In this season of giving, we are excited to announce that five member share scholarships were recently awarded, thanks to the generosity of other Co-op member-owners! As noted in last month’s Garlic Press newsletter, we opened up our second scholarship season, offering $100 scholarship opportunities for community members who have been unable to purchase a member share due to financial constraints.

October is National Co-op Month, and we were thrilled to be able to celebrate by giving back in this important way. Scholarship recipients pay half of the total member share cost of $200. Support for this scholarship program comes through donations from member-owners.

We hope to be able to offer this scholarship opportunity each October, if funds are available. If you are interested in donating to our scholarship fund (not tax-deductable), you can go online to do so here: https://rootedcarrot.coop/donate/.

If you missed this scholarship season but wish to apply for a future scholarship, email us at outreach@cedarfallsfood.coop and we’ll let you know when the application season opens again next year. We are grateful for these opportunities to continue to grow our co-op community!

All are welcome to join us on Tuesday, November 12 anytime between 5:45 and 8 p.m. at Second State Brewing in downtown Cedar Falls for a Co-op Potluck. In honor of our furry friends, we’ll have a free-will donation there to support the Cedar Bend Humane Society.

Join us and bring a dish to share.* We also encourage you to bring your own tableware if possible to help reduce landfill waste.

If you are a co-op member-owner, please consider bringing a friend who would benefit from learning more about the Co-op. We will have member applications along with t-shirts and stickers for sale. In addition, co-op member-owners get 10% off of Second State beer draws, so don’t forget your card. We can’t wait to see you there!

*Remember, don’t stress about your dish – we prefer your presence, so if you can come but don’t have time or energy to cook, grab chips and salsa or something quick from a local store and come on over!

On October 29, the Co-op announced the results of its election for the board of directors. With 26.1% of the membership voting, Jodie Huegerich became the newest member of the board, filling the seat vacated by outgoing board member Terry Stewart. In addition, incumbents Joy Thorson and Tom Wickersham were elected to serve another term.

Continue reading→

Last month the board of directors hosted its annual member-owner meeting to provide updates on the Co-op. (Special thanks goes to Lark Brewing for letting us use their space!)

There was lots of engaging dialog and conversation during the meeting, which outlined a number of important items the Co-op has been working on since 2014. One such update is worth highlighting here:

As you can see (left), the Co-op has been able to grow membership annually since incorporation. Of note, the Co-op has seen membership growth every month for the past 5 years. This is no small feat, and many other start-up food co-ops across the country are jealous of this track record.

I will be working with the board and our wonderful communications volunteers to post a more comprehensive recap of the meeting on the Co-op’s website for those who weren’t able to make the meeting. Stay tuned for more details!

What’s in a Name?
As I forecast in last month’s From the Board President post, the board did not announce a new name for the Co-op, as was outlined in our name change announcement back in May. Our timeline to change the new name was perhaps a bit too ambitious. However, we are making progress. The board has unofficially selected a new name, and we are currently working with industry consultants and other co-op experts to provide feedback on our tentative selection. If all goes well, we should finalize this decision in the next couple of months. We’ll keep you posted!

Site Updates
A big portion of the annual owner meeting was spent discussing our site search history. We provided a detailed overview of the sites that we have considered and spent time negotiating, most of which involved architectural renderings of what the site might look like upon completion. The board felt it was important to provide this information to, among other things, demonstrate just how close we have come to signing a lease and announcing a location. While we keep current site negotiations strictly confidential as per protocol for any real estate transactions for businesses of our size, it was nice to go over past negotiation history. It was evident that those members in attendance felt they gained good insight into our due diligence in securing an optimal site for the Co-op.

Special Thanks to Terry Stewart
One final item from the member-owner meeting was the opportunity to recognize outgoing board member Terry Stewart. I would just like to add a few personal notes here about Terry’s contributions over the years.

Terry’s willingness to help in just about any aspect of the Co-op’s work has been evident since nearly the beginning. He first joined the board in 2016 after Melanie Drake stepped down to assume the Outreach Coordinator position. Then, later that fall, after completing the remainder of Melanie’s term, he then stepped in again when a newly elected board member resigned. Terry volunteered to serve as Vice President, and to chair the Operations team. He helped lead efforts around the creation of our General Manager hiring materials, the work in conducting two market studies, and he has been invaluable in our site selection work. I’m pleased to report that Terry will continue on our site selection team! If you see Terry around town, please be sure to thank him for his service to the Co-op and the greater Cedar Valley community.

