We are working on a project to expand availability of locally raised meat and poultry in Minnesota. Please take a few moments to answer this consumer interest survey if you live in Northern MN – and if not, please circulate to any friends, family or colleagues who are Northern MN residents (North of Hwy 210/ Fergus Falls, Wadena, Brainerd, Duluth and further North). These survey results will help us understand consumer interest and preferences for purchasing locally raised meat and poultry in Northern Minnesota.

Bonus! Complete the survey and be entered into a drawing for great prizes. Three copies of the Minnesota Homegrown Cookbook and two Sustainable Farming Association caps will be given away to survey respondents entered in the drawing.

This survey is being conducted by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota (www.sfa-mn.org) with assistance from the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture at the University of Minnesota (www.misa.umn.edu).

Northern Minnesota Local Meat Survey

The greenhouse is expected to be assembled and filled with plants for a May 11th opening.

In the meantime, stop into the store to check out our wide selection of gardening products such as: seeds, organic fertilizer, gardening books, gardening gloves, plant markers/supports, onion sets, hose-end attachments, organic potting soil, organic compost activator, compost thermometers, and more!

The greenhouse was booming with blooms during the summer of 2011!

Currently, we have someone designing a WHOLE new website for Natural Harvest Food Co-op. This website will be easier to use with a better layout and more information. We will keep you updated as the website is closer to completion.

In the meantime, visit our Facebook and Twitter accounts for more information and news updates.

If you want to become a new member, your first year costs $50.

The first and second day of each month are member discount days. Stop in and receive 10% off of your purchases on these two days. The rest of the month you receive 2% off of every purchase if you are a member of Natural Harvest Food Co-op.

Remember, this Saturday and Sunday (Oct. 1 & 2) are member discount days!

If you have any questions about becoming a member or renewing your membership, please stop in or call (218)741-4663.

What do you do with black rice?

What’s the difference between sucanat and turbinado?

What is that green powder in the bulk section, and why do I think I need it?

Earlier this month, Wayne and Anne pulled together a stellar class that really ended up being a smash hit with attendees. So many co-op faithful—members, board, regular shoppers—signed up that we were a bit bewildered as to whether we had anything new to share. But guess what, the information was overflowing!

Wayne & Anne shared a little history of the co-op, a bit about how to shop the co-op smarter and plan meals when you’re cooking from scratch. Helpful handouts covered everything from which staples you should always keep in your pantry to a bonanza of recipes, many of which we sampled that night.

They led a guided tour of the store, stopping for samples in each department, answering questions and talking about good buys and some gourmet bulk favorites that you might have overlooked, like saffron, looseleaf teas, vanilla beans and Giusto’s high-performance flour.

In the end, everyone seemed to learn something, and have a little fun along the way. It was great to share a fresh berry smoothie together, and hear members comparing their canning recipes, exchanging tips for reusing containers, healthy meals, weight loss & sharing their own meal planning tricks. It really felt like the wonderful exchange of ideas between members, staff & quality products that we know our co-op to be.

To those who attended, we thank you. To anyone interested in more, we’d love to offer this class twice a year. Look for an announcement about a fall class sometime after Labor Day, or have a staff member take down your name and e-mail for a call-list to receive word when the class is scheduled.

Mike Olund has been growing organically in Brimson for more than 30 years, and his lettuce is a favorite at the co-op.

This year, he brought us garlic scallions for the first time. What can you expect? They’re a lot like green onions, with the extra bite of garlic at the bulb. Try them on the grill!

Janna Goerdt grows in Embarrass, another notoriously cold spot, but by the looks of her lovely spring mix you’d never know.

Her radishes have a sweet and spicy snap to perk up your spring salads and snacking. And they’re so pretty, too.

And last but not least, the shortest season favorite of them all … check these beautiful asparagus from the Pretaskys in Meadowlands!

Inside the store, you can still find asparagus roots, seed potatoes, onion & shallot sets and plenty of seeds for growing. Plus, we have organic fertilizer, worm castings and a new organic potting soil, which is made without peat and more sustainable. Available in 50 lb bags, too. Spring on in!

When the sun is shining, this small shed is bursting with possibility; on gray days it is filled with hopeful green and those great greenhouse smells! We have seven varieties of organic slicing tomatoes, lettuces, lots of pansies, petunias, and peppers, plus every other vegetable and herb you could want to grow. 

