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.

Know Our Grower featuring Keewaydin Farms

Keewaydin Farms, founded in 1976 by Richard and Mary Haucke, is now run by their son, Rufus Haucke (above) with help from his children Karma and Aurora (in Rufus’s lap).

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.

Keewaydin Farms’ Organic Rhubarb is in stock at Seward Co-op (June 2, 2015)

A letter from General Manager Sean Doyle: In June 2014 leadership at the co-op was approached by Bryant Neighborhood Organization (BNO) and Central Area Neighborhood Development Organization (CANDO) to consider a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA). Over the course of the past year we have had a number of conversations about whether a CBA would be appropriate for the co-op.

A CBA is fairly new approach to work with large corporations that typically focuses on holding that corporate entity accountable to the community that it is entering into with a development. These are large-scale developments, such as sports arenas and mass-transit development, in which hundreds of millions of dollars and public subsidies are involved. CBAs are also perceived to be adversarial in tone, often requiring cash payment from the developer to the community if the agreement is not fulfilled. Many of the stipulations included in a CBA could potentially put the co-op in financial jeopardy were we to agree to them.

This tone is not consistent with cooperative principles or values in that a co-op is created to respond to community need. Seward is already owned by the community, with 14,000 households in Minneapolis being owners. Nearly 15% of these households reside within the immediate geography of the Friendship store. Finally, as a community-owned business we are already accountable to the community through our democratically elected board of directors.

Instead of a CBA, we agreed that we would work to create a Mutual Benefits Agreement (MBA). To our knowledge we would be breaking new ground with an MBA — none exist. The ideas behind the MBA is self-help. One of the values of cooperation builds upon the desire of community to determine what is best for the future of the community. Additionally, the value of mutuality and self-help builds upon resiliency and not upon deficits. At its fundamental level, the vision for an MBA would be to articulate a vision of how the co-op and neighborhood groups could work together to benefit the community around the Friendship store. There are many shared concerns about livability that we all have for the 38th Street corridor. These include employment, affordability and overall development in the neighborhood. The idea behind the MBA is to look at the assets that each of our organizations have and to find a way to build on them together to more positively impact the community.

In January BNO and Seward started working to create the framework for an MBA. We invited CANDO to join this conversation. We started the process of having a community conversation about this at BNO’s spring meeting on April 25. The conversation at this meeting ended up being disrupted by a group of individuals — most of whom weren’t residents of Bryant neighborhood, but instead came from all over the city. For more information about the meeting, please read the Daily Planet article:

Seward Co-op’s Friendship Store and “Community Benefits”

After this meeting BNO and the co-op decided to postpone the work of creating an MBA until after the Friendship store opens. BNO felt that they need to focus on regrouping as a neighborhood association. The leadership at the co-op decided we need to focus on ramping up operations. This includes getting the building built and equipped and ensuring we have the right product mix in the store. In coming months we have significant hiring and training of staff to do. Next spring we will reconvene to take up this conversation once again.

We are pleased to announce the hire of Lucas Almendinger as Executive Chef of the Co-op Creamery. The café, set to open in late July, will offer a menu created by Almendinger that features local fare, as well as a beer and wine selection. Almendinger comes to the Co-op Creamery following an impressive career at some of the Twin Cities’ most well-known restaurants. Most recently, Almendinger was Executive Chef at Minneapolis’ Third Bird. Almendinger will start June 1, 2015.

“We are very excited to bring Lucas on board, as we believe his passion and focus on elevating simple, local, and fresh dishes meshes perfectly with our plan for the Creamery café,” says Chad Snelson, Co-op Creamery Production Manager. “He has built an incredible portfolio of work across the Twin Cities and will bring a unique perspective and talent to the Seward neighborhood.”

Before opening Third Bird, Almendinger was Executive Chef at Union Fish Market, and previously worked with several of the Twin Cities’ top chefs, including Steven Brown at Tilia, Landon Schoenefeld at HauteDish, and Erik Anderson at Sea Change.

