Year: 2012

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Best CSA Farm in the State

Klesick’s vegetable delivery service takes top honor
By SARAH ARNEY
Staff Reporter for Stanwood Camano News
A new website promoting local agriculture, CSAFarms.com, named Stanwood’s Klesick Family Farm the state’s best community supported agriculture (CSA) farm last week.

“It’s an honor,” said owner Tristan Klesick from Spokane Thursday, where he was attending a conference on healthy food. However, he said that his business is not strictly a CSA.
Technically, he said, community supported agriculture means that clients pay the farmer in advance for a season of fresh-grown produce from his farm. “We’re a bit of a hybrid,” he said. Oranges do come from Florida, while bananas and avocados are from Mexico. Still, everything is organic. Klesick said it’s not possible to grow produce in the Stilly Valley all year long, but he is planning to extend the growing season with new hot houses. He said hot houses could help extend the season for broccoli and lettuce. “Being in the flood plain is an issue,” he said.
Once it floods, we can’t sell the produce.” Currently, an all Northwest box at this time of year would include squash, parsnips, and potatoes, as well as apples, and pears from Eastern Washington, but no greens. “Tristan’s philosophy is to buy local as much as possible,” said Jim Coleman, manager of the packing plant.
For Cody Barrus, co-founder of CSAFarms.com, that was not a critical issue. With more than 185 CSAs in Washington, it was a tough choice to pick one, Barrus said. “When the dust settled, it was agreed that Klesick Family Farm was indeed the best,” he said. Barrus added that his list of 185 farms includes several farms that are not strictly CSA’s but they all stand by the CDS values of fresh and local first. “The Klesick Family Farm’s mission is to grow and deliver nutrient-dense food for consumers who value local. healthy and sustainably-farmed foods.” Barrus said. CSAFarms.com was founded in 2011 by Cody Barrus along with Denny Chapin and James Schergen.
Klesick has been growing vegetables on his 37-acre family farm on Miller Road since 1997. He employs more than 25 people, including six family members. “Some have grown out of it, he said” he said. His mission is to provide good healthy food for people and make their lives either. “As consumers, there are very few things that we can control in this world, but what we can control is what we put in our bodies,” Klesick said. “If we can help a family eat healthier, we have done our job.” To that end, in Spokane, Klesick was learning about the biology of bacteria and fungus. “It’s a refresher course for me,” said Klesick, who added that he is excited about the Port Susan Food and Farming Center in the works for Stanwood. “Stanwood is unique in its effort to create a local food system,” he said.
A client in Lake Stevens, Kerri Hale Russell, is a fan of Klesick. “They’ll deliver right to your door if you live most anywhere in Snohomish County, and the price is definitely right,” Russell said. Runners up in the competition were Helsing Junction Farm in Rochester, Schreiber and Sons Farm near Pasco, Jubilee Farm, and The Root Connection, the state’s first CSA.
This article was published by the Stanwood Camano News. Used with permission

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Klesick Family Farm 2nd Annual Dinner Party Video

Another great event! As we watch this video of the 2nd Annual Dinner Party  we reminisce  on the wonderful organic dinner Chef Larry Fontaine and his team prepared for us. The evening evolved from a quiet and beautifully set up banquet room, to a room that was alive with interaction between our staff, farmers and customers. You could feel the energy of people connecting and sharing around the same passion for real food.

It was a true delight to see growers, chefs, servers, and consumers all sharing a common interest and to see them develop meaningful connections!

Special thanks to Eric Coleman for the production of this video. Follow us on facebook to stay tuned with our upcoming events!
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A Time to be Slow

There is a time and season for everything. There is a time when life demands speed—deadlines to make, schedules to keep, and appointments to meet. There is a time to be slow—reading bedtime stories to your children, a conversation with your spouse about the day, and a vacation where soft-sanded beaches and frilly blended drinks run plentiful.

