Tag: 2017

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2017 Thanksgiving Holiday Delivery Schedule

2017 Thanksgiving Holiday Delivery Schedule

 

Our office will be closed November 23-25 in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. Because of this closure, our deliveries for that week are scheduled as follows:

 

For delivery Monday

Mill Creek, Silver Firs, Everett, Snohomish, Mukilteo, Lynnwood, Woodinville

For delivery Tuesday

Oak Harbor, Anacortes, Lake Stevens, Monroe, Mt. Lk. Terrace

For delivery Wednesday

Camano, Marysville, Stanwood, Seven Lakes, Arlington, Burlington, Mt. Vernon, Sedro Woolley

 

Please remember to let us know if you will need to skip your delivery that week!

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Moka Joe Coffee

This week we are introducing a new line of Coffee from Moka Joe in Anacortes. Their coffee is Organic, Fair trade, intentionally sourced and locally roasted.

Here is what Dan, the Owner of Moka Joe, forwarded to me about their company values:

“Moka Joe is a local, family owned company in Anacortes, Washington. Our goals are to provide Organic, sustainably grown, and Fair Trade coffee. We also aim to provide livable wage jobs for career oriented people. We source coffees from over 14 countries based on relationship and quality farming practices. When you purchase our Café Femenino coffees a portion of that money directly affects the farmers and their families. We believe in supporting family and community.”

At Klesick’s, we are “all in” with Dan’s mission and message. Great company focus, great coffee and intentionally making a difference in the lives of the Coffee farmers they source from.

Just like BIJA chocolates, Moka Joe works hard to source and find great products that are locally produced, but does so with an intentional focus to add financially to the lives of the producers and farmers that raise the base ingredients for great chocolate and coffee for all of us to enjoy.

I’m also excited about the switch for another reason. It will allow us to bring you even fresher coffee because we will be picking it up twice a week. That’s right. We will be going to Anacortes to get it twice a week. This accomplishes two things for you:

1. Order dates are streamlined. Same order date for Coffee and Milk. The new cutoff days to order fresh Roasted Coffee or fresh bottled Twin brooks Creamery Milk are Fridays at 8 a.m. for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday customers and Wednesdays at 8 a.m. for Friday and Saturday customers.

2. Fresher ingredients. With the change in order dates, your coffee will be as fresh as possible, just like your fresh produce and milk.

For the next 3 weeks we are going to be featuring Moka Joe 12oz. and 2lb bags of ground or whole bean coffee. We will also be adding a line of K-Cups for Keurig 2.0 machines. Order today and enjoy locally roasted coffee that tastes great and puts more money in the hands of the coffee farmers. A win-win.

SHOP MOKA JOE!

SHOP TWIN BROOK CREAMERY!

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Weekend Warrior

Maybe Aging Warrior is a better title for this newsletter. After 20 years of farming and two solid weeks of Spring pruning, my shoulders and elbows are feeling like the 51-year-old grandpa I am. I love pruning. I find it an art, a forgiving art mind you, because the trees always seem to accept my attempts to reshape them and give me fruit in return.

The average age of farmers is going up. I think we are hovering around 57 years old. America needs to find a way for a younger crop of farmers to join our ranks and make a living at the same time. No small task, considering the cost of school debt, car payments, insurance, let alone retirement that many of our young potential farmers are incurring as they start their careers. These are some of the factors that make it hard for a new crop of farmers to join our ranks.

Another factor is that farming is a relentless task master. Yes, it comes with huge rewards: fresh air, invigorating highs when you first plow, followed by harvest. But, it is also equally de-invigorating when a crop fails or languishes.

The weather “windows” can be tight as an eye of a needle or as wide as the Grand Canyon. (I prefer the latter.) But the weather is what it is and a farmer needs to be ready and accept what is given. Farmers have not chosen an easy path.

But every year, small and large farmers and all farmers at heart, begin to awake from their winter slumbers when the day length increases filling our veins with new hope and energy. Seed catalogs arrive and crop plantings get figured out. Fertilizers, compost and foliar spray programs get “penciled” to the paper version of the farm schedule.

Currently, this is where I find myself in the great theatre of farming. We are getting close. If Spring is early, I will be ready. If it is late, I will be anxious. Anxious, not because of the weather, but because the windows to get the work done will be compressed. Then often, something will have to give, kind of like Yahtzee. In farming you only get one chance a year to plant and harvest.