“The co-op already has a strong reputation for sourcing high-quality local food, and we will continue to build on that,” Snelson says. The Co-op Creamery menu will feature seasonal offerings for breakfast, lunch and dinner, using ingredients sourced from many of our long-time providers.

In addition to the café, the Creamery facilities will also assist in the expansion of Seward Co-op’s existing bakery, deli and meat production. The increased production capacity will enhance the support that the co-op already provides area farmers and producers.

Think of your grill like it’s the bat-signal from the old Batman series.

Your grill is a beacon of good smells that alerts your neighborhood what veggies and meats are best at Seward right now.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a delicious plume of grill-smoke from a co-op shopper’s Weber is probably worth twenty times that.

That’s because grilling has to be the best way to cook, whether you’re a vegetarian, vegan, or committed carnivore. In fact, many vegetarians agree that the grill is the best way to prepare veggies there is and look forward to summer as much as carnivores do. By cooking vegetables quickly over a grill’s hot coals, you’re searing the outside of the grillable while keeping moisture in and slightly carmelizing the natural sugars in your vegetables and fruits. A win/win/win for the smart vegetarian.

Grilling tip! Place thin or delicate vegetables in a foil packet and rest it over high heat. Poke a holes in the foil to let that smoky goodness in. That will keep them from getting burned on the grill.

Huffington Post has some very inventive veggie grilling recipes here. Highly recommended. The broccoli marrow recipe is a great one and we’re also enticed by the Quinoa Sliders.

As for meat, grilling is great, of course, but a long, slow barbecue is even better. Local Blooming Prairie ribs that have spent four hours smoldering in a bed of smoke at 275 degrees? Slathered with Daddy’s Sam’s Slopping Sawce? That’s going to send quite a delicious signal about co-operative ownership to your neighbors.

Want to try your hand at something really tasty, like our Korean Short Ribs from Blooming Prairie? Here’s an excellent recipe for Korean BBQ Ribs that can be adjusted for more natural ingredients found at Seward Co-op.

One more grilling tip! To test meat to see if its done, a metal skewer is the way to go. Stick it into the middle of the meat while it’s still on the grill, then hold the skewer to your forearm. If the metal is cool, keep it on the fire. If it’s warm, you’re at medium-rare. If it feels hot on your skin, tell the neighbors to grab their plates and come on over.

We have some delicious organic blueberries in the Produce Department right now, some of the sweetest of the year so far. They’re from California, but the price makes them a great choice for all the grilling you’re going to do this Memorial Day Weekend.

What? Grill blueberries? Oh, yes. Here’s a simple, tasty recipe for fruit cobbler on the grill — or, better yet, cobbler on a campfire — that will wow your friends or camping mates this weekend.

Grilled Peach & Blueberry Cobbler

4-6 servings

Ingredients:

3-4 medium-sized ripe peaches, pitted and halved
Olive oil or melted unsalted butter for the fruit
4 tablespoons unsalted butter for cast iron pan
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar, sucanat, turbinado sugar, honey, syrup, or other favorite sweetener
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup blueberries (or whichever berries are local, in-season)

A cast-iron skillet, especially if you’re grilling/cooking on a campfire

Directions:

Stoke a grill or campfire to medium-high heat.

Cover both sides of peaches with olive oil, melted butter, or other fat to keep peaches from scorching too much; place on grill (or in cast iron skillet if you’re cooking on a campfire), cut-side down, cover, and cook until charred/softened, 4 to 5 minutes per side — less if the peaches are quite ripe.

Once the peaches are grilled/cooked, transfer to a cutting board with a spatula and, when cool to the touch, cut the halves into slices.

Put the butter in a 10- to 12-inch cast-iron skillet and place it on the grill to melt butter.

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl until well-mixed. Add buttermilk; whisk it up.

Once butter is melted, pour batter from bowl into in cast iron skillet; do not mix with the butter. Scatter the grilled fruit and berries over the batter beautifully (do not mix this either. Arrange stunningly and lovingly.)

Cover pan with foil and grill cobbler until the juices are bubbling and the batter is golden, about 45 minutes on a grill — maybe an hour on a campfire.

Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Serve with a fruity stout by the lake.