HGC hosted its first Winter Market on February 25 at EP Rock elementary school. There were 13 vendors who participated, and over 80 people attended the event. This was a great venue to meet local farmers and talk with vendors. Attendees could purchase a variety of local products and services, and Nick Meurett, former chef and current HGC board member, conducted a food demonstration. HGC had six new owners join and 21 people signed up for the newsletter. It was a successful event for everyone, and we look forward to hosting another market in the future.
 
Vendors included the following: BitMad Bakery, 10th Street Farm & Market, Cincotta Family Farms, Cedar Lake Teas, Community Homestead, Eener’s Farm, Klasen Apiaries, Mirasol Farm Organics, Plantables, Shady Lane Farm, Sweet Top Farm, Star Prairie Trout Farm, and Turtle Hare Farm. We greatly appreciate their participation.

Live Long and Co-op was the theme of the 2017 Up and Coming Conference. The focus of this conference is to provide information to start-up co-ops so they can grow and succeed. There were great opportunities to learn from the experts and to network with other co-ops, many of which are located in Wisconsin and Minnesota. With the conference being in Milwaukee, we could carpool so HGC was able to send 5 Board and committee members and attend 45 workshops. The Board has already started to implement new ideas from the workshops and we will continue to do so throughout 2017.

Again, HGC hosted a table at the Spring Showcase on March 19. We enjoyed meeting our neighbors in the community and talking about the co-op. We gave away seed packets and recipe cards which were a hit with gardeners, plus we added 37 people to the roster for the Beet newsletter.

This year HGC also had a mascot, Max the Sharkinator, participate in the dance-off, and he won the competition! Max is the son of Nick Meurett, who’s a director on the HGC Board. Look for the trophy, which we will proudly display at all of the events we attend this year.

You can check out a video of Max dancing at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzSxI2BtPUA

New HGC Director Michelle Sjobeck is a Clinical Quality Supervisor at Lakeview Hospital in Stillwater MN. She has also served in the Minnesota Air National Guard for 23 years as a Flight Medic and Flight Nurse for the majority of her career and currently serves as an Inspector General for the 133rd AW. Michelle received her BSN in Nursing from St. Catherine University and she holds a Master’s degree in Healthcare Administration from Walden University.

Michelle lives in St. Joseph Township, WI with her husband and daughter. In her free time, Michelle loves to run, stay active outdoors, read, ride motorcycle and spend precious time with family. She is passionate about holistic healthcare and the healing power that comes with consuming quality food that nature provides us. She feels honored to have the opportunity to work with her community members to bring a cooperative grocery store to Hudson that people can feel a sense of pride, belonging and ownership in.