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Produce |
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Here is the update this week for local farmers: |
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 Gagnon Farm, Atlantic Mine
Potatoes: Red, Russett and Yukon Gold
Sweet Baby Carrots in pints
Green Top Carrots
Bulk Carrots
Green Top Beets
Bulk Beets
Sweet Corn
Slicing Cucumbers
Crookneck Squash
Hughes Farm, Calumet
Tomatoes
Lettuce: Red and Green Leaf; sometimes Romaine and Green Butter Crunch
Green Onions
Savoy Cabbage
Garlic
Parsley: Flat (Italian) and curly
Cilantro
Arugula
Leeks
Broccoli (subject to availability)
Sweet Onions
Lenington Farm, Lake Linden
"Red Zeppelin" Onions, Fresh
Sweet Onions
Over the Fence Farm, Mass City
Garlic
Ransom Farm, Houghton
Bulk Spring Mix
Bagged Mixed Greens
Collard Greens
Zucchini
Kohlrabi
Beans: Yellow, Green and Purple
Fresh Herbs: Basil, Dill, Oregano, Sage, Mint
Seeds & Spores Farm, Marquette
Tomatoes: Slicing, Heirloom and Cherry (sometimes Sungold variety)
Cucumbers: Slicing and Pickling
Swiss Chard
Kale: Green Kurly Kale, Red Russian, White Russian
Gold Zucchini
Patty Pan Squash
Green Beans
Wintergreen Farm, Ontonagon
Green Onions
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CORE VALUE PRODUCE ITEMS |
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 Local Bulk Spinach ~ Ransom Farms
SRP: $6.99/#
Core Value Price: $5.49/#
Organic Carrot Bags
5lb bags
SRP: $6.49/ea
Core Value Price: $5.49/ea
2lb bags
SRP: $6.49
Core Value Price: $5.49
Organic Gala Apples Bulk
SRP: $2.39/#
Core Value Price: $1.89
3lb bags
SRP: $5.79/ea
Core Value Price: $4.49/ea
Click on the link below to see all the everyday Core Value Items. We know you'll enjoy these savings! |
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| Click here for our Core Value brochure. |
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Regional Produce |
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 For the past few years, the Produce Department here at the Keweenaw Co-op has been buying most of its organic fruit and vegetables from Co-op Partner's Warehouse in St. Paul, Minn. Partners is a project of the Wedge Cooperative in Minneapolis and here are some of the reasons they are cool:
1. They are the little guy
2. Even better, they are a cooperative (the Sixth Cooperative Principle)
3. Their prices are consistently better than those from other warehouses
4. They look for ways to help make a better food system
That last one – Reason Number 4 why Co-op Partners is cool – includes things like carrying Equal Exchange Bananas (www.beyondthepeal.com), which are Fair Trade certified and grown by cooperative farmers fighting the good fight against Dole and Chiquita; offering produce from small California growers like T & D Willey Farms (www.tdwilleyfarms.com); and carrying locally grown produce.
Since Partners is located in St. Paul, Minn., what's local to them isn't necessarily local to us. In the Co-op's Produce Department, the yellow “local” sign goes on produce grown in the Western Upper Peninsula: Houghton, Ontonagon, Baraga, Marquette and Keweenaw counties. But it's worth recognizing the work of other farmers in the Upper Great Lakes Basin by highlighting the less-well-traveled organic fruits and vegetables they sell through Co-op Partners.
So when you're in the Produce Department in the coming days and weeks, look for purple tags next to the green organic produce signs. They'll say “Regional” and they'll draw your attention to produce grown in Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and parts of Michigan outside the Western U.P.
Enjoy summer. And eat your vegetables.
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KNOW WHO'S GROWING YOUR BANANAS THIS WEEK |
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 Abel Ugarte grew your bananas this week.
Last week it was Milton Enrique
If you regularly buy bananas at the Keweenaw Co-op, you may have noticed the appearance of the Equal Exchange banana tree at the north end of the produce island. With its yellow and green leaves, the tree really complements the bananas suspended from the ceiling on either side. But in addition to its aesthetic merits, this sign is informative. Each week when the bananas come in, we'll mark down the name of the farmer who grew them on one of the leaves of the tree.
Betty Marquez, Jose Villacis and all of the other farmers who grow the fairly traded organic bananas we sell at the Co-op are members of the El Guabo Association of Small Banana Growers in Ecuador. Founded in 1998 by 14 small-scale farmers, the cooperative now includes (and empowers) 450 banana farmers in the region surrounding El Guabo. This small-scale, cooperative approach is a radical departure from the sprawling plantations and social irresponsibility that have characterized the mainstream, big-corporate banana producers.
El Guabo invests its Fair Trade premiums on projects to improve the quality of life for its members and their community. Its members voted to spend 80 percent of their premium on education, health care, environmental projects and other social programs. The other 20 percent is used to fund infrastructure improvements for the cooperative, such as packing stations and warehouses.
By attaching the name of the farmer to every case of bananas, Equal Exchange is seeking to create a more personal connection between farmer and grocery shopper despite the roughly 4,550 miles between El Guabo and our produce department. This is one connection that reminds us we are part of a global community. You'll probably never meet Betty Marquez, but your banana purchase helps her support her family – and her community – in El Guabo, Ecuador.
But if you do chance to meet Betty Marquez some day, be sure to thank her for growing such fine-tasting bananas.
More information about El Guabo and Equal Exchange bananas can be found online at CLICK HERE |
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