Author: Tristan Klesick

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Annual “Share the Good” Contest!

It’s our annual Share the Good Contest! Refer your friends and win! Refer your friends to our delivery service and you’ll be entered into our contest for the chance to win a 5-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator (a $238.86 value)!

How it works: The contest takes place March 26 through April 30, 2012. When the person(s) whom you refer to our service signs up for delivery, they must give your name as the person who referred them. When we receive a referral from you, we will enter your name into the drawing for the chance to win. For each additional referral you send our way, your name will go into the drawing in addition to any previous referrals entered within the drawing period.
For example:

Refer 1 person: your name will be entered into the prize drawing once.
Refer your 2nd person: your name will be entered two more times, additional to the previous entry.
Refer your 3rd person: your name will be entered three more times, additional to the other entries, etc.
Refer 4 or more people, and, in addition to having your name entered into the drawing, you will receive a special gift! It’s our way of saying, “Thank you!”

We will choose the winner through random selection on April 30th, 2012. The winner will be notified immediately thereafter.
There will be a second prize for the runner-up: a wonderful gift basket full of delicious organic goodies, arranged by Lori, of Middleton Organic Specialty Foods.

Now for the small print:
• You must be a customer to win.
• Your referral person must actually sign up and place an order to qualify. New customers who create an account, but do not place an order within the March 26-April 30 time period do not qualify as a referral.
• For each person you refer, you will still receive one of our standard referral gifts as a thank you.
We are excited about making your referrals more rewarding! So spread the word and share the good!

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One Family, One Person

I have figuratively been chewing on a piece of alfalfa lately, mulling over how I can—our farm can—make a bigger impact in our local community in our fight against cancer, heart disease, and other health issu es. These diseases are classified by some as being diet and lifestyle-related. Change…it all comes down to change. Changing the way we think, the way we live and the way we eat.

If you, a friend or family member are fighting one of these diseases, you are literally in a fight for your health and your family’s health. This means our community is in a fight for health, which means our state is in the fight and our nation, as well. As I lean on my hoe and contemplate, “What can I do?” I realize that the answer to the question is a question: “What can we do?”

You have already made a huge choice to change—you get a delivery of fresh, healthy, nutrient-rich foods. You are intentional about eating better and in that intentional choice you have improved your family’s health. You have saved time, money, farmland, you have shored up local farm infrastructure and you have sent a message to Corporate America that you are not buying their products. You have also helped our farm support several other local farms which has turned into to more local jobs. Wow, just by getting a delivery of local food, you accomplished all that. All of these benefits come because of one intentional choice, a choice to be a part of the solution, a choice to get a box of good!

I want to thank you for your intentional choice to partner with us, but I want to do more. I want to expand our ability to reach out to those families and that one person, who is fighting for their health.

KFF has personally funded our Healing through Nutrition program with $1000, but we are looking for others to join us as partners in healing.

You can join us in several ways:

1. If you know of a family medically diagnosed with cancer or heart disease, consider purchasing them a box of good. We will discount your purchase 5% if we deliver it and 15% if you deliver it.

2. If you can’t afford to purchase a box of good for a family, send their name to us and we will try and meet the need through donated funds.

3. Consider donating to our Healing through Nutrition program. We will use these funds to bless those families fighting these diseases.

4. Consider organizing a fundraiser at your office, rotary club, church, etc. and open an account for a family you know fighting these diseases. We will do the rest. A few customers have done this and those families (those giving and those receiving) are forever changed.

5. Lastly, please let us know about the ones you know who are fighting these diseases. Just send us an e-mail to mike@klesickfamilyfarm.com with their first name and a short biography and we will add them to our prayer list. If they are important to you, they are important to us.

Your farmer and partner in good health,

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Healing through Nutrition

This is our new outreach for 2012. Last week we shared that the American Cancer Society donated 145 million dollars in 2010 and that 0.3% or $440,000 of that went to nutritional research. Cancer is a multifaceted disease, yet we believe that a healthy diet is vital in prevention, during treatment, and for recovery.  This year we have decided to tackle cancer and heart disease locally, one family and one person at a time.

Deborah was pregnant. During her pregnancy her family discovered she had breast cancer. Her friends opened an account with us and funded it so she could focus on her baby and her treatments, without having to worry about shopping. A soccer team just blessed a fellow player’s family after his father had a stroke. The team mom sent out an e-mail and at the next practice raised $250. That is 10 deliveries of fresh produce. Beautiful, touching, and impactful.

My heart is to alleviate some of the financial burden that our local families are facing as they fight cancer or heart disease by discounting our boxes of fresh produce. We already have a very successful food bank outreach called Neighbor Helping Neighbor. And yet our hope is to expand the good that we, as an organic community, can do and get some healthy produce into the homes of those with diagnosed cancer and heart disease.

