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Welcome to September

It has been an incredible summer! While we still have a month to go, August has felt more like September. Here at Klesick Family Farm, we love September. Next week, we start to dig our potatoes—it has been a super “spudtacular” season—I am eager to get those reds and yellows out of the field and onto your plates. Plus, with everything being early, most of the winter squash crop is ripening up as well. We are also starting to see a trickle of our fall raspberries and strawberries, plus a nice crop of apples and pears. September is also soccer season, when Farmer Tristan becomes Coach Tristan to a rambunctious group of six year old boys. This September, we have two other great events/initiatives planned to make our/your September even more fun.

GMO Labeling:
For the month of September, the Klesick Family Farm is going to donate up to $5,000 towards GMO labeling initiatives. We firmly believe that everyone has the right to know if their food is GENETICALLY MODIFIED or altered or engineered. So, I need your help. Here is what I am proposing:  For every new customer that signs up in September, KFF will donate 50% of their first delivery to a labeling initiative. Also, as a thank you for every referral we receive from our existing customers, we will donate 50% of the referring customer’s next delivery as well. Back to school is a great time to encourage our friends to eat more local organic fruits and vegetables, so let’s partner together—you share our service and we make a donation towards GMO labeling!

Water Wells in Kenya:
As a family and a farm, we partner with Crossway International in the drilling of fresh water wells. We believe that access to fresh water is the first step to breaking the cycle of poverty and disease. So this year we are ultra-excited to host the Harvest 5k Fun Run on Saturday, September 28th. This is going to be an on road/off road run. (It may even be a mudder run, depending on the weather.) 100% of the proceeds generated will be donated to Crossway International to drill a well in a community in Kenya. Visit www.harvest5k.org or Facebook “Harvest 5k Run Stanwood” to get more details. Let’s make this a big splash for a local community in Kenya!

The Klesick family is only able to be a partner in accomplishing good because you are our partners. Without your “box of good” purchases, we wouldn’t be able to plow our profits back into these types of great causes. Let’s make September 2013 “the month of good.”

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Our Right to Know

I always thought of myself as a food purist: I believe food should be natural, local and seasonal. Recently, I have learned that all those “labels” do not ensure my diet is as “pure” as I thought it would be. Unfortunately GMO-free is a whole new category. 

Running the risk of sounding ignorant, up until a few years ago, I was not aware of GM foods. Earlier this year I decided to adopt a “mostly” vegan, “mostly“ gluten-free eating lifestyle after a friend of ours, challenged my husband and I to go on a 30-day challenge. No animal products, no sugar, no caffeine, no gluten, no alcohol and exercise. After the 30-day period was over we decided to adapt these new eating habits to our lifestyle but that did not ensure we would stay away from GM foods.

A few documentaries such as, Hungry for Change and Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, served as inspiration and education to reinforce our decision. It has not always been convenient; we have to plan our meals ahead of time, shop for groceries every couple of days and read every label. The frustrating part is that doing all of this homework does not ensure our food is GMO-free.

GMO-free was not part of the challenge but almost every documentary talked about the impact GM foods have in our health as a society. But, what is Genetic Modification of food? In short, the transformation of an aspect of an organism’s DNA blueprint, often using recombinant DNA technology. There is current evidence that alteration of plant DNA results in many hazardous effects such as poor crop performance, toxic effects, allergic reactions, and damage to the environment. [Source: GM Crops – Just the Science, 2009] – and that to me does not sound natural. The promise of 100% natural, preservative free, coloring free, etc … does not ensure GMO-free! Shouldn’t genetically modified organisms be considered unnatural? The name itself says Genetically Modified Organisms. 

GM foods have been on the market only since 1994, and research on their long-term effects on humans is scarce. To date most studies have been done on animals; worryingly, some of those studies link GM foods to altered metabolism, inflammation, kidney and liver malfunction and reduced fertility. Why are we willing to offer ourselves as test lab subjects? Shouldn’t we have the right to know what we feed our families? Shouldn’t it be OUR decision what we put in our bodies?


Sara Balcazar-Greene
Food Blogger
PeruvianChick.com

For more information on Yes for the 522 Campaign on Labeling please visit: http://yeson522.com/

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Annual Farm Festival and Vintage Market!

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Come on out to Klesick Family Farm this Saturday and join us for an old fashioned farm celebration!

Celebrate the season with us by enjoying a fun-filled day with live music, vintage market, wagon rides, pioneer play area, tug-o-war, balloon toss, gunny sack race, raffle prizes, farm walks, BBQ, espresso and produce stand – all set in the picturesque Stillaguamish River Valley.

