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You are here: Home / Archives for seed

Is Your Garden Ready for Spring?

July crops are shown blooming at Uprising Organics.

It may seem chilly in the Pacific Northwest but spring starts next month. Time to prepare your garden! Luckily, the Community Food Co-op has your essential gardening tips and tricks to get you ready.

Getting Ready for Spring

Step 1: Clean your annual flower beds and vegetable beds. This means pulling any dead annual plants, removing dead growth, pulling weeds, and revitalizing your mulch and soil. This is also a great time to edge your garden beds, reducing overgrowth into your garden.

Step 2: Start some Uprising Seeds indoors. Onions in particular do well when started indoors in February and March. A few others that do well indoors are parsley, summer cabbage, tomatoes, and peppers. Indoor planting kits can be found in our produce sections. Our go-to list for  planting times is Uprising Seeds’ Maritime Northwest planting guide.

Step 3: Plant bare-root roses and fruit trees, and finish pruning existing rose bushes and fruit trees. By pruning your plants while they are still dormant, they can focus on creating new, healthy growth once the warm weather arrives.

Step 4: Once you’ve pruned, use a dormant spray on roses and fruit trees. Dormant spray will save you from a bug infestation in mid-spring or even later in the season. This is just one effective way to protect your plants from overwintering pests such as larvae!

Step 5: Harvest cool-season vegetables before they bolt! Keep an eye on the temperature. If we have a sudden rise in heat, your cool-season crops may not make it.

Step 6: Transfer any tubers or corms you’ve stored into pots. It is least disruptive to your plants to transfer them while they are still tubers or corms, before they bloom. Then, you can water them occasionally and wait for them to bloom in the spring.

Step 7: Start dividing your perennials. Before dividing your perennials, ensure the plants are well watered. Then, shake off any excess soil on the roots and pull or cut the plant to divide it. Finally, replant each section. One rule of thumb is to divide your perennials every three years. By dividing your perennials, you’re allowing more space for the plant to grow and to gain nutrients. 

Uprising Seeds packets sit next to fresh produce

Uprising Seeds

Uprising Seeds is a small, family-run, and certified organic seed farm. They produce over 70% of the seeds they sell at their home farm, Uprising Organics, just north of Bellingham. The remainder of their varieties are sourced from family farms in Washington, Oregon, California, and Idaho.

Uprising Seeds’ ideal vision of seed sustainability involves farmers and gardeners as the stewards of the varieties that they depend on. They are committed to strengthening the public commons of seed genetics by working to preserve and improve open-pollinated varieties keeping biodiversity strong through adaptability and resilience. Support this local brand today at the Co-op!

Crops in a field are shown blooming at Uprising Organics.

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Allergen-Friendly Oatmeal Cookies — Four Ways!

As the summer heat wanes and the cool mornings return, school is back in action. Parents are busy packing lunches and offering after-school snacks. With so many snack items on the market, it’s hard to pick good, affordable choices. If you throw common food sensitivities into the mix, then there really aren’t many options available. So what is a parent to do? I have a solution!

If cost is not of concern then these are some good choices. All of the below are free of the top four allergens (gluten, dairy, eggs, and nuts), and contain quality ingredients:

Four seedy coconut cookies sit on a plate next to some school supplies.

1) GoMacro Kids Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie

2) DINO Bars

3) Cerebelly Bars

4) New Primal Snack Mates Meat Sticks

5) Chomps Meat Stick

However, as a mother and registered dietitian, I love to take on recipe challenges. Can I make an easy, simple, and allergen-friendly baked treat that even my preschooler approves of? Yes!

So here it is. A little oatmeal cookie, low in added sugar, made with simple ingredients, and best of all, super adaptable. 

These cookies make a great addition to a balanced lunch or along with some additional protein (hummus, yogurt, cheese, meat stick) for a balanced snack. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for about five days. The cookies do tend to soften over time. To freshen up, simply toast in the toaster for a few minutes. These oatmeal cookies also freeze well in case you want to double or triple the recipe. 

