Total Time: 25 minutes  Servings: 4-6

Ingredients

• 4 cups lightly packed arugula
• 1/2 cup lightly packed fresh parsley leaves
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup frozen peas, thawed
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 pound whole wheat penne pasta

Preparation

• Process the arugula, parsley, garlic, Parmesan and peas in a food processor until they form a smooth paste, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl twice. Add the lemon juice, salt and olive oil and process, scraping down as needed, to make a smooth, creamy pesto. Place the pesto in a bowl, and stir in the lemon zest.
• Cook the pasta according to package directions; drain and toss with the pesto. Serve with additional Parmesan cheese, and freshly-ground black pepper to taste.

Serving Suggestion

Spread this light, fresh pesto on a prepared pizza crust and top with goat cheese before baking or broiling, and cut in small triangles for a seasonal appetizer. Add halved cherry tomatoes and snips of fresh herbs or garlic scapes if you like.

Nutritional Information

340 calories, 10 g. fat, 5 mg. cholesterol, 290 mg. sodium, 290 g. carbohydrate, 9 g. fiber, 13 g. protein

We are happy to announce the results of Deep Roots Market’s first (ever!) runoff election for a Board of Directors seat. Lisa Hinton Donkor received the most votes though there were a lot of votes cast for Benjamin Free as well. Thank you to these fine candidates and to all the owners who voted for them.

The final list of the 2025-2026 Board Members (with their term expiration date) includes:

• Brittany Peters (2026)
• Debra Smith El (2026)
• Lisa Hinton Donkor (2026)
• Khaila Daye (2027)
• Drew Dix (2027)
• Mollie Blafer (2027)
• Cecelia Allen (2028)
• Spoma Jovanovic (2028)
• Andrea Li (2028)

A BIG thank you to the more than 200 Deep Roots Owners who attended our Annual Meeting and/or who voted in the recent election. The Annual Owners Meeting’s energy was boosted by our Benefit Concert that followed, with electric music all afternoon provided by the talented rock and Americana musicians of College Hill Kids. The band donated their services and attendees opened their wallets, raising money for our co-op. THANK YOU!!

The Annual Owners Meeting is a time when the co-op’s decision making is in our owners’ hands, and you spoke out! We are pleased to present here the election results for new board members and by-law changes.

2025 Board Members Elected: The top vote getters this year were incumbents Spoma Jovanovic and Cecelia Allen, so they have been re-elected to three-year terms. Andrea Li was also elected to a three-year term, her first on our Board of Directors. Congratulations to all three and welcome aboard to Andrea! And, for the first time in Deep Roots’ history, we will have a run-off ballot for the fourth board seat which will be for a one-year term (to fulfill an early vacated board seat). Benjamin Free and Lisa Hinton Donkor both received the same number of votes on the first ballot. Active owners (those who’ve made purchases in the last year), please look for the email soon providing instructions for how to cast your vote in the run-off election. Remember, you can read more about Ben and Lisa here.

Our deep appreciation goes to all the other candidates, all of whom were exceptional people with talents and interests that made voting difficult for us all. We hope to see them run again for a board seat—we have openings every year. Better yet, we hope they and all other owners will consider investing time on one of our board committees (or propose a new project or committee). Thanks again to the other candidates: Lisa Blakley, Hanna Garner, Brandon Martin, Jonathan Stephens, Rykiell Turner, and Pennington Vanstory.

By-Law Changes: All the proposed by-law changes passed with wide margins. Please see here for the proposed changes and rationale: Proposal #1: 197 for, 5 against; Proposal #2: 196 for, 3 against; Proposal #3: 192 for, 9 against; Proposal #4, 194 for, 8 against.

Thanks to the 2024-2025 Board Members: As we wind up the board’s working year, I want to extend my personal thanks to the 2024-2025 board members for their service this past year. They were exemplary in every way and continually put the interests of all owners at the front of the oversight and planning as directors.

Though all board members contribute to deliberations, planning, and decision making, they also take on special tasks. Brittany Peters and Mollie Blafer led our Board Development Committee which yielded a record 11 candidates this year for the Board of Directors. Their attention to the legal requirements of the process and needs of the candidates displayed care and kindness throughout. Cecelia Allen, Joel Landau, and Khaila Daye did the meticulous, thorough, and important work of updating policy governance and by-laws documents. Drew Dix and Mollie Blafer managed with staff members GM Matt Davis and Outreach Coordinator Genesis McCarty many new promotional videos, fundraising programs, and planning for our successful Annual Owners Meeting. Joel Landau, Debra Smith, and Khaila Daye spearheaded research and investigated options and discussions for among other financial issues, our LIMe program, owner equity, and the owner loan pay-back process. These matters are critical to the long-term financial well-being of the co-op. A big round of thanks as well to our board members who served Deep Roots for several years but had to step aside before their terms expired, Eric Smith and Suzanne Wilcox.

