Join us for a meal designed by Creamery Café executive chef Matt Kappra and made with produce from our October SEED grant recipient, the Hmong American Farmers Association, on Oct. 23, 6-8 p.m., at Seward Co-op Creamery Café. SEED donations will be accepted at the dinner.

Three-course dinner: $40
Kombucha pairing: additional $9
Beer, wine and other beverages will be available for purchase.

Purchase Tickets Now

Our October SEED Recipient
The Hmong American Farmers Association is our October SEED recipient. HAFA supports Hmong farmers in creating profitable, sustainable agricultural businesses. Round up at the register to donate in any amount at any Seward Co-op location throughout the month!

SEED donations to HAFA help provide healthy, fresh produce to more than 70,000 schoolchildren and tens of thousands of other neighbors in the Twin Cities region.

Seward Co-op’s SEED program is a simple yet powerful community giving opportunity that allows customers to round up their grocery bill at the co-op or check at Seward Co-op Creamery Café for recipient organizations that share our commitment to a healthy community.

All funds donated at the register are given directly to the recipient organization at the end of each month, often totaling over $20,000 per month.

Learn more about HAFA on their website. Follow HAFA on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

This aromatic cabbage, sauerkraut, sausage stew hails from central Europe and is Poland’s national dish. It brings together some of our favorite seasonal items that also happen to be on sale at Seward Co-op through Oct. 16. Seward-made Nürnberger sausage is $2 off per pound for everyone and organic gala apples from Hoch Orchard in La Crescent, Minnesota, are $1.50 off per pound for co-op owners. Visit our specials page for more ways to save.

Sausage and Cabbage Stew
Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Servings: 8

Ingredients
2 tablespoons canola oil
12 ounces Seward-made Nürnberger sausage, cut into 2-inch pieces
1/2 pound smoked ham, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 large yellow onion, diced (about 1 cup)
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 ounces mushrooms, cut in 1/2-inch slices
1/2 pound green cabbage, shredded
1/2 pound sauerkraut, drained
1 apple, diced (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Preparation
In a large stockpot or Dutch oven, heat the canola oil over medium heat. Brown the pieces of sausage and smoked ham. Add the onions and garlic and sauté for several minutes until the onion starts to soften. Add the remaining ingredients and stir well. Lower the heat, cover and continue to cook for 45 minutes. Stir every 10 minutes or so to prevent sticking.

Serving Suggestion
Traditionally, this stew is served with potatoes and rye bread, and is often made a day ahead of time, allowing the flavors to mingle overnight. Deviled eggs or creamed herring are served as an appetizer with this dish. For a lighter meal, add a fresh green salad, or lightly-steamed broccoli, carrots, or green beans.

Recipe courtesy of National Co-op Grocers.

This soup features the ingredients of a Three Sisters Garden, a Native American tradition of growing corn, beans and squash together. Cooked together they make a great soup that is popular with vegetarians and vegans.

Three Sisters Soup is a soothing first course for a holiday meal or an everyday comfort food using the gorgeous local produce available in our Produce department. Omnivores: The soup pairs well with our new seasonal Seward-made sausage, available in the Meat department.

Ingredients
2 pounds of your favorite winter squash (butternut, acorn, kabocha)
2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
1/4 cup garlic, chopped
2 quarts vegetable stock or water
1/2 cup white wine
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 large bay leaf
1 pound fresh or frozen corn kernels
2 15.5-ounce cans cannellini beans, drained
1/2 bunch green onions, sliced
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Halve the squash and scoop out the seeds. Place the squash halves skin-side down on a lightly oiled baking sheet, and then roast until cooked through and soft, anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes (see tips below for cooking times depending on your squash). Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Scoop the flesh of the squash into a large bowl (save any liquid!). Puree the cooled squash with a blender or food processor, adding some of the reserved liquid if needed.

In a large stockpot, heat the oil over medium heat and sauté the onions until they begin to brown. Add the garlic and cook, stirring often, until the garlic turns light brown in color.
Add the stock or water, wine, thyme, bay leaf and pureed squash and bring to a simmer. Stir in the remaining ingredients and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.

