This recipe makes four jar salads—perfect for packing with lunches—or two large salads. The kale is sturdy enough to keep, so this recipe is great for Sunday night meal prep.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium sweet potato, diced
• 2 Tbsp. olive or coconut oil
• 1 bunch green kale, shredded
• ¼ cup Salad Girl Crisp Apple Maple Organic Vinaigrette salad dressing
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• Handful green beans, chopped
• 1 carrot, shredded
• 1 medium beet, shredded
• 1 small apple, diced or shredded
• Four clean 12- or 16-oz. glass jars

Preparation:

Heat oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Add sweet potato and a few dashes of salt and cover, stirring occasionally, until tender. Cool. Meanwhile, shred kale into bite-sized pieces, wash, dry and place in a large bowl. Add Salad Girl dressing and massage until the kale begins to wilt. Set aside. While kale sits and sweet potato cooks, prepare the rest of the vegetables. Once the sweet potato is mostly cooled, divide and nestle in the bottom of four jars, followed by layers of the rest of the vegetables and apple, and top with the kale.

Seward Co-op’s Board of Directors will host a Candidate Forum as part of the 2017 election. We will gather in the Creamery Café to hear from and meet the candidates, and to visit with fellow co-op owners. LaDonna Sanders-Redmond, Diversity and Community Engagement Manager, will facilitate the large group portion of the evening and we’ll also have some time for informal conversation. In past years, voters have told the board that written essays alone make it difficult to distinguish candidates. We hope the forum will encourage dialogue about governing our cooperative. What questions might you ask of co-op board candidates?!

Light food and one free drink ticket is provided with all RSVPs. Additional drinks will be available for purchase. Space is limited; please register now!

Please note: beginning at 6 p.m. we will admit those who RSVP. If you are not present by 6:15 p.m., your spot may be given to others on a first come, first served basis.

Seward Co-op opened in 1972 on the corner of 22nd and Franklin avenues. In the beginning, the co-op was run by a core group of volunteers and had a modest selection of products with a heavy emphasis on bulk goods. Today, we have an abundant selection of bulk foods and wellness products to inspire both meal times and self-care routines, all while helping you save money and reduce packaging. In addition to pantry staples, scoop up our teas, medicinal herbs, dried fruits, local honey, cooking liquids, fair-trade coffee and household cleaning products. Did you know you can grind your own fresh peanut and almond butters?

Whether you are simply looking for festive Halloween snacks or want to stock up your pantry for fall baking, we have a treat for you: a 10-percent-off Bulk Sale* on Thursday, Oct. 19. All day — for one day only — everything in the Bulk department (even sale items and Wellness bulk items) is 10 percent off. In 1972, when the co-op took shape, few people imagined it would grow to be the thriving community center and source of healthful food it is today. What’s most important is that amidst its growth, the co-op has remained true to its Ends, never losing sight of its commitment to its owners and the greater community.

*The Oct. 19 bulk sale does not include reusable glass and plastic containers; items sold per pound in other departments, such as Produce and Meat & Seafood.

DIY Trail Mix

At Seward Co-op, our bulk aisles offers all the raw, salted or roasted nuts, seeds, dried fruit, and other tasty morsels you need in order to create an economical, nourishing snack that allows you to control the salt and sugar content. The basic formula for designing your own trail mix is to combine 50-percent nuts, 30-percent dried fruit, 10-percent seeds, and 10-percent any other bulk goodie of your choosing. Proportions are not an exact science, and quantities can be easily altered and tailored to your unique preferences or dietary restrictions.

Most conventional, premixed trail mixes are loaded with sugar and salt, but you can avoid that by making your own. It’s the perfect family-friendly activity that teaches healthful eating habits and serves as a nice introduction to the co-op. Here’s one of our favorite recipes to get you started.

Everyday Trail Mix

Ingredients
1 cup cashews
1 cup almonds
1 cup walnuts
½ cup dried cranberries
½ cup dried bananas
¼ cup sunflower seeds
¼ cup pumpkin seeds
¼ cup chocolate-covered ginger

Directions
Toast the nuts and seeds in the oven at 350° F. until fragrant and lightly browned. Let cool. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

The annual Seward Co-op Board of Directors election begins Monday, Sept. 25. All co-op owners for whom the co-op has a current email address will receive a link to vote online. A paper ballot and election brochure will also be mailed to co-op owners.

