In the spirit of #PlasticFreeJuly, Seward Community Co-op is taking steps to improve environmental impacts in our delis. Want to step up your sustainability habits? Please consider using your own utensils or dining in with our reusable dishes. Taking your meal to-go? Plastic utensils are available—if you need them—on the way out the door or by request at the Deli Counter.

Similar efforts have boosted conservation at the co-op. Since the introduction of the bag charge, we have used 24 percent fewer paper grocery bags year over year. That’s 139,400 fewer bags that left our stores June 1, 2017 to June 1, 2018, compared to the previous year!

Why Not Compostable Utensils?

Seward Community Co-op staff puts a lot of thought into purchasing decisions. We rely on a set of priorities to determine the kind of utensil, container or wrapping to buy and consider an item’s functionality, cost, environmental impact and appearance to shoppers.

Reusable items are the most sustainable option, though we recognize our customers have diverse needs and often value convenience. Our second best option to help serve shoppers are recyclable materials. While the plastic utensils we offer are recyclable, we cannot ensure they are being recycled. According to the city of Minneapolis, plastic utensils don’t make it through city recycling facilities and end up as garbage.

Our third best option: compostable items. While composting is an important part of diverting waste from landfills, compostable products are used only once before being processed into soil. That’s a lot of energy and investment to manufacture and break down a single-use item. Compostable products also have limited uses and are often made of genetically modified corn.

More Ways to Conserve

The co-op provides many opportunities to improve your environmental impact while you shop. Consider bringing your own reusable shopping bags, dishes and containers. We offer an extensive bulk section, bulk wellness products, bulk kombucha on tap, unwrapped produce, a discount for using your own coffee mug and more. We also work with many farmers and producers who value environmental stewardship.

Please note that while the Minnesota Health Department does not permit Seward Co-op to allow folks to use their own reusable containers for the hot bar, salad bar and soup, people are welcome to make their food on the plate provided by the coop and then transfer it to their own container after paying.

Try #PlasticFreeJuly. Pledge to focus on reusable items or go completely plastic-free at plasticfreejuly.org.

Seward Co-op has begun the countdown to spring! Starting your garden from seed and then watching it mature from seedling to fruiting plant can be rewarding, economical, and fun. Considering Minnesota’s relatively short growing season, it can be beneficial to start seeds indoors in spring to give plants a head start before transplanting them in to your garden. Each plant has its own unique growing requirements and therefore its own timeline. Refer to Seward Co-op’s Seed Guide, as a resource for when to start seeds indoors and transplant outdoors.

Browsing Seward Co-op’s seed racks, surrounded by fresh-cut flowers and an abundance of fragrant citrus, can make the experience of picking out the seeds for your garden inviting—many of the potential options look so delicious and interesting! However, before you get whisked away by the idea of it all, learn more about Seward Co-op’s seed offerings to determine which brand aligns more with your values and is best for the vision of what you hope to accomplish with your garden—High Mowing Organic, Seed Savers Exchange, or a combination of the two. Is your primary concern the health of your family, or is it more broad to include environmental biodiversity or healthy habitats for pollinators? Learn more about our unique seed producers’ intentional cultivation practices to the right.

Now, the fun part—make a list of all the crops you desire to grow and plot them out to create a feasible plan for your space. We recommend marking a calendar with the dates to start and transplant different crops, using the chart provided on the back-side of our Seed Guide. Please note some root crops, such as carrots, beets and radishes do not tolerate transplanting. For more home gardening information and resources, please visit the University of Minnesota Extension website.

Like most people are doing, here at Seward Co-op we are getting our ducks in a row to welcome spring—reconnecting with partner farms and making room on our shelves for many springtime local, seasonal goodies!

For many Minnesotans, this time of year is all about cleansing and purifying the body with bitter greens and giving the home a thorough top-down deep cleaning after a long winter of being held in captivity. Try to get the boring stuff out of the way sooner than later, so you can enjoy spring break when it comes around. Whether you are planning a staycation or a vacation, stop by Seward Co-op’s semi-annual Bulk Sale on Thursday, March 22. It’s a great opportunity to stock your pantry with healthy snacks to feed the kids while they’re home on break or for nourishing road-trip fare.

Whether shopping in bulk is a new prospect or you’ve been shopping bulk for decades, you don’t want to miss this sale. All day—for one day only—everything in the Bulk department (even sale items and select Wellness bulk items) is 10 percent off.

*The March 22 bulk sale does not include reusable glass and plastic containers or items sold per pound in other departments, such as Produce and Meat & Seafood.

Click for recipes below:

Ask any of the pioneers of the Twin Cities cooperative movement if they recognize the name Annie Young, and chances are they’ll say yes.