Tips & Notes
Squash cooking times will vary depending on the type and size of squash. At 350°F you can expect these approximate cooking times:

Acorn squash: 30-45 minutes
Kabocha squash: 40-50 minutes
Butternut squash: 60-90 minutes

Credit: National Co-op Grocers

Califia Farms has issued a voluntary recall of a limited amount of 48-ounce Mocha Cold Brew Coffee due to a food safety issue. The root cause was resolved and has not been linked to illness.

Califia Farms 48 oz. Mocha Cold Brew Coffee
UPC 0085290900350
Lot #20221018444 (Expire Date: 11/9/18; shipped in the U.S.)
Lot #20221018445 (Expire Date: 11/9/18; shipped in the U.S.)

Seward Community Co-op does not currently have affected product on the shelf but could have sold affected product at both locations May 29-Aug. 29.

If you purchased the product at Seward Co-op during this time period, it will be fully refunded at either our Franklin or Friendship store Customer Service desks.

Come explore local businesses, sample food and enjoy live music during Open Streets Franklin Aug. 26, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

Seward Community Co-op will be celebrating good food and community at Seward Co-op Creamery Café. Join us!

We’ll have our usual brat stand and a beer garden featuring brews from Fair State Co-op . We’re working with Springboard for the Arts on a vendor/artist pop-up with musical performances and other programming.

Seward Community Co-op is one of the sponsors of Open Streets Franklin 2018. Franklin Avenue will be blocked off from Portland Avenue to 28th Avenue South, opening up the roadway for people walking, biking, rolling and playing.

Meet with the Board

Visit with the co-op’s Board of Directors at Open Streets. Members of the board will be at the Creamery from 11 a.m.–1 p.m. We look forward to seeing you!

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has proposed a rule for nationwide labeling on genetically engineered foods — but we need something better.

Public comments, from food eaters like you, will be extremely important. Comments were due to the USDA by July 3, 2018.

We’ve been telling the USDA to:

• Use common, well-established labeling terms. The USDA proposes using a new term — “bioengineering” — not the terms “genetic engineering” or “GMO,” despite their acceptance for over 30 years by consumers, companies and regulators.
• Require neutral symbols. The symbols proposed by the USDA appear to be biased toward genetic engineering, or “bioengineering.”

  
  Symbols should be content-neutral and easy to understand, like a circle with “GE” or “GMO” inside it.

• Reject QR codes and other discriminatory options for on-package labels. These methods are discriminatory against 100 million consumers who do not have smartphones or reliable internet connections. Other label claims are required to be printed on packages.
• Include all processed foods produced with genetic engineering. Many foods are so highly refined that some tests may not detect GE material in the final product, even though they undisputedly were produced with GE.
• Ensure future foods made with newer forms of genetic engineering are covered. The USDA must ensure any foods made with new forms of genetic engineering — such as synthetic biology, gene-editing and RNAI — are required to be labeled.
• Harmonize with the European Union standard. Required labeling of foods with a 0.9 percent threshold of GE content aligns with accepted global standards, has been adopted by many U.S. companies, and would encourage, not hinder, global trade.
• Demand disclosure now, not postponed until 2022. Waiting four more years would be an unreasonable delay. Many companies already are labeling without disruption or burdensome costs.

How to comment:

Formal comments were due July 3 on the Regulations.gov website.

An easy way to get involved is to visit the Just Label It website and sign the petition to the USDA calling for consumer-friendly GMO labeling regulations.

Thank you for standing up for fair and transparent labeling!

We love Farm Bill season—everyone is buzzing about a few of our favorite topics: farmers, organic food and access to healthy, nutritious food for everyone. It’s also a fertile opportunity to roll up our sleeves and dig into democracy by contacting our elected officials.