Co-op owners elect the board of directors—one vote per household. Help maintain our healthy co-op democracy and participate in the direction we take as a community-owned business by casting your vote.

This year, there are three at-large seats up for election. Two seats are three-year terms and one seat is a one-year term. The candidate who receives the third-highest number of votes will serve the one-year term.

New This Year!
The board of directors hosted a Candidate Forum on Tuesday, Oct. 3 at the Creamery Café. The candidate forum was an opportunity to hear from those willing to serve on the board and to mingle with fellow co-op owners.

Voting for the board is important and easy:
* Read the candidate essays and watch their videos.
* Select up to three candidates.
* Cast your vote online or mark your paper ballot.

Paper ballots are accepted at any co-op location or can be mailed. Voting is open through the annual meeting on Monday, Oct. 23, when election results will be announced. Click here for more information about the board of directors, or email board@seward.coop.

Seward Co-op is issuing a voluntarily recall of its Chorizo Empanadas due to mislabeling and undeclared allergens. The product label incorrectly identified the product. In addition, the product contains tree nuts, a known allergen which was not declared on the finished product label. Between Aug. 12, 2017 and Aug. 14, 2017, Seward Co-op sold the product affected by this recall at both the Franklin and Friendship stores.
Seward Co-op Chorizo Empanadas ($7.99/lb.)
UPC: 203725202xxxxxx

If you purchased the above product at Seward Co-op between Aug. 12, 2017 and Aug. 14, 2017, recalled products will be fully refunded at either our Franklin or Friendship store Customer Service desk. Questions may be directed to Seward Co-op’s Franklin store at 612.338.2465 or Friendship store at 612.230.5595.

August is P6 Month, and Seward Co-op will be celebrating all month! Your favorite small, local, and/or cooperative P6 producers will be in the stores sampling and we’ll be giving away $20 Seward Community Co-op gift cards to shoppers every weekend!

The P6 label calls out products that meet our highest values, which align with the Ends of the co-op, and show our commitment to supporting a strong, independent, local food system. When you buy P6, your dollar goes further! Buying P6 products not only supports your local co-op, but flows resources back to the small-scale, local, and/or cooperative producers–many of which pay their staff a living wage and provide them benefits. From 2010-2016, Seward Co-op’s total P6 sales have nearly tripled from $7,380,200 in 2010 to $19,829,496 last year!

Seward Co-op proudly launched P6 in 2010 as a tool to help shoppers identify products that meet their values. In order for an item to receive the P6 label, the producer must meet two of three criteria: locally produced, cooperatively owned, and/or small-scale.

• Local defines a product grown or produced in the five-state region (MN, WI, IA, ND, SD).
• Cooperative is defined by cooperative ownership of the business or non-profit.
• Small-scale producer is defined using these guidelines: independently owned and operated, selling direct to our stores or through a local distributor with a regional distribution area.

We pay special attention to products from international sources, or whose main ingredient is from an international source, like a chocolate bar or coffee. The international ingredient must be sourced from a small-scale farmer co-op in order to receive the P6 designation. This extra level of attention is because of rampant exploitation in international commodity food chains.
We hope that Seward’s cooperation with the other P6 co-op members inspires you to support your co-op, area producers, and the equitable relationships embodied in a co-op supply chain.

Remember Joe and Bonnie of Hill & Vale? For many years, they supplied Seward Co-op with 100-percent pastured-raised, whole carcass beef. In 2015 they retired from farming and we bid them a bittersweet farewell. Paul Smith, his son Jared Smith, and a neighboring farmer Aaron Anderson took the torch and continued on the path paved by Joe and Bonnie under a new name “Blooming Prairie Natural Beef.”

Blooming Prairie has grown with Seward Co-op as we’ve expanded into the Bryant Neighborhood with the Friendship store, which is something Hill & Vale were concerned about being able to achieve. We are happy that we can continue working with a small beef producer instead of needing to rely on a much larger beef operation to meet our increased demand. Thank you Seward Co-op shoppers for supporting this growing, family business in our local community.