In 1981, after helping start the Wiscoy Valley Land Cooperative, Young hitchhiked with her infant son across southwestern Minnesota to attend gatherings of food co-op activists. Eventually she moved to Minneapolis to accept a job as membership coordinator for Seward Co-op. Like many other co-ops in the Twin Cities at the time, Seward was in rough financial shape. “In the 1980s, as the [cooperative] movement grew and hippies started getting married, having children, or going back to school, the lifestyle changed. That lifestyle shift changed how the co-ops functioned. Everyone couldn’t work on free love at that point,” Young recounted. She brought order to the membership-development program and established Seward Co-op’s membership-numbering system that’s still in place today.

Young left Seward Co-op in 1984 to become the executive director of the All-Co-op Assembly. In that role, she conducted education, training, and outreach for co-ops in the upper Midwest. This was a difficult time for the co-op movement, and many stores, especially those in smaller, rural towns, shut down.

Eventually, Young returned to Seward Co-op and was elected to its board of directors, while also serving as an election official with the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation board. She relished helping to organize the twenty-five year All-Co-op Reunion celebration that took place during the summer of 1997.

Young was also a driving force behind the recent initiative to open Wirth Cooperative Grocery in the Harrison neighborhood of Minneapolis. Once Wirth Co-op came to fruition, Young succeeded in bridging two of her passions: improving the community life of urban residents and making whole, healthy food available to those who need it.

Annie Young will be remembered at Seward as a witty, sharp cooperator who was fun to interact with. Her confidence and well-intended, slight mischievousness are points of inspiration for others. Rest in peace, Annie.

Bruce Bacon is the only hero I ever got to meet. The rest come from books and history. What’s more, he knew me before I knew him; a testament to the Seward Co-op’s commitment to the local food economy and the sanctity of sustainable soil. He knew what we were up to…

We met on April 11, 2010 following my brief presentation on creating a local, retail buying program at the Sustainable Farming Association’s Crow River Chapter Spring Social. My talk focused on how retailers and providers can work symbiotically and the event was titled “Cooperative Retailers Joining Sustainable Providers.” From that point on, I was happy to join Bruce by supporting the purchase of Garden Farme goods and walking his land as part of my training as a herbalist with Lise Wolff. He also taught me how to speak for the soil.

I’ve always been awed by Bruce’s dedication to his land and regard Garden Farme as one of the most diverse plots of soil in the upper Midwest. Bruce clearly knew and loved his trees; bringing in some nice, big cherry trees (not the kind you harvest but the wild kind). He was real happy about the spreen in his garden (a purple variety of cultivated lambsquarter) and he was one of the first to grow Gete Okesomin (a one-of-a-kind squash with an ancient history). He was also quite fond of mustards that would self-sow, adored sorrel and had a fancy for his basil patch…so colorful.

Bruce was always trying to get me to visit and bring my son. Last time I visited, summer of 2016, Bruce wasn’t able to walk me around, so we trilled around in his van astounded by the variety of insects flying in the windows; hallmark of a healthy ecosystem. Later, my son got to drive down the Garden Farme road; his first time behind the wheel.

Bruce’s dedication to the land made him heroic for me; forever postulating on the benefits of diversity, no-till soil and creating habitat for pollinators. As a single dad, he also made me feel like a hero; always asking about my boy and always telling me it was going to turn out alright. It did.

He was organic before anyone owned the term. He was building the soil poetically before there were many words for what he was doing. He was farm to table before it occurred to anyone to trend it and make it hip. He was practicing permaculture before anyone set down instructions. He was composting before there was enough compost to compost. He supported artists and the community before community was a catch phrase. His honey is still at the Seward; best honey there is.

And, wow, could he throw a party…

Celebrate Bruce Bacon — Support Garden Farme!
Events on Sunday, December 10, 2017:

MUSIC, FUN, AND FUNDRAISING FOR GARDEN FARME
2–5 pm at Hook & Ladder, E. Lake Street & Minnehaha Av.
Local musicians – film clips of Bruce and the farm – admission by donation.
Garden Farme honey and soil science posters for sale.
All funds after expenses will go to Garden Farme.

SHARING FOOD AND STORIES IN MEMORY OF BRUCE BACON
5–9 pm at Powderhorn Community Center, E. 35th Street & 15th Av.
Bring a story to tell, bring a dish to share, everyone welcome!
Potluck food and drink, stories of Bruce, Garden Farme honey sales.

On Dec. 5, Seward Co-op has announced a voluntary recall of Seward-Made vegan chocolate cake with ganache and chocolate cake with brown butter frosting due to milk and egg allergens not listed on the label. Seward Co-op does not currently have affected product on the shelf, but could have sold affected product between Dec. 1–5, 2017.

Chocolate cake with ganache (vegan) $9.99/lb.
Chocolate cake with brown butter frosting $6.99/lb.

If you purchased this product at Seward Co-op between Dec. 1–5, 2017, it will be fully refunded at either our Franklin or Friendship store Customer Service desk.