To show you how adaptable this recipe is, I have created a base recipe with four different options. I tried to keep the base recipe as simple as possible. However, a few more options are: 

  1. Add a tablespoon of nut or seed butter for a little extra protein and fat. 
  2. Swap out the regular sugar for coconut sugar. 
  3. Drizzle with a homemade yogurt icing for an extra special finish. 

Every batch makes about 10 mini cookies. Our favorite one is the Seedy Coconut!

DRY INGREDIENTS

1 cup gluten-free organic quick oats

2 tablespoons ground flaxseed

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder

¼ teaspoon Redmond’s sea salt

WET INGREDIENTS

1 small banana (greenish preferred), mashed (~1/3 cup)

3 tablespoons non-dairy milk of choice (omit for the Spiced Apple version)

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

Mix together the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix together the wet ingredients in another, larger bowl. Greenish bananas are preferred in the wet ingredients because they act more like an additional starch or binder, and provide less of a banana flavor to the cookie which allows the other ingredients to shine. Transfer the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir until combined. The dough shouldn't be too wet. Turn the oven on to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and place the dough into the freezer while the oven heats up to temp. This will make it easier to scoop out the batter. Meanwhile, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

When the oven is preheated, scoop out the dough to make 10 evenly sized cookies. We used a tablespoon cookie scoop. Press the cookies a little with a spoon or with your hand to make a more uniform “cookie” shape. Bake for 15-17 minutes. Then remove them from the oven and let them cool before handling.

VERSION ONE: Chocolate Chip

Add 2 tablespoons of chopped semi-sweet chocolate chips to the dry ingredients. Alternatively you can use mini chips to avoid chopping. Allergen caution: some semi-sweet chocolate chip brands contain added milk - so just double check!

VERSION TWO: Seedy Coconut

Add 2 tablespoons of hemp seeds (or finely chopped pumpkin seeds) and 2 tablespoons of finely-shredded, unsweetened dried coconut to the dry mixture.

VERSION THREE: Carrot Cake

Finely grate ¼ cup of carrots (the finer, the better) and add them to the wet ingredients. Add ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice and 1 tablespoon chopped raisins to the dry ingredients.

Four seedy coconut cookies sit on a plate next to some school supplies.

VERSION FOUR: Spiced Apple

Finely grate ½ of a medium apple. There will be a lot of apple juice. This will replace your 3 tablespoons of milk from the base recipe. Stir into the wet ingredients. Add ½ teaspoon of cinnamon and 1 tablespoon of finely-chopped dried apples or dried cranberries to the dry mixture.

How To Make the Easy Yogurt Icing:

Mix together 2 tablespoons of plain Greek yogurt or another thick, non-dairy yogurt together with ¼ cup powdered sugar until smooth. Spoon into a zip-close bag, cut off a small corner, and drizzle over the cookies.

Enjoy!

By Selva Wohlgemuth, Co-op News Contributor
Selva Wohlgemuth is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and owner of Happy Belly Nutrition in Bellingham, Washington. She specializes in gut health and has an in-depth knowledge of women's health. She is an avid outdoorswoman and mother.

HOT OFF THE PRESS| NUTRITION| RECIPES| SPECIALITY DIET dessert| gluten free| healthy| nutrition| organic| recipe| seed| vegan| wellness

Community Shopping Day: Bellingham Girls Rock Camp

Shop today and 2% off our combined sales will be donated to Bellingham Girls Rock Camp! You can also donate at the register any day of the month.

The mission of Bellingham Girls Rock Camp is to educate and inspire youth to be self-empowered collaborative leaders through music education, performance, media literacy, and social justice.

