I often quote to myself and to others that simple prayer by Francis of Assisi,
God, grant me the strength to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
In light of the recent mudslide tragedy in Oso, we are remembering those who were injured, those who have tragically lost their lives, those that are missing, and those that are grieving.
The time has come. All winter long I wander around doing this and doing that almost aimlessly, but not quite. During the winter, our family tends to rest and recuperate from the previous farm season. (We even went to Disneyland for the first time in 23 years, which was not restful, but it was fun.) But I must be a farmer at heart, because it is this time every year that the winter fog becomes a little less dense and my senses awaken to spring. I think there is a little farmer in all of us during this time of year!
I get excited when I see grass growing. I don’t love to mow, but I love to notice the nuances in the shades of green or the thickness of the blades. I am also drawn to buds on the fruit trees. I notice the leaf buds and fruit buds, I pay attention to how much they are swelling and I wonder if a hard frost will set them back this year, again. I begin to think about the pollinators. Will it rain during the time the flowers are open, will the bees want to get out and work so there will be fruit in the fall?
I notice how much water the mud puddles are holding and how much they have dried or not dried out. I pay attention to the impression left by the tractor tires—how deep, how defined or not at all. I listen to the birds, the frogs, the coyotes—each species unique, but still calling this their home too. I also notice that the swans are still here, but I know that when they move on from this winter home, that it will be time to plant strawberries, peas and spinach.
Now I am looking for pockets of weather, openings in the curtain of heaven, to begin my annual dance with this farm. In many ways it has already begun because our farm is a living eco system with many types of crops growing. We have been pruning fruit trees and seeding greenhouses, we have been in the shop repairing and building equipment to help us this season, our seeds have been ordered, soil samples taken and fertilizer blends have been created to feed each of our crops.
So it is, as our daylight increases, so does our energy, focus and purpose. Our partnership continues with this patch of earth we call home, to grow fruits and vegetables that are so flavorfully packed with sunshine and nutrients that they will cause your taste buds and mine to dance—food that will feed your family and mine!
Always organic, always GMO-free.
In a far away land, there lived a fisherman who fished and fished and fished. The salmon he caught were sold at the marketplace. He was an early rising and hard working fisherman who had learned the habits of the fish. He understood their cycles and seasons, like when they would return to spawn. He respected the gift of the fish and so only fished in such a way as to not hurt the future of the fish or its ability to continue to feed not only people, but all living things within the watershed (bears, eagles, earthworms, grasses, trees).As the years marched on, the fisherman noticed that the fish he was catching were a little smaller and less plentiful as they once were. He still sold his fish at the marketplace, but now he had competition from a farmer selling “farmed” fish. The farmer was raising salmon in a pen. The cost of raising the fish was cheaper and the marketplace got a bargain.
Eventually, word spread that the farmer’s fish didn’t have the richness, color, or the revered Omega 3s found in the wild salmon populations. The farmer soon discovered, however, that if he took the food of the wild salmon, like sardines and herring, and made it into fishmeal and fish oil to feed his farmed salmon, they tasted better. Unfortunately, there was a lot of bycatch (incidental or unwanted fish and other marine species) in the process and, as to be expected, a lot less fish for the wild salmon to eat.
The marketplace was growing weary and leery of farmed salmon, and for good reason. The farmer realized that the customers were becoming educated and were voicing their opinion about the overharvesting of sardines and all the bycatch. To make matters worse, word was getting out that his farmed fish were “getting out.”
After some thought, the farmer contacted another farmer and started to buy genetically modified (GM) soybeans to supplement the fish meal and fish oil, to help his farmed salmon grow bigger sooner. He reasoned that if his fish grew quickly, not only would they be ready for market sooner on less feed, but they would spend less time in the pen, meaning less chance for escapement. All of this would mean more profit.
Later, when a scientist discovered that a growth hormone could be injected into the salmon egg, causing the fish to grow twice as fast and twice as big, the farmer embraced the scientist. The marketplace, however, embraced neither, but instead let the farmer know that they would not eat his farmed, GM-fed, or GM-altered fish.
