linden hills co-op

This is the seventh post in our Co-op on a Budget series, which explores the different ways that we can shop co-op effectively and affordably. Also check out posts on shopping bulk, the Wedge Co-op vs. Cub Foods, Eastside Food Co-op vs.

For our May book club, we are reading a book so well-known it almost needs no introduction. Still, even a contemporary classic like The Omnivore's Dilemma deserves to be revisited, especially in light of how much impact it has had in the few years since it was published. It's on the book club agenda, in fact, because Linden Hills received so many requests to read and discuss Pollan's seminal work. We will be meeting at the Linden Hills Co-op on Wednesday, May 29th from 6:30 p.m.

As an increasing number of people are questioning the health of our current US food system, as well as those that consume from within it, more and more eaters are paying attention to the foods they eat. Hungry not only for the, “who, where, and how” of their food, consumers are questioning the integrity and effectiveness of the systems weʼve put in place to regulate, control, and protect our food supply as a whole.

After January's great book club meeting, we at SGT are really looking forward to our next bookish get together this month. We will be meeting at the Linden Hills Co-op on Wednesday, March 27th from 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. to discuss Folks, This Ain't Normal: A Farmer's Advice for Happier Hens, Healthier People, and a Better World, by the radical farmer and writer Joel Salatin. You might recognize Salatin as the chicken farmer with a mobile chicken coop from Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma and also from the documentary Food, Inc. Salatin is the owner of Polyface Farm in Virginia, an innovative operation that focuses on sustainability and seasonality. 

It was a cold night, but a hearty group came out to Linden Hills Co-op last week to discuss Wendell Berry's Bringing it to the Table for the latest meeting of the SGT Book Club. The book, an anthology of some of Berry's best-known and best-loved essays, was a winner, to say the least. The book is divided into three parts -- Farming, Farmers, and Food -- and the discussion ranged over all of these aspects, as we looked at Berry's writing and ideas specifically and also talked more generally about our own experiences with local food and farming and our own ideas and concerns for the future.

Everyone knows about the new-year, new-you mindset. I mean the idea that, come January 1st of the New Year, we will all dedicate ourselves to becoming radically better people. We will make lists of things we plan to change about ourselves or do differently, and swear that we will “really be committed this time.” Yes, New Year’s resolutions. And for better or worse, Americans make them every year.

“Do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?” asks Tom Rath, author of the book Strengths Finder 2.0. ”Chances are, you don’t,” he continues. “All too often, our natural talents go untapped. From the cradle to the cubicle, we devote more time to fixing our shortcomings than to developing our strengths.”

As a result, Rath writes, 77 percent of parents “think that a student’s lowest grade deserves the most time and attention.” And “teachers reward excellence with apathy instead of investing more time in the areas where a child has the most potential for greatness.”

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Do you make New Year's Resolutions? If so, do you make the same ones each year? Are you still trying to shed those 20 pounds you've been resolving to lose since 1997? Me too.

Last year I resolved to learn a few new tricks: I made granola for the first time, a Kahlua-like drink, cassoulet, and a bunch of pork shoulders (my wife gets most of the credit for these). I started composting. I spent half a dozen days at Riverbend Farm to try to get a very small feel for organic farming. I even took a canning class at Linden Hills Co-op in Minneapolis.

I'd like to get something out of the way right from the start: I'm a member at Linden Hills Co-op in Minneapolis (and they are Simple, Good, and Tasty partners). For the past couple of years, I've watched as other area co-ops have redesigned, refurbished, and rebuilt their own spaces beautifully, offering their customers more products, more selection, and more space to shop. I've been both jealous and -- at times, yes -- unfaithful to my own co-op. I've talked about the "quaintness" of Linden Hills Co-op's old space, telling my friends I prefer its cramped neighborhoody-ness to other co-ops' vast open aisles.

I was lying.

Even those among us who doubt the existence of a higher power shared the sense that someone -- or something -- was smiling down on us this past Sunday, August 15. After a long string of sticky, icky, ninety-degree days, the more than 150 local food lovers who gathered at Minneapolis' Minnehaha Falls enjoyed some of the finest food, fun, music, and -- yes -- weather we've had all summer. Simple, Good, and Tasty's Second Annual Pig Roast and Potluck gathered together families from all over the metro area to share stories, recipes, favorite family foods, and phone numbers with brand new friends. It was awesome.