SEED funds will provide financial aid to low-income families who would not otherwise be able to attend Rock Camp, a week-long summer day camp for girls and queer youth ages 8 to 17. Over 50% of campers are supported by financial aid, and about 1/3 of campers receive full-tuition assistance. We hope to provide full financial aid for almost six Whatcom County youth to attend Rock Camp!

bellingham girls rock camp logo picturing an amplified guitar with a winding cord

community giving| community shopping day| seed

2% Saturday Community Shopping Day

Shop to benefit The Humanitas Ministry of the Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship, our December SEED recipient. Two percent of the Co-op's total sales from this day will be donated. Round up your purchase at the register any day in December to benefit The Humanitas Ministry of the Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship.

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2% Saturday Community Shopping Day

Shop to benefit Community to Community (C2C), our November SEED recipient. Two percent of the Co-op's total sales from this day will be donated. Round up your purchase at the register any day in November to benefit Community to Community (C2C).

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2% Saturday Community Shopping Day

Shop to benefit Whatcom Dispute Resolution Center, our October SEED recipient. Two percent of the Co-op's total sales from this day will be donated. Round up your purchase at the register any day in October to benefit Whatcom Dispute Resolution Center.

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2% Saturday Community Shopping Day

Shop to benefit Whatcom Peace & Justice Center, our September SEED recipient. Two percent of the Co-op's total sales from this day will be donated. Round up your purchase at the register any day in September to benefit Whatcom Peace & Justice Center.

community shopping day| CSD| donate| donate the difference| giving back| seed| the co-op difference| the coop difference

2% Saturday Community Shopping Day

Shop to benefit Whatcom Food Network, our August SEED recipient. Two percent of the Co-op's total sales from this day will be donated. Round up your purchase at the register any day in August to benefit Whatcom Food Network.

community shopping day| CSD| donate| donate the difference| giving back| seed| the co-op difference| the coop difference

2% Saturday Community Shopping Day

Shop to benefit Brigid Collins Family Support Center, our July SEED recipient. Two percent of the Co-op's total sales from this day will be donated. Round up your purchase at the register any day in July to benefit Brigid Collins Family Support Center.

community shopping day| CSD| donate| donate the difference| giving back| seed| the co-op difference| the coop difference

2% Saturday Community Shopping Day

Shop to benefit Bellingham Arts Academy for Youth (BAAY), our June SEED recipient. Two percent of the Co-op's total sales from this day will be donated. Round up your purchase at the register any day in June to benefit Bellingham Arts Academy for Youth (BAAY).

community shopping day| CSD| donate| donate the difference| giving back| seed| the co-op difference| the coop difference

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A Co-op employee decorated Mom cakes.

The Perfect Mother’s Day Gift

Delight the mom in your life with a few of our favorite products for Mother’s Day.  Mother’s Day Bouquets   Fresh flowers brighten Mother’s Day and indicate that spring is here. Our tulips and field daffodils are grown locally in Mount Vernon. We have tulips in a variety of lovely colored [...]
Savannah of Flynn Farms harvesting greens.

Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Happy Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month! Annually celebrated since 1992, AAPI Heritage Month recognizes the cultural contributions of Asian and Pacific Islander heritage to the United States. AAPI is an umbrella term for cultures from the entire Asian continent and the Pacific Islands of Melanesia, Micronesia, and [...]

Shop in Bulk and Save

Shopping in bulk is a great way to reduce the carbon-footprint (and the cost) of your grocery haul, but your first foray into the bulk section can be intimidating. We want everyone to feel comfortable and capable in all parts of our store, so we've developed a handy guide to [...]

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DOWNTOWN STORE & DELI • map • 360-734-8158 • 7 am – 9 pm
meat and deli counter: 7 am – 7 pm
made-to-order counter: 7 am – 6 pm
salad/hot bar: 7 am – 6 pm

CORDATA STORE & DELI • map • 360-734-8158 • 7 am – 9 pm
meat and deli counter: 7 am – 7 pm
made-to-order counter: 7 am – 6 pm
salad/hot bar: 7 am – 7 pm

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