On Nov. 11, Free2b Foods recalled its chocolate Sun Cups for three specific sell-by dates, because it may contain undeclared milk ingredients. People who have an allergy or severe sensitivity to milk run the risk of serious or life-threatening allergic reaction if they consume these products. Between Aug. 13 and Nov. 11, 2016, Seward Co-op may have sold products affected at the Franklin store.

Free2B Sun Cups – Double Milk Chocolate Cups
UPC: 89544400140
Sell By Dates:
Aug. 2, 2017
Aug. 4, 2017
Aug. 7, 2017

If you purchased this product at Seward Co-op between Aug. 13 and Nov. 11, 2016, it will be fully refunded at either our Franklin or Friendship store Customer Service desk.

Thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate the anniversary of the Friendship store and the annual meeting. The family-friendly event was held in the parking lot of the Friendship store in the same location as the ribbon cutting one year ago. We are thankful that the rain held off and a chili supper could be shared by community members. Seward Co-op owners and shoppers danced together as Friendship store Manager on Duty, Jerry Williams and his band, Sultry Soul performed. Check out some of the photos from the event on our Facebook page. As the Friendship store enters into its second year, we have a lot to celebrate.

• Store sales have been better than projected.
• As of October, 2,235 ownerships were sold at the Friendship store.
• The Friendship store employs 56% staff of color.
• 55% of Friendship store staff live within 1.5 miles of the store.
• 75% of Friendship store staff are full-time and eligible to receive benefits.
• The Friendship store pays a living wage of $12.82/hour to staff who have worked 2,000 hours.

Integral pieces of the annual meeting is the announcement of the board of directors election results and the release of the 2016 Scorecard, our annual report. Congratulations to Mehdi Kennar, Jill Krueger, Gregory Lee and Migdalia Loyola! Together with five others, these individuals are responsible for articulating the vision and goals for Seward Co-op that management pursues and achieves. The 2016 election featured a pool of highly qualified candidates. Thank you to all who ran and all who voted.

During the business portion of the meeting, the upcoming 2017 SEED recipients were also announced. For more than 40 years, Seward Co-op has been committed to giving back to our community. In 2011, we introduced SEED, a new way for customers to participate in this commitment. This simple yet powerful community giving program allows customers to “round-up” their grocery or cafe bill for recipient organizations that share our commitment to a healthy community. Congratulations to our 2017 SEED recipients!

Midwest Food Connection (MFC) is Seward Co-op’s presence in local elementary schools (alongside four other Twin Cities food co-ops). A small staff of talented educators visits classrooms to provide a series of four seasonally appropriate lessons: culinary and garden adventures. Lessons feature cooking and tasting local food picked up from the co-op, the cultural and historical context of familiar foods, and nutrition education. During the fall and spring, MFC educators teach students in school gardens and bring them on field trips to local farms. Your co-op ownership helps to support this important outreach work.

In the 2015–16 school year, MFC’s educators taught 1,000 lessons in more than 50 schools. We are expanding our school garden teaching, continuing farm field trips, exploring new collaborations through our recently developed middle school curriculum, and making connections to food served in Minneapolis Public Schools cafeterias.

This year, Midwest Food Connection is celebrating our 20th anniversary. As part of our 20th anniversary celebration, we will be offering special classes at Seward Co-op this fall, we’ll have a presence at Seward’s annual meeting, and we’ll be holding a donor drive in November. For more information about our program and how you can support Midwest Food Connection today, visit our website at midwestfoodconnection.org.

A Personal Story

As adults with diversified palates, we can sometimes take for granted that trying a new food — even one as seemingly innocuous as a purple carrot or a piece of dried mango — can be an intimidating feat for a first grader tasting it for the first time. Maybe it’s an evolutionary tactic for kids to be wary of unfamiliar foods.

That’s why in the lessons I teach for MFC, I invite kids to join the “twobite club.” The first bite might be shocking to their taste buds as they experience unfamiliar flavors and textures. I encourage students to take a second bite to let their mouth get accustomed to the new food before making up their minds about whether or not they like it.