Thankfully, I can get most of my winter dreaming and planning done during the spring, summer and fall seasons. This variability is what makes farming so satisfying–working with nature to produce an incredible harvest of tasty, healthy, life giving fruits and vegetables. When the farm gives us that bounty, all the aches and pains, all the headaches and recalculations, are all but forgot. The farm and the farmer have done their work and a local community has been fed well.

Tristan Klesick

Farmer/Health Advocate

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Farewell

Last week Joelle and I travelled east of the mountains to Pasco for a funeral. A family friend’s father had passed away and we went to help with prepping of food and what not for the funeral and reception following. Planning a funeral is a lot like planning a wedding except you only get a few weeks at most to pull it together.

Jim had been a member of the same community for 75 years, married 57 years, had four daughters, 11 grandkids and 2 greats. Besides raising children and blessing his grandchildren, Jim was an Alfalfa hay farmer.

Alfalfa was his crop of choice. Jim, his brother and their father cleared the sage brush, leveled out the sand dunes bringing that rough piece of ground into productive crop land. As I sat there at the funeral with over 300 people listening to memories after memories, I was thinking you never know who you are impacting.

Many of those 300+ people who attended the funeral had intersected at a particular point in time with Jim, some from his youth, others from work relationships, and of course, family–siblings for the whole ride, wife and children and grandchildren having the closest interactions.

Jim and my path crossed not because of farming, but because we were friends with his kids and our kids were friends with his grandkids. My first memory of Jim was at a soccer game. I was the coach and my son Stephen and Ian, Jim’s grandson, were playing a game. Grandpa and Grandma had come over for the weekend to take in the festivities. Throughout the funeral, it was apparent that Grandpa and Grandma had made participating in their children and grandchildren’s lives a priority. Now many of you may not know many older farmers, but they are not that much different than other hardworking folks from that generation. Jim was still strong as an ox. You could tell from his handshake that he was well acquainted with work as his hand engulfed yours followed by a steady strong look into your eyes that communicated trust and respect–and maybe a little measure of how many 3 string bales of Alfalfa you could stack! Our relationship was a new one and far too short. Every day each of us get an opportunity to bless someone, sometimes for a moment or a little longer or a lifetime. We will never know most of the impacts that we will have on many of those relationships, but last weekend was a reminder to me to make the most of every one of them.

In every relationship, every interaction, let’s be generous and kind in all that we do because when we pass from this life to the next, our impact on our local communities will be through those relationships and the generations still here. Jim’s life left an impact on at least 300 + people, including mine.

Tristan Klesick, Farmer/Health Advocate

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Thoughts with Ashley

We’re nearing that point in winter where I find myself in a bit of a cooking lull. Nearing? Okay, we’re there. Spring feels as if it’s starting to show the first signs of arrival through tiny green buds popping up on branches that appeared dead just the day before. The other morning while sitting near the fire drinking my coffee in the almost-dark I heard the sweet melody of a few birds having a conversation. Perhaps I’m imagining these signs but I’ll take them.

The weariness shows up mostly when it’s time to cook dinner. The ingredients start to all look the same; cauliflower, carrots, and all other forms of hard root vegetables that manage to survive the harshness of a winter ground. I miss the frilly leaves of spring greens and the sweet juicy bite of a strawberry. But through this lull, if I’m able to muster enough energy for creativity, I can relish the seemingly limited resources of the season and pull out some very satisfying meals.

Recognizing this is, as they say, the first step. I realize that finding joy in the kitchen again is not just a matter of waiting for the next season – if we spent all our time waiting for joy we’d miss so much of it. Instead I’m setting myself up for success in the kitchen. I wish you could all see what my pantry looked like currently. There are bags of beans and sacks of lentils strewn out all over the floor as they wait their new home in a tidy labeled jar. This cleaner, sleeker pantry will be the start of many wonderful meals. With a stocked pantry and a fridge full of produce anything is possible.

When feeling a bit creatively challenged in the kitchen I love wandering the produce section and grabbing something completely foreign and unknown to me. I’m sure there are times you’ve opened up your box and reached for something that looked more like sea creature than vegetable. I mean have you ever seen a celeriac (celery root)? – they are indeed delicious by the way. I’ve learned so much about food by pushing myself into a little discomfort.

Here’s to happier, joyful and creative cooking!

Ashley Rodriguez

Food Blogger, notwithoutsalt.com

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Above Freezing

About time! Our old farmhouse has a hard time keeping the cold out. There are some places around the floor boards that you can almost hear wind blowing and there is a definite flow of cold air. Normally, I have a good supply of firewood, but…. next year I will be prepared–again!

