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Stomachs over Storage

A couple years ago, a friend of a friend (and fellow Box of Good recipient!) was moving her small business to Snohomish, and she contracted me to set up all the technology for her new retail store. Before the computers, printers, Wi-Fi, POS station, credit card readers, and receipt printer worked, we needed to get a new internet router. So I went where everyone else goes, and headed to our local family-owned shop around the corner called Amazon. I picked out the right router that covered the appropriate square footage of her store and purchased it on a Thursday afternoon, around 1pm. I only needed it to arrive at her store by Monday to start setting up shop. But later that afternoon, she texted me to say that the router arrived at the new store! I was flabbergasted. 

While this complex system of distribution works great for consuming more and more cheaper items, it’s not such a great system for food that we actually consume. A router is not bothered by sitting on a shelf for a year, or in a container for 6 months, or a ship for 3 weeks. Nor do cell phone chargers, tires, a broom, a book or a rowing machine! My 94-year-old grandpa just bought himself a rowing machine from Amazon on his cell phone, delivered to his nursing-home “studio” in 3 days, because it’s still not too late to start something new! How long was that rowing machine waiting on a shelf for him? Who knows. 

Unfortunately, we’ve made our food system more like our non-food system, rather than the other way around. We’ve pushed too hard on the “convenience” button and tried to make every food item available all the time in whatever quantity we can dream up. Prioritizing food for storage and transport has come at the cost of the very nutrients we should be consuming. Too often, the same nutrients that our bodies desire also make food expire, but those are replaced with items that enhance their shipping and storage lives. If we were blindfolded and released into a grocery store and told to grab a handful of items, it’s more likely that your shopping cart would be full of items designed for the shelf, not for yourself. The main intention behind the shape, color, texture, presentation, density, price, and ingredients of each product is that it needs to be in a truck, freezer, cooler, warehouse, or storage for an unknown amount of time. It’s made to sustain the temperature changes, shaking, and squishing, rather than sustain our stomachs. 

But fresh local produce and grocery items flip the tradeoffs in our favor, so the nutrients we crave are left in the food, and the costs of a complex storage system are removed. The single-use plastic is eliminated, the gas and electricity are minimal from storing and moving items around between distribution centers. The fresh bread in your Box of Goodis baked by Rachael the morning that you receive it. The raw milk in your delivery comes from Tilly the day before you receive it. The bar of chocolate is made by Kevin the same week you receive it. The kale and carrots are grown by Ray and John, picked a day or two before you get it. The blueberries from Karen are picked a day or two before you eat them. That’s why I can’t eat just one pint! 

A famous person once said, just because it’s possible, doesn’t mean it’s beneficial.  

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Life of Pie

The Food and Drug Administration publishes the changes to our nutrition laws on their website, and it can be a dull read sometimes. Each year, the FDA makes changes to the National Register, which makes them part of the Law across the Land. I don’t know many people that keep up to date with the FDA regulations, so you’d be forgiven for missing the FDA alterations amongst other things like Twitter changing their name, or the Paris Olympics memes, or any other Very Important News®. Most years, the FDA makes a dozen or so updates to the food regulations, but so far in 2024, there have only been 3. We are 1) reducing sodium use, 2) updating “health” claims on yogurt, but the most riveting one is 3) revoking the standards for frozen cherry pie. What?!? 

In 1967, the FDA made a proposal to regulate the Standards of Identity for frozen cherry pies, meaning that the public was confused about what was and was not a frozen cherry pie. More specifically, the public was not sure whether the sweetener in the cherry goop was artificial or not.  A solid four years later, the proposal was finalized in 1971 and ever since then, we’ve had nothing but perfect frozen cherry pies. In 2020, the American Bakers Association (who else?!) petitioned to revoke the Standards of Identity around frozen cherry pies, asserting that “that non-standardized fruit pies have been sold throughout the country for many years without any evidence of public confusion”. So in March of 2024, the FDA relaxed the rules on frozen cherry pies, saying “the standards are no longer necessary to ensure that these products meet consumer expectations, and revoking the standards will provide greater flexibility and the opportunity for product innovation”. Keep an eye out for some innovative frozen cherry pies coming to a retailer near year! 

As we head into fall, we’re entering peak pie season. The usual pie suspects make this season go ‘round. The classic apple pie, pumpkin pie, pecan pie and chocolate pie are never far from reach. Or you can go the savory route and make sausage pies, delicata squash pies, turkey pies from Thanksgiving leftovers, cheddar pies, chicken pot pies. Quiche is even a pie! And don’t forget custard pies, meringue pies, or sweet potato pies. You name it, you can make a pie out of it! A pie is like the soup of the oven: throw all your extra ingredients in a pie crust, cover it with something, and bake it off! No one will be sure exactly what is in it, but it will taste good! 