This week, we will retire Blooming Prairie’s grass-fed, grain-finished beef and replace it with their 100% grass-fed beef—at the same great price. The animals will continue to be hand-selected when ready, delivered to us every week, fresh from the farmer. The only difference is that the livestock is grass fed from start to finish. If you’re not used to 100-percent grass-fed beef, it is slightly leaner than its grain-finished counterpart, so be sure to cook it lower and slower so it doesn’t dry out.

All of the beef we receive from Blooming Prairie Natural Beef is whole carcass and cut fresh in house. The product available in the case comes from the same steer, ordered directly from the farmer and prepared for you by our highly-skilled butchers. Blooming Prairie brings a lot of passion and care to their work. Their single-origin calves are raised on their mother’s milk until they are old enough to be weaned, then graze on their own in the pasture, where they are well taken care of and live a good life. Farmer Paul Smith says, “If you’re looking for beef with great flavor, texture, and no additives—this is it—Blooming Prairie is the only beef I feed my family.”

Now that weather is warming up, Seward Co-op would like to encourage shoppers to bike to the co-op whenever possible.

And we want to make it worth your while to make the extra effort. Pick up a “Cycle Perks” sticker at Customer Service to wear proudly on your helmet or bicycle. Along with this sticker, you’ll also receive a special punch card, which you can have punched for any purchase at Seward Co-op. A full card of 10 punches will enter you into a monthly drawing for a $50 gift card at Seward Co-op!

Additionally, every year the co-op contributes financial support to a different bike-related organization.

We are excited for the annual Eat Local Co-op Farm Tour coming up on Saturday, July 15 in partnership with Twin Cities area co-ops.

The Eat Local Co-op Farm Tour was created to showcase local farmers that bring local food to our tables. Each year, the tour highlights Minnesota farms, allowing the general public to meet directly with local producers to learn more about our food system and the importance of eating local.

“We’re proud to be a sponsor of the Eat Local Co-op Farm Tour,” says Tom Vogel, Marketing Manager for Seward Co-op. “We aim to sustain a healthy community, and part of that includes connecting our customers to the farmers that produce the food that they eat.”

Additional sponsors of the event include Lakewinds Food Co-op, Wedge Community Co-op and others. The event takes place on Saturday, July 15 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and is free to the public. Visitors are encouraged to map out their self-guided routes. You can see a map of the farms here.

To see a list of participating farms, visit seward.coop/news/calendar or the Eat Local Co-op Farm Tour Facebook page.

During February 2017, nearly 500 Seward Community Co-op owners provided their feedback on the cooperative’s performance. Seward appears to be meeting owners’ needs quite well; nearly 90% of the respondents said they were satisfied or extremely satisfied, and we rank highly relative to other food cooperatives around the country. However, newer owners are less satisfied with Seward than more long-time owners, and overall satisfaction indicators have been trending slightly downward since 2013.

In terms of shopper satisfaction with store characteristics, Seward ranks significantly higher than the average cooperative with respect to some key store features: quality/freshness of its products, location, hours, atmosphere, and natural/organic products. Seward Co-op owners are even more pleased with the quality of store departments; nearly every department meets the needs of a significantly higher proportion of owners than the average cooperative.

Compared to other cooperatives around the country, Seward owners spend a significantly higher proportion of their food budget at the cooperative. In 2017, nearly half said that Seward is their primary grocery store.

Owner awareness of the P6 and Nourish programs was mixed. A much higher proportion (70%) was aware of the P6 initiative than the Nourish program (43%). Consumers seem to place more value on an item being organic or local than whether it is classified as P6.

In terms of communications, Seward owners continue to prefer more traditional forms of communication (emails/e-newsletter, in-store postings and mailings) over social media communication (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter). Large majorities of respondents said they are satisfied with the frequency and content of communications from us.

Seward Co-op, based on the 2017 results, continues to be high performing. The results suggest the need to address some issues: consolidating our position with newer owners, trying to determine the source of erosion of the proportion of very satisfied owners, considering the array of products offered at the Friendship store, and concerns about prices. Seward comes at these issues from a position of strength vis a vis owners’ attitudes about the cooperative.