Tag: Box of Good

Posted on by

Wow!

It is finally here! Thanksgiving came so early that Christmas seemed like a longways off and BAM! Well hopefully, you are mostly ready for this Holiday Season because it is happening now! I know that for us it can get a bit crazy at the Klesick home. At any given moment we can go from a few of us at home to 25 people and it looks like Christmas is trending towards 25 at the farm.

Last week, the Klesick team took a field trip to the WSU Bread Lab in Burlington. We rolled up our sleeves and prepared a meal with Niels Brisbane, WSU Culinary Director. We made pasta, lots and lots of pasta. We made all sorts of shapes and sizes of pasta. The roasted vegetables with a hazelnut, roasted chili pepper and olive oil dressing – incredible! As was the fennel and onion sauce for the pasta, OH MY WORD! I would have never thought to cook onions and fennel together and then blend them to make a pasta sauce. I love to cook and eat really good food and it was fun to bless my team with a fun cooking/Christmas party. They even stayed and helped with the dishes!

This week’s newsletter (found here) features a hummus recipe (found here) which is a perfect side dish to bring with your vegetable platter to all the holiday parties you have scheduled for the next few weeks 🙂 Be sure to stock up on chickpeas, tahini, olive oil, and whatever spices you want to mix in!

Lastly, keep in mind the upcoming delivery day changes for the week of Christmas. Some minor adjustments have been made with the holiday falling on a Tuesday, so double check your day. And of course, if you have travel plans for the next couple weeks, be sure to change your next delivery date from your account online, or contact us and we’ll handle it for you.

We wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and Holiday Season!

See you after Christmas!

Your Farmer and Health Advocate,

 

Tristan

Posted on by

From Peas to Beans

I can’t remember a year when I went from picking peas to picking beans. I wish I had more of those wonderful sugar snap peas, but…they love the cool weather and July is about when they decide to call it quits. This has a been a particularly good year for leafy vegetables and peas. I am always amazed at the fortitude of plants. Their whole purpose is to reproduce and as a farmer my whole purpose is to keep harvesting so that the plant will continue to keep producing, in this case, peas.

We have picked peas 2-3x a week for the last three weeks and even though I try and stagger my plantings, they all finish up around the same time. When it comes to peas, I have learned to plant once. The challenge with that is you can lose a crop when the weather turns south or, as in this year, hit a home run!

Now we are transitioning to Beans. My hamstrings are hurting just thinking about picking them. We grow a bush type bean that concentrates the harvest over a two-week period. Beans unlike peas handle staggered plantings pretty well. I have found that the April plantings are only a week a head of the early May plantings. There are also June and July plantings of beans. Those July plantings always make me a little nervous because most of my summer help heads back to school and Soccer season starts up about the time I need to pick them. They’re planted now!

We are also in the throes of raspberries and blackberries. We pick them every day and put them in our menus. This time of year, the menu planning is a little “squirrely”! Have you ever gone to a restaurant and the menu says, “Seasonal Vegetables or Seasonal Fruit”? Around here that is how we roll. I am constantly bringing up a few more random fresh vegetables and the packing team is tweaking the menus to fit it in and get out to you.

A good example of this in action is raspberries and blackberries. The season starts with raspberries and then blackberries start a week later and then both are on at the same time and then raspberries slow down and the blackberries keep trucking which is where we are right now. So, we will plan to bring you either raspberries or blackberries depending on which is ready on a given day.

This is probably too much information, but it is a glimpse behind the curtain of a working farm. And I believe that getting you the freshest fruits and vegetables is my primary job and sometimes it works itself out like “Seasonal Vegetables or Seasonal Fruit”, but all of it is organic and good for your health!

Thank you,

 

Tristan

Farmer and Community Health Advocate

Posted on by

Oh My

peas, opened pod

I feel like we are in the middle of an energetic piece of music. Every instrument is playing and playing hard and I while I can play almost every instrument, I have been relegated to the position of Maestro because of my knee injury!

I don’t relish that spot. I much prefer to be a part of the orchestra and conduct on the side. But as with most things, when your attention is divided, so is the work and so is the result. I am still working around the farm—mostly checking on what to do next, picking a few berries, monitoring the health of the crops, what needs water, what needs weeding, what is going in the ground next and when and what we will harvest in the near future.

As with most good pieces of music, the Farm season starts out slow. First, the planning, studying and selecting the vegetables: How will I modify the system this year? What works best for our farm, climate, crew? So many pieces before a single piece of dirt is plowed. As with most things, a little planning goes a long way and a lot of planning can really help.

