practice of oil pulling a cure-all or snake oil?

A scientifically minded website devoted to debunking internet nonsense says:

“Oil pulling is a traditional Ayurveda method of oral care. It involves swishing sesame oil or a similar oil, perhaps mixed with other substances, in the mouth for 10-20 minutes as a means of preventing caries (cavities), reducing bacteria, and promoting healthy gums. In our internet-fueled age of misinformation, oil pulling has seen a surge in popularity as it makes the rounds on Facebook and other popular social media sites.”

The National Center for Biotechnology quotes a randomized, controlled, triple-blind study from 2009 (Indian J Dent) that studied oil pulling and determined:

There was a statistically significant reduction of the pre- and post-values of the plaque and modified gingival index scores in both the study and control groups (p < 0.001 in both). The oil pulling therapy showed a reduction in the plaque index, modified gingival scores, and total colony count of aerobic microorganisms in the plaque of adolescents with plaque-induced gingivitis.

Meanwhile, a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend on Facebook says, when I asked her:

oil pulling! one of my faves! doing it right now ;P and have for over two years on a regular basis! if you don’t yet know about this wonderful method of detox for your organs AND amazing, all natural powerful healing tool for your teeth, here ya go! enjoy!

Exclamation points notwithstanding, I do believe that she really has oil-pulled for over two years and that she’s really (!!) excited about it, and that she may even be doing it whilst Facebooking.

But…WTF, as the kids say?

What IS oil-pulling?

Again, let’s turn to NCBI for a description :

Oil pulling, in CAM (Complementary and Alternative Medicine), is a procedure that involves swishing oil in the mouth for oral and systemic health benefits. It is mentioned in the Ayurvedic text Charaka Samhita where it is called Kavala or Gandusha, and is claimed to cure about 30 systemic diseases ranging from headache, migraine to diabetes and asthma. Oil pulling has been used extensively as a traditional Indian folk remedy for many years to prevent decay, oral malodor, bleeding gums, dryness of throat, cracked lips and for strengthening teeth, gums and the jaw.

Oil pulling therapy can be done using oils like sunflower oil or sesame oil. The sesame plant (Sesamum indicum) of the Pedaliaceae family has been considered a gift of nature to mankind for its nutritional qualities and desirable health effects. Sesame oil is considered to be the queen of oil seed crops because of its beneficiary effects.

OK, we know what it is. Now I want to know if it really works.

How To Oil-Pull

To do this, I need some volunteers from the audience. Please try this yourself — at home, not at work. Place a tablespoon of cold pressed organic vegetable oil (sesame oil most sources say) in your mouth and swirl it around for about 10-15 minutes, then spit it out.

Practitioners of oil pulling say this has a few different effects.

1) The oils mix with the saliva, turning it into a thin, white liquid. Lipids in the oils begin to pull out toxins from the saliva.

2) As the oil is swished around the mouth, teeth, gums and tongue, the oil continues to absorb toxins, and usually ends up turning thick and viscous and white.

3) Once the oil has reached this consistency, oil and toxins are all spit out..

None of this is meant as an endorsement of the practice — I’m simply reporting what I’ve read about oil-pulling and would like to know more. Liike…

What The Heck Does Oil-Pulling Do?

Says FoodMatters, a site that’s almost as breathlessly pro-oil-pulling as my Facebook pal:

Oil pulling may also increase saponification in the mouth, creating a soapy environment that cleanses the mouth as vegetable fat is an emulsifier by nature. Most interesting is perhaps the ability of oil to cleanse out harmful bacteria, as well as reduce fungal overgrowth. These oils also possibly help in cellular restructuring, and are related to the proper functioning of the lymph nodes and other internal organs.

Other possible benefits of oil pulling for oral health include:

• Overall strengthening of the teeth and gums and jaws
• Prevention of diseases of the gums and mouth, such as cavities and gingivitis
• Prevention for bad breath
• Potential holistic remedy for bleeding gums
• Prevention of dryness of the lips, mouth and throat
• Possible holistic treatment for TMJ and general soreness in the jaw area

Is oil-pulling something you know about? Want to talk about oil-pulling? Want to hear other people talk about oil-pulling? Leave a comment on our Facebook page and tell us what you think — pro, con, non, or, especially, from your own experiences. We’d love to hear what you know about this.

