Your local food producers and all the Twin Cities’ food co-ops would like to invite you to a day out on the farm.

Join us on Saturday, July 19 to explore the local food world, visit with your farmers, and see your food from their perspectives. The Eat Local Farm Tour, now in its fourth year, provides an opportunity for you to connect with land and people who grow and make your food.

You will find the scenery on the farms in the countryside to be picturesque; rolling hills, lush green land and happy cows. Your urban farm tour could include some fun folks on bikes in bee costumes that will lead you to the sweet honey and bees that produce it for you. You get to decide how you best want to connect to your food. Consider packing a picnic lunch for your family and taking in the beauty of the countryside. The co-ops also welcome you to stop by for lunch. You don’t need to be a member to shop at the co-ops, and you will find many of the foods that you saw in the fields on your co-op’s shelves. It’s that fresh!

Confirmed on this year’s tour are: Kohnert Organic Farms, East Henderson Farm, Cedar Summit, L and R Produce, Simple Harvest Farm Organics, Thousand Hills, Ferndale Farm, Humble Pie Farm, Bossy Acres, Singing Hills Goat Dairy, Gardens of Eagan, WEI, 10th Street Farm & Market, Big River Farm, Whistling Well Farm, Shepherd’s Way Farm, Star Prairie Trout Farm, Growing Lots, Beez Kneez, and Stone’s Throw.

Stay connected to the Eat Local Farm Tour and meet other tour attendees before the big day by following the tour’s Facebook page. Seward Co-op will have hard copies of the Tour Guide on hand in the store on June 26.

The local season is beautiful, tasty, but oh-so brief. The Twin Cities co-ops truly hope you’ll join us for an expedition of food, farms, and the Minnesota landscape on The Eat Local Farm Tour.

TASTE OF THE SOUTH
Maple Glazed Chicken
Mustard Roast Pork
Macaroni & Cheese
Baked Beans
Creole Roasted Yams

From the City Pages:

Seward Co-op hits the sweet spot between luxury grocery store and health-food shop. Its aisles are neither dusty nor cramped, but no space is wasted. The spacious produce section is full of mostly local and/or organic items, easy to navigate but not lacking in DIY charm, often featuring handprinted signs pointing out the best seasonal buys, such as particularly tasty parsnips this winter (they really were!). All the bulk foodstuffs you’d expect are here, but so is a fully stocked meat and fish counter. There’s a large selection of poison-free body-care products, and all the semi-healthy packaged snack options you could hope for. And then there’s the deli: Seward makes a delicious salsa and an impressive banh mi, among other house-made sandwiches, salads, and entrees. And that’s before you get to the ever-tempting pastry case. Cooking classes, tastings, live music, and events such as the annual CSA Fair dot the co-op’s schedule, enticing neighbors to shop and stay awhile. And the store is open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day, so whether you’re picking up a prepared lunch or doing the full family grocery run, Seward has you covered.