I will say that with farming, though planning is critical, you hold onto them loosely because farming is a living system and is impacted by the weather in a very real way. As an example, last year it stopped raining June 15th and started raining September 15th. This year it didn’t rain in May and mostly rained in June. On the farm that means it has been a great year for lettuce, beets, peas, but cucumbers and tomatoes are not as happy. Of course, this year I planned for a lot of tomatoes. I still believe we will get a hot summer and my tomato crop will come.

The planning is done for the year. Now we are modifying the plan. Currently, I am weighing whether to plant a Fall crop of leaf lettuce or let the season play out. I will probably do both—some more plantings, but not as much. That’s primarily due to more warm weather, but also school starts up and fall soccer kicks in which can make it hard to find enough help to weed and harvest.

But for now, it’s all hands on deck. It is the busiest time of the season. The local crops are being harvested daily and delivered to you as fresh as possible. My poor packing crew. They almost run the other way when I roll in from the farm or neighboring farms, because they know that I will bringing something that needs to be fit into the menus, something that’s fresh, nutritious and just needed to be picked!

I love this season, but when Fall rolls around, I am more than ready for the Farm to quietly resolve and end peacefully. Although this year as your fulltime Farming Maestro I am not sure what that season will look like, I imagine that in September I will already be thinking about January’s planning of next year’s Farming season. Hopefully, with a fully functioning knee!

 

Tristan

Your Farmer and Community Health Activist

Posted on by

Protection or Free Trade

Last week we delved into the benefits of farmland and having farmers to work the land. Having local farmland is a national security issue, a national health issue and national environmental issue. Let’s face it, if we do not control our food supply we will be at the mercy of those countries that do. And food will become more like oil. And our presence in other countries becomes more important as other countries control or supply important commodities that America needs or thinks it needs. But whether it is a real or perceived need, if Americans (corporations) think it is important, there will be a demand to protect and ensure its supply/availability.

We are seeing this play out in a real time. Steel and aluminum are front and center. President Trump and this administration is deciding that protecting these industries are important to American security. Manufacturing jobs are good jobs and ironically, good union jobs, too. How did a Republican President of the free trade party take this stance??? We will have to leave this topic for another newsletter or newsletters.

Free trade, which is the issue under attack, is like most things; the pendulum swings one way and eventually swings back. We have been allowing Corporations to move jobs from America to other countries for decades, good jobs, but because it would be cheaper to produce somewhere else. Cheaper is an interesting word. Cheaper for the companies and the consumers who buy their products, but there were losers in the mix, too. Whole regions were shuttered and shoved aside and became “welfare” recipients.  One could argue that the consumers and corporations won, but consumers also had to pick up the tab for the loss of jobs, retraining, mental and emotional stress, shifting environmental damage to other parts of the world, etc. So much to talk about. 

This week, president Trump is trying to reestablish and protect American workers and the industries that remain. And other countries who have benefitted from Free Trade and developed industries to compete and supply steel or aluminum are fighting back because they need to protect their good paying jobs and their national security, economies, etc. 

It is also interesting that Agriculture is going to be the big loser. Farmers are always the first to get tariffs slapped on them, because America mostly exports food and imports everything else. So as this “reset” takes place, it is going to be a rocky road for a while as the world leaders try to figure out how to protect their own interests/corporations/consumers. 

So, to me, it looks like everyone at the table is looking out for their own interests and no one has the high moral ground. 

What I do know is that local food comes from local farms and having locally grown fruits and vegetables are vital to the health of every single person, regardless of where they live – America, China, Kenya, France, etc. And I hope that citizens everywhere invest in their health and strengthen their own local food economies. For most of us, voting with our dollars, does have local, national and international outcomes.

Thank you for your conscious choice to invest in your health and partner with Klesick Farms to keep local food and local farms viable and a part of our local communities.

 

Tristan Klesick

Your Farmer and Community Health Activist

Posted on by

20 Years: 1998-2018

It is hard to believe that it was back in 1998 that Klesick Farms first opened its doors. That was a long time ago! Since the first day of business our family has been providing and delivering organically grown produce. Our mission has always been your health and organic fruits and vegetables. And it has been a very rewarding run.

The Klesick family is a first-generation farm family. We wanted to farm and found a way to do it. We did it because of customers like you that wanted organically grown farm fresh produce delivered directly to your home. In 1998 home delivery was original, novel, and definitely “outside-the-box” type of thinking. In fact, when we started you were lucky to have dial up (my grandparents still had a “party” line), you couldn’t GOOGLE anything, and copiers were the size of a Ford Fiesta. To place an order for fresh produce you had to call the office or email us. You can still call or email us, but now you can also text, IM, DM or PM and we will get back to you!

