Category: Box of Good

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The Days Are Getting Shorter

This is the season where I just run out of gas, figuratively and sometimes literally. The one thing you never want to run out of is DIESEL. Nope. Never run a tractor out of DIESEL. Gas yes; Diesel no. But sometimes, I personally just run out of gas. I have been at this farming season for 7 months so far and there are a few more to go.

And this farm season has been hard. Wet early and well into June. Then DRY! The weather pattern has stressed some of the crops and blessed others. Great year for cucumbers and tomatoes; lettuces and spinach, marginal at best. Blackberries and raspberries were happy, as were the birds that descended on them like locusts. Farm years like this one require so much mental energy.

Twenty years ago, I made a choice to not farm with chemicals, to focus on soil health, biology and habitat. Which means that I have to work with nature. When the weather is too wet or too dry, the crops can get bug and disease pressures. But, if you are going to choose to not farm with chemicals/poisons, you are going to have “those” years that remind you how fragile the farming and the food system is.

But this is the time of year when local farmers have lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. We will be into peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers till the first frost and soon we will be harvesting our pears and plums. Potatoes and winter squash will be coming after that. And then we will start to put the farm to bed with cover crops of wheat, rye, oats and vetch to protect our soils and feed the biology.

As the days get shorter and Summer marches towards Fall, so does my outside work and I am grateful for that. Yes, life is returning to normal and I can get back on a schedule. Anybody else feel like you can’t wait for school to get out and you can’t wait for it to start? I know as a farmer, summer is just crazy. Your life is ordered around the day length and chores, but when school starts, life takes on a different rhythm.

It is a more peaceful rhythm like the “Resolve” at the end of a great symphony. Still very intricate, but as the seasons change from Spring to Summer to Fall, this farmer senses it is time to begin to hush the horns, percussions and, eventually, the winds and let the farm I partner with rest, rejuvenate and get ready for next season.

 

Tristan

Farmer, Health Advocate

 

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Hand in Hand

Being a first-generation family farm has been an amazing journey. For nearly 20 years, Joelle and I have been supplying, growing, and delivering our produce and produce from other farms. As we near Fall and the Fall harvest, I am reminded that what was a little seed a few months ago is ready for harvest now. Time flies by.

For Joelle and I, our farm has transitioned from being the young farming family to being a multigenerational farm family. Time has flown by. With each season there are so many rewards and riches to be had, but some of the most precious are the excitement and wonder of children.

Our youngest, Joanna (7), still excitedly reminds us to look at the sunset every night. She hasn’t quite figured out how to remind us to look at the sunrise, though. ? Sunsets and sunrises are spectacular, but seeing another grandson or granddaughter join the family – that is life changing.

Joelle and I are both parenting and grand parenting. The older children have gotten married and are having children and our little Joanna is now an Auntie 4 times over with one more coming in November.

A few weeks ago, we welcomed Nathan Lee Klesick to the world. I haven’t got him on the tractor yet, but it will happen sooner than I can say scalafragilisticespcalldocius. Because, well, time flies by. And before I know it that little guy will be under foot harvesting strawberries alongside his grandparents, just like his older brothers and cousins, and just like their parents did.

Seeing your third generation is a gift. Having them grow up near the farm, spend time on the farm, and experience the farm, that is priceless. Right now, those little ones are more likely to get a taste of the dirt on our farm, but that taste could very well lead to a future taste for farming.

For me, I am going to work a little slower and take a little more time to get the chores done, because I will have the third generation trying to keep pace with grandpa’s footsteps. To hear “Grandpa, Grandpa” and turn around and see a little one toddling as fast as those little legs can go is all the motivation I need to slow down, bend down, and swoop them up!

Maybe it is just me, but I think that locally grown food tastes better, because a local family on a local farm is growing it and quite possibly, as it is with our farm, another generation of future farmers, too.

 

Teaching another generation to farm,

 

Tristan

Farmer, Health Advocate

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My Summer Garden

Last time we spoke I boldly proclaimed that this year I would finally give my little garden the attention it deserves. It has served us well in years past providing yard snacks of sugar snap peas, wild strawberries and raspberries. But this year I wanted to be able to cook a few dinners solely using the harvest from the garden.