If pies are not your thing or you need to be pulled away from the pies, Box of Good will begin offering nutritional classes In October. The class will be once a week for 5 weeks, and it’s a combination of 1 part nutritional education, 1 part sugar detox, and 1 part support group. Laura Conley is a Functional Nutritionist and will be leading the class through education around digestion, healthy fats, the impact of sugar and refined carbs, and how to fight back with whole foods, preferably local and organic when available. To register, look for more info on our website and the space will be limited. We will offer both daytime or evening classes to fit flexible schedules. 

A quick way to summarize the class is a great quote from author Michael Pollan: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” 

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Too Big To Follow

Every once in a while, a phrase makes it into our global lexicon. These phrases are usually tied to an event or time that we all collectively associate. We can often remember exactly where we were and what we were doing. I remember learning a new phrase soon after September 11th, 2001, where all the newspapers and TV shouted “Shock and Awe” on repeat. I’d never heard that before, but suddenly, it was everywhere!  

Shortly before that, we added the “Dot-com Bubble” to reference the fall-out from very speculative tech companies after reality settled in that they may not be as important as they thought. Then we added “Great Recession” and learned all sorts of fun new financial words like derivatives, credit default swaps, and subprime. Without wasting time, we quickly added “Occupy Wall Street” and “Top 1%”. Then we moved on very quickly to “Black Lives Matter” and “Cancel Culture”. Finally, we’ve rounded out the last four years with a plethora of phrases regarding “Social Distancing” and “Flattening the Curve”. 

One interesting thing reading these phrases is that you can often recognize feelings, images, thoughts, or memories surrounding those very phrases, without me providing any further context whatsoever. With just a few words, we can all remember a singular season of life and where we were or who we spoke to. I remember exactly where I was for the first videos of 9/11, as well as when Washington State went into lockdown (if was half-time of my soccer game!).  

My favorite phrase is “Too Big To Fail” because it is accurate enough to cover all sorts of time periods and events. It’s a timeless truth that can apply to the railroads in the 1800s, the oil companies in the 1900s, the car companies after that, then the telephone companies in the 80s, then finally the banks in 2008. Even now, we could still apply it to the tech companies of 2020s, or CrowdStrike in July 2024. We could even apply it to the United States itself across many individual decades. We could also apply it to the Romans, the Dutch, the British, and many other empires in between. The underlying sentiment is that something becomes so critical, so dependent, that even if it fails (and fails those that depend on it), it lives on. Very few other aspects of life get to operate in this spectrum. When my peach tree gets too big, too heavy, too far out from its trunk, and I don’t trim and thin it, the roots give out and it naturally snaps and falls over. As it should, since it can’t support its own weight. Last week, a couple of famous arches in the Utah desert collapsed, and we, so far, have not spent a billion dollars to prop them back up to maintain an unsustainable structure. 

Eventually, some companies become a little too big, a little too important, a little too dependent, and a little too extractive. The tides slowly turn from producing lots of value for the local economy, to gradually sucking all the value in a larger and larger radius. When a company starts taking more value than it produces, people are left wondering where it all went, and is it still worth it to maintain it? The cure for this lose-lose situation is to notice these patterns early, get off the train at the next stop, and decide that these companies are Too Big To Follow. 

In late 2023, Seattle’s local organic chocolatier, Theo’s, was merged into the massive American Licorice Company. To “ensure the future of the company”, they closed their original Seattle manufacturing plant, laid off 60 of the people that got them there, and moved the operations out east. Meanwhile, our friendly account rep that worked with us turned into an automated inbox, our chocolate shipped from the East coast instead of Seattle, and the bars arrived further and further after their production date. They published an eye-opening press release of how they became too big and had to cut ties to their roots. That’s how trees fail too.  

We will always operate “upside-down” and when something gets Too Big to Follow, we’ll go the other direction and look local, look small. Next week, we will begin offering Miodo Chocolate, from our own backyard of Camano Island. Our friend, Kevin Miodonski, has been making single-origin, small-batch, dark chocolate for over 20 years. Our new fresh bread starting this week from Water Tank Bakery follows a similar pattern, from a small local baker using all Northwest ingredients to get bread to your door right after its baked. Stayed tuned for more hyper-local producers of honey, pasta, meat, pizza dough, salad dressing, hummus, even dishware and nutrition classes! We’re gearing up for a full harvest season!  

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Cream on Top

Greetings and salutations from Tobin and Emily! We’re beyond grateful for the opportunity to serve all our local families with fresh local food, and we couldn’t be happier to be “back in the saddle” at Box of Good. 

Between the two of us, we’ve been raised in a long line of gardeners of veggies, herbs, and flowers, even berries and orchards. With all that food to harvest, it also brought with it a lot of canning, pickling, juicing, jamming, pressing, and preserving. I’ve had many late nights with the kitchen windows steamed up from the pressure pot and water bath, preserving that day’s harvest.

