Category: Announcements

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Healthy Choices

Klesick Farms customer, Nancy, sent us a fun project that her 1st. grade daughter, Anna did on healthy food options. We love hearing how our Klesick boxes of good impact and inspire the families we serve for good, and wanted to share this with you!

Nancy writes:

“Every March our homeschool co-op on Camano Island has a “SHOWCASE NIGHT” where kids can show off talents on stage, projects they’ve completed or share knowledge they’ve acquired.

This year my 1st grader, Anna, did a project on “Healthy Choices”. We talked about foods as we shopped, we watched documentaries, she helped make some healthy meals, we learned some cooking basics, learned about what sugar does to your body and how it makes you feel, etc. We recorded all of this by taking photos and putting them on a display board. We also wanted to talk about the cost of healthy choices versus ‘junk food and fast food choices’ because some people argue it’s too expensive to eat healthy.

We gathered a number of unhealthy choices as well as ‘a box of good’ from Klesick Family Farm to show people two options. The junk food actually ended up costing more and we had to drive somewhere to get all of it. Anna had fun having people guess which was more expensive, the box of good, or the box of junk food. For those who guessed correctly, she gave them a fruit kabob which she enjoyed making – a yummy healthy choice, rather than a candy prize.

Each week, Klesick’s ‘box of good’ just shows up on our door step! It’s a healthy choice, because you can choose it when you aren’t rushed. When our life is harried and crazy running to sports, ballet, and various classes, we often make bad food choices. But, this beautiful ‘box of good choices’ arrives and helps you make a healthy choice without really even thinking. We included some of the other healthy choices that we love on her picture board display, like hiking, walking, spending time with people you love, serving others, etc. We’re glad that Klesick Farms is part of the healthy choices in our lives! My 8 year old son actually prefers vegetables to some sweets and I think the weekly routine of being delivered a ‘present’ of produce on our doorstep has really influenced this! It’s always so EXCITING to see what’s inside :)”

Hansen project2  Hansen project

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Share the Good plus a Cookbook Sweepstakes!

Share the Good!

(Jan 11-Mar 14)

Refer a friend and get your next box at 25% OFF!*

Plus, we’ll enter you into our raffle for a FREE cookbook! (see below)

Have your friend mention “4 for 3” and we’ll give them their 4th box FREE!*

*Must be currently getting a box to receive 25% off. Offer does not apply to meat orders. Referral must purchase a delivery for referral to qualify.

*4th box free applies to boxes of equal or lesser value, up to $45.

 

Cookbook Sweepstakes!

We have come across a handful of great cookbooks, and will be doing some prize giveaways over the next couple of weeks.

The first raffle will happen on Thursday, 1/29/15 at noon. In order to qualify for the raffle, all you have to do is…talk about your box of good. Tell your friends, family, business associates about the organic veggies that you get delivered from Klesick. Send them to this page if they want more info: http://www.klesickfamilyfarm.com/how-it-works-2/ and if they sign up for a deliveries, and give us your name as the person who told them about us, your name will automatically be entered into this drawing!

 

Facebook Giveaway! 

Updated 2/4/15

We’re giving away another copy of Date Night In, signed by the author! Share your menu on our Facebook post that you would actually create for your date night in. Best menu wins!

Props go to menus that are: simple, creative, and contain ingredients from your box of good.

Participants must be current customers to qualify for the cookbook sweepstakes. Limit, one entry per customer. Participants may enter the drawing through Monday, 2/9/15, and the winner will be announced the next day on Facebook.

This prize is a signed copy of Ashley Rodriguez’s new cookbook, Date Night In: More than 120 Recipes to Nourish Your Relationship.

Watch the trailer, here:

Date Night In Book Trailer from Not Without Salt on Vimeo.

