As part of our commitment to local agriculture, we’re happy to serve as a Consumer Supported Agriculture (CSA) dropsite for the 2012 local season. To purchase a CSA share, please contact the farms directly via phone or email (see below for a list of participating farms and their contact information.) Be aware that we can’t arrange to hold shares for you—you must pick up your share before 9 p.m. on your regular delivery day or arrange to have someone else pick it up for you.

These sweet treats are a winter favorite. Easy to peel, they’re a welcome lunchbox snack. Purchase them by the crate and give them away as hostess gifts. Or, serve them alongside fondue during your next winter gathering.

Sandra Jean wows us again. Assorted baby squash, carrots, broccolini, etc beg to be stir-fried or made the centerpiece of your next salad. A surprise in every box—think miniature CSA! All locally grown by Sandra Jean.

These greens couldn’t be more local—Sandra Jean was our produce manager’s college roomie! Each biodegradable package contains a diverse mixture of tender baby greens. Baby romaines and leaf lettuces create a nice backdrop for spicier red mustard and mizuna. If you’re lucky, your package may even contain a few edible flowers!

A relative of the European truffle, the elusive and exquisitely flavored morel grows in carefully guarded woodland groves throughout the Midwest, where rural folks refer to them with many a colorful nickname (Molly Moochers, Miracles… even Hickory Chickens!). Backwoodsmen and gourmets alike praise the morel’s robust smokey, earthy, nutty notes and meaty texture. If you’ve ever tasted a morel mushroom, you know they’re worth their weight in gold!

Remember that morels are intensly flavored (a little goes a long way) and fairly lightweight.

Linden Hills Co-op will serve as a pick-up site for folks who have shares in selected community supported agriculture farms this summer. Buying a CSA share is a great way to get locally grown, fresh food for your family and support local farms at the same time—it’s truly a win-win situation! To purchase a CSA share, please contact these farms directly via phone or email. Some farms have sign-up forms on their websites and other information that can help you decide which farm is right for your family.

Produce manager Marshall Wright is on a tear about plastic bags, so the produce buyers are making efforts to find alternatives to plastic bags of fruit whenever possible. Citrus in net bags have replaced bagged oranges, and we are now providing apples in bulk that are more affordably priced than some of the apples bagged in plastic.

Here’s a not-fun fact: shoppers use 27,000 plastic bags a MONTH at Linden Hills Co-op.

Want to know who grew your bananas? Equal Exchange, Oke Bananas and your co-op can tell you that! Check the display in the produce aisle, and then visit Equal Exchange’s Beyond the Peel website. We hear there’ll be grower profiles sometime soon, too!