I am consistently impressed by the number of “thumbs up” I see when we vote with our thumbs, especially when tasting more grown-up foods like our winter vegetable stew with leeks, kale, and rutabaga — three vegetables that on their own might be met with strange looks from a class of kindergarteners, if not outright shows of skepticism or distaste. It might help that, as part of our lesson on winter vegetables, the kindergarteners have been transported to another time… 100 years ago, when most people didn’t have refrigerators in their homes and stored much of their harvest in their root cellars. Kindergarteners take turns pantomiming walking down the stairs to the root cellar to fetch vegetables for our stew, and the anticipation of eating builds as I finish cooking, posing as an old-fashioned mom making lunch for her kids.

One teacher who is a long-time partner of ours described MFC lessons as “culinary adventures” for the classroom. Through the magical, transformative act of cooking, we transport kids to another time, place or flavor experience.

MFC lessons are a unique culinary experience for kids and a valuable service for teachers who want to include lessons about food, nutrition and agriculture in their classrooms but may not have the time, resources or knowledge to prepare them.

Join Seward Co-op, Birchwood Cafe and others for a fabulous five-course meal in Birchwood Cafe’s community room on Thursday, June 2! Current Birchwood Boost partner Right to Know Minnesota (RTK-MN) and folks from the Copper River Watershed Project, along with Seward Community Co-op staff (a RTK-MN coalition member!) are participating in an inspiring and delicious evening in support of GMO labeling.

Birchwood Boost supports local non-profits whose work aligns with Birchwood Cafe’s “Good Real Food” values, very much like Seward Co-op’s SEED program.

Birchwood chef Marshall Paulsen and chef Adam Vickerman (formerly of Levain) from the co-op’s Friendship store have planned a five-course menu, including fresh, wild-caught Alaskan salmon. Each course will be paired with sustainable wines and locally made hard cider.

Doors will open at 6:30 p.m., with dinner starting at 7 p.m. The evening begins with a garden reception among seasonal plantings outside the Birchwood’s community room. Between courses, we’ll hear from Kristin Carpenter, executive director of the Copper River Watershed Project, about the importance of wild-caught versus farmed salmon. We’ll also learn about GMO labeling efforts at the state and national level from representatives from Right to Know MN. Ticket proceeds go to both Right to Know MN and the Copper River Watershed Project—the evening is a double boost in support of GMO labeling!

Purchase tickets for June 2 dinner at Eventbrite. Salmon provided by Copper River Watershed Project! Ticket price includes drink pairings with each course.

Dinner Menu

Smoked Alaskan Salmon
Onion and caper bread, preserved lemon dill butter

Whipped Salmon Mousse
Grilled romaine, watercress, anchovy radish vinaigrette, fancy olives, pickled fiddlehead ferns, parmesan, grilled focaccia

Salmon Chowder
Spring parsnips, onion, nettles, ramp pesto

Copper River Sockeye Salmon
Lentils du puy, charred asparagus ragout, morels, watercress salad

Pistachio and Rhubarb Frangipane
Basil whipped cream

While summer doesn’t technically start until June 20, many people consider Memorial Day to be the official start of summer — a time to fire up the grill and remember those who have passed. This year, the holiday falls on Monday, May 30, the stores will be open regular hours from 8 a.m.–10 p.m. and the Co-op Creamery Café will be open 8 a.m.–2 p.m. We’re hosting a grilling sale from May 16–May 29, offering a little something for everyone. So stop in, stock up and kick-off the summer!

Sale Items:

Thousand Hills beef hot dogs

Boca burgers

Rudi’s hot dog buns

Organic Valley sliced cheese

Santa Cruz lemonade

Natural Brew ginger ale and root beer

Grilling supplies and tools (Franklin location)

Alba sunscreen

All Terrain bug spray

At Seward Co-op, we are very proud of our Bulk foods department. Bulk has been a keystone of the co-op from its earliest days, and it continues to be one of our greatest successes.

Whether shopping in bulk is a new prospect for you, or you’ve been shopping bulk exclusively for decades, we have a rare treat for you: a 10-percent-off sale on all bulk items on March 24. All day — for one day only — everything in the Bulk department (even sale items) is 10 percent off.

Please join us Thursday, March 24, in the Bulk departments of both stores, where extra staff and product vendors will be on hand to answer questions and assist you in shopping the best way possible — in bulk.

Throughout the day, enjoy samples of bulk products like Equal Exchange coffee (at the Franklin store), granola, and Barsey’s almonds. Also visit with a handful of our suppliers, including Equal Exchange and local grain producer Whole Grain Milling.