Thankfully, the fisherman was still fishing and bringing his nutrient-rich, Omega 3 laden wild salmon to the marketplace, where he was greeted by excited customers who valued the fish and the fisherman for helping them live better and eat better.
Always organic, always GMO free.
I didn't grow up on a farm. I occasionally picked some snap beans for Grandma and then snapped them with her. But how did a city boy from south Everett, that ran cross country and played soccer around the clock, ever become a farmer?
May I share with you a little Klesick Family Farm history? Joelle and I got married in 1989, when I was working for a startup biotech company. But in 1991, when our first son, Micah, was on the way, I got the nudge to make a little more money and found a job at Maryatt Industries as a Route Salesman delivering uniforms, rugs, mops, etc. to businesses in Seattle. This is where I learned the ins and outs of running a delivery business. A few years later, I transferred to the Portland, Oregon branch with the same responsibilities.
One of my customers was a high-end produce store. Eventually, we made the career move to leave a good paying job to go to work for minimum wage at the produce store. It was tight financially, but Joelle and I both new that if we waited much longer, it would be harder to make the switch. So with 2 kiddos and one on the way, we took the boldest step and stepped backwards financially to eventually move forward. I worked two jobs for three years to make ends meet. Those are still some of the sweetest years of our journey. But it was at the produce store where I learned the produce business and met my first organic farmers. It was here that my desire to be a farmer was kindled.
We had no land to match our desire, but we did plant a garden—a whopping 32 sq. ft.! Eventually, it was time to move back to Snohomish County. There, in 1997, I started a produce store in Mountlake Terrace at Manna Mills. They did the groceries and I did the produce. It was a great fit! So now Joelle and I are running our own produce business called The Organic Produce Shoppe. Not soon after, we moved to Machais and finally had a half acre to start farming. It was in Machais where we transitioned to home delivery full-time and farming part-time in 1999. A few years later, in 2003, we moved to our current farm in Stanwood. Now we farm 40 acres of vegetables, tree fruit, berries and grass-fed beef.
Everyone has a journey, our family journey included training as a delivery driver for the home delivery portion of our business, training as a produce person, so I could understand how and what to buy for you and finally "on the job" training as a farmer. Today we work with an incredible team of packers, drivers and office folk to bring you, every week, the freshest and healthiest fruits and vegetables available. And, ironically, after over 20 years of journeying, my path and desire to farm have intersected.
Now, I also have the privilege of being your local farmer.
Oh my, was that two weeks before Easter incredible. Everything was warming up and drying out and the soil was getting to planting quality, but not perfect. I spent all last weekend wishing I could get more peas planted (almost done), my strawberries planted (half done) and get some spuds in the ground (none done). This amount of rain will take 4 or 5 days to begin to dry out. Thankfully, it is still very early in the season and most of my crops will go “in” from the end of April through June.
The frustrating thing about farming is you have to take what is given and make the best choice at that time. When the weather first “broke” a few weeks ago, I waited. Then it stayed nice and I was compelled, no…drawn, no…wooed, yes…“wooed” by the farm to come and begin the season. So, cautiously, I fired up the tractor and started working the ground. The ground was willing, but not ready to begin. If our farm was a sandy soil it would have been perfect, but we are more of a clay loam. Clay loams are great for holding soil moisture into August, but not so great for “working” early. Alas, rarely is anything perfect and the soil responded to produce an acceptable seedbed.
With the forecasted weather change coming, I planted. I really wanted a few more days, but none were coming and now I know that none are coming for a while. The rub is that if it stays on a warming trend from mid-March through April, the farm will give up a lot of field moisture early that would normally carry us through dry summer months. It will also cause the grass to dry out sooner and affect our grazing rotations for the cattle. But, conversely, many crops love an early spring and if a farmer catches it right, you can have some amazing spinach, lettuce and pea crops.
