Category: Words from Tristan

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Spring Farm Musings

8364_10151575311876145_1157698364_nOh my, was that two weeks before Easter incredible. Everything was warming up and drying out and the soil was getting to planting quality, but not perfect.  I spent all last weekend wishing I could get more peas planted (almost done), my strawberries planted (half done) and get some spuds in the ground (none done). This amount of rain will take 4 or 5 days to begin to dry out. Thankfully, it is still very early in the season and most of my crops will go “in” from the end of April through June. 

The frustrating thing about farming is you have to take what is given and make the best choice at that time. When the weather first “broke” a few weeks ago, I waited. Then it stayed nice and I was compelled, no…drawn, no…wooed, yes…“wooed” by the farm to come and begin the season. So, cautiously, I fired up the tractor and started working the ground. The ground was willing, but not ready to begin.  If our farm was a sandy soil it would have been perfect, but we are more of a clay loam. Clay loams are great for holding soil moisture into August, but not so great for “working” early.  Alas, rarely is anything perfect and the soil responded to produce an acceptable seedbed.

With the forecasted weather change coming, I planted.  I really wanted a few more days, but none were coming and now I know that none are coming for a while. The rub is that if it stays on a warming trend from mid-March through April, the farm will give up a lot of field moisture early that would normally carry us through dry summer months. It will also cause the grass to dry out sooner and affect our grazing rotations for the cattle. But, conversely, many crops love an early spring and if a farmer catches it right, you can have some amazing spinach, lettuce and pea crops.  

But I have learned to not trust March and only wade in; after all,the water is rarely warm in March.  So now I find myself wondering if my pea seeds will germinate, partially germinate or rot—time will tell. A little concerned about the strawberries and how they will fare. I am thankful that I didn’t plant my potatoes. But I am also happy that this past March’s nice warm weather won’t deplete my soil moisture for the cattle and late summer crops.

As a farmer, there is almost always a crop or season in which you can find a “silver lining.” You might have to look a little harder or change your attitude/ perspective, but every season has a blessing buried in it. And if you find yourself in such a season of instability or insecurity, take a deep breath, dig a little deeper and unbury that blessing –it will warm your heart and get you through that moment.
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I am Ready!

As a local farmer, I spend most of the winter wandering around in a mental fog. I am not sure if it has to do with the intensity of farming and that after the final harvest is put away I just sort a need a break. For sure, my body is tired, but my mind is wiped out. Farming is like riding a tornado. Every day it touches down somewhere on the farm, I get off and then I am immediately whisked away by the next tornado.

This mental fog could be attributed to the obvious—I am getting older. But there is more to the story. It probably has to do with identity.  From March to November, I am a farmer. But from November to March, I am a little lost, as if in a fog. Sure I am meandering around planning, fixing things, avoiding any outside chores when it is miserable. I do get to read lots of books with my younger ones during this season.

One time my kiddos bought me a lazy boy recliner (hmmm…aptly named?) for Father’s day. I picked  out the perfect one, brought it home and promptly took it back. I RARELY SIT DOWN! And even if I were to recline, I am sure my kiddos would AMBUSH me! So if I need to recline (aka. sleep), I just go to bed.  

But something happens in March. As soon as the daffodils are blossoming, I am snapped out of my fog and my nose perks up in the air, like my Labrador retriever searching for a scent. I become completely coherent with purpose and direction. I notice the buds swelling on fruit trees, the chives growing, the grass growing and that the robins are back. I notice where the soil is drying out and watch for a weather window to “open the fields.” And at that very moment, when I am the farmer again, as if by instinct, I peer off into the horizon watching for that first tornado—I am ready.  

Farm Update: We have planted peas in the greenhouse, which are just popping up and should go out in a week, if this gorgeous weather holds. We separated and planted several goose berries bushes, raised the grape trellis another foot and transplanted the Doyle blackberries so they wouldn’t shade the grapes.  

We are repairing and replacing fence for the herd of Angus and Hereford cattle that will be arriving for their summer grazing.  Sadly, most Americans are forced to eat feedlot beef existing on a diet of genetically engineered corn and soybeans. Yuck! 

I really like raising beef cattle and on my farm the cattle get to live a pretty idyllic life. They have lots of grass and room to roam. We move them every day to fresh pasture and mostly leave them alone. Besides our healthy soils, the water from above and below our farm and the sunshine produce a crazy amount of grass, and what do cows love to eat?—grass.  So, for a cow coming to our farm, grazing on grass and gazing at Mt. Pilchuck is a pretty good gig. 

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Sunday Morning Breakfast

Klesick Family Portraits

Sunday is the one day where our family sits down together for breakfast. The rest of the week is a blur, but on Sunday all the schedules align. 