(The March 24 bulk sale does not include: reusable glass and plastic containers; items sold per pound in other departments, such as Produce; and Meat & Seafood).

Homemade Soba Noodles

Ingredients:

For the noodles:
2 cups buckwheat flour
1 cup white spelt flour (can also substitute with all-purpose flour)
1-1 1/4 cup hot water

To serve:
2 carrots, diced, shaved, or cut into matchsticks
1 bunch spring onions, finely chopped
2 Tbsp. garlic oil (or 2 cloves of minced garlic and 2 tablespoons of your choice of oil)
2 Tsp. toasted sesame seed oil
1 lime, cut into wedges
Cashews (optional)
Protein of your choice, such as fried tofu

Method:
Combine the buckwheat flour and kamut or spelt flour in a large mixing bowl. Add the water gradually, and then work the flours and water together, kneading to form the dough. If at any point the dough feels too crumbly, add a little more water. Alternatively, if the dough is too sticky, add a little more kamut or spelt flour. Knead the dough until it comes together in a smooth, round ball, then turn it out on the counter and knead it with the heel of your hand. The dough should be soft and smooth; if any cracks appear, add a little more water. Once it’s smooth, shape the dough into a flat rectangular parcel. This will help the dough keep its shape as you roll. Sprinkle the semolina or buckwheat starch onto the counter and lightly over top of the dough, which will prevent sticking. Now it’s time to start rolling out the dough: The best way is to roll from the center outwards, shaping the edges as you go so that the dough remains rectangular. This will save you from having to trim later. Spread a generous handful of semolina or buckwheat starch over the dough. Then fold the top third of the dough down and spread it with more starch.

Fold the bottom third of the dough upwards, like you would fold a letter, and coat that with the semolina or starch, as well. Begin cutting the noodles approximately half a centimeter (a quarter of an inch) thick. Keep slicing until you have used all of the dough. Toss the cut noodles with a little more semolina or starch so that they don’t stick together. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt the water generously, and drop in the soba. Cook the noodles for one minute, then drain them, and rinse them under cool water immediately. Use your hands to lift and gently shake the noodles as you rinse them; this helps to remove the starchy film that coats the noodles as they cook. After rinsing, drain the noodles and serve them cold or at room temperature. Toss the noodles with garlic oil, toasted sesame oil, and soy sauce. Toss in protein and scatter with chopped spring onions, carrots, and toasted cashews over top.

Serves 4

Thank you, co-op shoppers! Last year, you “rounded up” more than $235,745 to benefit SEED recipients. These SEED organizations share the co-op’s commitment to a healthy community and/or support our P6 focus on local, cooperatively owned/nonprofit, and small-scale farmers/producers.

If you are a Seward Co-op owner and would like to receive a letter stating your SEED donations total for 2015, please click here to email a request or call Customer Service at 612-338-2465. Our February/March Sprout! incorrectly stated the e-mail address for requesting SEED donation totals as SEED@seward.coop. This was incorrect, please use the address hyperlinked above to e-mail requests.

For more than 40 years, Seward Co-op has been committed to giving back to our community. In 2011, we introduced SEED, a new way for customers to participate in this commitment. This simple yet powerful community giving program allows customers to “round-up” their grocery bill for recipient organizations that share our commitment to a healthy community.

SEED Recipients are selected once per year. Application information for 2017 will be posted at seward.coop in the spring of 2016.

2015-16 SEED Recipients

October 2015
WE WIN Institute, Inc.
WE WIN supports student learning and social development in urban youth through academic activities, civic and community engagement. Funding will support WE WIN youth gardens that teach young people about the importance of food origins, eating healthy, and exercise.

November 2015
Waite House Neighborhood Center
Waite House trains neighborhood teens in community culinary arts and food justice. Funds raised would support the community based portion of their training – in Southside Kitchen providing healthy, made-from-scratch, free meals daily to neighborhood youth.

December 2015 and June 2016
Isuroon Ethnic Food Shelf
Isuroon is dedicated to building Somali women’s self-sufficiency so that they can lead healthier, more productive lives in Minnesota, nationally and in Somalia. Funding will support the creation of an ethnic food shelf serving the Somali Community in South Minneapolis.