Inside the store, we have organic fertilizer and potting soil, seed potatoes, onion sets, seeds and more! Come check us out. New deliveries to the greenhouse every Friday … going strong through the end of June!

            Why do you use paper bags? Every household seems to have at least one reusable bag in the house, if not many more. We know how easy it is to forget the bag in the house, or in the car, and how much more convenient it can seem to just say, “Bag it,” when we’re in a rush. As part of our effort to better understand why we use paper bags, Erin also conducted a survey of customers. The goal of all this work is to identify waste in the store, to understand its causes, and to cut down on our excesses. This is a change that comes about gradually, but is a really simple way to use less paper and reduce cost and waste in the long run.

            So many of our shopping trips are quick ones that require only one bag. Storing a small bag or backpack in your car or a Chicco-style bag in your purse or at your desk might enable you to save us (and, ultimately, the landfill!) multiple paper bags every month. Stay tuned as we work to bring more of our own bags to shop, and hopefully you will, too.

            We’re not going to get too much into the politics of subsidies and agribusiness here, we must be honest, shopping the co-op can sometimes force us to ask these questions. Our own particulars, as a small, non-urban, independent co-op, mean that we have few deliveries and low inventory, and so don’t benefit from discounting programs that larger stores receive.

            Many shoppers come from penny-pinching ideals and thrill at a bargain. But over time, our own families have come to shift their values when it comes to the percentage of income we spend on our food. We spend more of our monthly budget on groceries because we believe in organic, local and whole food cooking, whenever possible, but also because we value eating at home, and on a deeper level, feel more sustained by these choices. It is possible to shop the co-op affordably, and to concentrate on using our bulk basics, such as beans and whole grains, and fresh produce that form the building blocks of a healthy diet for ourselves and the planet.

            In this time that we celebrate Co-op Month and honor cooperative values, it’s easy to look back on our more than 30 years of history and say, “My how we’ve grown,” but, really, though our ranks now include nearly 1800 members, more staff, more space, more products, more, more, more, our values have never wavered. We are still the same store that began as a group of folks who chose to say, “No” to the increasing presence of highly processed Frankenfoods on the market. The world has changed around us since we began, but, at the same time, it hasn’t.

            The worries of the past are still with us—perhaps even more visible. Just in the last few months, a major egg recall has brought the unsavory aspects of factory chicken farming to light. The recent ruling against genetically engineered sugar beets that dominate the marketplace, and the risk of cross-pollination to organic crops, also highlights the tendency over time toward consolidation and reduction in diversity, in farming, as in business. As an independent store, we prefer to foster a community-minded atmosphere with our members as well as anyone who happens to walk in.

            Just as the co-op’s founders worked with their neighbors to make the buying club a success, our buyers have also worked with local and independent vendors and farmers whenever possible. Our first-ever Local Harvest Fest on Sept.25 featured samples and discounts from local and regional vendors, and gave our shoppers a chance to meet some of our loyal suppliers and growers.           

            That low-key, familial atmosphere is just what Board member, produce grower & chicken farmer Janna Goerdt found when she talked to members about how and why they shop the co-op. See page two to read the comments that some of you—our members—shared about why you keep coming back.

            We can’t all get “back to nature,” but we can certainly look to nature for guidance, and we can look to the basic foods as an ideal. At the same time, we are equally concerned about the future—the future of the soil, the crops, our children, and our children’s children. Part of the choice of shopping here is a decision to support growers and companies who choose not to use harmful pesticides on their crops and antibiotics on their animals, who respect the earth enough to think how their fields might fare in the long term instead of searching for the quick fix.

            Innovations in farming have helped grow more food for more people, in more parts of the world, it’s true. But when those practices create a monoculture and limit the natural diversity of the land, and when farming practices begin to sap the nutrients from the food as well as the soil, we have a problem. But somehow, even as the politics of organic and close-to-home foods becomes more popular, it’s no easier to achieve, and not necessarily more affordable.

            Sometimes it feels as if we’re swimming against the current. And maybe we are. The culture we live in—farmers, companies, distributors, retailers, and consumers alike—has long been steeped in the idea that food must come cheaply and it must come fast. But, whether it’s popular, easy, or fast, we’re sticking with our original values. After all, all we want is just good food—for ourselves and for future generations.

            Thanks for supporting us in Co-op Month, and every other month of the year. We couldn’t be who we are without you.