On a normal Sunday morning we eat around 8:45 and I am the chef. As Chef Dad, I usually provide French toast, waffles or pancakes. My favorite pancake recipe is “Fluffy Pancakes” from the Allrecipes.com website. I usually substitute the butter for oil, add whole wheat flour to the recipe, and then quadruple the servings and start making pancakes. Pancakes are topped off with mixed berries and maple syrup—nothing quite like dessert for breakfast!

My gang can really mow through pancakes! Even little Joanna, at 3 years old, can eat two or three, and the teenagers, well let’s just say they could keep IHOP hopping! But when we all sit down to the table and thank the Lord for His provision, I take a moment to look around our old farm table and I get to quietly thank Him for all His goodness.  

There was a time when Maleah, Maddy, Alaina and Emily were just about to turn 3 just like Joanna, but now Emily is living on her own. And the same can be said, of the boys. It was just yesterday that Andrew, Aaron and Micah were turning 6 like Stephen. But now Micah is a full-time firefighter living in Vancouver, WA and when he comes to visit he brings his fiancé, Elise. It makes me smile. The farm table, once again, gets a little fuller. 

As Joelle and I get older and the kids start to leave the farm, what seemed like a small house for all of us, grows a little (emphasis on “little”) quieter and a little bigger. I find myself both looking back at and forward to our breakfasts. It is the one place where my family gathers and reconnects with our past, our present, and our future.  

We are always a family and we do share other meals together when it works out, but Sunday mornings are a priority, and now a tradition and a memory-maker. 

I would love to hear about how your family connects, so we can encourage each other in the ways we make family important. Drop me an e-mail or post it on Facebook. Who knows, your way to connect might be a perfect fit for another family in our box of good community. 

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From where I sit…

LabelGMOFoodstwibbon_940x150Our national food policy is dominated by the likes of Monsanto and the other agribusinesses. Sadly, our elected officials and the USDA are all too willing to listen to Monsanto and other multinational farm and food companies. Those companies have a stranglehold on public policy and the elected officials are far too compliant or complicit on the issue of genetic engineering in our food supply. 

I think it is a travesty that Americans and Canadians have to be the proponents of genetic engineering, forcing it upon other countries. Over the next few months, I will be addressing the issues of genetically engineered foods from a farming standpoint, a parent’s standpoint and a public policy standpoint. 

When it comes to food safety, food security and healthy food, it doesn’t seem to matter if you are a republican or democrat—Monsanto and their proponents have had their way in Washington D.C. and Olympia. This has to stop. But meaningful change is only going to happen when American citizens stop being “the Sheeple,” exercise our rights as “the People” and demand a level playing field. We are going to find out very quickly in Washington State where our local elected officials stand on this issue and also where our U.S. congressmen and women and senators stand as well.

I-522 “The People’s Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act”
This is an important issue. Please read the complete text found at www.labelitwa.org. This is at its heart a labeling issue. I am not proposing we shut down Monsanto or any other company, but I am in wholehearted agreement that genetically engineered foods need to be labeled as ingredients and that consumers be given the information to make informed choices on the products at the grocery stores or other food outlets. 

Yes, I know how to avoid GE foods and so do many of you, but the majority of citizens are uniformed and the biotech food industry prefers it that way. But I believe that if people are given the choice, they will choose non-genetically engineered foods and the free market will decide what type of food and products will go forward, not Monsanto or other multinational food companies.

I am voting for I-522 because labeling is a fair and free market solution to food security, food safety and a healthy food supply.

How about you?

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If my fences could talk

After eight years of running grass-fed beef on our farm, the fence is in some need of mending. Cattle are just tough on fences. I remember when we first got cattle and I set up our pastures with two strands of hotwire; I was being really cautious considering my dairy farm neighbors used only one hotwire to keep the cows off the road. Our first batch of cows arrived, unloaded from the trailer and up and left. They had never seen a hotwire or experienced it, got a little shock and kept on moving. Now I was the one in shock. We spent the better part of that day rounding up cows and the better part of the next week building five strand barbwire fences to contain the critters. I am never going to leave a good night’s sleep to a few skinny strands of wire with electricity running through them. So we do our best to keep them in and fix all the obvious and potential “escape” routes.

This week we started fixing up the non-cow barbwire fence along the road. We used to run cattle along this part of the pasture, but now it mostly carries the hotwire to where the cattle graze during the summer. This fence was hammered last year, not by cows, but by cars. Yes, cars. Most of the time, when someone hits it, they back out and head on their way, with a few scratches to their car as souvenirs.