January 2016
Full Cycle Bike Shop
Full Cycle is a bike shop that helps put homeless youth on a path toward independence. SEED funding will create jobs for homeless youth using a fleet of bike trailers to pick up and deliver food donations to organizations serving homeless youth. Homeless youth are best able to build up their own stability when they have the opportunity to help others at the same time.

February and December 2016
Sabathani Community Center
Sabathani provides food, clothing and housing to 26,000 neighborhood residents each year in South Minneapolis. We feed the chronically poor, those on disability or chemical dependent individuals and families. Sabathani Community Center has been providing basic needs services for nearly fifty years.

March and September 2016
Brian Coyle Food Shelf
Brian Coyle Community Center’s Basic Needs program offers a choice model food shelf, healthy cultural cooking classes, free produce giveaways, monthly senior NAPS food program, and is working toward expanding its community garden on site. Funding will support the purchase of fresh produce, dairy, whole grains and culturally-specific foods for the food shelf.

April 2016
In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre
On May 1, 2016, In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre’s 42nd annual MayDay celebration will build community vitality on an enormous scale. We will bring together 1200 volunteers to build and stage a parade and pageant welcoming spring and inspiring positive change for 50,000 attendees from every part of our community. Children, parents, youth and seniors are engaged for weeks in advance, building artmaking skills as they gain respect and develop friendships with each other.

May 2016
Mashkiikii Gitigan Urban Community Farm
Mashkiikii Gitigan (Ojibwe for medicine garden) addresses the food justice needs of people living in the Phillips neighborhood of South Minneapolis, many of whom face challenges in accessing fresh, healthy foods. SEED funding will support Mashkiikii Gitigan’s Karma Markets, weekly “pay what you can” farmer’s markets that provide community members with fresh fruits, vegetables, and traditional herbal medicines.

July 2016
Hope Community
SEED funds will support a Network of Community Gardens at Home Community, at the intersection of Franklin and Portland Avenues–about two miles west of Seward Co-op, in Philips Community. Hope is a community development organization that’s been around since 1977, doing both housing and community engagement in Philips. Gardens at Hope bring people together to learn about and grow healthy food, develop leadership and build a stronger, healthier community.

August 2016
The Hmong American Farmers Association
The Hmong American Farmers Association creates more economic opportunity for Hmong farmers. They make sure Hmong farmers earn more income through new markets like co-ops and schools, while bringing fresh, locally grown produced to thousands of people in the Twin Cities.

October 2016
Community Emergency Service, Inc.
Community Emegency Service has been feeding hungry people in our neighborhood for more than four decades, providing groceries and hot meals for 2,500 people monthly. SEED funds will help the organization provide holiday food for neighbors in need this season.

November 2016
Dream of Wild Health
Dream of Wild Health promotes health in the urban Native community by expanding knowledge of and access to healthy indigenous foods and medicines.. DWH’s programs focus on increasing knowledge of healthy foods, nutrition, cooking, disease prevention, traditional foods, organic farming and community advocacy.

Seward Community Co-op launched the Seward Community Fund (SCF) in 2005. The establishment of the SCF embodies our co-op’s commitment to grow not just as a business, but also as a community resource for organizations whose work aligns with our vision for a healthy community.

SCF grants are awarded annually in amounts up to $5,000 each. Applications are reviewed by a grant committee comprised of co-op staff, and recipients are announced at the annual co-op owners meeting in October. The next application deadline will be in early summer 2016. Click here for more information.

Grants are given to organizations whose work aligns with our Ends Statement:

Our Ends Statement

Seward Co-op will sustain a healthy community that has:

• Equitable economic relationships;
• Positive environmental impacts; and
• Inclusive, socially responsible practices.

In addition, priority will be given to organizations that:

• Are based in the communities served by Seward Co-op.
• Reflect the cultural and racial diversity of our communities.
• Use the funding for specific projects rather than general operating costs.
• Are nonpartisan and do not advocate a particular religion.
• Are registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations.

2015 Seward Community Fund Recipients:

Alliance of Early Childhood Professionals
$5,000
We will use this grant to revitalize Dakota and Ojibwe languages at the early childhood levels, as MN’s First languages; Dakota and Ojibwe are critically endangered. We are using an analogy of a tropic cascade when speaking of revitalizing Dakota and Ojibwe as current data points towards numerous cognitive benefits, cultural self efficacy and community well being.

