mix Twin Cities Natural Food Co-ops May/June 2014 1

CHANHASSEN
Lakewinds Natural Foods
www.lakewinds.coop
435 Pond Promenade
952-697-3366
Mon.Sat., 8:009:00
Sun., 9:008:00
LONG LAKE
Harvest Moon
Natural Foods
www.harvestmoon.coop
2380 Wayzata Blvd.
952-345-3300
Mon.Fri., 7:009:00
Sat. 8:009:00
Sun., 9:008:00
MINNEAPOLIS
Eastside Food Co-op
www.eastsidefood.coop
2551 Central Ave.
612-788-0950
Daily 8:009:00
Linden Hills Co-op
www.lindenhills.coop
3815 Sunnyside Ave.
612-922-1159
Daily 8:009:00
Seward Co-op
Grocery & Deli
www.seward.coop
2823 E. Franklin Ave.
612-338-2465
Daily 8:0010:00
Wedge Co-op
www.wedge.coop
2105 Lyndale Ave. S.
612-871-3993
Mon.Fri., 9:0010:00;
Sat.Sun., 9:009:00
MINNETONKA
Lakewinds Natural Foods
www.lakewinds.coop
17501 Minnetonka Blvd.
952-473-0292
Mon.Sat., 8:009:00;
Sun., 9:008:00
NORTHFIELD
Just Food Co-op
www.justfood.coop
516 S. Water St.
507-650-0106
Mon.Sat., 8:009:00;
Sun., 10:007:00
ST. PAUL
Hampden Park
www.hampdenpark
coop.com
928 Raymond Ave.
651-646-6686
Mon.Fri., 9:009:00;
Sat., 9:00-7:00;
Sun., 10:007:00
Mississippi Market
www.msmarket.coop
622 Selby Ave.
651-310-9499
Daily 7:309:30
1500 W. 7th St.
651-690-0507
Daily 7:309:00
ST. PETER
St. Peter Food Co-op
www.stpeterfood.coop
228 Mulberry St.
507-934-4880
Daily 7:009:00
STILLWATER
River Market
Community Co-op
221 N. Main St.
651-439-0366
Daily 8:009:00
www.themix.coop
A Twin Cities Natural Food Co-ops Publication
Twin Cities area
Minneapolis
St. Paul
Lakewinds
Minnetonka
Harvest Moon
Long Lake
Lakewinds
Chanhassen
Linden Hills
Valley Natural Foods, Burnsville
Wedge
Seward
Eastside
Mississippi
Market
River
Market,
Stillwater
City Center Market, Cambridge
St. Peter Food Co-op,
St. Peter
Just Food, Northeld
Map not to scale.
Member Stores
BURNSVILLE
Valley Natural Foods
www.valleynaturalfoods.
coop
13750 County Road 11
952-891-1212
Mon.Thurs. 8:009:00;
Fri.Sat. 8:008:00
Sun.10:008:00
Java Drive
Mon.Sat. 6:308:00
Sun. 9:008:00
CAMBRIDGE
City Center Market
122 N. Buchanan St.
763-689-4640
Mon.Sat., 8:008:00
Sun., 10:006:00
Greening the Garden with Native Plants
Why a native-plants garden is good for your green space and good for the planet.
Hampden
W
hen
cruising
the aisles
of your
local
nursery for
spring planting ideas, its easy to
focus on the colorful, showy
ornamentals. Theyre rather like
the Vegas
showgirls of the
gardening worldflashy, gaudy
and ready to show you a good
time this summer. That said,
theyre likely to disappear with
the first chilly days of autumn.
Native plants, on the other
hand, are the ultimate Minnesotans.
If they were people, theyd be,
well, wallowersshyly tucked in a
corner at a cocktail party, avoiding
eye contact. But native plants will
return faithfully each year, happily
enriching your garden and
nourishing local pollinators.
Native plants are already adapted
to our climate, so they take less
time and care to establish, says
Callie Martin, groundskeeper at
The Wedge. They are the most
loved food source of our native
pollinators. Having a native plants
garden helps to attract and shelter
those important pollinators that
have been in sharp decline in recent
years due to heavy pesticide use
and loss of habitat.
Unlike those showy
ornamentals, the roots of native
plants run deepliterally. Their
deep root systems protect the
topsoil and capture storm-water
runoff, safeguarding waterways
from harmful contaminants.
Planting natives in a location that
receives a lot of water or that tends
to ood can help absorb that excess
moisture and save other parts of
your yard, says Martin.
It all sounds great, but how
does one go about planting a native
garden? Prep your site as early as
possibleno later than late May or
early June, says Gary Johnson,
Valley Natural Foods community
relations developer. You can do
your planting through June, then
observe your garden the rest of the
summer. You may need to thin
plants and cut back in the fall when
theyve gone dormant. You can
divide and move plants to ll in
empty areas.
