Meet the local producers who bring us fruits, veggies, flowers, and meat throughout the local season by visiting their farms on the 2015 Eat Local Farm Tour!

Take the kids, meet friends along the way, or bike to local urban farms near you on Saturday, July 18. The 2015 Farm Guide booklets are available here or at the Seward Co-op Customer Service Desk.

Twenty-one local farms are opening their doors to the Eat Local Tour this year:

10th Street Farm & Market

Big River Farms/Minnesota Food Association

Buttermilk Falls CSA & Folk School Retreat

East Henderson Farm

Garden Farme –

Gardens of Eagan

Growing Lots Urban Farm

Humble Pie Farm

Shepherd’s Way Farm

Simple Harvest Farm Organics

Singing Hills Goat Dairy Farm

Star Prairie Trout Farm

Stone’s Throw Urban Farm

The Beez Kneez

Thousand Hills Cattle Company

Whistling Well Farm

Women’s Environmental Institute

The tour is free and there’s no need to register! Just decide which farms you’d like to visit, note when they’re open for visitors, and drive there or “caravan” with family and friends. (The co-op is not providing transportation.)

To find when farms are open, get a copy of the 2015 Farm Guide and check the farms’ listings. Visitors are welcome to show up during these times.

Your Twin Cities-area food co-ops support the annual Farm Tour. For more information:
2015 Eat Local Farm Tour Facebook Page

And follow the hashtag:
#‎EatLocalFarmTour

Significant progress has occurred over the past couple of months, and we’re excited to share these updates with you.

Friendship Store

Friendship Store is taking shape! We are now five months into what we estimate to be a 12-month construction schedule. After a delay earlier in the winter due to utility relocations, we have seen considerable headway in the past few weeks. The two-story frame of the building is beginning to take shape (see pic above). The steel structure of the building should be completed this week. READ MORE

Welcome, Raynardo Williams

Seward Co-op has hired Raynardo Williams as the store manager of the new Friendship Store. As a former entrepreneur, Raynardo is accustomed to the work required to bring a vision like the Friendship Store to fruition.

“I’m used to being very hands on,” he says. “I like getting my hands dirty on projects.” READ MORE

Co-op Creamery

Work on the Co-op Creamery at 2601 E. Franklin Ave. continues. In late January 2015, co-op administrative staff moved into the Creamery Building’s second floor offices from the Franklin store. This move has helped to alleviate space constraints at the Franklin store offices. The staff at the Creamery will support all Seward locations. READ MORE

Welcome, Chad Snelson

Creamery Cafe Production Manager: Seward Co-op has hired Chad Snelson as director of operations at Seward Co-op’s Creamery Kitchen and Co-op Creamery Neighborhood Café. At this point, with the café still under construction, it’s been a lot of planning and forecasting for Chad.

“Planning is fun,” says Chad, “but actually doing it is way more fun.” READ MORE

This is Valentine’s Island. It’s a beautiful place located just offshore the Seward Deli Hot Bar and due north of the Frozen Section.

Sure, about a month ago it was Christmas Island and a month forward in time, it will be Mardi Gras or St. Patrick’s Day Island.

But right now it’s the place to find sweets for the sweet.

For example, you’ll find a great deal on Yum Earth Organic Lollipops over on Valentine’s Island, $8 per bag of thirty. It might sound odd but these really are the yummiest lollipops ever, and that’s without taking into account the 100% daily recommended allowance of Vitamin C. You’ll also find 30 Valentines Day cards included in each bag which sets up your kid is for Valentine’s Day at school. (Plus? Don’t panic, they’re organic…)

There are two great recipes over on Valentine’s Island, too. The Avocado Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe might sound strange but because avocados are so fatty, they make surprisingly delicious treats (avocado ice cream is absolutely wonderful). Also, check out the Browned Butter Cookie Bars using Cordillera chocolate (chunks of Cordillera chocolate are located right there by the recipes).

Boxes of chocolates from Seattle’s Chocolates (below left) are on sale from $4.99 to $19.99 per heart-shaped box, and pretty Fair Trade earrings from World Finds are on sale too, ranging from $9.99 to $14.99.

Get your calendar out and start planning for January.

Upcoming Seward Classes

LaDonna Sanders-Redmond, Education and Outreach Coordinator for the Seward Co-op, visited KARE-11 recently with a terrific winter soup recipe: Crock Pot Chicken Gumbo.

Gumbo is actually pretty easy to make; it just has a lot of ingredients and a number of steps, so people sometimes get intimidated. Just remember LaDonna’s Important Gumbo Tip: Don’t walk away from the roux! You have to keep stirring it. If you’re patient and tend to it, you’ll have the base for a thick, delicious batch of gumbo. (Look how syrupy and thick that completed Gumbo is!)

Watch the video to get all the steps right, then follow the recipe below. Much thanks to KARE-11 and LaDonna for this video and recipe!

Crock Pot Gumbo (Recipe serves 6)

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup flour

• 1/3 cup cooking oil

• 3 cups chicken broth

• 12 to 16 ounces chicken sausage, sliced about 1/2″ thick

• 2 to 3 cups diced cooked chicken

• 1 1/2 cups sliced okra

• 1 cup chopped onion

• 1/2 cup chopped green pepper

• 1/2 cup chopped celery

• 4 cloves garlic, minced

• salt, to taste

• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

• 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper

• hot cooked rice

Instructions:

· For roux, in a heavy 2-quart saucepan stir together flour and oil until smooth. Cook over medium-high heat for 4 minutes, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, for about 15 minutes more or until roux is dark reddish brown. Let roux cool.

· Add chicken broth to a 3 1/2 to 6-quart slow cooker. Stir in roux. Add sausage, chicken, okra, onion, green pepper, celery, garlic, salt, pepper, and red pepper. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 to 10 hours, or HIGH for 4 to 5 hours.

· Skim off fat. Serve with hot cooked rice.