Our culture tends to be experts on speed, but when it comes to slowing down we need much practice. My natural speed is fast. I get a thrill when I multi-task. It pains me to watch my young son take what feels like fifteen minutes to put on his jacket and shoes as I watch the clock tick on. I frantically push him along, creating tension that really doesn’t need to exist. Something inside of me naturally wants everything in life to move quickly.

There is great beauty in slow. In his book, In Praise of Slow, Carl Honore writes, “Slow is calm, careful, receptive, still, intuitive, unhurried, patient, reflective, quality-over-quantity. It is about making real and meaningful connections – with people, culture, work, food, everything.” Doesn’t that sound incredible?

There is so much to learn in the presence of being slow that can be easily overlooked when we’re moving too fast.

For me, being slow is a conscious decision. When feeling the desire to speed up I have to ask myself, “Is this a time I need to be fast?” If not, I breathe deeply and rethink how I’m approaching the situation.

This is true in the kitchen too—especially in the kitchen. Weeknight meals are often quick, simple, and prepared in the presence of three hungry children pushing me to hurry up. But it is in the process of slowly preparing a meal that I’m reminded of why I love food and cooking so much. I take the time to smell the fresh ingredients, enjoy the process of dicing a pungent onion, and joyfully stirring the pot as the flavors fully develop in the presence of much time.

There is a time to be slow—probably more time than we allow. Find time for slow, its company will reward you.

by Ashley Rodriguez

http://notwithoutsalt.com/

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Healthy by Choice

Joelle and I just got back from two power packed days of good farming information. Yes, the information was good, but I am talking about how to farm to produce good food. We went with three other growers who work with us. It is nice to be saturated with material that gives information on how to work with nature. One would think that working with nature would be a “duh,” but in the world of agriculture most farmers are at war with nature.

This conference was hosted by Tainio Technologies (makers of Biogarden products). I have been using their products for years. Instead of better farming through chemistry, they focus on better farming through working with and enhancing nature’s biological systems. And you know what, it works, hands down, bar none with better yields (important) and healthier food (more important).

Growing healthy food is my passion. I am obsessed with feeding my soil everything it needs, so it (the soil) can feed the crops everything they need, so I can come back later and harvest nutrient-dense fruits and vegetables for your box of good. The soil is everything! If your soil is rich in nutrients, so is your food. And isn’t that the goal—nutrient-rich food that feeds our bodies, brains, circulatory system, etc.?

We have to eat and we are going to eat, so why not choose food that is alive and bursting with nutrition! Of course I am talking to the choir, since you are already getting your box of good. But what about your neighbor, associate or other family members? Referrals are the best source to build our healthy food communities. As our consumers increase, we are able to grow more food and also support more farms. We can make a bigger impact in our local food bank systems and we can take a bigger bite out of the GMO food world.

Your referrals have a huge impact. As a thank you for every referral we will send you a “Thank You” gift and your friend who signed up a welcome gift. And to top it off, Mike gets to call you and say, “Thanks!”—those of you who have had a conversation with Mike know how special that is.

Our farm and company are committed to only offering food that is GMO free. Eat away!

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Winter: a time to reflect

The farm is anything but quiet during this time of year. The trains rumble by, the coyotes join in the chorus and trumpeter swans trumpet as their wings carry them barely above the house. Ah…the sounds of a farm at rest.

The pruning is finished and if all goes well there will be lots of pears, apples, plums and raspberries. The garlic is making its presence known as the sentinels of the garden. The potatoes have been ordered and other seeds are on their way.

We are installing two new greenhouses this winter in attempts to provide more local food earlier and later for you. We are busy fixing fences, building fences and getting ready for the grass-fed beef to arrive in April. In addition to mending fences, we are making compost and servicing our equipment. Right now we are focusing on the things we know that need repairing and we will worry about what we don’t know later, when it becomes obvious (sigh).

But mostly, winter for us is the calm before the storm. It is the warm up before the symphony begins—lots of tuning of the strings and tightening of the bows. For me, it is the time (lots of time) I spend with my children, reading and reading and reading and playing lots of games—right now mainly Mexican train dominoes and Settlers of Catan.