My grandparents moved to Camano Island from Kodiak Island, Alaska in 1977. My grandma, Vivian, was an avid gardener, so much so that when she was done managing her own garden in the morning, she would come over to our house and manage ours too! I would race to get my school done early so that I could go outside and join her.  

When my grandparents passed away 10 years ago, I was fortunate enough to acquire their home and keep it in the family. With that came a box of original pictures of them tilling and forming and shaping the barren grass slopes into neat aisles of raised beds. Then they planted a group of saplings for the start of an orchard. Those trees are now so large that I can barely keep up with trimming them! 

A few years before passing, Vivian planted a frost peach tree in the garden, and that has been my favorite and best-producing tree each year. Like clockwork, the first 3 weeks of August will be overflowing with peaches, and I know I need to be in Canning Gear or else I will lose out on that harvest. There are so many fun things to do with peaches, especially when they’re coming out of your ears.  

One of most satisfying things about the canning process is the “click” you hear when the jars start to cool off from the water bath. The lid pops into place. That’s how you know you got a good seal. However, if you have 10 jars on the counter, you can’t tell which one popped, specifically. However, a successfully sealed jar will cause all the peaches to rise to the top, leaving a few inches of peach syrup at the bottom. I think this is amazing! Naturally, the best bits always rise to the top! 

There are other things that rise this way, as well. Raw milk still has the stuff that conventional milk only dreams of: cream on top! In July, we started partnering with Justin and Katrina Seckel at Camano Creamy to deliver super fresh, local, raw milk. They got into dairy farming because of a similarly long and storied family lineage of dairy farmers paving the way for the next generations. I love seeing all the milk jars come and go with the thick layer of cream, naturally rising to the top. You can make your own butter or ranch dressing or clotted cream with raw milk, because the richest, creamiest part of milk always rises to the top. 

Rising is also the main feature of a yummy loaf of bread. Watching dough rise and rise, over and over, as you knead it into shape. As we prepare to start offering fresh local breads (teaser!), I’m again reminded that natural things rise, organically, without anyone telling it what to do. The best rises to the top. 

Of course, that makes one ponder the reverse: which things in life don’t obey this natural law? Do all the inorganic structures and complex systems and institutions that we humans create follow suit? Does the “cream of the crop” also naturally rise to the top of the systems we’re in control of? Or do we surpress the cream from rising to the top of our own systems in order to squeeze out more and more of a quicker, cheaper solution? Perhaps we’d get better results in our diets, districts, or diplomats if we choose to play in arenas that allow nature to take it’s course more often, where there’s space to grow slowly in their own way, rather than dictate an unnaturally quick pace for a subpar harvest. 

When my grandparents moved to little ole Camano in ’77, they barely knew a soul here. But they found a modest home to move into and good community. My wife and I get to enjoy that home 50 years later. A home that was built by a close family relative of Justin and Katrina Seckel. Good things take time. 

~ Tobin Fekkes

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Grapefruit and Citrus

This newsletter is going way back to 1979 to a time when I was kid. My children have had a distinct advantage over me when I was growing up. I was a Hamburger Helper and Fruit Loops kid and wouldn’t have known a Fuji from a Granny Smith apple or a Navel from a Valencia Orange. My only experience with fresh produce are fond memories of shelling peas on grandma’s back porch and carrying the 4th of July “seeded” Watermelon to the family picnic. 
Fast forward to 1994, happily married with 3 of our own kiddos. This is when I began a career in retail produce. It wouldn’t be for another 4 years until Joelle and I would launch the Organic Produce Shoppe and then a few more years before we added farming and home delivery.

Those early years are where I gained a lot of experience about the seasonality and quality of produce. I have trimmed tens of thousand lettuce and spinach bunches, handled even more apples and citrus. At my core, I am a good food advocate and love working with quality growers and fresh produce.

I remember it as if it was yesterday, I was interviewing for a manager position after a few years of working in the industry. It was a walk and talk interview. It is not uncommon for me to ask questions when one enters my mind. I am just curious and like to learn. As we were walking through the fruit displays, I asked, “Where did you get grapefruit this time of year?” The manager hiring me said, “California???” This is not the question a potential manager candidate should have asked (smile). 

To be completely honest my only experience was in boutique high quality produce markets. The owner of the company where I started my career never carried grapefruit from California. He was partial to Texas and Florida, which are harvested at a different time. And for sure, those are two really good grapefruit growing regions, but California also grows some outstanding citrus. 

This week we are featuring some of that beautiful grapefruit from California. When I eat grapefruit, I am less likely to use a grapefruit spoon, but opt for cutting it into wedges and eating them like that. 