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What’s for Dinner?

TKE_CoverOption2-500x500We’ve recently added a cookbook to our line of offerings: The Kale Effect! Co-written by one of our own Klesick customers, Christina Bandaragoda, this delightful cookbook will have you dishing up your dark leafy greens in some of the tastiest recipes ever! Our article this week is an excerpt from the cookbook. Enjoy!

Every Thursday afternoon the Klesick Family Farm delivery truck pulls up to my house with my weekly Box of Good – a box full of fruits and vegetables that are good for my family, good for my local economy and good for the earth. Thursday has become my favorite day of the week, my sigh of relief, a moment in time when my hope in the future is regularly renewed.  

How can a box of fruit and vegetables have this effect? The tangible benefits are obvious.  The time I save shopping I now spend with my family. The money I used to spend on fuel driving to the store is now allocated to buying food. The intangible benefits are less obvious and depend on my perception, attitude and meaning I attribute to how these fruits and vegetables made their way to my kitchen. I trust my local businessman. Based on my experience, I know that the produce will be of good quality, fresh, and free from toxic or harmful chemicals. As my family struggles with various allergies and food intolerances, I place a high value on toxin-free food. Why add more unknowns to the chemical cocktail we encounter in our modern industrialized lifestyle? 

I also consider the challenge of being introduced to new kinds of foods an intangible benefit. I know that if a vegetable I have never eaten before arrives in my box, I can find a delicious way to prepare it. I also believe that my Box of Good has the benefit of preserving open space.

Knowing that a portion of my grocery budget contributes to maintaining working farms in my county is valuable. I used to think of local farmers as guardians and stewards of our landscapes, soils and water. As each Thursday rolls around I become increasingly aware that it is us, the customers, who are guardians and stewards with each food purchase we make. Those with economic access to sustainably grown food should take this responsibility seriously.

Our buying habits determine the future of the farms in our surrounding communities as well as the health of our environment. The cultural perception that as a society we value nature, open space, clean air and water is an idea that has not been fully realized. This cloudy vision of a sustainable future can become a clear reality one grocery bill at a time.

Enjoy this Everyday Kale Salad from The Kale Effect Cookbook

Christina Bandaragoda
Christina is from Michigan, received her bachelors degree at Wheaton College, and later attended Utah State University where she received her masters and doctoral degrees in Civil Engineering. She now works as a hydrologist and environmental consultant.

 

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Picnic Time!

picnicWhen was the last time you went on a picnic? Now that Summer has officially started, why not enjoy it? Pack dinner, gather your friends and family, and head out on a lazy, sunny afternoon for a relaxed picnic.

Picnics are great for groups of all sizes. They feel romantic and intimate with your loved one, or fun and exciting with children. Even if you decide to go on a solo picnic with a good book you will end up feeling relaxed and re-energized.

If you're lucky enough to live in the Pacific NW, the options on where to go for a picnic are endless. If not, set up a blanket and plates in your own backyard! 

Here's a few helpful tips from our friends at Table Talk by Rosanna:

– Plan a menu that's easy to pack. Think sandwiches, bags of cut up fruit and veggies, salads – simple no-muss, no-fuss foods that you enjoy.

– Don't forget the beverages! Try sparkling water with chopped fresh fruit or fresh lemonade for a change! 

– Remember to pack the heaviest items at the bottom of your picnic basket – no one wants to eat a smashed sandwich!

– Keep one or two cold packs in your picnic basket to keep drinks and other chilled items cool.

– Don't forget the non-food essentials such as a good, heavy blanket (those with a waterproof bottom work best), flatware, napkins, plates, cups, and corkscrews. Fun items such as books, frisbees, horseshoes, playing cards, etc. And don't forget the sunglasses and SPF!

– Make sure to take trash bags – you don't want to leave a mess behind!

Have a great time!

Adapted from Table Talk by Rosanna.

 

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How Important is Farmland Anyway?

farmHere is a great equation for national security: Let’s continue to convert over a million acres of farmland every year for habitat restoration or strip malls. 

The conversions are great for a few landowners and the developers who profit from them, but what is in it for the rest of the community? For starters, eventually food production can now join oil as an imported control piece, a piece that is controlling us. Sure we have lots of land in this country, but most of it is going to the highest bidder and if crops don’t pay as well as something else, most farmland goes on the block and out of production.

Recently, the City of Arlington received an application to develop a piece of farmland at Island Crossing. Dwayne Lane’s Chevrolet has been fighting to move to this location before Congressman Rick Larsen was a congressman. At that time, the Growth Management Act was able to hold the line on preserving this prime agricultural land from going into development. Eventually, the City of Arlington was able to annex this noncontiguous piece of land and all of Island Crossing, and in the process doom agriculture and the ability of that land to feed the Puget Sound region.

