Category: Words from Tristan

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Walnuts

We have been busy picking walnuts up off the ground twice a day. We are nearing the end of harvest based on a quick perusing of the trees.  Walnut trees blossom later than most trees and their fruit comes off later as well.  I love our walnut trees. They make great babysitters with their strong branches which provides hours of climbing and swinging in the  two tree swings.  We have added a hammock for dad, but I must confess I usually just go to bed when it is time to sleep. And not to mention a sleeping dad in a hammock is too much temptation for any of my well meaning and playful children to pass up?!?!?!

Our trees were planted in an era before air conditioning and heat pumps were the norm and with great precision they shade the early morning sun and the evening sun, keeping our home cooler in the summer. Our family appreciates the previous generations for blessing us, since those trees have taken decades to reach their height. Another blessing is that walnut trees are deciduous, letting in a lot of winter light, which would have been invaluable in the days of candle lighting, and allowing us to enjoy the winter sun as it warms our home.

But as a farmer, I must admit the harvest is one of its best gifts. Most of the walnuts fall out of their husks to the ground, then the husks fall and then leaves last. It is a very efficient process. As a farmer you are rewarded for being diligent, especially this year.  This year is our 7th year on this farm and for the first time I am seeing a huge wildlife uptick on our farm. We have lots of birds, rabbits, voles and moles, coyotes, raccoons and tree frogs. Most of their damage to crops has been negligible with the ecosystem in check.  But after seven years of rehabilitative work, we could have a fight on our hands to harvest the crops for you.

A  few years ago we saw one stellar jay sharing in the harvest of walnuts, but now there are 10+ visiting us. Even if they take two or three a day that ends up being 30, and over the month-long harvest that is 300. And the raccoons sure are cute as they scamper from branch to branch munching away—this year we have had them visit us a few times at night. To make matters worse, I saw our very first bushy tail critter in seven years—please not squirrels!!!!  We even have passersby stop and help themselves to a few walnuts.  I feel pretty fortunate to harvest as many as I have, but the odds are definitely looking pretty bleak extrapolating forward.

I know that I have invited wildlife back onto this farm by farming in accordance with nature. We haven’t killed everything with chemicals, we planted habitat to encourage many different types of critters and restored this farm into a living micro and macro happy zone.  But I hope those critters share, because I need something to sell you if I am going to call myself a farmer.
I am considering calling Christopher Robbins and asking him to facilitate a local agreement with the wildlife, so I can farm and you will have something to eat.

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Plenty of Pumpkins

The summer toys were still strewn all over the yard and the leaves were just starting to think about their annual transition from green to shades of red, orange and yellow, and yet I was already dreaming of pumpkins.

Every year it is my mission to try and squeeze pumpkin into as many meals as possible. This is a skill I am very gifted in. I roll out of bed and make myself a homemade pumpkin spice latte. For breakfast I eat pumpkin muffins. For lunch it’s pumpkin soup. Dinner is some sort of pasta dish with pumpkin, sage, parmesan and bacon. Dessert is pumpkin rice pudding.

As a newlywed, I was determined to make a pumpkin pie completely from scratch for my contribution to our first Thanksgiving. I had heard rumors that it was possible to make a pie from the actual pumpkin rather than using what is found in the can. So, I got myself a pumpkin, clumsily hacked off the top and began to remove the innards. That’s where my project came to a halt. “What part do I roast?” I asked myself. I’m ashamed to admit it, but up to this point in my kitchen career pumpkin had always come from a can. I was in foreign territory. With the help of the internet, my questions were answered and I continued on my mission. The results were well worth the effort. I was rewarded with a pie rich in fresh pumpkin flavor and the thrill of telling people that this pie was made completely from scratch.

Since that embarrassing kitchen fiasco, I have roasted many a pumpkin. I have also turned back to the trusted canned pumpkin on several occasions and there is nothing wrong with that.

From the 1st of October to the last bite of my second helping of pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving, I get my fill of pumpkin. This is enough to last us the rest of the year, which gives me plenty of time to figure out all the recipes that I can squeeze pumpkin in to for the next season.

by Ashley Rodriquez

Chef, food blogger, and full-time mom. Read more of her writings at www.notwithoutsalt.com

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Exciting New Organic Products

We have added some new organic products to our list of grocery items (find them online under our “Grocery” section).

With the addition of these organic products we are hoping to better serve our customers by making quality organic grocery items more easily accessible.

We plan on adding more products in the days ahead, so keep checking back to see what’s new!

Wishing you the best of health!