The Seward Co-op Creamery Café relaunched last fall with a casual, comfortable atmosphere and family-friendly menu. It may be a pit stop on your way to work or a go-to lunch spot or happy hour choice for your family—but to many it’s evolved into more than that. Over the last year, thanks to our staff and community, the space is a venue in which to learn about food by sharing experiences with loved ones and also those who bring it from the farm to the table.

The menu features familiar favorites, as well as several dishes that range from vegetarian sandwiches to classic brunch fare. Local producer, Sonny’s Ice Cream, located in Uptown, provides our hand-dipped ice cream. We also offer local ice cream treats from Sweet Science and Jonny Pops. During warm-weather months, customers can sip a beverage or enjoy a meal on our new patio. The warm and inviting physical space is conducive to conversation and a great location in which to study, enjoy a family meal, or host a business meeting.

The café intentionally sources from local 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 growing their operations. Plus, it keeps money right here in the community we share. Follow us on social media or subscribe to our eNewsletter for information on attending one of our upcoming Farm Table Dinners, forums or other community events.

Not only does the café rely heavily on many of the small farmers and producers who provide our grocery stores with local ingredients, but we also source from ourselves. Café customers can expect Seward Co-op baked goods, sausage and housemade soups. Keep an eye out for cooperatively handcrafted items for sale in our retails case, like pesto, curry sauce, and jam.

Customers who dine in the café are also supporting the businesses with which Seward Co-op partners. The cooperation within Seward Co-op and among our farmers and diners contributes to the creation of wealth in our community one dish at a time.

Seward Co-op is issuing a voluntarily recall of its Chorizo Empanadas due to mislabeling and undeclared allergens. The product label incorrectly identified the product. In addition, the product contains tree nuts, a known allergen which was not declared on the finished product label. Between Aug. 12, 2017 and Aug. 14, 2017, Seward Co-op sold the product affected by this recall at both the Franklin and Friendship stores.
Seward Co-op Chorizo Empanadas ($7.99/lb.)
UPC: 203725202xxxxxx

If you purchased the above product at Seward Co-op between Aug. 12, 2017 and Aug. 14, 2017, recalled products will be fully refunded at either our Franklin or Friendship store Customer Service desk. Questions may be directed to Seward Co-op’s Franklin store at 612.338.2465 or Friendship store at 612.230.5595.

Here at Seward Co-op, we take pride in working directly with local farmers, processing whole carcass animals in-house, and having a large variety of fresh, Seward-made sausages. We work directly with many small local farms that we have had the opportunity to visit and see firsthand how the animals are raised and handled. Check out our new seasonal sausages (left)!

Have you tried the Franklin Frank? Summer is the perfect time, if you haven’t already. Our sausage makers have handcrafted the perfect old-fashioned hot dog! It’s made in our own production facility on Franklin Ave. The ingredients are 100% locally sourced and the herbs and spices are all organic—no filler. Stop by our full-service meat counter and pick up some dogs to grill at the park! Or have us grill it to perfection for you at the café, topped with house-made pickles, onions and mustard. Get creative and check out our amazing selection of locally made condiments. Kimchi, sauerkraut, pickles, mustard, hot sauce—we have it all!

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE COMMUNITY FOODS PROGRAM

During February 2017, nearly 500 Seward Community Co-op owners provided their feedback on the cooperative’s performance. Seward appears to be meeting owners’ needs quite well; nearly 90% of the respondents said they were satisfied or extremely satisfied, and we rank highly relative to other food cooperatives around the country. However, newer owners are less satisfied with Seward than more long-time owners, and overall satisfaction indicators have been trending slightly downward since 2013.

In terms of shopper satisfaction with store characteristics, Seward ranks significantly higher than the average cooperative with respect to some key store features: quality/freshness of its products, location, hours, atmosphere, and natural/organic products. Seward Co-op owners are even more pleased with the quality of store departments; nearly every department meets the needs of a significantly higher proportion of owners than the average cooperative.

Compared to other cooperatives around the country, Seward owners spend a significantly higher proportion of their food budget at the cooperative. In 2017, nearly half said that Seward is their primary grocery store.

Owner awareness of the P6 and Nourish programs was mixed. A much higher proportion (70%) was aware of the P6 initiative than the Nourish program (43%). Consumers seem to place more value on an item being organic or local than whether it is classified as P6.

In terms of communications, Seward owners continue to prefer more traditional forms of communication (emails/e-newsletter, in-store postings and mailings) over social media communication (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter). Large majorities of respondents said they are satisfied with the frequency and content of communications from us.

Seward Co-op, based on the 2017 results, continues to be high performing. The results suggest the need to address some issues: consolidating our position with newer owners, trying to determine the source of erosion of the proportion of very satisfied owners, considering the array of products offered at the Friendship store, and concerns about prices. Seward comes at these issues from a position of strength vis a vis owners’ attitudes about the cooperative.