Facebook what was that??? Instagram, Snapchat or Pandora, Spotify and Hulu. I thought Hulu hoops (wink) were something you rotated around your hips in P.E. class. I was never very good at that!

A lot has changed, but a few things still remain the same—we still deliver organically grown fruits and vegetables to local families and we still answer our phones.

Here is a fun fact. Since our first week of 50 home deliveries of fresh organically grown fruits and vegetables in 1998 we have delivered over 700,000 boxes of good food. That is amazing! That is over 2 million apples, 600,000 bunches of carrots and thousands of strawberries, blueberries, cherries etc. Farm fresh produce delivered to one family at a time over 20 years has had a huge impact on our communities’ health, your health and has blessed a lot of organic farm families.

#Celebrate20

To celebrate our 20 years of delivering farm fresh fruit and vegetables, we have a special offer for our existing customers and your friends. Between March 1 and March 20th (20 days) we are going to be giving you a $20 credit on your account for each friend that signs up for weekly or every other week delivery. If 5 friends sign up you will get $100 credit, 10 friends $200 credit. We will apply your credits immediately to your account and your friends will get their $20 new customer credit spread over their first 4 deliveries ($5/delivery).

Let your friends know that now is the time to sign up and remind them to mention your name in the referral box so you can get your $20 credit. Have them use the coupon code: CELEBRATE20 to redeem their gift.

 

Thank you for making 20 years of Klesick’s a reality and thank you in advance for telling your friends about Klesick’s Box of Good!

 

Tristan Klesick

Health Advocate, Farmer, and Small business owner for the last 20 years.

 

 

Posted on by

Change is a Good Thing

The biggest factor in losing weight probably has more to do with what you eat than any other factor. I just got back from the gym and burned 200 calories in an hour. In effect I burned a 16 oz. Grande from the coffee stand! That is a pretty steep price for an hour of my life. And how many of us are hitting the gym to burn a latte every day?

The resting or basal rate of metabolism is how most of our calories are burned–70-80% of a 2000 calorie diet for a woman or 2500 for a man. These are the calories burned by thinking, by cell divisions and processes. Hence it is referred to as resting metabolism. Another 10-15% is tied to digestion, just processing what we ate. And the last 10-20% is tied to movement of some sort. For sure, exercise is a part of it, but so is vacuuming, walking, or answering the phone. Of course, there are always a few outliers, and you can massage the percentages a few here or there, but most of us fall into these categories. 

I pick up my kiddos from school a few times a week, and the size of middle schoolers ranges from skinny to “normal” to heavy. American kiddos are trending towards heavier, much like the adult population. The trend towards heavier is not a good trend. What is the solution? Have the kids exercise, make them run around a track??? Yes, it is important to get their heart rate up and get fitter, but to reverse the heavier trend for American kiddos (and, dare I say adults) it would make more sense to change what they eat while they are at school rather than hope that exercise will solve the dilemma. 

If it is accurate to say that we burn roughly 70% of our calories doing nothing physical, it would stand to reason the biggest gains in losing weight will probably come from eating less and not from exercising more. But eating less is only a part of the solution. We also need to eat the right kinds of foods and eat them in the right quantities. This is not a popular opinion in the food manufacturing world or with their congressional lobbyists. Their mantra is: All calories are equal. If you are overweight, that is your problem–exercise more. 

That thinking gets under my skin! America has a calorie problem–too many and the wrong kinds! If we want to win with food and win on the scale and win at the doctor’s office, we will have to eat fewer calories and better calories. Of course, that would put a serious dent in Coca Cola or Pepsi or Nabisco or Hershey’s or Starbucks profits, but I don’t care and for this father, farmer and health advocate that would be fine by me. 

Turns out your Mom was right. Eat your vegetables, just don’t boil them to death (please). Eating more vegetables, fruits, quality proteins and fats would go a long way towards reversing the American health crisis. As usual the solutions are simple, but the commitment to changing is where the rubber meets the road. Change is up to us. 

Klesick’s is here to support your healthy food choices.

 

Health Advocate and Farmer,

Tristan

 

 

Posted on by

Keep the Holidays Healthy

Does anyone else think that this is a lofty goal?! Everywhere you turn there is an advertisement to buy something, do something, donate to something, plus all the running around and mental energy to keep up with it all! To complicate matters, our will power is severely depleted when it comes to food because we have already made another 100 decisions that day. We just don’t have the energy, time or will power to cook or prepare a healthy snack. And the winner is…. Sugar and Processed Foods! The loser is….