In addition to providing oversight and feedback to the General Manager and abiding by proper governance procedures, your Board of Directors moved $100,000 off the debt side of our balance sheet this year. We have more to do, but due to the generous support of owner-lenders, who forgave interest and/or portions of their original loans, we were able to pay back more owners than ever. We are committed to continuing an accelerated pay back schedule to owner-lenders, as store finances permit.

Adobo is a Philippine dish that typically involves marinating meat in a tangy sauce and braising it. In this version, kale is prepared similarly, simmering in adobo flavors until tender!

Ingredients

• 2 bunches kale
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 small onion, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 cup fresh basil

Preparation

• Strip kale from stems and chop. Reserve.
• In a cup, stir the soy sauce, coconut milk, vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper.
• In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and kale stems and stir for a minute to soften. Add the kale leaves and garlic and stir, then add the bay leaf.
• Stir until the kale starts to wilt, then pour the soy sauce mixture over the kale. Stir to coat, then cover the pot and turn down the heat. Cook for 5 minutes, then stir and cover again for 5 more minutes.
• Uncover and cook until the liquids are thick and coat the kale. Serve topped with basil.

Serving Suggestion

Serve with rice or noodles and your choice of protein. The greens will be the highlight of this meal!

Saint Paul, MN – Food co-ops that belong to National Co+op Grocers (NCG) last year achieved same-store sales growth of 4.7%--compare this with the overall US retail food market of less than 3% for 2024. NCG member co-ops also outperformed traditional retailers in shares of local, organic and fair trade products sales.

In their just-released 2024 Food Co-op Impact Report, NCG credits food co-ops’ community ownership model and commitment to building local supply chains among the factors contributing to their success. The annual report analyzes the collective economic, social and environmental impacts and achievements of its community-owned member food co-ops.

Now with 165 food co-ops, NCG continues to work to maximize members’ success, inclusivity and impact, and to grow the cooperative grocery sector in size and scope in an environmentally regenerative manner. Today, more than 1.3 million U.S. residents belong to an NCG food co-op.

Food co-ops are industry leaders when it comes to supporting local farmers and entrepreneurs The average NCG food co-op purchases from 175 local farms and producers, more than four times as many as similarly sized food retailers report (41 farms on average). Twenty-four percent of the average food co-op’s sales come from local products, compared with just 2% of sales at a conventional grocer.

Food co-ops continue to lead in organic product sales, with NCG reporting that 37% of food co-ops’ combined annual $2.8 billion sales come from Certified Organic products, compared with 24% of sales at other natural grocery retailers, and conventional grocers just 3% (according to 2024 SPINS data).

NCG reports Fair Trade Certified products made up 6% of food co-ops’ total sales, higher than other natural grocery retailers (4%) and conventional grocers (0.5%).

Sales of B Corp Certified products made up 9% of the average food co-op’s total sales, higher than other natural grocery retailers (6%) and conventional grocers’ (2%). B Corp Certification is a label that speaks to a company’s rigorous commitment to social and environmental sustainability. NCG has been a certified B Corp since 2011.

Showing solidarity, food co-ops prioritize products that are produced by other co-ops, such as dairy, chocolate and coffee farmer co-ops. Cooperatively produced products make up 5% of food co-ops’ total sales, higher than natural retailers (3%) and conventional grocers (1%).

Food co-ops are owned by the people in the community who shop at the co-op and have chosen to make a one-time investment in a lifetime membership (usually a $100-200 purchase of stock). The members then elect a board of directors among themselves.

This democratic process and local ownership model mean that food co-ops don’t change their values depending on which way the wind blows. They are rooted in their communities and participate in the international cooperative business movement, a business model driven by democracy.

Local ownership means that stores are responsive to community needs, profits remain in the community and support local economic development. Food co-ops invest in their communities—collectively, food co-ops donated more than $9 million to local groups last year, and NCG contributed an additional $1 million to organizations working to advance co-ops’ advocacy priorities at regional and national levels.

National Co+op Grocers (NCG), founded in 1999, is a purchasing and business services cooperative for retail food co-ops located throughout the United States. NCG helps unify food co-ops to optimize operational and marketing resources, strengthen purchasing power and ultimately offer more value to food co-op owners and shoppers everywhere. Our 165 member co-ops operate more than 240 storefronts in 39 states with combined annual sales of $2.8 billion. NCG is a winner of the dotCoop Global Awards for Cooperative Excellence and a certified B Corp. Find a map of NCG member co-ops. To learn more about co-ops, visit grocery.coop.

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Media inquiries may be directed to Eric Davis (edavis@curiousplot.agency, 612-202-9407).

Content posted with permission from grocery.coop. Find recipes and articles about your food and where it comes from at grocery.coop.