March is an exciting time for food news here in Minnesota. This month is Minnesota FoodShare’s biggest campaign to restock food shelves throughout the state, and many co-ops, grocery stores, and community groups are collecting food donations to help the program. I have many fond memories of volunteering with my grandparents at our local food pantry as a child, and it’s nice to know there are so many people working together to prevent hunger.

In addition, there is a great deal of terrific food-related news in the Twin Cities this month. The Mississippi Market Co-op is making progress towards opening a third location, and the Seward Co-op is planning to expand in a second location. Mississippi Market also recently revealed its LIME program, which allows low income members of the community to become co-op member owners at a substantial upfront discount and offers them 10% off their groceries every single day! I was so happy to read about the LIME program, and I hope many people will take advantage of the access to high-quality food that it provides.

While it may seem hard to believe, given the amount of snow still on the ground, March is also the beginning of spring. That means a return of backyard gardens, CSAs, and farmer’s markets. I’m especially excited for the expected return of the Kickstarter-funded Honeybee Mobile Market, a farmer’s market on wheels that uses a single trailer to bring healthy, local food to locations throughout the Twin Cities. If you haven’t heard of them before, check out their website here: www.honeybeemobilemarket.com. I have no doubt that as spring and summer approach, we’ll be hearing even more news about new businesses, organizations, and programs focused on healthy, local foods here in Minnesota.