Last year was a good growing season and I am excited about this one coming up too. I have already placed the lion’s share of my seed and transplant orders for the year. Now all that is left to do is hope my farming calendar lines up with mother nature. True confession: they rarely align, but every spring “hope springs eternal” and this year is no different. Right now, I have enough energy to farm till October. Of course; it is only January!

Vegetable Seeds

Speaking of seeds, there is a whole another segment of farmers who grow nothing but seed crops. Every single vegetable we grow comes from a seed and a farmer has to see that crop through a very long and precarious season. We pretty much use High Mowing Organic Seeds as our supplier. They grow, trial and work with a bunch of really good “seed” farmers who are committed to organic farming. Thankfully, there are seed farmers, or farmers like me would have to expend a bunch more time growing vegetables and vegetables for seed.

We also partner with High Mowing Seeds and you can order a good selection of seeds from us at our website. These are many of the varieties that I grow on my farm. I have personally picked seed that I feel will grow well in North Puget Sound. You might say they are Farmer Tristan Approved!

Local Milk

Since we are talking about farming…we also carry local milk from Twin Brook Creamery in Lynden. Every community that has thrived did so because there was a transportation system, rivers, rails or oceans for commerce and then good land for growing food. And the kind of food that sustained a community was vegetables, fruit, milk and other livestock. That is why we are so happy to partner with Larry and his family at Twin Brook Creamery. High quality milk, from a local herd, sold locally to our community. If you’re a milk drinker, then give Twin Brook’s milk a try.

At Klesick Farms, we grow only good food, source only good food from other farmers, and deliver only good food.

My name is on every box, every newsletter, every van. Every time a box of good food leaves Stanwood, where I farm, you’re getting our best.

Thank you for trusting Klesick’s with your good food choices.

Tristan Klesick,

Farmer, Health Advocate

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INSPIRE: Community Be Healthy

Klesick Farm’s first Community Be Healthy event happened at the Lynnwood Convention Center this last Saturday. Thanks to all of you who came out and stopped by to say “hello”. It was a pleasure meeting everyone. We hope everyone left INSPIRED to be healthy!

Almost 30 health promoting organizations joined us to inform and help people on their good health journey. Interesting people. Interesting organizations.

And then there were the speakers! Maria Rippo, the Green Smoothie Lady, gave a very practical talk and demonstration on making healthy smoothies. Our own Tristan Klesick also spoke sharing his passion for helping people to eat healthy. Marilyn McKenna, author of Eat Like It Matters, told us her inspiring story on how she lost 120 lbs. and changed her life through healthy eating and Sue from the Alzheimer’s Association helped us understand the importance of healthy eating for brain health.

“Thank you,” people told us, “for putting on the event.” Thank You! It’s our privilege to partner with every one of you in eating healthy.

Community Be Healthy!

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Inspire: A Community Be Healthy Event

Inspire: A Community Be Healthy Event

Coming out of the holidays can be brutal on the waist line and leaving many of us feeling less than stellar.

Is it time for an emotional and/or physical reset? I know that for myself, when I eat mostly fruits and vegetables, I just feel better and have more energy.

On Saturday January 14th, Klesick Farms and 30 other health-minded businesses will come together to share about healthy living and healthy healing. INSPIRE: A Community Be Healthy Event has been a dream of mine for a while. Last May I booked the Lynnwood Convention Center–yes, in May, during the craziness of the local growing season, I carved out some time to put in motion the framework for a health fair.– Looking back, that was one of the best decisions I have ever made.

I have met several wonderful people who are passionate about being healthy and helping people be healthy. And I am excited to introduce them to you! There is also an incredible slate of speakers, who have personally and passionately made the life changing decisions to improve their health and quality of life. And they know you can too!

* Hazel Borden, with the Alzheimer Association, will be sharing about brain health, the Mediterranean diet and Alzheimers.

* Marilyn Mckenna, Author of Eat Like It Matters, will talk about her amazing 120lb weight loss journey and how she  has kept it off for over a decade.

* Maria Rippo, Author of The Green Smoothie Challenge, will talk about how to reset/restart your health with Green Smoothies.

Lastly, I will be talking about organic farming and the trials of the current food system. For more information visit www.inspirebehealthy.com.

Mark your calendars, bring your family/friends and come, learn, and leave inspired!

Tristan Klesick

Farmer/Health Advocate