I am purposely investing in them, because I know that in a few weeks to a month the weather is going to change. We are going to be farming and outside from sun up till sun down. We will still have lots of fun as a family, but it will be busy fun, not the quiet fun that we get to have right now. Thankfully, the transition from winter to spring is a gracious one and gradually comes upon our farm like the incoming tide. But I also know that our younger children will become young adults before I know it and I want to enjoy them as much as I can now.

I am looking forward to tomorrow evening when my kiddos pick a book out and we all somehow, four or five of us, will snuggle into that easy rocking chair and read together.

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The Klesick "k" Quest

Klesick Family Farm is proud to announce that we are partnering with The Great Northwest Glass QUEST once again to give our customers the chance to win a beautiful, limited edition, hand-blown glass snowball (5” diameter) by Mark Ellinger, world-renowned hand-blown glass artist. We, however, are creating a virtual quest, so that instead of having to physically go out and search for clues to find a snowball, you get to search on our own website!

Each day of the quest we will hide the Klesick “k” (our green seedling logo) on a new page within our website. When you find it, click on the “k”, enter your name and e-mail address, and you will be entered into the prize drawing (one entry per day per customer). Follow Klesick Family Farm on Facebook daily to receive clues on where to find the hidden “k”.

The quest will take place February 17-26, 2012. The prize drawing will be February 28th and the winner will be notified immediately thereafter. Happy Quest!

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Dating … at Home


When Gabe and I were first married we continued to date. Nearly every Friday we would eagerly anticipate dinner made for us by a restaurant we had yet to try. We loved trying new places, new foods and spending that time together away from our harried schedules.

Then three kids came and we found ourselves much more removed from the dining out experience while still needing that time together. We do make time to go out on occasion, as we realize its importance for our friendship and the health of our marriage, but we also feel the need to limit the number of those evenings in order to preserve our budget.

So we found ourselves with a need to date, but with a desire to not pay hundreds of dollars in childcare and fancy dinners a month. Thus, the in-home date night was created.

It’s a simple idea really, but one that has brought us closer together, created a beautiful model for our children and saved us quite a bit of money. First of all, let me say that we find it is still important to get out of the house every now and again. There is something about seeing the dirty dishes and the leaning tower of laundry that can often distract from good conversation and a pleasant date.

For me, the date at home starts in the morning. I scour blogs, cookbooks and magazines to create a menu that is simple, yet special enough to be noticeably different than our regular weekday meals. Throughout the planning process I’m anticipating our date and praying for our time together. I find great joy in knowing that I’m planning this meal for my husband  and loving him in the process.

We sit down to a nice meal after the kids have gone to bed. Their voices still linger in the air while we do a good job of pretending not to hear. Eating at our own pace provides much more room for conversation than when three young children are present. We’re relaxed, comfortable and not too worried if the dishes don’t get done until morning.

With Valentine’s Day approaching and a beautiful box full of fresh produce, an in-home date is a beautiful option. Even if you aren’t married, giving yourself the opportunity to try something new in the kitchen provides the opportunity for a wonderful evening and sets apart that time as something special, which we all need every now and again.

Special food doesn’t have to be complicated—part of the pleasure is in the process. With stunning produce there is little that has to be done to make it distinctive and memorable.

by Ashley Rodriguez

Chef, food blogger, and full-time mom. Read more of her writings at www.notwithoutsalt.com

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The Organic Alternative

In 2001 scientists studying pesticide residues discovered that all of the 96 children in their research group had measurable levels of organophosphate metabolites in their urine, except for one child, as reported in Environmental Health Perspectives. Upon questioning this child’s parents, they discovered that the family bought exclusively organic produce.

Two years later, these same researchers found that pesticide concentrations in urine samples of children on conventional diets were approximately six times higher than in children on organic diets.

“Consumption of organic produce appears to provide a relatively simple way for parents to reduce their children’s exposure to organophosphate pesticides,” the researchers concluded.