But there is an antidote to the food traps. Planning! We have to plan to eat healthy or most of us will have a lot more to “lose” in January. It is the same with our finances. If we don’t want to owe VISA/MC for this holiday, we will have to plan where our money goes and how it gets spent. Otherwise, come January, we will have two crises, a visa bill crisis and a “I ate too much in December?!?!”-crisis. But personally, I want to have “0”, NADA, no, crisis in January. Not a financial crisis. Not a weight crisis. And I want that for you, too.

With Thanksgiving down and Christmas coming, I am going to have to be diligent. It is hard enough to eat well, but during this season there is SUGAR everywhere and for a lot of folks, sugars and flours are addictive. If you are one of those people and honestly find yourself craving sugar, this season is especially hard. Just saying “no” probably hasn’t worked in the past and it probably won’t work now either.

I personally don’t believe that this is a will power issue. Many of us have elevated insulin levels in our bodies and elevated insulin levels block a hormone called Leptin whose primary job is to let us know that we are full and to stop eating. This means that for a whole lot of people, the natural processes of eating and feeling full aren’t working. This is due in part to a diet with too much processed foods in it. The other challenge is that in order to make this switch, a person will need accountability—firm, loving, compassionate accountability–to help them hold on to the new way of eating.

The good news is that our body is so resilient that we can lower our Insulin levels so Leptin will begin to work again. The solution is simple, we will need to eat whole foods and less processed foods, and, yes, eliminate Sugar (except that which is found in fruit and vegetables.)

Look for more information next week on eating better during the holidays. Until then continue to eat healthy and be healthy,

 

Your Health Advocate and Farmer,

Tristan Klesick

 

 

Posted on by

Eat Better and You Will Feel Better

Anybody else ready to move on from the Sugar Manufacturer’s lovefest, AKA Halloween, and start focusing on eating better? I for one am no fan of what the Sugar Manufacturers are doing to America’s population. Let’s be honest, no one really considers Halloween to be a healthy event.

Thankfully, we don’t have to eat that way. We might choose to eat that way, but nobody is forcing us. It is by choice. One of my goals for the next 2 months of holidays is to create some non-negotiable rules.

I am choosing natural sugars and mostly whole fruit. You won’t find real honey or maple syrup in a candy bar. That nonnegotiable alone will limit the majority of your sugars. I am mostly not eating processed foods that have sugar in them.

Eating 3 meals a day is my next non-negotiable and only filling my plate once (important especially on Thanksgiving). I am going to fill my plate with organic vegetables, salad items, and meats. I am not going to be snacking, but will let my digestive system rest between meals.

And lastly, I am going to (loosely) preplan my meals for the next day. I am going to have a plan for my food based on what is in my refrigerator and the pantry. Nothing derails eating well more than letting the moment dictate your meal options. Ever try to find something healthy to eat at a convenience store???

Healthy eating made simple is my goal, and given what seems to be the normal hectic unsustainable pace of life, having a few non-negotiables will help. It certainly helps that I usually have more energy, feel better and my blood pressure stays in the normal range when I follow these “non-negotiables”–and these are just a few of the “incidental” blessings from eating well.

Next Week 

Next week we will be gearing up for the Thanksgiving holiday and publishing our menu for the Thanksgiving Holiday Box. It will have all the ingredients for a great meal and you will be able to order a box, shop for individual items or a combination of both.

And, as you already experience every week, we will hand select the freshest ingredients (many from local farms) and save you the hassle of shopping at the store, especially during a holiday week. Doesn’t that sound nice? No parking hassles, no long lines and no time spent looking through the already picked over produce.

The Klesick Farm team is excited to be your partner in good health by delivering high quality produce at fair prices and saving you precious time that you can use for whatever you want!

 

 

Tristan Klesick

Farmer/Health Advocate

 

 

Posted on by

Wildlife and Farming

Wildlife and Farming

Peter Rabbit and his siblings have taken up residence this year! The rabbits are cute and fun to watch scurry around. And they definitely feel at home! You can practically walk right up to them. The other day I found one sunning itself in the greenhouse under the cucumbers. The nerve!

I haven’t seen too much vegetable damage from the rabbits. But I have been scratching my head lately, wondering why the drip irrigation is leaking in unusual places. I even replaced a section the other day that was all scratched up. Hmmm!

I mentioned this story to John, my #1 farm hand and it was like a light bulb went off above our heads. He just replaced two complete sections of drip tape which was all scratched up! But they weren’t all scratched up, they were chewed up, apparently those lazy critters are helping themselves to a drink every now and then FROM THE DRIP TAPE!

Part of the problem is that our farm dog has gotten along in years and while his desire to chase rabbits still exists, the motivation to chase rabbits has long since left?. Of course, having a good rabbit chasing dog has its advantages (like less rabbits wandering willy-nilly here and there). But, since that option isn’t present, we will have to go to Plan B. I am going to put a plywood rabbit door that us humans can step over or move and then I am going to put a water dish outside the greenhouse.