The most valuable land we have in this country is our resource lands: timber, mining and farmland. These types of land provide the bedrock for our economy and our national security. We should do everything possible to ensure that these lands are converted as a last resort. I would contend that land closest to the cities is the most vulnerable land and also the most valuable. 75% of our dairies, fruit and vegetable farms are located near urban populations.

If we need more of anything in this country, it is more fruits and vegetables, not less. We need to expand fresh fruits and vegetables reach to the inner cities, hospitals and schools. We need to expand the reach of organically grown foods and foods grown without synthetic chemical fertilizers, fungicides, pesticides and herbicides. We need to stop coddling mega food corporations, mega chemical corporations and mega farms, and change our national food policy to feed our people healthy nutrient-rich food. 

I got an idea: Let’s make the quality of food a priority, not the size of a campaign contribution or the shareholder’s profits.

The farmland at Island Crossing is all but lost. Unfortunately, the loss of this piece will inevitably doom the land next to it and the land next to that and so on, until Arlington reaches from I-5 to downtown. Then all that beautiful productive farmland will look like the Kent Valley; all because Chevrolets sell better on cheap farmland at Island Crossing then at the better situated, commercially zoned and serviced, non-floodplain Smokey Point exit.  Really?

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Tomatoes & Potatoes

tomatoes potatoesOh baby, has it ever been warm. Of course, the one year I decide to skip sweet corn (our other local farmers are growing this crop) the weather is perfect. There is some corn in the valley that was waist high by the fourth. Shoot, most farmers are ecstatic with knee high corn by the fourth. For us, the raspberries are on, the peas are on, summer squash is on, the cucumbers and peppers are on. The tomatoes are just turning, the potatoes are already the size of baseballs and soon we will be picking green beans. 

I have been thinking to myself why am I so busy? The other day, I finally came inside at 11 p.m. and realized that I was as hungry as a bear waking up from a long winter’s nap—I had skipped dinner. But the real reason, I am so busy is because we are two to three weeks ahead in most crops. Having that rainy, sunny, rainy, sunny weather cycle has been good for almost everything.

I am a little nervous, though. Strange thing about weather in the NW, last year once it stopped raining at the end of July, it didn’t rain for another 80 days. Most crops appreciate some moisture. And because of the spring and early rains, most crops were able to catch up when the hot August nights rolled around. This year they are early, but will the rains come to carry them to harvest? I think it will work out. But in the end, I can’t change the weather, but I can work with it.

I just planted our last crop of green beans for September harvest and we are now in the process of mostly weeding and harvesting, as opposed to weeding and planting. I love this stage, when we begin to harvest. You get to see the fruit of your labor and, more importantly, you get to start paying off the fertilizer bill, fuel bill and the labor bill, and, hopefully, at the end of the season in November, there will be some $$bills left for the farmer ☺! 

We also managed to get a few hundred bales of hay in the barn. Feels good to have some feed for the beef cows put up in case this great weather holds. When it comes to raising beef, I mostly focus on the grass. My goal is to manage the grass so that the cows don’t overgraze it. I want it to bounce back and get growing again. Rarely does a day go by that the cows are not moved to a fresh pasture. Yes, it is absolutely way more work for us to move our animals daily, but it is way better for the pasture to move the cows daily. And in a year like this…August grass will be a premium if we have another glorious summer with little or no rain till October.

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Summer Vacations

DSC_3267I know, from 15 years of running this business, that many of you will soon be off to your favorite vacation spot; loading up the “station wagon,” piling in all those kiddos and heading to the mountains, rivers, beaches, etc. 

Well, our team also knows that a few of you, after getting off the plane in Hawaii and settling into your condo, will slice up a beautiful ripe mango, take a juicy bite and then all of a sudden be gripped with panic. At that moment, you will realize that your box of good is about to be delivered to your home because you forgot to reschedule your deliveries! There is no need to fear, however, because we have a highly trained team to help you mitigate the potential disaster. 

Here are our tried and true best strategies to enjoy that stress-free mango:
1.    Order an extra box of fresh produce to take with you on your trip.
2.    Login to your account online and change your delivery dates.
3.    Call, e-mail or Facebook our office and we will make the changes for you.
4.    Leave a note for your delivery driver. 
5.    Donate your box of good to a local food bank during your vacation!

