Wondering how to celebrate Mom this year? On Mother’s Day, Sunday May 12 from 8 a.m. – noon, treat Mom to a special brunch made fresh in our Deli. We’ll be rolling out white tablecloths and flowers to beautify the dining area, too. And pick up a floral bouquet; we’ll custom wrap it for you from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Expect a wide variety of prices on plants and mixed bouquets – something for everyone!

Stop by the co-op from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 4 for our Mother’s Day Preview Event. Browse local & fair trade gifts, sample carrot cake from our bakery, and find the perfect greeting card. Also during the preview event, look for product demos from Honeyglow candles and Organic Prairie bacon.

Get creative this spring holiday season with natural egg-dyeing using bulk herbs and spices. Read below for more, and check out this natural egg-dyeing guide from Frontier Co-op.

Ingredients (per each color)
4 cups of water
2–4 Tbsp. ground herbs and spices (see below for suggestions)
1 Tbsp. white vinegar
4–6 hard-boiled eggs

Method
Bring water, vinegar and herbal-dye ingredients to a boil. Add eggs and reduce water to a simmer. Cook about 15 minutes, then cover and let sit another 15 minutes or until the color is as deep as you’d like. Remove eggs, gently rinse and let air dry.

Color Suggestions
Turmeric — gold
Hibiscus flowers — lavender
Coffee — brown
Tea leaves — sepia
Chili powder — reddish brown
Paprika — orange
Dill seed — soft brown
Curry powder — pale orange

Have fun mixing and matching colors, or experiment with other bulk herbs and spices to create your own unique hues.

The co-op is even greener this weekend, as we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Look for special St. Paddy’s features around the store.

• Irish cheeses: Irish Harp cheddar – Maple Leaf Co-op, Monroe Wisc.; Dubliner cheddar – Kerrygold, Ireland; Cahill’s Irish cheddar with whiskey – Ireland; Cahill’s Irish cheddar with porter – Ireland
• Meat & Seafood: find corned beef and cabbage in the meat case. Call ahead with your order (612-338-2465), since this is a popular item!

  

• Bakery: Irish whiskey cake, soda bread and Irish cream cream puffs

Sunday, March 17, the Deli hot bar will feature a special St. Paddy’s Day-themed menu
Corned beef
Garlic mashed potatoes with poultry gravy
Smoked salmon potato cakes
Toasted barley pilaf with portabella mushrooms
Greens with turnips, rutabaga and almonds
Colcannon
Mustard braised cabbage

Friday, March 15 – Sunday, March 17: Look for special demos throughout the store, featuring our Bakery’s own soda bread and Irish cheeses from the Cheese department.

Do your bananas support small scale farmers? If you purchase them at Seward Co-op, they do! In 2012, consumers purchased 11 million Equal Exchange bananas. These purchases have tangible impacts on the livelihoods of courageous banana farmers in El Guabo co-op, located in Ecuador, and CEPIBO co-op in Peru. They’re making history for themselves, and quite possibly for the entire banana industry, with their organic, fair trade product.

Great Gifts

No matter how you celebrate the holidays or what favorite items your family and friends enjoy, look to the co-op for locally sourced delights. The grocery aisles are brimming with unique local products for the food lovers in your life. Share your favorite delights with friends and family by gathering items together in a gift basket! Try a pound or two of fair trade coffee, soothing tea, decadent chocolates and candies, and warm and cozy hot chocolate!

We’ve highlighted some staff favorites from around the store.

For more gift ideas, see the list to the left and our Pinterest gift board!

Gift of Membership

If you’re simplifying and trying to purchase less “stuff,” consider co-op membership as a gift. Giving a membership to Seward Co-op is giving your family or friends an investment in our community. As member-owners of Seward Co-op, they will be able to take advantage of member specials throughout the store all year long. In profitable years, members also receive a patronage refund proportional to their spending. And with a 10 percent discount off the total of one shopping trip four times per year, they’ll quickly realize a return on your $75 investment. Perhaps most importantly, members of the co-op participate directly in the local economy by supporting local farmers and producers, and other co-ops, as well. This season, give the gift of cooperation!