The Klesick Family Farm

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Squeak, Rattle, Crunch, Tear

I have been spending some of the most blissful moments of the farm season during the fall clean up. Ever since I got my new Belgian team, Sally and Sandy, I have been working them a lot. My previous team was a bear to work with and, consequently, they didn’t get worked because it wasn’t any fun. But my new team—aaaaaah!—has been for the most part a dream.
However, the other week I was away for a few days and put them out on pasture so that my kiddos didn’t have to worry about them. I came home, caught them, harnessed them, and set out for the field. Fortunately, my good friend Ken, from Horse Drawn Produce on Lopez, was visiting and we worked them together. Those two fillies were a handful that morning. When it comes to horses, I am a greenhorn, but Ken is a real teamster. I had bought the girls from Ken and he quietly reprimanded me and said, “No more green grass for them.” Our pastures are very rich and so after feeding off them for a week the Belgians were affected like a toddler on soda pop—they were all wound up. It took a couple of hours driving them around the farm to burn off that excess sugar!
I have always pastured my horses and so this experience got me thinking that maybe my previous team was just high strung because their feed was too rich??? I will never really know. However, I did notice today that when I harnessed up Katy, the remaining horse from my first team, for the most part she was amenable working with me. And she has been off pasture for a couple days and eating our local hay. (We have local hay available if you would like some.)
Yesterday and this morning, I harnessed up Sally and Sandy and we backed up and headed out to the field. It was like I was “Driving Miss Daisy.” We leisurely wandered out to the field got the disc and went to work. Squeak, Rattle, Crunch, Tear… all these sounds as the disc cut through the corn stocks. I have never heard a disc as it did its job. When we are on the tractors it is too noisy to hear yourself think let alone a disc cutting and tearing. But even before, when I was using my previous team, I had to concentrate so much on those horses as they raced through the field that I couldn’t enjoy the moment.
But today, Squeak, Rattle, Crunch, Tear… were the sounds of music. I love that sound and nothing could be finer than working with my team, the mountains in the background and the sun shining overhead! Working steady horses on a beautiful day, an old English poet from Suffolk once said, “is a poor excuse for work.” And this farmer said, “Amen.”

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The Stillaguamish River

The Stillaguamish River runs by my house and empties into Port Susan Bay.  Our river is much more susceptible to flooding than our neighbor to the north, the Skagit River, and to the south, the Snohomish River. So in a rain event like Saturday, it is not uncommon to see spikes in the river of 10 feet or more. With all the rain we had in September our soil is pretty saturated and an early flood would definitely take longer to seep into the ground.

These early reminders that flood season is just around the corner “kick” us into a completely different gear. We still have crops out in the field that need to be harvested, cover crops to plant, and compost to spread. Last week and the week before we harvested all the potatoes in our lower lands that are most susceptible to flooding. We will be harvesting the remaining cows later this month and put that pasture to rest for the winter. Everything is timing and if I didn’t live where it floods, I would have a completely different farming operation. But since I live here, I farm with the natural constraints of the land and the river.

Lately, we have been using our own potatoes in the produce boxes and for special orders. It so rewarding to plant, hill, harvest and get them into your boxes. This time of year we pretty much just dig them up and deliver them, so they will be somewhat on the dirty side. I would leave them as they are and wash them when needed. The extra layer of soil keeps them fresher. I am working on a washing facility for potatoes and beets, but that is going to be a winter project.

Since we are talking potatoes, do any of you have a recipe for potato pancakes? I vaguely remember eating them as a child.  I will have to call my mom and ask her how she made them. My favorite way to eat potatoes is anyway my wife cooks them. A few weeks ago she made zucchini cobbler and everyone thought it was made with apples. It was a tasty desert and a great way to use those zukes.

Thanks for letting our family serve yours, the greatest compliment we can receive is knowing that we are helping you eat healthy. It drives everything we do as company. It impacts how we farm, how we pack the boxes of good and answer the phones. I have the best team to work with and all of us get to work with the best customers.

Farming nutrient-rich foods for you,

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Did You Know?

A few weeks ago, a person who has been a customer of Klesick Family Farm for a long time wrote, “I didn’t know your website had all this cool stuff!!! You should maybe write it up as one of the main stories in your box news.”Well, we decided to do just that. This newsletter is dedicated to some of this “cool stuff”–recent improvements to our service.


Find out what’s coming in next week’s boxes! Every Thursday around noon we update the “Fresh This Week” page of our website with what we have planned for the following week’s boxes, including our new Essentials boxes. The Essentials options are designed for single person households or for people who just want a smaller amount of produce.

Build your own custom box Do you want to order your own produce instead of getting one of our standard boxes? You can! Just choose from the many online options on our Products page and order only those items you would like to receive. You can order fruit, vegetables, bread items, coffee & tea, and other grocery items like eggs, honey, jams, and even pickles. In fact, in a few weeks we will be introducing a whole new line of products to this selection. There is a $3.50 delivery charge for custom orders, but when the order totals $37.50 or more the fee is waived.