Ananya Dance Theatre
$3,000
Ananya Dance Theatre is a contemporary company of women artists of color. Grant funds would support the creation and presentation of our 2016 production, “Horidraa: Golden Healing.”

Dream of Wild Health
$5,000
We work to restore health and well-being of the Twin Cities Native American community by increasing access to healthy fresh foods through our farm production, market and CSA outlets and donations; providing educational programs in organic farming, healthy indigenous foods, cooking skills and nutritional knowledge; and by creating opportunities for youth educational summer enrichment, employment and entrepreneurship programs.

Frogtown Green/Asian American Elders Garden
$3,500
We seek support for coordination, infrastructure and supplies for the Asian American Elders Garden, a space where elderly refugees build social connections and economic resilience by growing produce for household consumption and occasional sales. The Garden, a Frogtown resident-led initiative, also enhances cultural interaction and learning, by showcasing Asian farming techniques and produce.

Kente Circle
$5,000
Kente Circle, an African American owned mental health organization, is obtaining 501(c)(3) status for a new training institute and community gathering place – Kente Circle Training Institute (KCTI). KCTI’s work will align with the Seward Co-op ends statement in that it will be geared toward culturally inclusive trainings, research and community building in the Twin Cities and more specifically in the community where the new Seward Co-op Friendship Store is located.

Mashkiikii Gitigan: 24th Street Community Urban Farm
$5,000
The Mission of the Mashkiikii Gitigan is is to create and nurture the culture and practice of local food production, healthy eating, healthy living and related activities along the 24th Street Wellness Corridor and throughout the Phillips Community. These funds would go towards hiring a local resident, market supplies and “Karma Market Bucks” to support our “Karma Market” where communit members can contribute what they can afford for healthy, organic produce from our Urban Farm.

MSPCC/Sunshine Tree Child Development Ctr.
$5,000
We are an Early Childhood Development Center that provides sustainable Early learning services for Children from a diversity of families in our community. The funds will be used to upgrade our facility and enhance the materials used for the learning of our Children to make them exceptionally Kindergarten ready and also assist those that are in school to have successful educational and social experiences.

Permaculture Research Institute-Cold Climate
$4,500
PRI will provide full scholarship tuition for training eight new urban farmers from low-income, immigrant, and/or native communities, and will provide them with access to land and the training needed to launch businesses, to become teachers, and grow healthy food in their neighborhoods. Collectively, these eight new farmers will gain the leadership skills and experience to transform eight new farms and teach an additional fifty new community members over the course of their learning.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park Legacy Council
$4,000
We will use the funds to landscape an area around the Freedom Form II sculpture in the park. This is a special place, sacred ground containing the sculpture donated upon the re-dedication of the park in Dr. King’s name and then enhanced with granite and metal benches inscribed with quotes from Dr. King and responses from the community. The final touch would be landscaping.

Seward Longfellow Restorative Justice Partnership
$5,000
SLRJP provides a restorative conference process, as an alternative to the juvenile justice system, to neighborhood youth who have been arrested for lower level offenses including shoplifting, property damage and theft. Funding will be used to grow a new partnership with the Center for Multicultural Mediation and Restorative Justice in order to provide culturally-informed restorative conferences in Somali to referred youth, with participation of a Somali co-facilitator and Somali community members.

The Cedar Cultural Center
$5,000
Launched in 2014 in partnership with Augsburg College, Midnimo is a program featuring multi-week residencies with Somali artists from Minnesota and around the world that include public performances, workshops, discussions, and activities on campus and in the community. The proposed funding will support the growth and continuation of Midnimo, and build on its momentum as a platform for developing the social connections and cultural touchstones that promote unity and the celebration of our community’s diverse cultural assets.

Seward Co-op’s 2015 board of directors election culminated at the annual meeting on Oct. 6. The board of directors governs the entire co-op — Franklin store, Friendship store, Creamery Café — and is comprised of nine co-op owners. Through a democratic election, four seats were filled this year. Full results are available here.

Congratulations to Louis Alemayehu, David Hoffman-Dachelet, Joe Riemann and Mary Alice Smalls! Together with five others, these individuals are responsible for articulating the vision and goals for Seward Co-op that management pursues and achieves.

The 2015 election saw a pool of highly qualified candidates. Thank you to all who ran, and all who voted.