I did still get that job, because the manager was looking for a person with an eye for quality. Quality is still a driving factor for our small business and customer satisfaction. 
– Thank you for allowing our family to serve yours,

Tristan, Joelle, and the Box of Good crew

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Spinach and Shallots        

Spinach and Shallots                              Week of January 26th, 2023        

This week we are offering a great menu. As I was looking over the menu, I really enjoyed the nice assortment of fruits and vegetables that are featured in your Box of Good that Alaina and Kelsey selected. I was immediately drawn to the shallots and spinach. Of course, it is not the local farm season for spinach, but when I saw spinach on the menu, my mind drifted off to a cool fall morning in late September a decade or more ago. 

  We were on “bolt” alert for this crop. It was a variety that often could grow twice the size of normal spinach if the right conditions were present. I was nervous that we would lose the crop if we waited much longer. The leaves were huge, so big I remember my daughter holding up one leaf and she hid her entire face behind it 🙂. Everything had to line up perfectly for this to happen and that Fall season it all lined up. 

Bolting is a term used to describe when a plant goes to seed. You see this in a lot of vegetating crops like spinach, chard, kale, etc. A change in weather or prolonged heat can cause stress and because the plant’s primary goal is reproduction at some point it will switch from growing to seed production. When a plant thinks it has enough reserves, it can at any moment start bolting and switch to making seeds. My goal is to help the plant stay in growing mode. Yes, you can often eat plants in the bolting stage, but normally they are getting tougher and can have a bitter taste. This stage is usually called Raab, like Broccoli Raab or Kale Raab.  

This week California “non bolting” spinach is on the menu with WA shallots. Here is my take on spinach and shallots. After I had washed the spinach and discarded the stem ends. I would chop it up, add blackberries, raw shallots, thinly sliced, and drizzle with a fruity vinaigrette. Or if I was looking to cook a quick meal, I would sauté the shallots and red pepper with some garlic in some butter or olive oil until they were translucent and then toss in the spinach and wilt it down. Season with salt and pepper or your favorite seasoning and serve ASAP.  
 

Lastly Spinach is great added to soups, smoothies and salads.  

Thank you for choosing Box of Good for you and your family. 

  • Tristan, Joelle, and Alaina and the Box of Good Crew  
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Broccoli and Asparagus    

                Week of February 12th, 2023        

The Spring Broccoli coming out of California has been absolutely, hands down, super fresh and tasty. I know after years of farming, some things just get my attention. And the Broccoli has been front and center. Personally I love to boil broccoli. “What did he say ‘boil’ broccoli?” I absolutely said boil. I did not say, “Boil to oblivion!” I like to add a generous amount of salt to the water, so it tastes salty. Then I cut up the stems into 1/4”x1/4” chunks and then add the florets. I will then toss all of the broccoli into the water. If I had an hour or more I would let the broccoli sit and then bring it to a boil. It will take only a few minutes to cook once the water begins to boil, but check with a fork or knife for your desired tenderness. When it is perfect for you, strain and eat. I don’t think you need to add anything but you could season it with butter or some parmesan or whatever your family’s go to seasonings are.  

Asparagus (resharing from last week) 

When I first started in the produce industry it was in NW Portland in 1993. I was a produce clerk, learning the difference between butter lettuce and leaf lettuce or navels and valencias. I remember my first Thanksgiving Holiday asif it was yesterday. In those days, we would work overnight and get the store ready for holiday shoppers. The owner came wandering through at 4am and I was on the other side of the produce rack and I heard him say, “The grass display is a little light”. I set that side of the rack and after he left I asked the manager, “Where is the grass?”  When I walked over I did see the wheat grass that we were selling to pet owners and juicers, but that wasn’t what the owner was referring to. My manager smiled one of those Cheshire cat grins and he pointed to the Asparagus, of course Grass = Asparagus, duly noted.  

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Chicory    

                                         Week of January 15th, 2023                                               

What is Chicory? I am glad you asked. This is a large group of vegetables that graces the tables of many Europeans, but tends to be less popular on this side of the “pond” with Americans. There are as many types of chicory as there are lettuces and they range the gamut from sweet to bitter tasting. Some of the most common names are Belgian Endive, Escarole, Curly Endive, Frissee and Radicchio. However, the most well known chicory plant is the Dandelion! I swear I grow acres of dandelions every year in our pastures. Sometimes I have even considered mowing 2 foot strips and pretending I have fields of Daffodils (Big Smile). Ironically the Dandelion is an important plant as it has a deep tap root that mines nutrients and brings them to the service so that when the plant dies back or gets mowed those nutrients are added to the top of soil structure.  

A few weeks ago, our supplier had sent us a mislabeled case of lettuce. It doesn’t happen often, but Curly Endive showed up serendipitously. Since we normally don’t have chicory’s on the menu, I noticed the interloper straight away. If I could do cartwheels, I would have probably tossed in a back flip, too. I was that excited!  

In fact I was so excited that I grabbed a head, some onions, mushrooms, garlic and broth and proceeded to cook up a quick lunch for the team. Now if you have been a customer for a while, you know that I am a big fan of simple, quick and one pot meals! I firmly believe that nutrition is minutes away and cleanup should be quick and easy too.  