Obviously, our ” farm ecosystem” is a little out of balance, which is why we have a lot of rabbits. Eventually, the coyote/owl/falcon/hawk/eagle populations will respond to the new increased food/rabbit supply and create balance again. It will take time, which means I will need to manage the operation a little differently and possibly get another rabbit-chasing farm dog. (If you know of any Lab or Chesapeake or German Short Hair puppies or mature dogs available let me know.)

This week’s menu has 13 locally grown fruits and vegetables. It has been a very late start to the local season, but we’re harvesting now! We are even seeing a few tomatoes ripening, both the Early Girls and the Sungold Cherry tomatoes. And we are going to have a bumper crop of cucumbers, green beans and beets. The potatoes have really loved the cool spring and this dry stretch. Of course, everything has really loved this dry stretch of warm weather, even this farmer.

What is fun about market/truck farming is that the landscape is always changing. Every week we are planting something, then we add weeding to the planting, and then eventually you add harvesting to the planting, and weeding–which is where we are right now–and it is busy! Around September planting slows down your focus on harvesting and weeding. In October, you stop weeding altogether and keep harvesting, and then in November you take a long nap and wait till Spring to start the cycle all over again!

But right now, it is local produce time and us local farmers are getting it out of our fields and delivered to your door.

 

Tristan

Farmer, Health Advocate

 

 

Come out to the Farm for a lesson in plein air acrylic painting!

‘Mountain & Field Landscape’ Acrylic on canvas, 11×14 Painting Class with Nancy Hansen.

Come paint in the open air at Klesick Family Farm on July 29!

Date: Saturday, July 29

Time: 6:00-8:00 PM

Location: Klesick Family Farm

Materials: Provided.

Cost: $35

Registration required. Click here or call our office to register today! 360-652-4663

 

Posted on by

Peas and Potatoes

Peas and Potatoes

Few things are as rewarding as a freshly hilled potatoes or white blossoms on Sugar Snap peas. These are sure signs that summer is on its way.

I just finished hilling the potatoes for the first time this season. They are looking green and happy. We hill, or cover, the plants with soil so that it will produce more potatoes. Hilling encourages more potatoes to form and protects them from sunlight. In a good year, we will hill them 3 times. So far it looks like we are on schedule.

And the Sugar Snap Peas are turning it up! The plants are about 5 feet tall and there are a few more feet left in them. It always amazes me that one pea seed can produce so much. You can look for the first splash of juicy Sugar Snap Peas in early to mid July. I had thought we would be picking them by now, but the “Junuary” weather has delayed more than a few crops this year. Thankfully they are just delayed.

Spraying

At Sorticulture, I was talking with a fair-goer about our grass-fed beef. He was fairly knowledgeable and looking for an argument. In the middle of our conversation, he said, “What do you spray on your fields?” He was insinuating that I spray chemicals on my pastures. It is a good question, because so many farmers, local or otherwise sell meat and vegetables using the word “local” or grass fed. And many local farmers will use chemical fertilizers or herbicides in their pastures. Are their vegetables and fruit “local” or the animals “grass fed”? Absolutely. But they are often also locally sprayed or farmed with chemicals.

This person obviously knew that many local farmers use chemicals on their pastures and when he asked me, “What do you spray on your fields?” I said, “Kelp”. End of possible argument. Yes, we spray our fields every 7-10 days with a kelp/fish/soil microbe mix. We use certified organic amendments and ingredients in our fertilizer blends and are inspected annually to verify we are complying with the National Organic Program standards.

From the beginning, on our farm we haven’t used synthetic chemicals. It has been that way for 20 years and I see no reason to change. My children and grandchildren can wander anywhere they want and eat whatever they want any time on our farm. Their health is important to me and so is yours.

4th of July

Just a quick update: I talked with my team and we decided to keep our regular schedule during the week of July 4th. So, no changes to your delivery day or order deadlines. But for our Tuesday customers, expect your deliveries a little earlier, since there should be less Boeing traffic that day. 🙂

 

Tristan

 

Posted on by

Sticktoitiveness

If you are going to be a farmer, you have to have “sticktoitiveness. Yes, that’s a word, and I couldn’t find a better one to describe farmers or at least this farmer. I am going to get a crop off my farm no matter what Nature (the weather, pests, disease) throws at me. I am even going to get a crop off my farm when I have to fill out the umpteenth survey from the US Department of Agriculture, or the mountain of paperwork to keep my farm Certified Organic. Of all the hassle that comes with growing foods without chemicals, Nature is my favorite partner to work with.

