Let’s invite our neighbors, family, and friends to a Red, White and Blue Ownership Drive celebration! Please join us on Tuesday, July 28 at 6:30 p.m. at the Postmark Grille. We now have more than 300 owners in the Hudson Grocery Cooperative, and this means two important things:  first, we can now order our market study which will tell us where to locate, our optimal square footage, and expected yearly revenues. That’s important information for us to know as we move forward.
 
But secondly, we need 1,000 owners to open our doors! So, invite our neighbors, family, and friends to join us, or just come to help us celebrate! Postmark Grill will also offer a burger special for $6.99 that night just for HGC, so come early and have dinner!

Simply telling other people is really the key to the evolution of HGC. After hearing about the co-op from a local women’s group that Laura is involved in, the couple attended the May owner drive at The Stone Tap and became owners that evening. The Butlers have lived in Hudson for 19 years. Jim is retired from the City of Oak Park Heights, Minnesota and Laura is retired from Delta Air Lines and now works part-time at Edward Jones.
 
We asked Laura a few questions on her thoughts about HGC…
 
Why do you think it's important for the Hudson area to have a grocery cooperative?
I started volunteering at Our Community Kitchen in 2009 where we receive eggs and produce from River Market Co-op. The food was incredibly fresh and delicious.
 
What features would you like to see the HGC store have?
I think special diet and nutrition education is crucial for a healthy community, and of course who wouldn't love a good deli!
 
Why should others invest in ownership now, like you have, before there is an actual store?
I recommend people invest in the future of a local co-op now for our vibrant city.  By investing now, you'll have input about what HGC will be like when it opens - unlike the local chain grocery stores, which offer no input from the community.
 

Have you ever wondered about eating wild game? If so, here is an opportunity to learn more. Eat Local, Wild, Organic Meat class will be held on Monday, July 13 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. and repeated again on Monday, July 20 (depending on the number of registrants for each day). The two-hour program will cover aspects of obtaining and preparing wild-caught meat including: skinning, cleaning and butchering, marinating, cooking and carving and how to obtain wild meat. There will also be time for questions and interaction. 
 
The event is free and open to the public. It will be held at the Willow River State Park Nature Center; a vehicle sticker is required for park entry. For questions or reservations, contact Buck at cmalick2@gmail.com. Each session is limited to the first 40 registrants.
 

The owners of Hudson Grocery Cooperative elect the Board of Directors at the Annual Owner Meeting held each year in November. Since Directors serve 3-year terms and start dates are staggered, each year finds at least two seats available. 
 
This coming year is no exception.
 
Our volunteer board consists of up to nine (9) HGC owners. In addition to attending monthly board meetings ready to share ideas and vote on issues, directors commit to serving on committees and learning more about cooperatives, all while assuring that the co-op is being managed according to our bylaws and committee charters.

You may be thinking...

     But I don't know much about Co-ops?
 
We provide training opportunities for new directors - we work directly with two Co-op consulting groups that provide director trainings, and literature, as well as consult directly with our Board.  
 
     I don't think I have much to offer.

Directors are simply owners like you! Directors all have certain skills, professional training and unique experiences that they bring to the Board. These specialized skill-sets are what make the Board work. Perhaps you have an accounting background, farm, teach, work in the construction trades, or practice law - training in these and other areas all work toward making the board diverse and help us respond to and meet the needs of our growing ownership as we move closer to our goal.
 
     How do I apply?

In the coming months there will be more information and an application packet will be posted on our website. If you have questions now and would like to find out more please contact any current director (view director contact info).
 

The spring rains and warmer temperatures have encouraged a bumper crop of strawberries this year. Our little strawberry bed has produced over 30 pounds and we are not done yet. What do you do with all those strawberries?
 
Well, once you have gotten your fill of strawberry shortcake and have more strawberry jam than you will eat or give as gifts for the next decade, you start leaving one pound bags on your neighbors’ doorstep, which is much better received than leaving zucchini. Now what? We have strawberries from last year still in the freezer with no room for more. That means strawberry ice cream and sorbet are out. We came up with three options: 1. compost, 2. make wine, 3. dehydrate. We chose options 2 and 3, with option 1 as a last resort.
 
When we decided to make strawberry wine, we found a book called Making Wild Wines & Meads, by Pattie Vargas and Rich Gulling. They have a recipe for strawberry wine that is not overly sweet and syrupy. We will know in six months if it lives up to the crisp, sophisticated wine they describe.
 
Dehydrating strawberries is very straight-forward; wash, hull, slice, and dry. No pretreating is necessary. Getting the dried slices to release from the screen is a little more difficult. After the first round, I very lightly coated the screen with a little oil and made sure I turned the strawberries several times during the drying process. We built a solar dehydrator last year from plans at www.geopathfinder.com. Bob Dahse and Larisa Walk are in Winona, MN and their solar dehydrator is great for this latitude.
 
Now that the strawberries are ending, we are picking raspberries. It looks like we will have a bumper crop of these too, unless the birds get to them first. Thanks to the strawberries, we will know exactly what to do with these tasty morsels.