In spite of me the garden flourished. By April I was giddy with the thought of spending extended periods of time outside again. Evening dinners by the garden seemed an impossible act when as the rains persisted. I started seeds on the ledge above our sink and watched their steady progress. For hours, I dug deep into the dirt extending the garden’s borders making room for squash, peppers, tomatoes, beans, zucchini, potatoes, lettuce, carrots, radish, and cucumbers. Hopes were high.

And then reality hit. Summer with three kids, camping trips, beach picnics, book writing and opening a retail/studio in Seattle leaves little time for pulling weeds. And yet the garden gives and rewards my efforts – no matter how lacking they may be.

Last week, after a quick jaunt to the islands, I came home to an empty fridge and a deep desire to order take out. I wandered into the garden to turn on the sprinkler but immediately found myself pulling weeds and making plans for dinner. There was a zucchini – a rare one not yet enjoyed by our squirrely garden guests, tender skinned potatoes, ruffled butter lettuce, green beans and plenty of fragrant herbs.

The potatoes I boiled in a vinegar brine then roasted until crisp on the outside and buttery inside. With the zucchini, I cut it into thick coins then fried in a bit of olive and finished with sumac – a brilliant red spice that tastes as if it’s laced with lemon – and mint. The greens were lightly dressed with a lemon yogurt dressing immersed with herbs. And the green beans, well, the kids ate those raw as a snack while they waited for their garden dinner.

Perhaps next year is the year I really dig deep into gardening and I can live out my dreams of weedless rows and towering teepees of greens beans. In the meantime, I’m thankful for tangled stems that produce tomatoes sweet and bursting with flavor, and jungle-like web of green beans that bring smiles to my kid’s faces, and potatoes springing from the dirt in which I proudly hold them high in the air and proclaim to my husband, I grew that! Really, the earth does the work and for that I am so grateful.

 

Ashley

 

Get Ashley’s recipe for this week’s box menu, here.

 

Ashley Ashley Rodriguez is a NW Mom, Chef, Food Blogger at notwithoutsalt.com and author of Date Night In: More than 120 Recipes to Nourish Your Relationship

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Garlic and Flowers

Hello August and Hello Fall Soccer! August is that transition month where a lot of us start thinking about back to school, fall sports and last vacations. And I am so glad that the Stanwood/Camano School district is starting after Labor Day. Because, I am going to need every available minute before my school aged crew goes back to school.

Labor is the tightest I have ever seen…but there are crops planted and they will need to be harvested and after all the work it takes to get a crop to harvest, you can be darn sure that I will get it harvested. It might take a harvest moon or two or head lamps, but it will get done! ?

Flowers

Every year, I have this volunteer crop of sunflowers that grow. I let them grow so the birds can eat them, then I mow them and till them in. The next year what the birds didn’t eat starts to reseed. These sunflowers are special because they remind me of our oldest son’s wedding. You see, his future wife had asked for sunflowers for her wedding and I, being a farmer, was more than happy to comply. So, for the last four years, the Klesick family gets to enjoy and reminisce about the wedding on that special day in August.

We also have beautiful red Poppies that have re-seeded themselves from our second son’s wedding 3 years ago. Yep, you guessed it. His future wife had wanted wildflowers! And I, as a farmer, was more than happy to comply. ? This year there is a splash of color intermixed with the potatoes.

Joelle and I have been blessed to see our four oldest children get married. And you know what that means–GRANDCHILDREN! We will be adding two more grandsons, one in August and one in November, bringing the total to 4 grandsons and 1 granddaughter. It is pretty emotional to be walking around the farm with your grandchildren and think that the third generation is on its way.

Garlic

Last week we harvested our Inchelium Garlic. A little later than I would have liked, but, like I shared earlier, we got it done. We don’t spend much time curing our garlic. Curing is the drying process that allows garlic to store longer. I don’t have a lot of extra storing capacity, so I plant less and sell it fresh. You can use your garlic like any other garlic, but use it sooner. Inchelium has beautiful flavor and would be great roasted or minced.

We are also starting our first picking of green beans. We have 3 plantings of green and 2 plantings of purple this year. Garden-fresh beans are the best. Steamed beans and carrots with a little butter. Incredible and so simple!

 

Enjoy!

