Feels like Fall is coming early, I am hoping for an Indian Summer. Time will tell. Early last week, I woke up at 3:30am and drifting off to sleep again was eluding me. Thankfully, I rarely wake up 1.5 hours before my usual start to the day, maybe 10 minutes early, but rarely 90 minutes. […]

Those hot August nights came in June and July. If you are a gardener or have flower beds, your plants are a little stressed. And/or you have had a second job watering around the clock. Pay attention to your soil moisture, cooler days do not necessarily lead to no watering, but less watering. Managing soil […]

This is the time of year when the weeds start to win out. Early in the Spring and Summer we have a lot of pent-up energy to get outside and get growing food. We spend hours planning during the fall and eventually that translates to hours of planting and then weeding and then harvesting.  But […]

That brief rain we had last weekend was welcomed. We could use more, but I am still grateful for what we did get.  I have to confess, I had resigned myself to warmer weather and no rain till September, so I haven’t been really paying attention to weather. I was thankful for the cooling trend […]

For those of us who live in NW Washington, we know that the summers can be dry. It is not unusual to have 3 or 4 weeks without rain. In fact, if you mentioned how dry it has been to family and friends in say, Virginia, they would think you are joking. Their belief is […]

We are excited to be able to offer local blueberries from Hazel Blue Acres for the next few weeks. This week they are featured in some of the boxes as well as being sold as add-ons! You can purchase extra blueberries by the clamshell or by the 1/2 flat. Just email us or add them […]

My neighbor has a beautiful lawn. My car isn’t as nice as my coworkers. I wish I had _____________ (fill in the blank). Others may have better health. Why do we compare and what is gained from it? If you allow it to inspire you to greater achievements or cause you to change a poor […]

The last month and half has been a hard season for a dear friend. He started to not feel well in early June, was in and out of the ER, before finally being hospitalized. Ten days later, he was diagnosed with stage 3 Colon Cancer. I remember the call as if it were yesterday, “I have Colon Cancer.” He is in his early 40’s, well before the […]

Weather is one of the safest conversation topics unless you go deeper and then it is more like politics and religion. Whole systems are built around weather and its seasonality. Natural resource industries like farming or ranching or timber can be blessed or hampered by the weather. New industries can be created or shuttered based […]

This past week we introduced a new category of meal kits. We are partnering with Kindred Kitchen to bring ready to make meals to your doorstep. We are starting with 3 and will be adding additional. Currently we are offering a Creamy Pesto Chicken, Sweet and Spicy Salmon with Parmesan Rice, and a Vegetable Rigatoni. Currently we are offering the meal […]

I’m a first-generation farmer but have been at the game for 2+ decades, and I am still learning new things. Thanks to changes in climate, we are now able to grow a greater variety of warmer weather crops, but it has also allowed a new variety of pests to move further north.   We have four major pests that I pay attention to. And, no, slugs are not one of […]

This past week we planted more lettuces, cucumbers, zucchini, onions and lots of pumpkins and winter squash, and 1000 +/- tomatoes plants in the field and in the greenhouse.   So to date, we have garlic, onions, radishes, cabbages, broccoli, kohlrabi, beets, beans, peas, cucumbers, winter and summer squash, and tomatoes all planted. And we are […]

In a bygone era, when a community was just beginning to form, the fabric of society was more intertwined by rivers, forests, and land and natural resources were the bedrock of a community. We are blessed to have the Skagit, Stillaguamish and Snohomish watersheds that tie us together.   We live in a farmhouse that was […]

We planted beans a few weeks back when the weather was unseasonably warm. I knew it was early and slightly risky. The reason it was risky is because we usually plant our first planting of beans in mid to late May when it’s predictably warmer and then every few weeks after that. But I could hardly wait with that […]

Early on in my farming adventure, or should I say career change with a huge learning curve, I learned that plants need a job. Nothing I have ever attempted has been as hard as farming. Even the simplest task of transplanting a little lettuce or cabbage start can go sideways. Is the ground temperature warm […]

Tristan and I are grateful to get to live and work at such a beautiful place. 18 years ago we were looking for a place that we could live, farm, and run the business. Farm ground was the first priority because that’s the one thing that can’t really be changed or remodeled. When we stumbled […]

Last week I mused that farming starts when we begin to rototill our fields. Of course, there is way more going on before any dirt is rototilled. Sometimes farming happens the season before like garlic or berries or pruning. Farming is a catch all term. What does it mean to farm? Is planning farming??? Is […]