Klesick Family Farm is good at growing, sourcing, and delivering nutritionally rich foods that can help the healing process and we want to and need to partner with you to expand our abilities to meet this need in our community.

Here is what I am proposing:
1. If you know of a family medically diagnosed with cancer or heart disease, consider purchasing them a box of good. We will discount your purchase 5% if we deliver it and 15% if you deliver it.
2. If you can’t afford to purchase a box of good for a family, send their name to us and we will try and meet the need through donated funds.
3. Consider donating to our Healing through Nutrition program. We will use these funds to bless those families fighting these diseases.
4. Consider organizing a fundraiser at your office, rotary club, church, etc. and open an account for a family you know fighting these diseases. We will do the rest. A few customers have done this and those families (those giving and those receiving) are forever changed.
5. Lastly, please let us know about the ones you know who are fighting these diseases. Just send us an e-mail to  mike@klesickfamilyfarm.com  with their first name and a short biography and we will add them to our prayer list. If they are important to you, they are important to us.

A few years ago, I learned a valuable lesson. Our family had stopped to help a family that was stuck on the side of the road during a snow storm. We got out and tried to help them, but in the process another car was rear ended, because neither of them could stop on the ice. In hindsight, we couldn’t really help that person who was stuck because we didn’t have the right vehicle (4×4 monster truck) and in some ways we made the situation more unsafe. The person did get unstuck, chained up, and going again, but it had more to do with the aforementioned type of truck stopping and helping.

I share this story because some of you have the ability to financially help another family and others don’t. I am asking you to partner with us where you can to make a difference in the local families fighting these diseases. For some it is to forward names, for others to sponsor a box, and for others help us to fund this Healing through Nutrition outreach. Any and all ways of helping are extremely appreciated.

I love being your farmer and it is privilege to work alongside each of you to make our community a better place!

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What is a Farmer to Do…

When it is snowing? Pray that it won’t in April! Although, this week I am assembling two greenhouses. After years of farming without a greenhouse, I have decided to build two smaller mobile style units. They will be on skids, so I can move them to new locations throughout the season. My plans are to start with early greens and move the houses to tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers for the remainder of the season and then move it again in the fall for winter greens. Disclaimer: dreaming is dangerous in the winter and I will not be held responsible for changing my mind when farming begins☺!

When cancer and heart disease are injuring lives and families? Pray for wisdom to be able to grow more nutritious food. The American Cancer Society spends $144,897,000 on cancer research every year.* Yes, almost 145 million dollars. How much is spent on nutrition research? $440,000 or 0.3% in 2010. Come on! Not even making it to 1%! What did Hypocrites say, “Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food.” One might conclude that the American Cancer Society missed that “memo.”

So what can KFF do? We can’t spend millions, but we can grow, raise, source and deliver life-giving foods. That is what we can do. We can fight cancer one family and one person at a time. So we need your help. We want to fund a local food outreach to people in our local communities who are fighting these diseases. We are calling it, Healing through Nutrition.

I was just talking to my team about how to make a difference in the lives of local people with cancer. And an hour later, we received a phone call from a customer who wanted to buy our Family Box for another family who is fighting cancer. Yes! That is what I want to be a part of—neighbors helping neighbors: a local solution for a local family fighting cancer or heart disease.

This accomplishes so many things. First, a box of good organic and nutritious food says, “We are with you. We love you!” It also saves that family time, by not having to go shopping. It also saves that family money that they can use on co-pays, medicine, travel and loss of work, etc.

Here is what I am proposing. We are a small company and a small farm, but we want to be your partners in good.

You can also donate towards this outreach. Just go to the Products page of our website, select the Gifts category, and choose the Healing through Nutrition donation you’d like to make. We will use these donations to meet the needs we know about. These donations are not tax deductible.

Lastly, we can pray. Fighting diseases like cancer and heart disease is physically, financially and emotionally draining, but it is also spiritually draining. Please let us know about people you know who are fighting these terrible diseases. Just send us an e-mail at mike@klesickfamilyfarm.com with their first names and a short biography, and our team will join you in prayer for them.

Please consider joining us as we tackle these diseases with local resources from local farms for local people. We can make a difference with good food.
* www.cancer.org/Research/ResearchProgramsFunding/CurrentlyFundedProjects/extramural-and-intramural-funding-in-selected-areas-of-research

If you know of someone who cannot afford organic produce, consider investing in their health by purchasing them a box. Klesick Family Farm will discount that box of healing 5% if we deliver it to them or 15% if we bring it with your order and you deliver it.

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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!