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Hours:
Daily 8 am to 8 pm
Store Location:
Corner of Cottage
Street and Route 302
Exit 41 off I-93
Telephone:
603-444-2800
E-mail:
manager@littletoncoop.org
Mailing Address:
43 Bethlehem Road
Littleton, NH 03561
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Keep Informed
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Spring Has Sprung
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 Spring is certainly in the air lately, and we've already welcomed our first local produce of the year - spinach from Meadowstone Farm as well as Luther and Zora's Organic Farm, and parsnips from Lyman View Farm! We'll keep bringing in more local produce as it becomes available, so keep a look out. For those of you who love to grow your own gardens, we have a great selection of flower and veggie seeds from Vermont's High Mowing Organic Seeds in stock. So get planting! In other spring news, our Annual Meeting is coming right up.
 We're also pleased to welcome Chad Proulx to our team. Chad, who owns Ammonoosuc Massage & Nutrition, has volunteered to serve as the Co-op's nutritionist. He'll be writing a monthly article for our e-newsletter and contributing to our blog. He'll also be available to customers for paid nutritional consultations, and he'll help us fact check our nutritional guidelines. In the future we hope to offer nutrition-based classes. For more on Chad, check out the Co-op blog.
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Annual Meeting is April 18th -
Mark Your Calendars!
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 The fourth Annual Meeting of the Littleton Consumer Cooperative Society will be April 18th, beginning at 6 p.m., at the Littleton Opera House. Some of your favorite Co-op vendors will set up shop early to provide tasty samples from 5:30-6 o'clock, when the meeting commences. Our managers will provide an overview of the Co-op's past year and  talk about future plans with our members.
All Co-op members with four or more shares are encouraged to vote in the election for our Board of Directors. (Don't have four shares? Purchase shares here or in the store.) Because terms on our board are staggered, we have various terms up for grabs this year.
Running for two 1-year seats are non-profit consultant Teri Bordenave of Lancaster, organic gardener and herbalist Holly Hayward of Sugar Hill, and the Co-op's founding vice president Mike Claflin of Lyndonville, Vt.
One 2-year seat is being sought by two candidates: Co-op employee Brian Labonte of Whitefield and local farmer Tim Wennrich of Bethlehem.
Candidates for the three available 3-year terms are the Co-op's founding president and Village Book Store owner Jeffrey Wheeler of Lyman, nutritionist Chad Proulx of Littleton, and grocery veteran Charise Baker of St. Johnsbury, Vt.
For more detailed information about each of the candidates, check out our Annual Meeting flyer. We'll also be hosting a Meet the Candidates event at the store April 13th, beginning at 5:30 p.m.
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Woodland Community School
is March Partner
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 Located on Meadowstone Farm in Bethlehem, the Woodland Community School opened in 2004 and enrolls students aged 5-14. The school's mission is to nurture and respect children's love of learning by encouraging their natural curiosity and self-motivated exploration. Through meaningful connections children develop a sense of self and others, an understanding of their place in community, and a deep appreciation for the natural world.
 Funds raised through the Co-op's Partner of the Month program - in the checkout canisters and during our Pizza and a Partner Night April 6 - will be used to help provide financial aid to students through the school's Tuition Assistance Fund.
For more information about the school and its summer farm camp, visit their website.
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What's In Your Basket, Yvonne C. ?
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 We checked in with Co-op shopper Yvonne C. of Bethlehem this month and took a peek into her shopping basket. Yvonne shops the Co-op every other week, stocking the kitchen for herself and her husband.
Her favorite aspect of the store is the array of local offerings available throughout the store. She also loves the Boar's Head meats and cheeses in our Deli. Yvonne noted the Produce Department as her favorite, because of the terrific offering of really fresh fruits and vegetables there. Indeed, her basket contained strawberries (and biscuits to make strawberry shortcake) and tomatoes, and she was headed toward the Meat & Seafood Department for more fresh, delicious food.
"It's just really good!" she said of the Co-op's fresh food. We couldn't agree more!
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A Few Words About the Co-op's Produce
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 Yvonne's not the only one who loves our fresh produce. Almost every Co-op shopper we ask notes the freshness of our fruits and vegetables, so we asked our Produce Manager Rodney Mitton to talk a little bit about what makes the Co-op's produce so great. He came up with the following qualities that make the Co-op's Produce the best around:
-We buy anything that is available locally directly from local farms.
-What we cannot get locally we purchase from the top four produce distributers in our area.
-We bring in new produce six days a week every day except Sunday.
- All the prepared fruits and vegetables we offer are made here in the store.
-We can easily get special orders for our customers, and we're happy to do so!
-We have the best employees, and they all have a great eye for quality and freshness.
-Our buyers and merchandisers (the friendly folks you see working in Produce every day) work in the store, not in an office. All our produce is inspected and accepted or refused right here at the Co-op.
-We provide our customers with exceptional customer service, which is exactly what they deserve!
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Alex Ross
In the Employee Spotlight | | |
We're shining April's Employee Spotlight on Alex, a part time member of the Co-op's great Front End Department. Regular Co-op shoppers have probably noticed Alex, who works at the Co-op in collaboration with Common Ground, happily collecting carts from the parking lot or bagging groceries at the check-out counter.