The Curly Endive in some of your boxes this week and can be used as a salad item or as a vegetable like kale, chard or spinach. Use the whole thing in a pot of soup. Because the Curly Endive has an open structure it is easy to clean with a quick rinse, then pat it dry and lay the whole head on its side and cut it into 1-2” strips all the way down to the stem end. For me, I look to saute the onions and garlic and then add broth and everything else. Add the greens at this point, season and cook for 30 minutes on medium. Don’t be afraid to add other vegetables or proteins. Soups are a great way to eat healthy and eat your veggies! 

Here’s to a healthy 2023! 

  • Tristan, Joelle and the Box of Good crew 
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One Pot Meals               

                                   Week of January 22n , 2023  

Joelle and I attended a trade show in South Carolina last week. Our oldest son and his wife live only a couple hours from there. I attended the show and talked to other small businesses (one of my happy places) and Joelle explored the trails (her happy place) in and around SC and NC. Micah and Elise picked up Joelle and they hiked all morning and I was able to join them for the afternoon. Then Joelle and I did more hiking and exploring the next day in the Brevard area of NC.  

Transylvania County in NC is definitely the land of waterfalls. We visited Rainbow Falls, Triple Falls, Hooker Falls, Table Top State park, Wild Cat Falls, and Devil’s Kitchen in Caesar Head. Pretty Place outdoor chapel was definitely a highlight and a must see if you are in the area. This was an epic spot to sit and ponder the Creator amidst breathtaking views.  

When traveling it’s fun to try unique and cultural foods. We expected Southern cooking, but Greenville also had quite a broad range of foods we were able to enjoy. I’d say we probably fall into the category of “foodies” and enjoy researching and finding restaurants, farm stands and whole food markets that invest in the local economy and local farms. As fun and delicious as the food was on our getaway, coming home to our kitchen was…well…home.  

After having not been in the kitchen for almost a week, I was eager to get my creative culinary juices flowing. I’d been wanting to try the Curly Green Endive from last week’s box. I went to the shop and I grabbed that, along with some other staples. We cooked not one, but two one pot meals. The first was a Quinoa Sweet Potato casserole and the other a Salmon with Bok Choy and Endive. And while those two were cooking on the stove top we cooked one of our mouthwatering Brown Sugar Pear Pie from Wild Crow Pies. A couple friends joined us and everyone left satisfied and full! There’s nothing like home-cooked tasty, healthy meals! I love being a part of my meals from start to finish.  

It was good to visit our out of state kids and to experience SC and NC, but it’s also good to come home. There’s no place like home or like home cookin’! 

Enjoy this week’s box and cook up something healthy and delicious! 

  • Tristan 
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Assorted Bags     

                                           Week of January 29th, 2023        

Years ago, we added three assorted bags to our offerings. Several folks wanted an extra head of lettuce or carrots or some apples and bananas. But way back in the beginning when online shopping was just getting going the shopping platforms were not as easy to navigate. During these early years we created “curated” mini menus, AKA the Assorted Salad, Assorted Veggie, and the Assorted Fruit bags. Our assorted bags are great additions to supplement your Box of Good. Think of these as similar to “mini” Essential boxes that contain 3-5 types of produce.  

Because many of you love more salad or cooking vegetables or some more in season fruit and are happy with a grab bag approach these were the perfect addition. These assorted bags are easy to order and can add a little extra of a certain type of fruit or vegetable quickly and easily but save time not having to order items individually. It is also a great way to get an extra type of produce (salad, cooking veggies or fruit) without having to order another box. The assorted bags pricing is $7 for the Assorted Salad and Assorted Vegetables and $11 for the Assorted Fruit bag. 

Of course, today you can order one of our Assorted Bags, or you can just easily add any item to your delivery by shopping online at Box of Good. We are happy to hand pack your fresh produce however you prefer to order them – so shop away! 🙂 

If you would like to have some extra produce weekly or every other week and are happy with a grab bag assortment of produce, consider adding an assorted bag with your next delivery.  

Thank you for choosing Box of Good for you and your family. 

  • Tristan, Joelle, and Alaina and the Box of Good Crew 
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Seedless      

                                      Week of January 8th, 2023                                                 

As we move through citrus season and add a variety of oranges, mandarins, grapefruits, and pummelos to your boxes, we sometimes have people wondering about something: How are seedless oranges, well, seedless? Does it take genetic modification to create seedless oranges? 

This is a fair question! After all, with what we know about biology and the furthering of plant species, a fruit not having seeds seems contrary to everything we’ve been taught. Thankfully I can assure you that seedless oranges are in the category of non-GMO and every orange we send in our Box of Good is organic as well. Let’s take a moment to look at the history and biology of seedless citrus! 