 

Tristan, Farmer and Health Advocate

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Seems Crazy

Rain from October to June and then it just stops; sunny and mid 70’s with a breeze. Beautiful, relaxing weather. Now, all I need is rain. It’s always too much or not enough or not at all. This weather is perfect unless we all want to eat!

Do you know who is eating well? Cedar Waxwings! And we have a bumper crop of fledglings this year. We also have a lot of robins, gold finches, and sparrows. But those Cedar Waxwings make robins a welcome addition to the farm. Ok, maybe that’s a stretch, but by inviting wildlife into our eco space, AKA organic farm, we have encouraged all types of birds to nest, procreate and EAT!

The wildlife, while still wild, is certainly not timid. I was picking blackberries and heard the distinctive call of the waxwing and stopped to see where the bird was “feasting”. Not more than a few feet from me! She hopped up onto the closest berry wire and sat there. If I had a net, I probably could have scooped her up.

So, the waxwing and I had a quiet moment, studying each other, neither of us fearing one another. I think she was saying, “Farmer Tristan, thank you for planting all these lovely blackberries and raspberries.” And, as I was peering back into those little black eyes, I couldn’t help, but notice the lovely shade of BRIGHT RED Raspberry lipstick! Let me tell you, L’Oréal has nothing to compare with the real deal!

One of the problems is that my berries come on well before the wild blackberries. So, every berry eating bird does what birds do. They set up residence near food, water and each other. Also known as Klesick Farms. Since I want to have early berries, I’m just going to have to contend with the berry loving avian population.

Going forward, I will have to net the berry patch to try and limit their access. I would rather put a sign up that says, “bird berries here, help yourselves,” but experience has taught me that only fish go to school.

 

Tristan

 

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NW Healthy Mama Farm Tour

Hi there, Klesick customers! My name is Angela Strand. It’s an honor to share with you today a little about the site I run, NW Healthy Mama and also let you in on an exciting opportunity to tour Klesick’s Farm!

NW Healthy Mama was created 2 years ago, when my love for the beautiful Pacific Northwest was paired with a passion for all things healthy and active. On NW Healthy Mama, the belief is that health is not a specific diet, but rather a frame of mind, a meal that helps our families thrive and an adventure outside with good friends. As a Mom of 3 young kids, I believe in enjoying motherhood and loving our people well. I love encouraging the families in this part of the world to get outside and have fun together!

So, what you can expect to see on NW Healthy Mama?

  • Blog posts (www.NWHealthyMama.com) are usually sent out on average 3 times a week and include topics like gardening tips, PNW hikes, day trip and camping ideas, garden tours (email me if you’d like to write about your garden or flower patch!), healthy recipes and guest posts about any of these topics. If you haven’t signed up to receive posts by email, please do so!
  • I show my face a lot and am very unedited/goofy/sometimes ridiculous on Instagram Stories so if you like bloopers and behind the scenes stuff, head over there! (Instagram @NWHealthyMama)
  • Facebook is a mix of all of this plus, it’s a place where I frequently post reader questions and let readers chime in and help each other out.

Here’s what one awesome reader says” I think that everything you say and talk about on your blog and Instagram is so refreshing and inspiring. There are many new moms and women telling us how to eat and diets to be on, etc. and it is so nice to have you telling us about opportunities to be active with your kids/family and great food to eat. It doesn’t stress me out, it makes me excited. We even bought our Christmas tree from the tree farm that you wrote about!!“

 

Here’s the AWESOME NEWS! There’s going to be a NW Healthy Mama Farm Tour at Klesick Farm and you’re invited! Have gardening or market-gardening questions? Simply want to hang out with some really great people? It’s all happening on July 8th!

 

Klesick farms has been growing and delivering organically grown fruits and vegetables for over 20 years and Tristan is excited to share what he has learned along the way as a farmer, father and small business owner.

 

 Here are the details:

What: Free Farm Tour and “Farm to Market” Q&A with Farmer Tristan Klesick

Who: Everyone!

When: July 8th from 10-11:30am

Where: Klesick Farm 24101 Miller Rd Stanwood, WA 98292

Hope to see you at the Klesick Farm on July 8th. You can find more information on NW Healthy Mama, by following along on Facebook, Instagram and on the website, NWHealthyMama.com

 

 

 

 

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Peas and Potatoes

Peas and Potatoes

Few things are as rewarding as a freshly hilled potatoes or white blossoms on Sugar Snap peas. These are sure signs that summer is on its way.