Nature is a formidable, constantly mixing things up – daily! This spring has been one for the ages, and it looks like June will be as us farmers call it “Junuary.” Last year was a breeze, this year has been a howler. I have a confession though; every time I planted spinach or beets, it would rain buckets a few days later. The first time it happened, I chocked it up to bad timing. Planting spinach before a deluge on my farm is akin to pouring concrete over the crop. We have a fair amount of clay, and if the sun comes out a few days later I could make bricks!

Bear in mind that spinach seed and vegetable seeds in general are a hardy lot, but they aren’t as hardy as weeds. And yes, a few seeds have managed to find their way to the light of day.

Undeterred, I plowed up more ground and planted again and it rained buckets again. One more time I planted and it rained again. I am not a superstitious person, but after three times of planting spinach and creating “concrete” even I was getting a little wary of planting spinach. Well, last week I was getting ready to plant more spinach, and I looked at the forecast for Thursday and Friday, scratched my chin – deep in thought and at that moment I decided to not plant spinach! So, for the record, that last deluge was not my fault, because I didn’t plant spinach! Although I did seed 4 acres of rye/fescue seed for a new hay field the night before! 🙂

If you are going to be a farmer, you have to have sticktoitiveness. It also helps to be diversified and while the spinach is languishing, the potatoes, onions, sugar snap peas, beans, carrots, lettuce, kohlrabi, blackberries, raspberries, apples, plums, pears, cucumbers, corn, summer and winter squash are coming along.

But everything, including this farmer, and probably you, could use some warmer weather to really get growing.

 

The undeterred farmer,

Tristan

Posted on by

It's All About Doing Good

The big picture is that growing organic food and being a steward of the land is just the beginning. Providing excellent customer service and incredibly fresh fruits and vegetables is also a part of the big picture. We want your family to be as healthy as possible and eat the freshest foods available. Joelle and I believe in and are committed to bettering the lives of people everywhere.

Locally, our passion manifests itself through our organic network (growers, suppliers, customers) we work with every week. Then we extend our reach into the local food bank community and our cancer/heart disease initiatives, partnering with many of you to meet these community needs.

Internationally we work with Crossway International to drill water wells in African communities. In India we support the work of She is Safe to establish women community groups that help women escape sex trafficking. They also have safe houses where the children can be placed, cared for, and educated, effectively breaking that horrible cycle.

And now, Joelle and I, are excited to add another partner and their mission to our Box of Good community (ever wonder why we call it a box of good – now you know). A few months ago, Joelle and I had a chance to sample BIJA Chocolate and spend some time with the owner. We instantly knew that we wanted to support their mission, the chocolate and ultimately the women run Chocolate Cooperatives they support.

BIJA owners Ari and Paul

For Joelle and I, we want to support businesses with a passion for quality and for making the lives of others better. BIJA Chocolates is a great addition to our product offerings. For the next two weeks, Klesick Farms is featuring BIJA Chocolate at 25% off. My favorite is the Peruvian Inca berry and Joelle likes the Wild Ginger and Cayenne. Incredible!

Peruvian women’s cooperative

Suffice it to say, their mission is near to our hearts. Please check out their story at www.bijachocolates.com and I guarantee their chocolate will taste even better.

Tristan Klesick, Farmer, Health Advocate

Photos: BIJA Chocolate. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

Posted on by

Chungo

It will be a sad day when the Farm’s black lab passes from this life to the next. I remember the day we got him. I took two sons to visit Debbie and her new litter of black labs.  Our intention was to get another dog to be a companion to our Golden Retriever, Chapps. Chapps was getting on in years, and I thought that staggering the ages would be a good strategy.

I had Goldens all my life, which just happened to be City life. Well, when we moved to the Stillaguamish Valley and onto our current farm, it became obvious that a light brown dog quickly became a dark, almost black dog in the winter.  In fact, when he would go swimming in the sloughs around here, he would definitely be a black dog with “brown roots” :).

That fateful morning, Micah, Aaron and I headed over to get our new puppy. I should have seen it coming, but I didn’t. When we got there and saw all those puppies running around and playing, it became obvious that I was going to be BRINGING HOME TWO puppies. Okay, call me soft, but they were sure cute and those two boys of mine definitely wanted one each.

Ironically, I let the boys pick out their own dogs and wouldn’t you know that each picked out a black lab with a personality completely different than theirs! I know this often happens in a marriage, but I never made the connection between dogs and dog owners.

Another connection I didn’t make was that when those boys moved out, their dogs wouldn’t. And then I would become the proud owner of two black labs. Lightning is no longer with us, but Chungo still is. However, 13 is mighty old for a lab and his hips are just not what they use to be. He is super sweet, sleeps a ton and still wags that tail like only a lab can.