One time, I was walking out to my field and saw that someone had done a few donuts. This was a head scratcher. I thought that maybe my boys were having a little fun, but they had never seen the Dukes of Hazard. I must admit that I would like to do donuts sometime, just not when the field is planted! Well, it wasn’t a Klesick. Someone had driven through the fence into the planted field, spun around and driven back through the fence at a different spot. Two holes to fix! 

My favorite all time story happened on one of those rainy October nights. I looked out the back windows of the house and I saw headlights driving through my field. A young man in a Civic had caught the edge of the road (he wasn’t drinking) and it pulled his car into our fence. He went right in between two fence posts and kept driving until his car got stuck. I was impressed that he was able to drive as far as he did. We towed him out and he came back on an agreed upon day to fix the fence with us. I am sure that having the Sheriff take his contact information was plenty of encouragement to return.

Well, as you could imagine, cattle are hard on fences, but teenagers are harder. So we are busy overhauling this fence and, hopefully, I might get a year or two off before I need to mend it.

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Commitment is Love

photo (4)I have been bothered by all the messaging in this world, from sports to Hollywood to the grocery store ads. It is all about pleasure—personal pleasure. It tells us to be discontent with our lives. It tells us we are too short or too tall, our nose is too large or too flat, we'd be smarter if we drove a smart car or cooler if our hybrid was a Prius.

Heaven forbid if you still have a “dumb” phone or are seen without an iPhone. Our world says, you can be loved if you are cool, hip, rad or sic(k). Sadly, there is too much self-love and love of stuff. This is how the media and advertising outlets are defining love—this self-love—and sadly, it can become all-consuming and never satisfying.

Ironically, a love based on stuff and how we look is temporary at best, and satisfying only for the moment. As a breath of fresh air, in January, our family committed a passage in the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13, to memory. This is the quintessential passage on what Love is and isn't. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. ….13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.

But the greatest of these is love. I would contend that our society needs the above mentioned love to bind the wounds of hate, selfishness and disrespect and begin to heal. Every relationship from the most intimate to the most casual would do well if our code of ethics or standard bearer was 1 Corinthians 13. Imagine how your relationships would be if: Your love is patient, your love is kind. Your love does not envy, your love does not boast. Your love is not proud, your love does not dishonor others. Your love is not self-seeking, your love is not easily angered. Your love keeps no record of wrongs. Your love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

Your love always protects, your love always trusts, your love always hopes. Your love always perseveres. Your love never fails. This kind of love can't be manufactured or purchased, it has to be a gift of personal giving. It is the kind of love that says, "I am committed" to you and to our relationship. The list above is a big list, but we can all work towards adding one or two of these to our key relationships. Not sure where to begin re-read the verse and replace “your” with your name and it will give you a good starting point (ouch). Want to join me in a selfless (not self- love) revolution?

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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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This Year, Chestnuts

Joelle’s family has had stately old chestnut trees as a part of their landscape for years. When we moved to our current farm in 2003, we planted a few offshoots from these trees. Our farm also has three magnificent old walnut trees. Trees like these are planted for the next generations. Based on photos of our farm, our walnut trees were planted in the 1940s. It must have been a trend because many of the farms near us have similar-sized English walnuts trees.
 
When Joelle and I attended the Great Lakes Ag Expo last December, we happened upon an MSU chestnut bulletin expounding the benefits for farmers to plant chestnuts. And since we already had the chestnut connect  ion with Joelle’s family, we decided to add chestnuts. Now, next to our apples, plums, and pears, there are 16 Basalta #3 and 3 Marival chestnut trees. Hopefully, we will see our first chestnuts in 2015, with strong production in 2017. But unlike the chestnut trees of old, these will be maintained to a height of 20 feet, instead of 60 or 70 feet. 
 
Planting trees is exciting. The very act of planting an orchard is a statement of optimism for today and the future. While I was planting the trees with Nathan (Nathan helps out on our farm and other farms, and is the son of Mike who works in our office), we started talking about how the farm has changed over the last 10 years. I commented, “Maybe this will be my last major change or addition for a few years.” Nathan, with a Cheshire cat grin, wilily retorted, “I haven’t seen it yet.”
 
Alas, I must concede he is right. I am such a dreamer and I love to grow food. You see, the winter time is a dangerous time for farmers because now we have time to dream, and the dreaming turns to planning, and planning becomes chestnuts or greenhouse tomatoes or late summer strawberries.
 
Regardless of my dreaming, there is a real need for healthy farm-fresh food choices and that need is greater than ever today.
 