I just finished hilling the potatoes for the first time this season. They are looking green and happy. We hill, or cover, the plants with soil so that it will produce more potatoes. Hilling encourages more potatoes to form and protects them from sunlight. In a good year, we will hill them 3 times. So far it looks like we are on schedule.

And the Sugar Snap Peas are turning it up! The plants are about 5 feet tall and there are a few more feet left in them. It always amazes me that one pea seed can produce so much. You can look for the first splash of juicy Sugar Snap Peas in early to mid July. I had thought we would be picking them by now, but the “Junuary” weather has delayed more than a few crops this year. Thankfully they are just delayed.

Spraying

At Sorticulture, I was talking with a fair-goer about our grass-fed beef. He was fairly knowledgeable and looking for an argument. In the middle of our conversation, he said, “What do you spray on your fields?” He was insinuating that I spray chemicals on my pastures. It is a good question, because so many farmers, local or otherwise sell meat and vegetables using the word “local” or grass fed. And many local farmers will use chemical fertilizers or herbicides in their pastures. Are their vegetables and fruit “local” or the animals “grass fed”? Absolutely. But they are often also locally sprayed or farmed with chemicals.

This person obviously knew that many local farmers use chemicals on their pastures and when he asked me, “What do you spray on your fields?” I said, “Kelp”. End of possible argument. Yes, we spray our fields every 7-10 days with a kelp/fish/soil microbe mix. We use certified organic amendments and ingredients in our fertilizer blends and are inspected annually to verify we are complying with the National Organic Program standards.

From the beginning, on our farm we haven’t used synthetic chemicals. It has been that way for 20 years and I see no reason to change. My children and grandchildren can wander anywhere they want and eat whatever they want any time on our farm. Their health is important to me and so is yours.

4th of July

Just a quick update: I talked with my team and we decided to keep our regular schedule during the week of July 4th. So, no changes to your delivery day or order deadlines. But for our Tuesday customers, expect your deliveries a little earlier, since there should be less Boeing traffic that day. 🙂

 

Tristan

 

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Sticktoitiveness

If you are going to be a farmer, you have to have “sticktoitiveness. Yes, that’s a word, and I couldn’t find a better one to describe farmers or at least this farmer. I am going to get a crop off my farm no matter what Nature (the weather, pests, disease) throws at me. I am even going to get a crop off my farm when I have to fill out the umpteenth survey from the US Department of Agriculture, or the mountain of paperwork to keep my farm Certified Organic. Of all the hassle that comes with growing foods without chemicals, Nature is my favorite partner to work with.

Nature is a formidable, constantly mixing things up – daily! This spring has been one for the ages, and it looks like June will be as us farmers call it “Junuary.” Last year was a breeze, this year has been a howler. I have a confession though; every time I planted spinach or beets, it would rain buckets a few days later. The first time it happened, I chocked it up to bad timing. Planting spinach before a deluge on my farm is akin to pouring concrete over the crop. We have a fair amount of clay, and if the sun comes out a few days later I could make bricks!

Bear in mind that spinach seed and vegetable seeds in general are a hardy lot, but they aren’t as hardy as weeds. And yes, a few seeds have managed to find their way to the light of day.

Undeterred, I plowed up more ground and planted again and it rained buckets again. One more time I planted and it rained again. I am not a superstitious person, but after three times of planting spinach and creating “concrete” even I was getting a little wary of planting spinach. Well, last week I was getting ready to plant more spinach, and I looked at the forecast for Thursday and Friday, scratched my chin – deep in thought and at that moment I decided to not plant spinach! So, for the record, that last deluge was not my fault, because I didn’t plant spinach! Although I did seed 4 acres of rye/fescue seed for a new hay field the night before! 🙂

If you are going to be a farmer, you have to have sticktoitiveness. It also helps to be diversified and while the spinach is languishing, the potatoes, onions, sugar snap peas, beans, carrots, lettuce, kohlrabi, blackberries, raspberries, apples, plums, pears, cucumbers, corn, summer and winter squash are coming along.

But everything, including this farmer, and probably you, could use some warmer weather to really get growing.