The writing is on the wall. His days are fewer than more, his strength is fading, and his hearing is mostly gone. But, as long he is able, he will always be welcome on my farm, by my side. And when he finally passes, there will be a big section of Marginalia written on the margins of my life. Thankfully, this isn’t the final chapter yet. When I get home tonight, Chungo will be waiting, wagging that tail like only a black lab can, standing right in my way to make sure he gets some loving on my way to the front door. That’s living the good life.

Tristan

Posted on by

Eat Healthy Be Healthy

This Saturday January 14th, Klesick Farms and 30 other healthy minded businesses are going to 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 and it is happening this week! Plan to come, learn and leave inspired.

No matter where you are on your health journey, needing to make big changes or nuance it, INSPIRE: a community be healthy event will be the boost you are looking for to start a healthier journey or reinforce your desire to live as healthy as possible. It doesn’t matter where you are on the “scale”, living healthy shouldn’t be complicated. “But it is…” But, it doesn’t have to be. The choice belongs to each of us.

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!

11:05 Hazel Borden, Alzheimer Association will be sharing about Brain health, the Mediterranean diet and Alzheimers.

1:05 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.

2:05 Maria Rippo, Author of the The Green Smoothie Challenge will talk about how to add health and vitality to your life with Green Smoothies.

3:05 I will be talking about Organic Farming and the trials of the current food system.

There will also be several mini seminars going on all day long at the various booths. For example, the Manning Family Wellness booth will be offering demonstrations on how to make pesticide free products for your home and how to use essential oils in your kitchen. We have created an Inspire Passport with free prizes like a Rain barrel from the Snohomish Conservation District or a month of FREE produce delivered ($112 value).

This is going to be a healthy Person, Home and Community event and a whole lot of passionate and wonderful people have set aside this Saturday to share their knowledge and help you on your health journey. And I am excited to introduce them to you!

For more information visit www.inspirebehealthy.com. Save the date, bring your family/friends and come, learn and leave inspired!

As an added bonus, when you come to our booth and say, “Hi,” Klesick Farms will give you a $5 credit on your next delivery.

Farmer/health Advocate

Tristan Klesick

Posted on by

Blog Post(Week of 12/25/16)

Resolving Not To Resolve

I recently came across the concept of Bio-individuality: that each person has unique food and lifestyle needs. Even though I’m still learning and determining where I stand on the subject, I am intrigued by the concept; that there’s no one-size-fits-all diet – each person is a unique individual with individualized nutritional requirements. Personal differences in anatomy, metabolism, body composition and cell structure all influence your overall health and the foods that make you feel your best.

I am a firm believer that if we listen to our bodies, we will know what we need to eat. It’s the brain that makes mistakes. When we get stuck in dietary dogma, we tend to not listen to what our body really needs. As we age, our bodies require different foods, vitamins and minerals. Different cultures eat differently, and different geolocations require different nutrition. But even though each one of us have specific needs, most diets around the world (if not all of them), have the same basic recommendations at their core:

Eat whole foods and use the colors of the rainbow as your guide. This ensures a natural diversity of vitamins and minerals.

Crowd out the bad food, with good food. Eat vegetables and healthy sources of grains, protein and GOOD fats (avocados, coconut oil and salmon oil). By getting the actual nutrients your body needs, you feel more satisfied… and cravings lessen.

Avoid hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils, also known as trans-fats. The oil is made by forcing hydrogen gas under extreme heat and pressure into vegetable oil. This creates a moist, fatty substance which is inexpensive and placed into many cakes, cookies, cereals, breads and drinks to prolong shelf-life. Our bodies do not know how to break apart this unnatural molecule and it accumulates in the body.

Drink plenty of water, earlier in the day.  It’s like filling up your gas tank, early on. Being well hydrated benefits the skin, the health of the spine and brain, and all the body processes.

Hitting January 2nd is like going from 60 to zero in one day. The mandatory cheer, cooking, visitors, glitz, glitter, toys, a million chores — have drowned out the drumbeats of our normal day-to-day routines for a couple of weeks — then, over, nothing. What now? In the midst of panic, I tend to turn around and immediately start writing my resolutions for the year, the first one: eat healthier, 2. work-out, 3. read more … did you notice the common denominator? They are all vague. By January 15th, I have already lost the napkin where I wrote them down on and back to old habits I go.    This year I have resolved not to resolve. It’s simple, if I eat good, I feel good. If I go for a walk in the morning, I feel more relaxed during the day.

Achieving goals starts with small, daily steps. As you eat better, you begin to feel better. It all starts by being aware of what works best for you and your health, because being the best version of ourselves benefits us and all those that surround us as well.