Seedless fruits originate from plants that are, for all intents and purposes, “infertile”. This means that the plants or trees produce fruit but the fruit itself has no way of then creating a new plant to continue the genetic line. Instead of planting seeds to obtain seedless fruit, they are instead grown through a process called grafting, in which a shoot from one tree is attached in a specific manner to another tree and then the shoot grows as if it were originally part of the tree. This is how we get many varieties of fruit (you may have heard of this particularly related to apple trees as this is quite popular in the apple industry). In this case, shoots from a seedless orange tree are grafted, or propagated, onto another tree, and so on to continue growth. 

Historically speaking, a tree that produced seedless oranges was discovered in the 19th century in South America. From there, grafting was used to begin the process of growing what we now know of as navel oranges! Similar processes have been used for other seedless fruits as well, such as grapes and watermelon. Not a product of genetic modification, but rather inventive growers capitalizing on unique mutations in fruit to provide enjoyment and convenience to the consumer! 

I love learning more about the processes of growing the food that we are so quick to enjoy. As a culture, we tend to be so separated from the food we eat and lack knowledge about its origins, the time and care that it took to grow it, and how it makes its way to our plates. The more you know about the food you eat; the more appreciation you have for it and the greater intentionality you will have with ensuring that what you eat is what’s best for you! 

As we continue to strive to offer you the very best of food options, we will also strive to provide resources, tips, and education about that food.  

-Emily and the Box of Good Team 

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Spinach and Shallots                  

                             Week of January 26th, 2023        

This week we are offering a great menu. As I was looking over the menu, I really enjoyed the nice assortment of fruits and vegetables that are featured in your Box of Good that Alaina and Kelsey selected. I was immediately drawn to the shallots and spinach. Of course, it is not the local farm season for spinach, but when I saw spinach on the menu, my mind drifted off to a cool fall morning in late September a decade or more ago. 

  We were on “bolt” alert for this crop. It was a variety that often could grow twice the size of normal spinach if the right conditions were present. I was nervous that we would lose the crop if we waited much longer. The leaves were huge, so big I remember my daughter holding up one leaf and she hid her entire face behind it 🙂. Everything had to line up perfectly for this to happen and that Fall season it all lined up. 

Bolting is a term used to describe when a plant goes to seed. You see this in a lot of vegetating crops like spinach, chard, kale, etc. A change in weather or prolonged heat can cause stress and because the plant’s primary goal is reproduction at some point it will switch from growing to seed production. When a plant thinks it has enough reserves, it can at any moment start bolting and switch to making seeds. My goal is to help the plant stay in growing mode. Yes, you can often eat plants in the bolting stage, but normally they are getting tougher and can have a bitter taste. This stage is usually called Raab, like Broccoli Raab or Kale Raab.  

This week California “non bolting” spinach is on the menu with WA shallots. Here is my take on spinach and shallots. After I had washed the spinach and discarded the stem ends. I would chop it up, add blackberries, raw shallots, thinly sliced, and drizzle with a fruity vinaigrette. Or if I was looking to cook a quick meal, I would sauté the shallots and red pepper with some garlic in some butter or olive oil until they were translucent and then toss in the spinach and wilt it down. Season with salt and pepper or your favorite seasoning and serve ASAP.  
 

Lastly Spinach is great added to soups, smoothies and salads.  

Thank you for choosing Box of Good for you and your family. 

  • Tristan, Joelle, and Alaina and the Box of Good Crew  
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Brussel Sprouts       

                             Week of December 4th 2022                                                          

 These tiny cabbages are in a class all by themselves. Brussels Sprouts are one my favorite vegetables and are a staple all winter long. As a farmer, I’ll just say, growing these beauties are not for the faint of heart. I usually defer to my neighbors who enjoy the challenge. The goal is to transplant in late July so that they can get well established, and then when the cold weather sets in they are mostly mature and will continue growing at a slower rate. And since we live in the floodplain, that isn’t protected by dikes, coupled with the fact that they take months to grow, I have left this veggie to other farmers to supply the Box of Good. The cold weather is what imparts a sweetness to the Brassica family (Cabbages, Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Brussels Sprouts).   

I am including a link to a YouTube video with 3 different ways to prepare Brussels Sprouts by Brian Lagerstrom. He has a French feel to his cooking and an easy-to-follow style.   (youtube.com/watch?v=1LlZJFfJyxk)  

I am going to try blanching them this week. I don’t usually blanch my vegetables, but after watching him do it, I am all in. I am not sure why I haven’t blanched much before, but I can definitely see some advantages. It can help vegetables to not get overcooked (which I think overcooked Brussels Sprouts have given them a bad rap). I also loved his take a on a grated Brussels Sprouts salad and for sure his recipe could easily be adapted for broccoli or red or green cabbage. Having a few techniques to draw upon that can work across many different veggies is important knowledge to have in your cooking repertoire.  