 

The undeterred farmer,

Tristan

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Tacos 101

 

Gabe’s grandfather has repeatedly encouraged me to write the cookbook, 101 Tacos. When we see him which unfortunately isn’t often enough as he lives in northern Mexico, he always has more ideas for tacos. “Shrimp tacos, beef tacos, tacos de fish, chicken tacos…” He’s relentless in this idea and honestly, I totally get it because if there is one thing I can eat on repeat its tacos. And now, as I’m working on my second cookbook I’m realizing that we do indeed eat quite a few tacos. In my opinion, they are quite possibly the best solution for quick weeknight meals. My 15 minute steak tacos never disappoint and my latest favorite, asparagus tacos, have me really reconsidering that 101 Tacos book idea.

Summer is the perfect season for minimal prep for quick easy cooking. The ingredients available to us right now overwhelm me in the best sort of way. To capture the maximum nutrition and flavor very little cooking is needed as the warmth of the sun has done the hard work for us. These Swiss chard tacos, like so many other tacos, quickly became a staple in our house the moment I found the idea in one of Rick Bayless’ books. While greens aren’t necessarily a favorite at the dinner table for my three children when you wrap them around a tortilla suddenly they get devoured.

The Swiss chard gets a quick and simple sauté with caramelized onions and then topped with store-bought or homemade salsa and then creamy queso fresco. If you’re out of Swiss chard, spinach makes a fine substitute. Throw in some other roasted vegetables for variety and extra nutritional heft.

For quick summer meals that give you more time outside and less time in the kitchen, learn from me and always keep tortillas at the ready along with a good salsa, and crumbly, salty cheese. A quick roast of whatever you have lingering in your vegetable crisper and you have yourself a taco that would make Gabe’s grandfather proud.

For Ashley‘s Recipe for Swiss Chard Tacos, click here.

 

Ashley

 

Ashley Rodriguez is a NW Mom, Food Blogger at NotWithoutSalt.com and author of Date Night In: More than 120 Recipes to Nourish Your Relationship

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Mettle

This spring has been quite the start to the farming season. Springs like this sure can test your mettle. Thankfully, we have a long growing season in the PNW!

Seriously. I just kept planting, replanting and replanting. I figured that eventually, we would get 4 days of dry weather and one of my spinach seedlings would germinate and not have to rise through a rain compacted layer of newly formed mud.

It all works out though. Because I need to plant more green beans, I will just plant that quarter acre of what was supposed to be spinach to my 3rd planting of green beans. Green beans are a bright spot on the farm. I think every one of those seeds germinated on the first planting. Who would have ever thought that would happen this year??? ME! Every time I plant something, I think it is going to be my best crop ever. ?

The other day, when I was taking my kids to school, we got behind a tractor (it’s Stanwood) and it was going as fast as it could, maybe 10 MPH. One could feel the tension rising as line of cars began to grow–5 cars, 10 cars, 15 cars. I knew that there were going to be some frustrated people. Having been in this situation many times as the tractor driver myself, the tension was palpable to me, especially on a 50 MPH road! At this point, I started talking out loud to myself and my daughters, “Oh the nerve. That tractor is slowing everyone down, going to make us late for school, probably get someone killed trying to pass them on a corner, folks swearing at him and waving with their middle finger and… we would all be a whole lot hungrier if that farmer wasn’t doing their job.” That’s when my daughters looked up from their phones, and I said, “Oh, you were listening to me.” 🙂 We waved at Nathan, the farmer, and continued on our way.

Good Food Farm Tours!

Joelle and I are hosting several events on our farm this summer. This last weekend we kicked off the first of our Summer of Fun Good Food Farm tours, and I’m pretty sure we have the best customers. We visited as we leisurely strolled through our farm talking about farming, biodiversity, and what not. A few folks got to plant spinach and beans. Others sat in a tractor for photo ops. Hope to see you at the next tour! CLICK HERE TO VIEW TOURS. Joelle and I are grateful, and consider it a privilege, to be your farmers and share our farm with you. Eating healthy and being healthy takes a little planning and effort, but so does growing healthy food–the fresher, the better. That’s why we love growing vegetables and fruit – they are the foundation to a healthy, vibrant life.

 

Cheers to your health!

Tristan Klesick, Farmer, Health Advocate