In two week’s we’ll do another drawing, this time for the cookbook, Artisanal Gluten-Free Cooking: 275 Great-Tasting, From-Scratch Recipes from Around the World, Perfect for Every Meal and for Anyone on a Gluten-Free Diet – and Even Those Who Aren’t – this book has some fantastic recipes for eating your Klesick veggies!

We’ll do two more drawings in Febuary, as well as one in March, with more great cookbooks, so keep sharing and stay tuned! The more people you refer, the more chances you have of winning, plus you’ll get 25% off your box for each person you refer!

Shoot our office an email or give us a call if you would like some brochures to help spread the word.

Thank you for sharing the good!!

Your friends at the Klesick Family Farm

360-652-4663

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Change

Change is afoot here at the Klesick Family Farm. The first change happened last weekend. I was blessed to walk our oldest daughter, Emily, down the aisle! Making that walk is an incredibly emotional moment in a father’s life. In the last two summers, Micah got married, Aaron got married, and now Emily is married. It is a little different, giving away a daughter than it is receiving a new daughter into our family. After all, this is my little girl, who I’d always known would find the love of her life and decide to get married, but it happened way faster than I ever imagined! Joelle and I are very excited for Keiran to join our family and to hand over to him one of our greatest treasures, so that they can begin their journey together.

For those of us who are parents, our children are our most precious crop. We pour our lives into them, teaching them, giving to them, and believing in them. A wedding is a culmination of all of these AND you get a new family member. Emily’s wedding was pretty special.

Another much smaller change that we have made at the Klesick family house and on the farm is to cut out plastic wrap. It has taken a little adjusting, but we are making it work. It is just so easy and efficient to use plastic wrap. But here we are, three weeks into the New Year, and voila, the trash is less full and we have discovered there is life after plastic wrap. Who would’ve have known!

We have located all of our bowls that “had” lids and purchased a set of silicone lids and a few sets of the clear plastic bowl covers. We have mostly used the clear plastic bowl covers because most of the larger main meals like soup or roasts already have lids for the pans we cook in. The silicone lids are excellent for covering salad type bowls. One thing I have noticed is that we rarely cover anything on a plate anymore, whereas before we would routinely use plastic wrap for covering a plate of leftovers.

We are also switching to a re-useable pallet wrap for our business. This move alone will save one garbage can of plastic going to the landfill a week. Another environmentally friendly move we are considering is switching to emailed invoices.

Let us know how your family or business re-uses every day items to benefit the environment.  You can email us or share your ideas on FB, twitter or Instagram!

Thanks for supporting our good food network!
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It’s the Week before Christmas!

How does Christmas always sneak up on ME? Every year it seems we just run out of time and before you know it, it’s here! I know for our family, this season has changed. In a simpler season of life, when everyone lived at home, we used to catch a Christmas Eve service, wake up Christmas morning, have our family time and then load up all kiddos and head to the grandparents, both sets. Oh, things were simple during those days.

Now that many of the Klesicks are grown up, two are married and a third is getting married in January, it is anything but simple. Family time is still ultra-important and gift giving has rightfully regulated itself to more time than material, but just trying to find the time with all the different schedules can, quite literally, be a gift in itself.

One good thing about holidays is that they do serve as family gathering days, and most of our family does gather together then. As our family grows and we add new sons-in-law, daughters-in-law and grandchildren, we have found the need to be flexible, especially when we gather. Gathering as a family is still the goal, but when and who can attend are the new variables. Of course, this isn’t a new phenomen, as it has played itself out through the generations, but it is just new to us.

So as our family grows, so does our need for flexibility with meeting places and times. Some years will be less attended for the usual reasons: work schedules, other family obligations, travel plans, etc. This year we are able to gather with our family the week before and everyone will be there (YEAH!!!).

Some things change, while others remain the same, so being flexible around the holidays going forward, will make this and many more Christmases to come just as special.

This year, it will be only a little quieter as we gather up those who still live at home to go to the Christmas Eve service, wake up Christmas morning, have our family time and then load up all the kiddos and head to the grandparents, both sets.