However, blanching full size cabbages is not recommended, but for sure grating them makes a lot of sense (think fancy coleslaw). The other night Joelle and enjoyed an Apple Ginger Cole Slaw at the Blue Heron on Camano Island. I like ginger and apples, so combining those flavors with cabbage provided a light and refreshing appetizer.  

This week I will be blanching up some Brussels Sprouts. How about you?  

Walnuts  

On the home farm, our walnuts are ready to enjoy! We will be putting them into a menu shortly, but for now you can add them to your order. 

  

-Tristan, Joelle and Box of Good Crew  

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Change                      

                                        Week of December 25th, 2022                                                      

   I am definitely looking forward to having less sweet options everywhere I go. We have one more week to navigate and then as if by magic, you can’t find an open parking spot at the local gym. Sadly, give it a week or three and the energy to sustain a lifestyle change will wane and parking spots will be more plentiful. 

I imagine if we could see what our health looks like in 20 years from now, it might be a motivating factor for us to make changes today. But honestly, most of us can look to our parents or grandparents and get a glimpse. So real change is mostly accomplished by finding your tribe today and surrounding yourself with folks who agree that the changes you are making are important. 

Thankfully, today there are a plethora of choices online or in person for coaching or friend groups. There are lots of Facebook groups that can be encouraging and uplifting. Change is possible and changing our future is possible, but…change requires a plan, implementation and mostly, you have to believe change is necessary. 

The holiday season can definitely impact one’s waistline or hips or chin. The bottom line is getting back on a dietary track filled with less processed foods, less sugar, and poor fats, is probably a welcome change and possibly a little overdue. 

I like what Doc Amen says, “Don’t drink your calories”. Cutting back on alcohol or going with half the pumps at the local coffee (sugar) stand would be good lifestyle changes for many of us. Going heavier on the veggies for a few weeks and giving your body a chance to reset from the sugar blitz, that is just finishing, would be a great start to the new year. 

A lot of you are getting one of our Essentials boxes. These boxes are designed to focus on certain categories of fruits and vegetables. And a whole lot of us ARE eating vegetables. In these boxes you have your choice of Fruit only, Veg and Salad, Fruit and Salad, and Fruit and Vegetables. Why do we have a Veg and Salad as separate categories? Well for one reason; the cost of food has greatly increased since 1998 when we started Box of Good, so in an attempt to provide meaningful amounts of food (nutrients) we started the Essential Boxes. The other motivation is that many of you prefer cooking type vegetables (veg) and others prefer salad type vegetables. By offering these two categories separately and combined you have more choices to fit your lifestyle and preferences. 

Many of you are also getting a Fruit and Veg Box (without salad items) one week and then getting a Fruit and Salad Box (without cooking vegetables) the other week. This is really easy to set up from your account. Just choose the Fruit and Salad box for one week and make the frequency every two weeks and then select a Fruit and Veg box for the next week and then choose every two weeks as the frequency. Then you will be on autopilot until vacation time. Of course, you can call us and we can set this up for you as well. 

We are honored to be your partners in health. 

Tristan, Joelle and the Box of Good Crew 

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Grandpa Time      

                              Week of December19th, 2022                                                          

I have been thinking about Christmas and all the planning that goes into so much of our lives this time of year. Somehow we find time to add in more events, more tasks, more family.  

At Box of Good this Christmas falls on a perfect day – Sunday. Sunday is the one day of the week that doesn’t require a lot of logistical planning. Essentially, Christmas and New Year’s are going to be as normal as normal can be for our team. 

This last weekend I had the pleasure of watching my newest grandson, Kylan, who is not all that new anymore at 10 months old. His personality is coming to life! There is something absolutely precious about the awe and wonder in a little one’s smile. It just melts my heart to see him crack a smile at all my grandpa goofiness. At least he humors me :)  I was the person with the most availability between his parents’ work schedule. I was definitely rewarded with more than my share of fun. 

I remember hearing a story about a father or a newborn who was from Australia. His family had recently moved to Los Angeles. Well “Mum” and Dad were heading out on a date and needed a babysitter. (Is that still a job for a kid these days?) Well, the young lady showed up and dad answered the door with a towel on one shoulder and a baby on the other. A fairly common look for most parents.  

Dad, “Hi, Thank you for coming. Please come in, we will be ready to go in a few minutes.” 

Babysitter, “Okay”.  
Dad, “Would you like to “nurse” the baby?”  

Babysitter, “A startled look.”  

Dad, gathering that she didn’t want to nurse the baby, said, “Alright, I will nurse him.”  

Which elicited an even more quizzical look from the teenager.   

Now they were both really confused. He was supposed to leave their baby with this teenager who wasn’t willing to nurse their baby. He couldn’t figure it out, in Australia, anyone can nurse a baby, and then as if on queue, it dawned on him that the teen thought he was asking her to breastfeed the baby. I showed her the bottle and explained “nursing” was bottle feeding. Crisis averted and they both had quite a laugh once they were on the same page.  