Weeding through this densely packed legislation is no small feat (for us or for Congress), so we’re highlighting a few of the things we are most happy about in the Senate Agriculture Committee’s Farm Bill. In short, this is a big moment for organic agriculture. The grassroots agricultural movement farmers and organic fans started decades ago is coming into its own. Some of the key organic programs we have advocated for many years are set to achieve baseline funding this year! Baseline funding means the programs are much more likely to be included in the annual budget cycle.

Read on for the details—and if you’re as excited as we are—take a moment to call your lawmakers in Washington D.C. and ask them to support the Senate’s version of the Farm Bill that champions organic! It’s easy to call, just dial the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and provide information about where you live, they’ll transfer your call accordingly. Your call will be routed to an actual phone inside your lawmaker’s actual office—and their offices are pretty tiny. Everyone in there knows when a constituent is calling and they want to hear from you!

Organic agricultural research fully funded to support farmers

The demand for organic food has experienced off-the-charts growth, which is great news for U.S. farmers. Organic is a bright spot in agriculture right now—it is one area that is bringing new people into farming careers and it is making small-scale family farming possible again.

But organic farming is not just as easy as making a decision to stop using pesticides—it takes training and access to resources and education. Farmers have to learn new methods of soil management, pest control and animal care, just to name a few. The Organic Agriculture Research Extension Initiative (OREI) in the Farm Bill helps to ensure that best practices and current technology gets shared with farmers through university agriculture extension offices across the country.

The Senate’s version of the bill would establish stable baseline funding for OREI by increasing funding from $20 million to $50 million per year by 2022. We are asking Congress to support this goal in the final bill.

Organic Certification Cost Share Program fully funded to help farmers go organic

The USDA Certified Organic seal is the gold standard of food labels and reflects hard work and careful adherence to agreed-upon standards for what makes something “organically grown.” Farmers are responsible for getting their farms certified each year by a third-party inspector and certifying agent, and for a small farmer, it can be expensive or even cost-prohibitive.

The Organic Certification Cost Share Program offsets some of the costs of organic certification for farmers that qualify. This assistance can be enough to encourage small and beginning farmers to transition to organic, which in turn boosts our country’s homegrown supply of organic food.

The Senate’s version of the bill fully funds the Organic Certification Cost Share Program! Join us in asking Congress to support this in the final bill.

Bonus: Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive (FINI) Grant Program boosts access to fresh, healthy food

Not necessarily an organic program—but one that is close to food co-ops’ hearts, the USDA FINI grant program funds projects that make fresh fruits and vegetables affordable to people who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), with a priority on projects that focus on locally grown produce.

Not only does this make the freshest, most delicious produce more accessible to more people, it has the added benefits of supporting local farmers and supporting local business. And if you shop at a food co-op, a lot of that local produce is likely to be organic.

Many farmers markets and food co-ops have made great use of FINI grants to establish programs that double SNAP shoppers’ dollars when they are spent on fresh fruits and vegetables (see Willy Street Co-op’s Double Dollars Program), and many more co-ops are eager to get these programs started.

Although the FINI grant gets the ball rolling, co-ops have demonstrated that these programs can be successfully self-sustained once implemented, making the grant money an excellent investment towards making healthy food affordable for all.

The Senate’s version of the bill would fully fund the FINI grant program at $50 million annually. We love fresh fruits and veggies and want more people to have the same opportunity. We are asking Congress to support this funding in the final bill.

What’s most important to you?

We’ve highlighted just a few of the things food co-ops are excited to see in the Senate’s version of the 2018 Farm Bill, but there are many other important programs and ideas in this bill that are worthy of support. Explore some of the links below and find out what inspires you to act. Just like farming, what we care for and attend to grows—adding your voice helps cultivate a stronger democracy.

• Support the National Organic Standards Board and transparency in organic rulemaking
• Homegrown Organic Act (in the Senate and House)
• Local FARMS Act (in the Senate and House)
• Organic Farmer and Consumer Protection Act (in the Senate and House)
• Organic Farmers Access Act
• Seeds for the Future Act (in the Senate and House)

Find out what bills about food and other issues Congress is considering by visiting www.govtrack.us.

Article by National Co-op Grocers (Co+op, stronger together).