 

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Preparing for Thanksgiving

 

Thanksgiving! ~ Ordering a Holiday Box with all of the Fresh Ingredients You’ll Need for Your Special Meal 

Thanksgiving is just around the corner! If you haven’t already, it’s time to start thinking about preparing for the holiday! For a day that’s devoted to cooking, eating, family and thinking about what makes you thankful, a little planning ahead goes a long ways in making that special meal go off without a hitch.

We at Klesick would like to be a part of your Thanksgiving celebration by making your holiday planning easy. Every year in November, we offer an additional special: the Holiday Box ($36). The Holiday box, as its name implies, is full of traditional organic Thanksgiving meal items for your celebration. Keep in mind that you can schedule a Holiday Box to be delivered the week of Thanksgiving, but NEW THIS YEAR: you can order a holiday box for any week in November, as well as the week after Thanksgiving (available Nov. 4 – Dec. 5). You can have this box delivered along with your regular order or in place of your regular order (when you place your order please specify).

Along with the Holiday Box, you can order many of the ingredients you’ll need for your  big meal: hearth-baked dinner rolls, bread cubes for stuffing, cranberries, jams, apple butters, pickles and relishes, as well as all of your favorite fresh vegetable ingredients, like sweet potatoes, green beans, and greens for your favorite sides and salads.

Let us source, pack, and deliver your Thanksgiving good right to your doorstep!

An Opportunity to Give! ~ Donating a Holiday Box to Neighbors in Need

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, Klesick is providing an opportunity for you to donate a Holiday Box to the food bank. The season of giving has started, with schools, churches and businesses kicking off food drives that have become annual holiday traditions. While commonly donated foods are high in salt, sugar or calories, these are poor choices for people with high blood pressure, diabetes and other diet-related health problems. We’d like to ask you or your organization to consider giving a box of organic produce this Thanksgiving.

If your celebration includes helping the less fortunate who live in our community, you may order an additional Holiday Box at a discounted price of $26.00. Like our Neighbor Helping Neighbor program, we will deliver donated boxes to the food bank prior to the Thanksgiving holiday. These will become available to add as a donation throughout the month of November. 

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Holiday Box Menu

Granny Smith Apples, 2 lbs.

Cranberries, 7.5 oz.

Satsumas, 2 lbs.

Breadcubes for Stuffing, 1 lb.

Celery, 1 bunch

Acorn Squash, 1 ea.

Green Beans, 1 lb.

Garnet Yams, 2 lbs.

Carrots, 2 lbs.

Yellow Potatoes, 3 lbs.

Yellow Onions, 1 lb.

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Farm Update

This is the part of the season where farmers are planting, weeding, and harvesting as well as planning for the next season. Last week, the harvest rotation was cucumbers, snow peas, snap peas, raspberries and zucchini. This week, we have the same harvesting schedule, but less of some and more of others. Raspberries will taper off, with peas, cucumbers and zucchinis kicking in to high gear. We will also be harvesting red leaf lettuce and kohlrabi and a few bunches of chives and sunflowers. Once the harvesting is finished, we have weeding, and lots of it.

Now we are adding irrigation. Irrigation—some farmers lovingly refer to it as “irritation” J. No water, no crops, no food—funny how that works. Fortunately, our soil has a good water-holding capacity, so we get by with a lot less “irritation” than most folks.

Wedding

Our second son, Aaron, has found the love of his life and asked her to be his wife. We are delighted to add Emily to our family and host their wedding in late August on the farm.

The wedding date has precipitated a change in our annual farm festival, which has traditionally been the third weekend in August. As parents and hosts of our son’s wedding, we have decided to change the festival to a series of educational farm walks and events.