Yes, we can make substitutions Don’t like zucchini? Are you allergic to green beans? Can’t have grapefruit? Good news! You can request a substitution when the items you can’t have or can’t use are scheduled for your box. You can either request never to receive an item or you can request just a one-time substitution. We will replace the item you do not want with another item of equivalent value. Please call or e-mail us for this service, as it is not available online. There is a $1 charge for each item that is substituted. We are sorry, but we cannot substitute items in the NW box, Juicer box, or Essentials due to the set up of these boxes.

We have a Blog! Did you ever receive something in your box that you didn’t even know what it was, let alone how to use it? Check out our blog for recipes and preparation tips (the link is located at the top of our home page). And while you’re there, you might want to read the latest words from Tristan or check out the produce specials on the “Goods and Goodies” page.

More good Would you like to switch from weekly to every other week delivery? Would you prefer to rotate between a certain box one week and a different box the next? Do you want to know how to donate produce to a local food bank? Would it be easier if you made an automatic payment with your credit or debit card? Do you need to know how to set up an online account? Do you need to skip a delivery? We are aiming for flexibility and variety in order to best meet your produce needs. If the service is not working for you or if you are having any difficulties, please contact us. There is probably an option that will meet your needs.

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The Spring and the Fall: 
Assorted musings from the farmer

The spring and fall farm seasons are similar in many ways, especially with the erratic weather patterns.  The big weather difference, however, is that now the days are getting shorter and the soil getting wetter verses in the spring when the day length is increasing and soil is getting warmer. That subtle change, now magnified with this wet September, has made our fall chores more interesting than usual.

So in the spring we run around getting the ground ready for planting and in the fall we run around spreading compost, planting cover crops, garlic, shallots, and harvesting the summer (as if there was a summer) planted crops.  I love this season, but there are literally not enough daylight hours to get the work done, especially when you only get one or two days of good field work weather. And trust me, when we get those days, we are as busy as beavers from dawn to dusk.

This week we are hoping to do all of the above and get closer to taking a long winter nap. My new team of horses, Sally and Sandy, are sure sweet to work with. Together, last week, we disc-harrowed an acre of ground that had provided us with green beans and tomatoes and then we planted winter wheat for a cover crop on top of it.

Speaking of tomatoes . . . I grew Japanese Black Trifele tomatoes this year, mostly on a whim. Mike and Joanie, at the Rents Due Ranch, had a couple hundred extra plants, so I, in a moment of romanticism, picked up 100. They were incredibly flavorful, but ripened too quickly and didn’t have good shelf life. I have put them on the “do not grow in the future” list.

Back to the horses. It was fun driving the horses through the tomato plants and discing them down. Every now and then a green tomato would burst and I would get lightly splattered.  All and all, Sally, Sandy and I worked together for six hours. That was as close to pure bliss as I have come to farming with horses.  I am looking forward to finishing the fall farm chores with them.

Thanks for supporting our family farm and our family of farmers. This farming year, with all of its challenges, is more enjoyable because the food we raise goes to our family of local customers.

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Honey! Bar the door! We’ve got ourselves a crawler!

I know it’s inevitable. At some point in time every little one gets mobile and life changes, but I was secretly hoping for a few more months of “stationary” play! Officially, she began crawling at 5.5 months. This isn’t our earliest. Her sister, Emily, started crawling at the same time 17 years ago and she hasn’t stopped moving since! We will have to see if Joanna walks at the early age of 8.5 months, as her older sister did. Time will tell. Having a little one reach that wonderful age of mobility quickly moves them into a new phase of learning, which means it moves us, as parents, into a new phase of teaching. Now that she is scooting across the floor we need to begin training her to make good choices. Of course, this will be a gradual process, but now she will be discovering toys left out by siblings, the cat food dish, a fireplace, older siblings with quick feet, etc. One of the most comical learning opportunities comes when the little ones begin to learn to negotiate the happily wagging tail of our big (giant to them) black Labs.

It is all good! It is all supposed to happen! Every stage of life is special, and laying a foundation of love and respect early is critical to a great relationship later. Teaching her that “no” means “no” will be one of the next things she learns, and when she is a little older and getting around well, it will be time for her to learn “Joanna, come here, please”.

Sadly, as parents of young children, it’s easy to train children that we are not serious about our requests. And the constant negotiating or nagging eventually can wear a parent out and put a strain on the relationship. But if one establishes “no” early or “come here” early then parents will naturally have a better relationship with their child, for the simple reason that there’s not always a mini war on their hands. Children thrive with love and healthy boundaries. Good seeds planted now will bear good fruit later and as a father and a farmer, life has taught me planting the good seeds is the way to go.