Frozen grapes are terrific trick to keep in your summer tool kit. They’re great treats for kids, fun to make as an activity, make good “ice cubes” for kids’ fruit drinks (lemonade!) and/or grown-up drinks (sangrias!), or they’re just lovely to pop in your mouth on a very hot day.

And frozen grapes couldn’t be easier to make. Here’s the ingredient list:

* Your favorite organic grapes, as many as you like.

And here’s how you make them:

1. Wash your grapes and let them dry.
2. Place grapes on a cookie sheet or pan in a single layer.
3. Place grapes in the freezer for one hour.
4. Transfer grapes to a plastic freezer bag or your choice of freezer storage container.
5. Remove frozen grapes from the freezer as needed.

Photo is licensed by Dana Payne under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Summer came all of a sudden, curtailing ramp season. I hope you got a taste while they were still around, but if you didn’t, there are still lots of interesting early season local products around.

For instance green garlic, which is simply the first shoot of the garlic plant, uprooted, cleaned and bundled together. As the year goes on, these shoots will develop a tough inner stem, form the familiar garlic bulbs and eventually end up in the far corner of the produce department on the root rack. But right now, they are tender enough to chop up like tender scallions.

One way that I have been using them lately is in a ramen soup of my own invention. The grocery department now carries three varieties of ramen style rice noodles from Lotus Organics. I like to use the black rice kind-while the noodles are boiling in about a cup and a half of water, I drop a spoonful of miso in a large cereal bowl and loosen it with a little water. When the noodles are a minute away from being done, I crack an egg into the water, add chopped garlic scallions and finely chopped cooking greens. When the noodles are done, the egg should be perfectly soft poached and the greens just tender. Pour the whole business on top of the miso slurry and stir gently a couple of times. This is a very versatile recipe and also quite soothing to the digestion. I have made it with chicken broth, added other proteins or vegetables, and tried more elaborate seasonings.

Another local item is rhubarb, which used to be known as pieplant since that was just about the only use that people had for it. In our modern era, when we seem bent on reinventing the flavors of just about everything, rhubarb can be found in chutneys, sodas, raw salads, you-name-it. But my favorite way to eat it will always be the way my grandparents served it to us, cooked with sugar into a sweet compote and then spread on buttered toast after dinner. It’s just like pie but easier and faster, and probably a little healthier. These days I might add a drop of orange flower water and use honey instead of sugar.

It was by chance that I discovered how delicious grapes and mint are when combined. It is finally grape season in California, and we have a display as wide as a small beach in the Produce Department. Red, green and black are all quite delicious. Rinse them, cut in have and toss with some finely chopped mint for a deeply cooling salad.

Watermelons are so crisp and delicious this year. This year we’ve decided to carry bins of seedless and seeded simultaneously. My preference is for seeded, both because I enjoy sitting on the porch and spitting the seeds into the yard and because I find the texture to be consistently better. However, seedless are generally just fine as well, and kids often prefer them. Our signage to indicates the variety but in general, seeded watermelons are elongated and the seedless are rounder and a bit smaller.

Prices and availability are subject to rapid change in the Produce Department. Please call ahead if you’re making a special trip for an item at Seward Co-op.

June 5, 2014 –Reps from Sabathani Community Center Food Shelf received their record-breaking SEED check from Seward Co-op in a small but very moving ceremony today. Seward owners and shoppers gave more money in the monthly register donation program’s history at $18,470.

Sandra Richardson described Sabathani’s various programs for aiding low income people in the Bryant-Central neighborhood and what $18,000 would mean to the Community Center.

Kevin Sanders, who runs the Food Shelf operationally, spoke about his experience as a recipient of SCC’s Food Shelf and then becoming involved as a staff member. The Food Shelf’s message of healthy eating resonated deeply with Kevin, so, he says, he made key changes in his diet and lifestyle thanks to this program. He was touched by the large amount that Seward shoppers donated to Sabathani and how much food it would purchase.

From left to right: Cindy Book, Interim Director; Kevin Sanders, Basic Needs Supervisor; Sandra Richardson, Sabathani Family Resources.