So, in lieu of our annual farm festival, we are hosting two farm tours, a fun run (tentative), our squash fest and a garlic planting day. We are excited to share our love of farming and our farm with each of you through these fun, interactive and informative farm days. Each of the listed events are free to our customers, except the Harvest 5k Fun Run. If your school group, church group, book club, etc. would like to come see the farm on a different day, give the office a call and we would love to schedule a farm tour.

Schedule of farm events:

Friday, August 1st, 7pm and 8pm, 1 hour farm tour with wagon ride through the farm.

Thursday August 28th, 7pm and 8pm, 1 hour farm tour with wagon ride through the farm.

September 27th Harvest 5k Fun Run, supporting the Port Susan Food and Farming Center.

September 27th (same day as the Harvest 5k Fun Run) noon to 5pm. Come and help farmer Tristan harvest winter squash and potatoes.

October 12th Garlic Planting, 9am to noon. It will be a clove-popping, garlic-planting party.

See you this summer,

 

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What Are You Wearing?

laundry soap_cedar & lemongrass

Handmade La Conner Laundry Soaps

Now that you’re on the road to better health by eliminating toxins that go into your body, what about the toxins you’re putting on your body?

Laundry detergents usually contain chemicals that are dangerous to the health and irritating to the skin. A residue of these chemicals remains on clothing after it is washed that then transfers to your skin. Clear evidence of this can be found in scented products, because chemical fragrances would be useless if they were simply washed out. Chemical fragrances are especially bad and are known for aggravating asthma. Laundry product manufacturers sometimes add formaldehyde to their formulas. Formaldehyde is carcinogenic, a skin irritant, and a respiratory poison.

We’ve recently come across a natural laundry soap crafted locally by Handmade La Conner that we are really excited to share with you. These ultra-concentrated laundry soaps are handmade in small batches, absolutely never using fillers, parabens, phosphates, chlorine, artificial colors or fragrances, making them ideal for those who have sensitive skin. They are safe for both septic systems and high-efficiency washing machines.

We are making this laundry soap available to you in these refreshing options: cedar & lemongrass, lavender, sweet orange, spicy citrus, as well as unscented (fragrance comes from pure organic essential oils). Each 16-ounce jar of this powdered soap will wash up to 64 loads of laundry in a high-efficiency washing machine. Order some today and take your detoxing efforts to the next level.

And while you’re at it, don’t forget to check out the natural, skin-loving, earth-friendly soaps and lotions handcrafted by EcoSations available on our website.

 

Septic Cents™

Septic Cents™ is a liquid enzyme product that stimulates broad ranges of desirable microbe populations commonly found in septic tanks to ensure optimum performance from your septic system.

Benefits of Septic Cents™:

  • Reduces and liquefies contents of your septic tank and drainfield.
  • Reduces build-up of solid organic waste and allows it to flow freely through the leach bed.
  • Improves percolation and absorp-tion many times over, even in clay.
  • Helps eliminate messy back-ups.
  • Cleans and maintains drainfields, septic tanks, cesspools, pipes, and grease traps.

Visit the products page of our website for more information.

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Oso Mudslide Relief Efforts

My family is from the Oso community. My cousins have been among the many volunteers on the ground doing an amazing work. Being “locals,” their understanding of the area has been absolutely critical to the relief efforts. Their knowledge of the location and usability of back roads, the location of heavy equipment and where to find local resources, like gravel, is invaluable. I have cheered them on and checked in every day. I have listened to the stories and hardships—it is heart-wrenching.

 

The news is doing a good job of not over-sensationalizing this event because it really is as bad, and might be even worse, than reported. I have worked on many disaster sites and led a few teams, but I have never seen devastation like this before. The loss of life and the magnitude of the slide and its location have created a very challenging rescue and recovery operation.