Publishing in the same journal, another team found similar results. Median concentrations of metabolites for two neurotoxic pesticides, one of them chlorpyrifos, decreased to “nondetectable” levels immediately after the children were switched to an organic diet.

More research on the links between neurotoxin residues on foods and neurological diseases is needed. But while we wait for science to catch up with common sense, we have a healthy alternative, thanks to the farmers who choose organic production.
USDA certified organic foods repeatedly show up “clean,” except for the long-living breakdown products of organochlorines like DDT, which have even been found in the tissue of mammals in Antarctica.

This is a reminder that we are still paying for the mistakes made by our parents and grandparents who, decades ago, trusted the chemical companies’ promises. We do not yet know how my son’s generation will pay for today’s hubris. We only know that, somehow, they will.

We should think of every conventional food as bearing the label, “Warning: May Contain Traces of Pesticides That Can Harm Your Child,” just as food produced near nuts bears a similar warning. If it’s not organic, it could lead to long-term health consequences we are only beginning to understand. It is time for preschools, in addition to banning nuts, to start prohibiting the conventional foods that may contain traces of neurological toxins harmful to our children.

—Vallaeys, Charlotte. “School

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That was a dinner party!

I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to introduce my team of employees and team of farmers to our customers. Together we have an incredible community of folks and together we can do an incredible amount of good. The Comcast Arena at Everett was the perfect place to host our 2nd Annual Dinner Party. Chef Larry Fontaine and his team did an incredible job of dazzling our taste buds with culinary delights and magnificent service.  I was ultra excited about the standing ovation given to our farmers and later to Chef Larry’s team that served us. Growers, cooks, servers, and consumers all sharing a common theme from farm to fork: a celebration of real food.

At one point, Joane from the Rents Due Ranch shared during the farmer panel that organic farming practices can feed the world. That it was no longer pie in the sky rhetoric, but proven scientifically. She is absolutely right!

This week we have an opportunity to drive this point home in Washington State.  There are currently two bills working their way through the Senate and the House.  These two bills will require Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) to be labeled in Washington State. I am a huge proponent of GMO labeling and will be contacting my legislators about these bills.

This is going to be a fight, especially from the farming community and the biotech lobbyists.  They will be crying that the world will starve or that GMO labeling will put Washington farms at a competitive disadvantage.  Yes, it will put Washington farms on a different playing field, but this could be a good thing. Yes, a good thing, because it will make Washington a state where companies that want non-GMO ingredients for processing first in line, and there are plenty of countries around the world that have already restricted the sale/use of GMOs, further expanding the market potential.

Usually, I am more of a proponent of letting the market choose, but the GMO side has been using legislation to, dare I say, shove GMOs down our throat, and it is time use the legislative process to make them come clean and label their GMO products so the consumer has the right to choose.

Please join me and contact your Washington State legislators this week in support of these two bills: HB 2637 and SB 6298

To learn more about these two proposed bills, please visit http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07e5hef8bfd71360f1&llr=h4hsqkiab 

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All Natural Lamb & Pork for Sale

Our friends, Ken and Kathryn at Horse Drawn Produce on Lopez Island, have again offered to make their premium family-raised all natural grass-fed lamb and non-GMO pork available to our customers! We are really excited to be able to offer these quality locally raised products. Ken and Kathryn are excellent farmers, but even more important to us is their sincere commitment to sustainable, healthy farming. It is their way of life, not their job.

The reason I am willing to offer Ken and Kathryn’s lamb is because it is grass-fed and their pork because it is only given organic feed. Every other farm that markets their animals as natural or whatever and does not specify them as organically fed, has actually fed them GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) corn, soybeans and canola—and hogs, in particular, eat a lot of grain. And lastly, hogs are one of the farm animals that are getting a lot of genetic modification research and I want to support real hogfarming on real family-friendly farms. If you are interested in supporting some local hog farming, here is your opportunity.  The hogs are sold by the half and whole shares and will be available in mid June. The lamb is available only as a whole share, so smaller portions will not be available.

For more information or to place your order for lamb and pork, either give our office a call or visit the Meat category under the Products page of our website.