From: the General Manager

By Lindy Bannister

My how the time slips by. As I write this in May, buds are beginning to appear on the trees and news from the farm (Gardens of Eagan) is indeed bright. The unusually long winter set planting back by about two weeks, but now the seeds and plants are being put out, and not just on our farm. Across the region, our partners in food are working long hard days so we can look forward to many, many enjoyable meals of fresh, tasty morsels.

I anticipate that you will enjoy this issue of the newsletter. You'll learn about the exciting reincarnation of the Sow the Seeds Fund - "Local Longer" is an exciting concept in our part of the country with such a short growing season. Jack Hedin writes from Featherstone Farms about his new season after the floods. Uli shares his 15 years of experience and insights as our head teacher for Midwest Food Connection. The teachers in participating schools give him such high praise for his work. I hope your school age children have the opportunity to sit in one of his classes! Wendy Gordon's article will give you lots of great ideas to "tame the food bill." With news reports scaring us about supply and prices, this will calm your nerves.

I'm glad to say that the sprucing up of the store is almost complete. Thanks to everyone for being so patient with us through the dust and confusion. We hope that we have kept it to a minimum, and that everyone is pleased with the final project when we are done.

I have been busy representing the Wedge on two boards, at both the local and national level, to co-ops of many different kinds. The National Cooperative Grocers Association (NCGA) Board meets regularly, and we're working hard to bring more food co-ops into the association. At the present time, 110 co-ops in the United States are members and many more are interested in joining. Even as many in the conventional world have written food co-ops off as being outdated and passé, we grow at a rate that many of them would envy. In the Twin Cities alone, our stores remain very strong. Valley Natural in Burnsville is in the middle of an expansion as is Seward Co-op. Mississippi Market in St. Paul has just announced their new location to replace their Randolph Avenue store. There are a lot of good things going on!

On the other board of the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA), we are directing our attention more toward the domestic side of our business. We are also focusing on the work the association does in strife-ridden and post-strife countries in order to organize and promote co-ops as a business model. In the domestic arena, the opportunities are endless as we look at cooperation among co-ops from all sectors. If we have an ATM in our store is it from a credit union? If the option is available, do we buy from a beef co-op or from a co-op warehouse such as Co-op Partners? These are questions that are being asked as the task of revitalizing our economy lies ahead. The co-op principles could be the greatest tools we have to being very successful in achieving our goals.

Enjoy the summer and good healthy eating to all!