Topping Martins list of
recommendations are space and
patience. Start with a small area
and limit yourself to just a few
plants at rst, she says. I tell
people to pick a ve-foot square
and work with that. Its a great idea
to choose a neglected spot, like a
strip of undeveloped soil near your
garage. The rst few years youll
need to baby the plants to make
sure theyre getting the right
amount of sunlight and water.
Native varieties generally take
longer to get establishedthree
to four yearsbut once theyre
rmly entrenched, theyll return
year after year.
Martin suggests several nearly
foolproof varieties for the novice
native gardener such as milkweed,
buttery weed and bergamot. Bee
balm is also beautiful, she says. It
spreads like mint. Coneowers are
native to our area and can be used
in herbal medicines. Its fun to get
some native varieties of berry
bushes, tootheyre delicious.
You can also design your
garden for a specic purpose. If you
want to attract pollinators, include
plants such as aster, purple prairie
clover, sweet Joe Pye weed, prairie
blazing star and goldenrod. To
attract butteries, consider
leadplant, cream false indigo,
harebell, western sunower and
lupine. If you struggle with deer
damage, plant the owers and
grasses deer tend to avoid such as
lavender, hyssop, prairie smoke and
wild petunia.
Most of the co-ops can offer
resources on native gardening. For
more information, inquire at the
customer service desk and look for
course offerings and plant sales
throughout the spring and summer.
Julie Kendrick is a Minneapolis-based
freelance writer who focuses on family,
business, and lifestyle reporting for a number
of local sites and publications.
B Y J U L I E K E N D R I C K
mix Twin Cities Natural Food Co-ops May/June 2014 5
M
ississippi Market member-
owner Neala Schleuning
was one of the first
beneficiaries of the
Peoples Pantry, a small
grocery co-op that was
founded on the back porch of a Cedar-Riverside
house in 1970. I was a single parent of a poor
family, and the co-op provided
a source of nourishing, low-
cost food, she says. Mississippi Market aims to
provide similar support to struggling families
through its new Limited-Income Membership
Entry (LIME) initiative that provides
discounted co-op memberships to people in
financial need. Anyone enrolled in financial
assistance programs, including SNAP/EBT,
WIC, SSD, Supplemental Security Income,
Section 8 Housing, Refugee Cash Assistance,
Medicaid, and General Assistance qualifies for
LIME. Applying for the discount is simple and
discreet. One must simply visit the customer
service desk and show photo identification and
a verification letter from one of the qualifying
aid programs. Membership is immediate, and
the discount takes only a few days to process.
We want everyone to feel at home at the
co-op, says Liz McMann, Mississippi Market
consumer affairs manager. Thats why were all
so excited about this program.
Just six weeks after its initial launch, 96 new
members joined Mississippi Market through the
LIME payment plant, and 133 existing member-
owners signed up for the discount. You cant tell
by looking at someone what their nancial
situation is, says McMann. As it turns out, we
had a number of member-owners who were in a
time of need.
Creating a discount that would be sustainable
for the co-ops bottom line did force some hard
decisions. The co-ops senior citizen discount,
which was previously held all week, was reduced to
one day per week. Some seniors expressed
disappointment with the change, but their
comments, overall, have been positive, says
McMann. I keep a letter in my desk from a senior
who wrote that while she was upset at rst, she
realized that its important to do good in our
community, and shes proud to be part of an
organization that keeps social justice in mind.
Senior Nancy Zingale has high praise for the
program. Ive been eligible for senior discounts
for a number of years, she says. It has always
bothered me that I benet from a discount when I
dont really need it, while many hardworking
individuals and families struggle.
LIME is just one of many Mississippi Market
programs that account for those on limited
incomes. Its free Shopping on a Budget course,
held six times per year, outlines how to create a
grocery budget, the cost benets of seasonal
foods, and how to take advantage of coupons
and discounts. The course is so popular, co-ops
around the country are now using its curriculum in
their stores.
LIME will be a key part of marketing
Mississippi Markets new East 7th Street store, set
to open next year. Our new location in East St.
Paul is in an old neighborhood with a lot of
economic and ethnic diversity, says McMann.
As we introduce ourselves in this new setting,
we want to spread the word that everyone is
welcome to shop the co-op. After all, everyone
loves good food.
Julie Kendrick is a Minneapolis-based freelance writer who
focuses on family, business and lifestyle reporting for a number of
local sites and publications.
Healthful Food for All
Mississippi Market launches a low-income membership discount program.
B Y J U L I E K E N D R I C K