Thankfully, Kylan’s mom got me all set up to “nurse” him while she was gone! 

Merry Christmas, Tristan, Joelle and the Box of Good Cr 

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Simple Things            

                        Week of December 11th, 2022                                                          

This week’s church sermon was on finding joy amidst the craziness that this holiday season can bring. It was a call to be intentional and to expect the unexpected, both good and disappointing. Finding that happy place between the present reality and expectations is not easily achieved, and that is why grace is more important than ever. 

For some of you, the holidays are filled with mixed emotions. More than a few of you will have one less at the table as this will be the first Christmas without your spouse, a parent, or a dear friend to connect with. I am sorry for your loss. May your sorrow lead to peace as the beautiful memories fill the season.  

For others you have launched a college bound child and they are not coming home, or maybe they are bringing a special friend. And more than a few of you have added to your clan via marriage or subtracted due to divorce, and are now navigating how to accommodate your new normal.  

For us, we are blessed to have our newest grandson and his mom and dad back in WA for the first time in a few years for Christmas. Christmas excitement of a child, or in our case a grandchild, is contagious. We are also blessed this year to have our oldest son and wife coming from NC. Which means, barring any sickness, we will have all of our children, their spouses and our grandchildren under one roof for this Christmas season. All 25 of us. It is no small logistical feat to line up all the schedules to get 25 of us together, and if it works out I might consider it our Christmas miracle. 

Christmas is a season filled with sadness, loneliness, anxiety, but it also has its moments of love, peace and joy. It is perfectly acceptable to feel all of the emotions. I would like to encourage you to find common and unique ways to spread joy to others in your world, and in those moments when you brighten that friend, colleague or family member’s day, pause and experience the joy that comes back.  

Whatever season you find yourself in this Christmas season, we wish you many blessings!. 

Happy Holidays, 

  • Tristan and Joelle 
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“Welcome” 

                                                              Week of August 1, 2022        

With some of you new here, we’d like to share with you a few things to help you get to know us better, and also give you some important information that relates to your delivery.   

Tristan and Joelle Klesick have been providing home delivered, organic, produce locally since 1998. During the local farming season, they grow vegetables in the beautiful Stillaguamish Valley at their home farm, Klesick Family Farm, as well as source fruit and vegetables from a variety of PNW farms. They see you as partners in the important task of being good stewards of the land, and keeping local farmland viable for the next generation! You will have an opportunity to hear from them, along with our helpful staff, in the weekly newsletter, via recipes, produce tips, and farm and health musings!   In order to meet all of our customers’ produce needs, we also source produce year-round from warmer regions. All of our produce is always certified organic and GMO-free! We also carry a large variety of organic and natural grocery items, including local dairy, meat, pies, kombucha, eggs, soaps, coffee, meal kits and more! We’d love for you to be able to eat healthily and locally, while creating more time for you to pursue the things you love to do!  

Be sure to check out our “How to store your produce” section on our website. We’d encourage you to use reusable produce storage bags or containers. We also have plastic and biodegradable bags available for purchase. Taking care to store items in their ideal setting is key to their longevity. Our aim is to send out only the highest quality produce. If you ever receive something upon delivery that is sub quality or you are missing an item, please let us know and we will credit your account or send out a replacement with your next delivery.  

When you’re done unboxing your produce, fold up your box and put it out the morning of your next delivery, and our driver will pick it up. We reuse our boxes to minimize waste.  

Be sure to follow us on social media, and read our emails for specials and seasonal offers. You may also like to check our website on Friday afternoons to get a sneak peek at what’s coming in next week’s boxes.  

If there are produce items you just don’t care for, or you have food allergies to certain items, no problem. Just call or email to make a substitution to your box, for only $1 extra. You can also add an item as a “never send” to your account; meaning if that item is ever on the menu for your box, we will “never send” it to you and will make a substitution for that item.   

Creating a custom box of items that you know you’ll love is also a great option. You can go to our website, click on “Shop” and simply select the items you wish to purchase and add them to your cart. You can also set that up as recurring, so you can have the items in your cart come automatically each week. The options are endless! You have total flexibility with when and how much produce you receive to best fit your family’s eating habits.  

Please note that from the “Deliveries” page in your account, you can add, edit, remove, or adjust your delivery up until 8am two days prior to your delivery. Please call or email for any late changes.  

If you still have questions, be sure to check out our FAQ’s page. If you’re just not sure how to best order for your family or would prefer to talk it over with us, we’d love to help you with that. Don’t hesitate to contact us for any reason through email, phone or the address listed below.  

Once again, thank you for choosing Box of Good for all of your produce and healthy grocery needs. Eat well!  

-Alaina Klesick, for the Box of Good Team