Alex has lived in Littleton with his family his whole life and has worked at the Co-op since the store opened in 2009. This is his first foray into the grocery business, having worked previously at Aylakai and Heart of NH. Alex has really enjoyed the supportive atmosphere at the Co-op and being around both his coworkers and the great Co-op shoppers. Really, he just appreciates being able to work!
When he's not working hard at the store, Alex loves being outside - walking, swimming, biking and skiing - and he's a huge music buff. In fact, if he could pick one thing to do, Alex would love to play music all the time - only the good stuff, of course!
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April Happenings
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Just like the flowers popping through the thawing earth and the birds out singing up a storm, we've got lots planned for the first month of SPRING!
Here's what we have in store for April:
Enjoy a delicious
freshly-made pizza pie and help support the the Woodland Community School during our Pizza and a Partner Night, April 6th.
Eggs-tra! Eggs-tra! On Saturday April 7th from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm, bring the kids by the Co-op for some egg dyeing fun- and no mess at home!! $8 fee ($6 for members) includes the first dozen eggs and all the decorating supplies.$3 for each additional dozen eggs per family. Please register in advance by calling 444.2800 ( we need to boil the eggs!) Registration Deadline: Friday, April 6th 8:00 pm.
Whether you're celebrating  Passover or Easter, your family and friends at the Co-op wish you a happy holiday! The Co-op will be closed on Easter, Sunday, April 8th.
Annual Meeting ballots will be available in store and online April 9th. And on April 13th the folks running for spots on the Co-op's Board of Directors will be in the store for a Meet the Candidates event at 5:30 p.m., complete with yummy food and beverage  samples.
Our next Senior Discount Day is April 11th.
The next meeting of the Board of Directors is April 16th at our business office at Mt. Eustis Common (the old hospital building). All are welcome to attend.
The Co-op's Annual Meeting is April 18th at the Littleton Opera House.
We'll once again celebrate Earth Day, April 21th with huge savings on Seventh Generation products.We'll be partnering with the Village Book Store who will also have some fun activities going on including story time, Earth Day themed crafts, and live music from Erin Kusmeskus!
April 15th-21st is National Volunteer Week, with a theme of "Volunteers Strengthen Our Community - You Can, Too!" We've invited several local organizations that rely on volunteers to visit the store and share some of the good work they do for our local community - with the help of dedicated volunteers, of course!
On April 30th at 5:30 p.m., local Mexican restaurant Alburrito's will be at the Co-op for a cooking demonstration and early celebrationof Cinco de Mayo.
Happy spring!
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Cookbooks We Love:
Tender, A Cook and His Vegetable Patch
by Nigel Slater
With the Village Book Store
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One of the comments we hear a lot at the Co-op is, "You have lots of interesting ingredients, but I don't know how to use them!" To help solve this issue, we're teaming up with the Village Book Store to bring you reviews of cookbooks worth a closer look! Each month they will review their favorite cookbooks for you, and of course you can head on down to the Village Book Store on Main Street to pick up your own copy!
 I admit it, I like pretty cookbooks with lots of pictures, which is how I came to review Tender by Nigel Slater. The vegetable and recipe photos are gorgeous and simple. The book is printed on high quality paper that looks and feels sensuous. Nigel Slater's writing style is warm and inviting as he walks us through his garden bringing to life each vegetable tenderly plotted there.
Nigel gives each vegetable in his book a bit of personality, for instance, "I have found this bean (fava) to be the least fussy vegetable of all...if only everything was as good-natured and tolerant." His take on an over cooked pepper, "Their flesh was slithery and a deep, angry red...," and he goes on to say, "I have "overcooked" my peppers ever since." His  wittiness carries through out the book.
I especially appreciate the organization of this cookbook. Each vegetable has its own chapter, making it a star. I am eager to get to know the vegetables as intimately as the author does, inviting family and friends over to try new dishes. The author offers some history of the vegetable, gardening tips, different varieties available, best time to harvest, how to use in the kitchen and any other useful information about each vegetable. Then, of course, the recipes. Each recipe offers up an amazing use of the vegetable often, using only a few ingredients, keeping it simple and allowing the vegetable to be enjoyed as it should be.
Review by Susan Krol
 Baked Tomatoes with Cheese and Thyme
The first time I made this, I discovered a wealth of delights: the way the tomato holds the little cheese like an eggcup holds an egg; the point at which the juice of the tomato and the melted cheese meet; the subtle difference in smell and flavor depending on which cheese you use. Two of these tomatoes are lunch for me if there is something else on the table - a couscous salad, perhaps, or some bread and salami. Others may want more.
4 large, ripe tomatoes
Olive oil
4 or 5 bushy sprigs of thyme
2 small fresh goat cheeses or other cheeses
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut a thick slice from the top of each tomato. Using a teaspoon, scoop out enough of the seeds and flesh to make room for half of a goat cheese (don't add the cheese yet). Put them snugly in an ovenproof baking dish, salt and pepper the inside, and add a teaspoon or so of olive oil to each one. Pull the leaves from the thyme and sprinkle them inside the tomatoes. Bake the tomatoes for 25 minutes, or until they are soft and lightly colored. Slice the cheeses in half if they are small, or in large pieces if they are larger than the diameter of the hollow. Whatever, just make the cheese fit into the tomatoes. Spoon a little oil from each tomato over the melted cheese, or add fresh oil if it has escaped, then return to the oven for 10 minutes, until the cheese has melted.
This content is from the book Tender by Nigel Slater.
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