Tag: farm tours

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Mettle

This spring has been quite the start to the farming season. Springs like this sure can test your mettle. Thankfully, we have a long growing season in the PNW!

Seriously. I just kept planting, replanting and replanting. I figured that eventually, we would get 4 days of dry weather and one of my spinach seedlings would germinate and not have to rise through a rain compacted layer of newly formed mud.

It all works out though. Because I need to plant more green beans, I will just plant that quarter acre of what was supposed to be spinach to my 3rd planting of green beans. Green beans are a bright spot on the farm. I think every one of those seeds germinated on the first planting. Who would have ever thought that would happen this year??? ME! Every time I plant something, I think it is going to be my best crop ever. ?

The other day, when I was taking my kids to school, we got behind a tractor (it’s Stanwood) and it was going as fast as it could, maybe 10 MPH. One could feel the tension rising as line of cars began to grow–5 cars, 10 cars, 15 cars. I knew that there were going to be some frustrated people. Having been in this situation many times as the tractor driver myself, the tension was palpable to me, especially on a 50 MPH road! At this point, I started talking out loud to myself and my daughters, “Oh the nerve. That tractor is slowing everyone down, going to make us late for school, probably get someone killed trying to pass them on a corner, folks swearing at him and waving with their middle finger and… we would all be a whole lot hungrier if that farmer wasn’t doing their job.” That’s when my daughters looked up from their phones, and I said, “Oh, you were listening to me.” 🙂 We waved at Nathan, the farmer, and continued on our way.

Good Food Farm Tours!

Joelle and I are hosting several events on our farm this summer. This last weekend we kicked off the first of our Summer of Fun Good Food Farm tours, and I’m pretty sure we have the best customers. We visited as we leisurely strolled through our farm talking about farming, biodiversity, and what not. A few folks got to plant spinach and beans. Others sat in a tractor for photo ops. Hope to see you at the next tour! CLICK HERE TO VIEW TOURS. Joelle and I are grateful, and consider it a privilege, to be your farmers and share our farm with you. Eating healthy and being healthy takes a little planning and effort, but so does growing healthy food–the fresher, the better. That’s why we love growing vegetables and fruit – they are the foundation to a healthy, vibrant life.

 

Cheers to your health!

Tristan Klesick, Farmer, Health Advocate

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Summer Fun at Klesick Farms

The weather has finally turned in our favor and we are thrilled to get out and work the dirt! It’s the first step in getting delicious, healthy, organically grown produce from our farm to your dinner table! We love what we do here at Klesick Farms and we are wanting to share the wonder of it all with our amazing customers! We would love for you to join us in any one or all our farm events this summer. The great line up of events and farm tours will run from June through September! We have events including farm tours, an on-farm painting class and a local floral design class. It is an eclectic offering of fun on our farm.

June 3rd Klesick Good Food Farm Tours, 10am – 12pm (tours start on the hour) – Free event – Please register for planning purposes: REGISTER HERE!

July 8th 10am –11:30 Good Food Farm Tour with NW Healthy Mama Angela Strand – Free event – for planning purposes, please R.S.V.P. through NW Healthy Mama. Click for more info. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER.

July 29th ‘Mountain & field landscape’ Acrylic on canvas, 11×14 Painting Class with Nancy Hansen. Limited availability – materials provided Cost: $35/person. Registration required. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER.

August 12th Good Food Farm Tour 10am –noon (tours start on the hour) – Free event – Please register for planning purposes. REGISTER HERE!

August 22nd 6pm –8:30 Flower Design with Deanna Kitchen from Twig and Vine – limited availability – materials provided Cost: $65/person. Registration required. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER.

September 30th 10am- 4pm Squash Fest – Free event **CANCELLED**

In addition to these exciting events, stay tuned for more spontaneous adventure! Watch for “Volunteer Opportunities”. We’ll be offering random farm experiences for the entire family. You will have a chance to work alongside us as we cultivate, plant, weed and harvest! Know your farm, know your farmer, and better yet, join your farmer! Consider laying aside the everyday demands of life and come rejuvenate. Experience the quiet thrill of working with nature in all its wonder and beauty!

 

Looking forward to seeing you here on the farm,

 

Tristan and Joelle Klesick

 

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Disasters

UPDATE: 8/5/2014

Klesick Family Farm will be working with Pastor Phil Smith of Pateros Community Church in Pateros, Washington to engage in rebuilding our Eastern Washington neighbors’ lives. This local church is currently involved in distributing resources to people who have been adversely affected by these fires, and will be involved in the long-term process of rebuilding their community. If you would like to partner with us, you can add a $1, $5, or $10 donation to your deliveries or make a one-time donation, here.

7/30/2014

This has been a devastating disaster season for Washington State. The Oso mudslide earlier and now the Carlton Complex fire, which now has the dubious distinction of being Washington’s largest forest fire. As most of us know, due to the various media outlets, a good portion of the city of Pateros has burned, leaving another community with its world turned upside down.