A Gift for any Occasion

We also know that shopping for gifts can be overwhelming, so if you can’t decide among our classy housewares, fair-trade chocolate or local body care products, choose a Seward Co-op gift card. With it, you’re guaranteed to have picked the right gift.

Thank you to the 10,872 customers -more than 50%- who contributed $3,012 to the Community Development Foundation (CDF), which will help in the Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. Seward Co-op will donate an addition $1,000 to the CDF.

We’re excited to be part of the Seward Winter Frolic! Join us for a holiday fair at the co-op on Saturday, Dec. 1 to sample holiday foods from local producers:

Featherstone Farm
Barsey’s Almonds
Alemar Cheese
Gudbar

Browse the aisles for gift ideas and warm up with live music, hot beverages, local art and prize drawings.

Seward Co-op staffer, Chrys Laramy, will have her beautiful pottery on display and for sale in our dining area from noon to 5 pm.

From 1:30 – 3:30 p.m., we’ll host local author Anne Sawyer-Aitch as she signs copies of her children’s book, Nalah and the Pink Tiger.

This year’s Seward art crawl—“Art in the ’Hood”—kicks off Friday, Nov. 30, and runs through Sunday, Dec. 2, throughout the Seward neighborhood. See schedule of events and details at www.sewardarts.org.

Internationally, there are an estimated 750,000 cooperatives that serve 730 million members. And throughout this year, we have an extraordinary opportunity to inform people around the world of the robust, human-scale, cooperative business model. The United Nations (UN) General Assembly has proclaimed 2012 the International Year of Cooperatives. Yearlong observances such as this have been regularly declared by the UN to promote awareness of important political, social, cultural, humanitarian or human rights issues. The 2012 resolution, titled “Cooperatives in Social Development,” recognizes the diversity of the cooperative movement around the world and the role cooperative businesses play in achieving economic stability, while also contributing social and community benefits.

At Seward and other food co-ops across the United States, we’ll be highlighting the economic and social benefits of co-op grocers in a variety of ways. Throughout the year, expect special events and activities to raise awareness of co-ops and celebrate the mutual commitment consumers and their local co-op grocers have demonstrated to each other.

One of these activities is an online video series hosted by Kevin Gillespie, co-owner and executive chef at the Woodfire Grill Restaurant in Atlanta and sixth season finalist on the Bravo TV series “Top Chef.” Gillespie takes viewers through farm fields and grocery aisles nationwide showing the unique role co-ops have in building local food systems and their impact in their communities. In late January, we hosted a group of cooperators in Seward Co-op’s classroom to view the first episodes — one of which featured our co-op. Subsequent videos will be released throughout the year and can be viewed at www.strongertogether.coop.

Throughout 2012, we’ll have demos and samples from P6 co-op producers, displays of co-op products, and information in the store about the International Year of Cooperatives.

Friday, Sept. 28
Chicken Vindaloo
Green Curry Roast Vegetables
Jeera Rice
Coconut Vegetable Curry
Samosa Cakes
Coconut Curry Roasted Chicken

Saturday, Sept. 29
Bacon Cheddar Leek Frittata
Baked French Toast
Vegetable Scramble
Breakfast Quesadillas
Biscuits & Gravy & Sausage
Potato Tomato Chevre Frittata

Sunday, Sept. 30
Bacon Cheddar Leek Frittata
Baked French Toast
Vegetable Scramble
Breakfast Quesadillas
Biscuits & Gravy & Sausage
Potato Tomato Chevre Frittata

Monday, Oct. 1
Chicken Enchilada Verde
Enchiladas de Papas
Adobo Vegetable Rice
Catalan Roasted Vegetables
Pineapple Chicken
Latin Roasted Squash

The Star Tribune recently ran a write up on the Eat Local Farm Tour, co-sponsored by the Twin Cities natural food co-ops. The self-guided tour takes place Saturday, July 30, and features 11 different area farms. Read the article and visit Seward Co-op’s Farm Tour page with links to all of the participating farms.