The bottom line, the closer we stay to nature, the better. The human body was designed to sustain on whole, GMO-free, organic foods, just as nature intended. The occasional cookie won’t hurt, but getting back to your healthy habits will pay in the long run and let’s face it, isn’t nature amazing? Those bananas right off the tree are sweet as dessert and full of potassium; red bell peppers, a vitamin C powerhouse, so crisp and juicy we can just eat them raw, and the humble onion, your immune’s system bff, that can add flavor to any dish in a matter of minutes.

My final thought on bio-individuality? I believe that as humans we all have the same basic nutritional needs. I agree that different people have different food needs up to a certain point. I think that our health is our greatest barometer. But most importantly, I believe that nature provides us with everything we need to sustain a healthy, vibrant lifestyle!

So, would you join me in resolving not to resolve? Let’s encourage each other to eat better and feel better. To be grateful for what nature has to offer and to protect the very thing that provides us with life!

 

With love and gratitude,

Sara Balcazar-Greene (aka. Peruvian Chick)
Peruvian Food Ambassador
peruvianchick.com
instagram.com/peruvianchick
facebook.com/theperuvianchick

Posted on by

Thanksgiving

What! It’s time to be thinking about Holidays? Do you ever think how we eat our way through the calendar? November – Thanksgiving; December – Christmas; January – New Year’s Day and the Super bowl (Go Hawks!).

If we are not intentional about what we eat, the Grocery Manufacturers of America (GMA) will be. The GMA has a plan for the holidays: more sugar, more GMO’s and more processed packaged foods. It is almost as if celebrating is akin to more CALORIES and not good ones, either. But how does the “intentional” part work itself out? Well, has Thanksgiving moved for the last 152 years? NO! it is always on the 4th Thursday of November. But every year millions of Americans are going to buy the same sugary, GMO laden foods and wonder why on Friday after Thanksgiving the bathroom scale has moved the wrong direction and that they don’t feel all that great either! It’s probably because sugar is fleeting and the aftermath is lasting.

One blogger encouraged their readers to wear pants with elastic to dinner so they won’t be as uncomfortable when they over eat! Okay, we are all probably going to indulge a little with our family and friends. Maybe this year we should plan for the indulgences by eating more intentionally NOW! Start moving the scale in the right direction now, so that when Grandma offers/expects you to have another piece of pie, you will have created some margin for Thanksgiving. I can hear it now, “No thank you. The pecan, pumpkin and apple pies tasted great. Three pieces is plenty, really.” 🙂

Be intentional now or be intentional later. We are all going to have to be intentional at some point. Here at Klesick Farms we like to say, “Eat Better, Feel Better.” It even works in November.

How to Eat Your Box

We are adding a new section to our Newsletter this week. We are calling it “How to Eat Your Box”. Original, eh? Anna, my millennial menu planner, felt like people just aren’t cooking and she wanted to provide some helpful tips. Eating well is not mystical or complicated. With just a few techniques you can be “Zen” master in the kitchen. In fact, most fruits and vegetables are easy to use and are at their healthiest when minimally cooked or prepared. Check it out here on the blog.

Thanksgiving Donation Program

We are making our Holiday Donation Box for Thanksgiving available for ordering this week. Last year, our Box of Good Food Family donated 156 boxes of high quality, super nutritious food to area food banks. Please consider donating one or more boxes to a family in need. You place the order, we pack it, deliver it and a food bank volunteer gets it to a family in need. Super simple, super effective!

Farmer/Health Advocate, Tristan

Posted on by

We're headed to a home & garden show near you!

Come show your support for the community and share your passion for healthy homegrown food with your fellow Green-Thumbs. We’ll be there too, so be sure to find us and say “Hi!” We’ll be hosting a raffle each day to give away organic produce at the show (including for current customers) – you won’t want to miss it! Here’s the details so you can put it on your calendar.
image

Everett Home and Garden Show

March 11, 12 & 13

xfinity arena at Everett Broadway & Hewitt Everett, WA 98201

Show Hours: Fri: Noon – 7 PM Sat:10 AM – 6 PM Sun: 10 AM – 5 PM (Click image for tickets and more info.)
image

Skagit Island Home and Garden Show

March 18, 19 & 20

Skagit County Fairgrounds, 1410 Virginia Street, Mount Vernon, WA

Show hours: Fri, 11AM-6PM Sat,10AM – 6PM Sun, 11AM- 4PM (Click image for tickets and more info.)
image

Port Susan Home and Garden Show

March 19

Camano Center – Camano Island WA

Show Hours: 10 AM – 4 PM

FREE ADMISSION (click image for more info)