I just spent an hour with our longtime friend and grower, Bruce, from Earth Conscious Organics (ECO) Farms in Brewster. Bruce is a volunteer firefighter and has been working around the clock trying to save people’s homes in and out of the city of Pateros. I was grateful to know that the ECO family of farms were spared from the fire, just skirting the Pink Lady block of apples. In fact, it appears that none of the farmers we work with in Eastern Washington have lost any of their farms. Thankfully, the loss of life with this disaster pales in comparison with the Oso mudslide; however, the magnitude of the disaster area is unreal and these farmers’ communities have been hit hard.

We have received a few phone calls asking if Klesick Family Farm will be doing a similar outreach to the one we did with the Oso/Darrington communities. The answer is, we are currently looking into how we can help. And based on our long-term relationships in some of the fire damaged communities, I am confident that we will be able to partner with a local nonprofit organization or church to help those communities rebuild their lives.

As with the Oso disaster relief outreach, we will want to be giving into these communities for a longer period. Currently, there are lots of dollars and supplies flowing into these communities, but we would like our efforts to extend beyond this initial blitz and be a “reminder that people still care in the months that follow.”

So, if you would like to partner with us as we engage in rebuilding our Eastern Washington neighbors’ lives, you can add a $1, $5, or $10 donation to your deliveries or make a one-time donation. We will diligently seek to locate an “on the ground” local nonprofit through our network of growers to get your donations to the most pressing need.

On a personal note, I want to thank you for trusting us with your family’s healthy food choice and also working with us to help others in need. You have shown yourselves to be a generous and giving family. And it leaves me humbled to work alongside each of you. May each of you be blessed as you have blessed others.

 

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Note: you can donate to the Methow Valley Fire Relief Effort on our website.  

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Farming

A few more days and we will be heading to August and then September and then October. This farm season seems a lot longer than years past. Maybe it’s just because the weather this year has felt more out of sorts with it getting hot in May, raining in June, and then blistering in July. I guess it has felt more like August and my farming clock is still adjusting.

Most crops have responded well to the heat, living off some of the earlier rains and our irrigation. The raspberries keep kicking out fruit, the strawberries are coming along, greenhouse cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes are thriving and the green and yellow zucchini are over achievers.

Our late season crops, like potatoes and winter squash, look fabulous, which makes this farmer pretty happy. Now only if the sugar snap peas could have joined that list. Our pea harvest is normally double what it was this year, but with the hot weather the peas set a bunch of fruit and then quit!

The short harvest on the peas, while sad, will give us a little breathing room to catch up on some needed weeding and a little R&R. Hopefully, we can get our family into the canoes and out on the Stillaguamish River, which we find very relaxing, especially if you pay attention to the tides!

And just as that R&R comes to an end, it will be all hands on deck as we begin harvesting green beans! Ironically, we were well into picking beans by this time last year, but our first planting this year never got going during that cold spell in June, so technically, we are picking our second planting with the third well on its way.

Grandma always said, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket,” and we know that all too well, but that saying’s cousin, “Don’t count your chickens till they hatch,” is the kicker. For us, diversification of our crops helps this farmer to sleep a little deeper as the harvesting and farm season marches on!

I consider it a privilege to grow, source and deliver the freshest and healthiest fruits and vegetables for your family. Your purchases mean a lot to our local network of farmers and their families. Thank you!

 

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Farm Update

This is the part of the season where farmers are planting, weeding, and harvesting as well as planning for the next season. Last week, the harvest rotation was cucumbers, snow peas, snap peas, raspberries and zucchini. This week, we have the same harvesting schedule, but less of some and more of others. Raspberries will taper off, with peas, cucumbers and zucchinis kicking in to high gear. We will also be harvesting red leaf lettuce and kohlrabi and a few bunches of chives and sunflowers. Once the harvesting is finished, we have weeding, and lots of it.

Now we are adding irrigation. Irrigation—some farmers lovingly refer to it as “irritation” J. No water, no crops, no food—funny how that works. Fortunately, our soil has a good water-holding capacity, so we get by with a lot less “irritation” than most folks.

Wedding

Our second son, Aaron, has found the love of his life and asked her to be his wife. We are delighted to add Emily to our family and host their wedding in late August on the farm.

The wedding date has precipitated a change in our annual farm festival, which has traditionally been the third weekend in August. As parents and hosts of our son’s wedding, we have decided to change the festival to a series of educational farm walks and events.

So, in lieu of our annual farm festival, we are hosting two farm tours, a fun run (tentative), our squash fest and a garlic planting day. We are excited to share our love of farming and our farm with each of you through these fun, interactive and informative farm days. Each of the listed events are free to our customers, except the Harvest 5k Fun Run. If your school group, church group, book club, etc. would like to come see the farm on a different day, give the office a call and we would love to schedule a farm tour.

Schedule of farm events:

Friday, August 1st, 7pm and 8pm, 1 hour farm tour with wagon ride through the farm.

Thursday August 28th, 7pm and 8pm, 1 hour farm tour with wagon ride through the farm.

September 27th Harvest 5k Fun Run, supporting the Port Susan Food and Farming Center.

September 27th (same day as the Harvest 5k Fun Run) noon to 5pm. Come and help farmer Tristan harvest winter squash and potatoes.

October 12th Garlic Planting, 9am to noon. It will be a clove-popping, garlic-planting party.

See you this summer,

 

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