In cooperation,
Tom Wickersham

From the kitchen of Co-op member-owner Cynthia Foster

Iowa is a state where tomatillos grow well. The problem is that most people only think of them for salsa. While the salsa is great and I have a few recipes if you want one, the real magic happens when you roast a combination of tomatillos, onions, carrots, red bell pepper, and a few cloves of garlic. Place these roasted vegetables in a food processor and chop until it is a very thick sauce. Then your seasoning – salt and pepper to taste. Now you have a cooking sauce that will go over chicken, pork chops, and fish or in some casseroles and soups. It’s tangy and can be used to make over tried and true old recipes. See below for the cooking sauce and a delicious recipe to go with it.

Continue reading→

Fall is here, and as has become our custom, we celebrated last month at our much-awaited sixth annual Fall Food Fest! Rooty, the carrot welcomed dozens of people as they came to the Cedar Falls Community Center to enjoy food samples, a photo booth opportunity, face painting from the Hearst Center for the Arts, and lively music spun by DJ Jumpsuit.

Local food trucks, Kubo and La Calle, were outside selling delicious meals, while indoors local producers and other vendors provided food samples and some local food items for sale including the new Farm Shed Market with fresh fresh juice, squash and garlic from Kaiser Farm, and Yellow Table Farm’s lamb sausage and fresh garlic. In addition, guests sampled Homan Honey, sautéed mushrooms from Solstice Farm, crunchy cucumber and temporary veggie tattoos from Whistling Thistle Farm, and Country View Dairy yogurt. The UNI Local Food Program educated people about Greens to Go which provides fresh produce in areas of the community that don’t have easily accessible fresh grocery options. And no one could miss the popcorn smell wafting from Fitkin Popcorn who provided the popcorn cube given to our 1000^th member-owner. Continue reading→

Before we get into this month’s column, I want to take a moment to thank everyone who helped make this year’s Fall Food Fest a smashing success! From the farmers, producers, and restaurateurs to the musicians, to the face painters, to all the volunteers who helped move tables and chairs, hung posters around town, and more. This is what it means to build community. This is what happens when people work together for a cause. It’s amazing to see. And it’s exciting that we crossed the 1,000-member mark at the event. This is a win for our entire community!

ELECTIONS

As of press time, the deadline to apply to serve on the Co-op board of directors hasn’t arrived, but will have by the time you read this. So I won’t be able to announce the slate of candidates here. We’ll do that in a separate email. Stay tuned for more details soon, as the voting period begins Oct. 14.Continue reading→

It’s just around the corner – Jon Steinman’s only Iowa stop is this month, right here in our community!  Find out why the fascinating new book, Grocery Story: The Promise of Food Co-ops in the Age of Grocery Giants is making waves across the country, and why the largest grocers exert influence over the global food supply, which impacts all of us here in the Cedar Valley.

In cooperation with the Hearst Center for the Arts, your co-op is hosting Canadian journalist and author Jon Steinman.  Jon will share the amazing work food co-ops are communities are doing across the country.

The event is free to attend at the Hearst Center for the Arts on Wednesday, October 30 from 7 – 8 p.m. Check out the book ahead of the event if you wish, but regardless, come join us at the end of the month. You won’t want to miss this!

It was a year ago this month that the Cedar Falls Food Co-op almost signed an agreement for our future home. Unfortunately, the landlord withdrew the offer, so after almost 4 months of negotiations, we were back in the hunt for a new site.

Last year, as we were getting closer to signing the agreement, we also started making hints at some Co-op events – hints that we would be making an exciting announcement soon. We also started working with one of our committees on planning a site announcement party. Of course, as you know, there was no announcement. No party. No site.Continue reading→

The Peace Corps (1961): “The toughest job you’ll ever love.”

Nike (1988): “Just do it!”

Cedar Falls Food Co-op (2019): “It’s Up to You.”

Right now there’s an opportunity you should consider: Serving on a board to help launch an organization. If elected to serve on the board, you will be part of the leadership of the Cedar Falls Food Co-op as it journeys through the single most important event in its history: The grand opening of the store!

The deadline to submit applications to serve on the board of the Cedar Falls Food Co-op ends Sept. 14. Complete details can be found here.

Continue reading→