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The Year in Review

Supporting Local Farms  Since the inception of our home delivery business in1999, we have always focused on purchasing our fresh fruits and vegetables from local farmers first. Every week, I contact my farmer friends to find out what they currently have available that I can add to our boxes. If I need to find more produce, I then source it from farms outside our area. As your personal farmer, I really appreciate your dedication to the local farm community. With your purchases this year, you have blessed several local farm families:
 
Bartella Farm, Beld Family Farm, Blue Heron Farms, Bunny Lane Fruit, Filaree Farms, Fuentes Blueberries, Garden Treasures, Hedlin Farms, Highwater Farm, Horse Drawn Farms, Living Rain Farm, Motherflight Farms, Neff Farm, Okanagan Producers Marketing Association, Paul & Janice Madden Orchards, Ponderosa Orchards, Ralph’s Greenhouse, Rents Due Ranch, Skagit Flats Farm, Viva Farms, and of course, the Klesick Family Farm. 
 
Helping Local People  Another core principle at Klesick Family Farm is to give back to our community. One of the ways we do this is by offering our customers the opportunity to donate a box of good to local area food banks. We currently support food banks in Anacortes, Stanwood, Camano Island, Marysville, Lake Stevens, Everett, Monroe, Snohomish, and Edmonds. For every four boxes donated by our customers, we donate an additional box. This year, with the generous support of our customers, Klesick Family Farm delivered over 834 boxes of good (approximately $20,850 worth of quality organic fruits and vegetables) to local area food banks! This number includes the donation of 127 Thanksgiving Holiday Boxes and 40 Christmas Blessing Boxes. There is no way our farm could meet this need without your help. This is one of the most satisfying aspects of our business. I love meeting local needs with local resources! Thank you for partnering with us. 
If you would like to join us in helping provide quality organic produce to local food banks, either give us a call or order a food bank box under the Boxes category of the Product page of our website.
Thank you for a great 2012! We look forward to next year!
 
 
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Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward Men

The frantic nature of our society leaves little room for peace, rest and quietness. We are bombarded with advertising to buy this or that, or messaging that makes us feel inferior if we don't dress this way or drive that car.

After this last week's tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, I am feeling more impressed to hug my children a little longer, tell them I love them a little more often and not let the tug of this world rob my joy, my relationships.  Every night, when our family gathers to pray, our son Stephen prays like clockwork, "Lord, please don't let anyone get hurt tomorrow." Sunday night those words, the same words he prays every night, had a different meaning for me. In my heart, I agreed with him—"Yes, Lord please don't let anyone get hurt tomorrow."
 
And now, the week before Christmas, our country has to reconcile the sadness of these senseless deaths. This tragedy stands in stark contrast to what Christmas should represent. Today Christmas, is not at all about Christmas. It is more about buying happiness, instead of investing in happiness. But really happiness isn't the goal, but rather peace, a deep abiding peace. A peace that says, no matter what is happening all around me, it will be okay. In our communities, in our sphere of influence, in our families there are real needs. Needs like a loss of a loved one, cancer, divorce, deployment, unemployment, medical bills or too many bills that can't be soothed by a gift, but maybe by a hug or true friendship.
 
Ironically, the antidote to the heaviness for many of us, is the reason we are supposed to celebrate Christmas. Some 2000 years ago a gift was given to humanity. A baby whose message was so radical it changed the course of history.  But we have to stop, take a breath and consider what the baby Jesus came to offer—peace (not temporary) and joy (not fleeting). He said to think about how you can please God and love your neighbor as you would like to be loved. Of course, He said more, but can you imagine a society that honored God and also considered others as more important than themselves. There is no room for murder, when we consider pleasing the God who loves us and if we put others comfort, safety and needs before our own.
 
Those families are forever changed—scarred because of what happened. But what is our response? Should we hate this young man or his family? No, there is no hope in that, but we should hate the act of violence and its motives. I believe the response to this tragedy is to pray for those families and that community. And then, take a hard look at our own lives and honor those families, by making sure our loved ones know we love them. I am sure that every one of those families wish that they could redo something from that morning, that week, that year, but they can't and it could haunt them forever. But we can still strengthen, restore or make amends with our family members, no matter how old or young. It doesn't matter if something has placed a wedge in your relationships; work to remove it now, because you still can, because it would be better.
 
Almost always, peace comes when we offer peace, hope comes when offer hope, and forgiveness comes when we forgive. I think the best gifts this Christmas are the ones that money can't secure. I am sure that each of us can plant some "seeds" of peace, hope or forgiveness as gifts and begin to strengthen or rebuild our relationships. It will take work, maybe some humility or actual forgiveness, but the reward of restoring or beginning to restore a relationship is a gift that, sadly, is no longer available to those families in Newtown, but is to us.
 
Can we honor those families by building, restoring or living "I love you" this Christmas?