– Tristan

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The Colonnade

Our family snuck away for a couple days over to the Peninsula. What a treasure we are blessed with to have the Olympic National Park located only a ferry boat ride away. I have never spent much time in that part of the state and so we did the tourist type stuff. First, we went over to Cape Flattery and viewed the NW corner of our state and then took in a salmon feed during Makah days and went back to a beach and played in and around the Pacific Ocean. The next day we went to Rialto Beach in La Push. What a magnificent sight, there were these huge logs, roots and all, stacked willy-nilly everywhere, apparently deposited there by giant ocean tides. It is so much fun to hunt in the tide pools and look for those special rocks. The girls enjoyed finding those special rocks with different shapes and colors and the boys looking for round, flat, smooth ones to skip along the water or over the next breaking wave.

After lunch on the beach, we headed over to the Hoh Rain Forest. Inside the rain forest are these colonnades of trees. Apparently, because of all the rain and the temperate climate it is very difficult for any plant life to get established on the forest floor. So when a tree falls over new life begins to grow on top of the tree – a “nurse” tree. There are places in the forest where you can see where a nurse tree used to be laying down prostrate on the forest floor and now in its path are several towering trees or a “colonnade” of trees.

As I stood in awe of those trees and looked up and up, I realized that I was a product of human nurse trees – my parents and grandparents. And even more to the point, I was struck with the realization that I can provide a similar role like that of the nurse tree. But unlike the nurse tree that fell over and nature took over, I have to make a choice to keep growing for myself or get another generation started.

Unfortunately, as humans we get to choose and it is a difficult choice. The Bible reminds us that unless a seed dies it cannot germinate and bear fruit. And as I looked at my life and the nurse tree, I realized that, with the help of my wife, I wanted to leave a legacy—a colonnade—of children who are God-fearing, upright, who value life, and love all people. And one day when my great, great grandchildren look back they will find Tristan and Joelle at the beginning of several colonnades! But to get there so others can benefit requires a choice. Am I willing to decrease, so that my children can increase? I have discovered in this life that it is more blessed to give than to receive, and, maybe, my life could be more like a nurse tree than I realized.

Tristan

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Not Until You Eat Your Veggies!

Those beets we keep sending in the boxes…do they just sit in the corner of the veggie drawer for weeks until they are limp and wilted, good for nothing except the compost heap, all because nobody will eat them if you fix them? Customers will tell us, “Um, beets? NO one in our household will eat them besides me!” Now, growing up I didn’t like things like beets, kale, or other green things either. For me, the only thing to do with beets was paint my plate, lips and face with them, until my mom caught sight of it and then I still had to eat them, which I did with great reluctance. (As a child, I discovered that if you plug your nose when eating foods you can’t stand, you can’t taste them as well so they’re easier to swallow!) My sister, however, loved beets and sometimes she was nice enough to eat mine for me. Today, I eat beets, along with many other veggies, probably largely due to my mother’s persistence in getting me to eat my veggies.

Good food should be something one enjoys! Often, certain veggies are an acquired taste and it takes time before we are to the point of enjoying them. If your family has recently made the switch to healthy eating, the transition of changing your diet to one that includes home-cooked meals with more fresh vegetables can be a bit of a challenge.
A balanced diet is important when it comes to your personal health but it can be doubly important in children. What your child is eating now is laying the foundation for later in life, and your behavior and attitude about food is making an impression on them every time you sit down at the dinner table.
For a three-year-old, a plate of veggies may not seem very exciting. Changing perception can go a long way in getting your children to eat healthy and balanced meals. A plate of veggies that is colorful and topped with a homemade cheese sauce can be very fun. Incorporating the flavors s/he is familiar with and enjoys may be the difference between food introduction failure and success, and first impressions are very important when it comes to introducing new foods.

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again! This rings true in the food world. Remember, taste buds do change over time. Also, by trying different ways of serving up the veggies, they may finish the entire serving the second or third time, despite having a declared hatred for it! The secret is to either make the vegetables tasty or go completely unnoticed. Serving up veggies on their own may not be that appetizing, but as soon as you throw a good dressing into the mix or pile them into a tasty casserole, you can enjoy watching as they are happily devoured!

Consider grating or chopping veggies to make them go unnoticed. Broth-based soups are a nutritional wonder and when puréed many things that have difficult textures are easier to swallow.
In summary, when it comes to changing your family’s eating habits, Moms, you are the ones who make it happen. You are changing your families’ futures for the better, and doing an awesome job!

Cheers!
Marty, for the Klesick Family Farm