Donating your box of good is a great way to enjoy your vacation (wink, wink). Really, your delivery will be used to help a local family in need eat a little healthier, it will also help local growers and, of course, KFF. Another option is to donate the value of your box to our “Healing through Nutrition” program, where we use your donations to match discounts for other KFF customers who are fighting cancer and heart disease. Please contact our office if you have any questions about these options.

Even if you are not going on vacation this summer, you can still partner with us by ordering a food bank box or donating to our Healing through Nutrition program. 

Back to work on the farm,

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Tomatoes

TomatoesOur family snuck away to the beach for three days last week and was it ever relaxing. Washington State is so geographically diverse that within three hours of Stanwood you can be in a desert, on a mountain top, kayaking in the San Juans or building sand castles at the coast.

As typical Washingtonians, who are undeterred by the elements, we got to experience getting sand blasted while we were playing at the beach. The weather was gorgeous, sunny and mostly warm. There is just something about the ocean—calming, yet powerful.

And because of its great power, you can hardly escape the thought of tsunamis. Tsunami evacuation signs are everywhere. I can only imagine all the tourists on those rural roads trying to escape. The last Tsunami was about 300 years ago and it did some damage to mostly a forested and uninhabited coastline. While we were visiting Moclips, I asked the museum curator, “How high do you have to be for protection from a tsunami?” His answer, “90 feet”—wow, most two-story house are 30 feet tall. Our farm is 14 feet above sea level. When a major earthquake hits off the coast of Washington again, like it did 300 years ago, Ocean Shores, Moclips, Hoquiam, Aberdeen, etc., will look eerily like Japan did in 2010.

We can’t live in fear of what might happen, but we can live in respect of what can happen. Simple things, like having rope ladders in the upstairs bedrooms and using them once in a while, just in case, will go a long ways to mitigating the “stuff” of life we can’t control.

Oh ya, this was supposed to be about tomatoes…

The day we left on our trip the greenhouse was under control, but when we returned those plants had gone rogue. I don’t know about your family, but around here it is more like tyranny of the urgent. And if it can wait, normally it will wait. If laundry is most pressing, it gets done before tomatoes get strung. But when we got back, it was obvious that the tomatoes required center stage. They are all suckered (a.k.a., “pruned”) and climbing twine now! Of course, I could have done that the week before, but the potatoes, sunflowers, and strawberries all had needs as well and were just a little more pressing. Got to go, the orchard is out of control.

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Ahhh…the Simplicity of Summer!

When I arrived at my son Baron’s school today, he and his kindergarten buddies were wearing leis and flip-flops freshly decorated with googly eyes and were eating Jell-O the color of the Caribbean Sea. Their cubbies were newly cleaned, aside from the stray and long-emptied juice box and the scruffed markings of a sticker, as if its removal was done frantically. Tomorrow we take him to school one last time as a kindergartner. He and his classmates will sing us some songs, we’ll celebrate at a nearby park and then walk away heralding in our summer.


In preparation for these long, sun-filled days, we started our list of things we hope to accomplish during these next few months. There are books to read, stories to write and games to play. There’s also the return of his lemonade stand and the hope of a booming business. And then there are the activities that without their presence in the coming months, it just wouldn’t feel like summer.


I can’t wait to feel the dirt under my nails and crusted on my knees while tucked in between the tight rows of lush strawberries. When the warm air sweeps between the plants and carries up a sweet scent, that’s when I know it’s summer. Or when the kids are content to play in the frigid water from the hose for hours, pausing for a quick break to snap off a blueberry from our bushes or a crisp sugar snap pea with its tender tendrils wrapping around the pole tucked into the dirt, that’s when I know it’s summer.


In the kitchen, it’s summer when a salad of fresh sliced vegetables shimmies up to a grilled piece of fish or chicken. It’s when a bowl of freshly picked strawberries, blueberries or peaches bathing in cream is just about the best you’ve ever tasted. When pasta tossed simply with a heap of freshly chopped vegetables and a bit of soft goat cheese is about as complicated as dinner gets, that’s summer. Even better yet, is a crusty and craggy piece of bread slathered with butter or mayo with flecks of basil throughout and topped with a thickly sliced ruby red tomato sprinkled with salt and maybe a splash of extra virgin olive oil, if I’m feeling fancy.


These months beg for simplicity—days unplanned and toes wet and cold from having spent the afternoon chasing the waves. The food of this season confirms this ease by being naturally sweet, intensely flavorful and bountiful. It’s as if summer has already cooked for us. So let’s enjoy the long days and return the favor by eating simply and well.


by Ashley Rodriguez    
food blogger
www.notwithoutsalt.com