 

I am heartened by the efforts of the Oso, Arlington and Darrington communities and the work of Snohomish County, the State and the Federal response teams. We are at the point where large sums of money are being donated and used to stabilize the situation and lots of government agencies and large non-profits are in full support mode and using their expertise to help these communities. Although this outpouring of giving and help is incredible, from my past experience during and after disaster responses, it usually wanes fairly quickly, but the physical, emotional and financial impact will continue for those rebuilding their lives. It is a part of human nature to rally our efforts at a time like this, but these efforts are hard to sustain long-term.

 

So here is what I am proposing:

 

The Klesick Family Farm would like to engage in the disaster relief for the long haul. I have budgeted $1,000/month to help put families back on the ground. We will be working with local community churches that are nimble and able to quickly get resources to the impacted families.

 

Like us, many of you have already donated –thank you. However, I would ask you to consider partnering with us for the long haul and setting up a recurring tax-deductible donation on your account. Imagine if half of our customers added an extra $1 per delivery—we could raise $3,500 per month to extend hope to our neighbors in Oso and Darrington.

 

How to Help the Oso & Darrington Communities

 

  • Give through Klesick Family Farm: Give your charitable contribution through Klesick Family Farm and we will get it into the hands of the locals. You can either make a one-time donation or add the donation as a recurring item to your regular produce delivery. Recurring donations will be scheduled to terminate at the end of June or sooner if you’d prefer. 100% of donations will go local community churches and other non-profit organizations to directly help families who have been most impacted. Donations are tax-deductible. Donors will receive a tax statement at the end of the year. Please visit our website to donate. 
  • Red Cross of Snohomish County: If you wish to help victims of the Oso mudslide, cash donations are preferred. The American Red Cross is no longer collecting items. Go to the Red Cross of Snohomish County at www.redcross.org/snoco to donate. People can also text “RedCross” to 90999 to make a $10 donation.
  • Darrington Community Center: The Darrington Community Center welcomes any donations brought into the center, which is located at 570 Sauk Ave. 360-436-1217.
  • Check with your local bank, as many have set up accounts to donate toward the relief effort.

 

Thank you for your generous outpouring.

 

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I am your ingredients farmer

20110204-FAT SICK and NEARLY DEAD

After watching the DVD Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, I went to the “Extras” section and watched a few of the deleted scenes. There were some great farm interviews that didn’t make the cut and also a section on “How to Shop” from Harvard Nutritionist, Stacy Kennedy. 

One of the most memorable or significant messages she was driving home was to buy ingredients when you shop, not food. Now, most everything at the grocery store is technically food. However, what Stacy would call food is that which comes in a box or jar, whereas ingredients would be those things which are unprocessed or unpackaged. So, her emphasis was to just buy ingredients. For the last 15 years, we, at Klesick Family Farm, have been supplying families with ingredients—ultra fresh and organically grown ingredients. 

Another observation was that our shopping should not be in the middle of the grocery store. That makes sense. After all, that is where all the sugary drinks, the sugary cereals and the processed other foods are merchandised. Most ingredients are located on the perimeter where you find the produce, meat, and deli departments. 

One additional suggestion I would have would be to bring a shopping list to the grocery store and stick to it. Those end cap displays are there for a reason—because the stuff being merchandised there sells really well. But, if those items are not on your list, keep moving. Shopping at the grocery store can be like going to war with yourself. Most of the products being offered are not healthy or processed and it can take an incredible amount of will power to come through the checkout without extra stuff. Of course, if you shop at one of the natural food stores, the potential for damage is less, but those places sell a lot food too.

Ironically, because you receive a “box of good” you actually save money on your food bill, because you don’t have to fight with your will power at the grocery store as often. You are also getting a lot of great ingredients to keep you and your family healthy, conveniently delivered right to your door.

As a company, 95% of our sales are ingredients and all of those ingredients come from farms committed to raising food that respects the earth, the farm workers and the consumer. Which means every time you get your “box of good” two messages are sent: one to your body that you care about it and the other to the good food community saying, “Keep it up!”

Let’s keep working together to improve your health and the health of the world–one bite at a time.

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