But I have learned to not trust March and only wade in; after all,the water is rarely warm in March. So now I find myself wondering if my pea seeds will germinate, partially germinate or rot—time will tell. A little concerned about the strawberries and how they will fare. I am thankful that I didn’t plant my potatoes. But I am also happy that this past March’s nice warm weather won’t deplete my soil moisture for the cattle and late summer crops.
After eight years of running grass-fed beef on our farm, the fence is in some need of mending. Cattle are just tough on fences. I remember when we first got cattle and I set up our pastures with two strands of hotwire; I was being really cautious considering my dairy farm neighbors used only one hotwire to keep the cows off the road. Our first batch of cows arrived, unloaded from the trailer and up and left. They had never seen a hotwire or experienced it, got a little shock and kept on moving. Now I was the one in shock. We spent the better part of that day rounding up cows and the better part of the next week building five strand barbwire fences to contain the critters. I am never going to leave a good night’s sleep to a few skinny strands of wire with electricity running through them. So we do our best to keep them in and fix all the obvious and potential “escape” routes.
This week we started fixing up the non-cow barbwire fence along the road. We used to run cattle along this part of the pasture, but now it mostly carries the hotwire to where the cattle graze during the summer. This fence was hammered last year, not by cows, but by cars. Yes, cars. Most of the time, when someone hits it, they back out and head on their way, with a few scratches to their car as souvenirs.
One time, I was walking out to my field and saw that someone had done a few donuts. This was a head scratcher. I thought that maybe my boys were having a little fun, but they had never seen the Dukes of Hazard. I must admit that I would like to do donuts sometime, just not when the field is planted! Well, it wasn’t a Klesick. Someone had driven through the fence into the planted field, spun around and driven back through the fence at a different spot. Two holes to fix!
My favorite all time story happened on one of those rainy October nights. I looked out the back windows of the house and I saw headlights driving through my field. A young man in a Civic had caught the edge of the road (he wasn’t drinking) and it pulled his car into our fence. He went right in between two fence posts and kept driving until his car got stuck. I was impressed that he was able to drive as far as he did. We towed him out and he came back on an agreed upon day to fix the fence with us. I am sure that having the Sheriff take his contact information was plenty of encouragement to return.
Well, as you could imagine, cattle are hard on fences, but teenagers are harder. So we are busy overhauling this fence and, hopefully, I might get a year or two off before I need to mend it.
The first year I ran cows, I spent a lot of time researching which grazing system I wanted to use. There was barb wire, New Zealand, or just one hot wire. The choices were straightforward. Every dairy cow in our valley is controlled by one hot wire right next to the road. Being overly cautious, I settled on two hot wires.
(vw75)
When it is snowing? Pray that it won’t in April! Although, this week I am assembling two greenhouses. After years of farming without a greenhouse, I have decided to build two smaller mobile style units. They will be on skids, so I can move them to new locations throughout the season. My plans are to start with early greens and move the houses to tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers for the remainder of the season and then move it again in the fall for winter greens. Disclaimer: dreaming is dangerous in the winter and I will not be held responsible for changing my mind when farming begins☺!
When cancer and heart disease are injuring lives and families? Pray for wisdom to be able to grow more nutritious food. The American Cancer Society spends $144,897,000 on cancer research every year.* Yes, almost 145 million dollars. How much is spent on nutrition research? $440,000 or 0.3% in 2010. Come on! Not even making it to 1%! What did Hypocrites say, “Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food.” One might conclude that the American Cancer Society missed that “memo.”
So what can KFF do? We can’t spend millions, but we can grow, raise, source and deliver life-giving foods. That is what we can do. We can fight cancer one family and one person at a time. So we need your help. We want to fund a local food outreach to people in our local communities who are fighting these diseases. We are calling it, Healing through Nutrition.
I was just talking to my team about how to make a difference in the lives of local people with cancer. And an hour later, we received a phone call from a customer who wanted to buy our Family Box for another family who is fighting cancer. Yes! That is what I want to be a part of—neighbors helping neighbors: a local solution for a local family fighting cancer or heart disease.
This accomplishes so many things. First, a box of good organic and nutritious food says, “We are with you. We love you!” It also saves that family time, by not having to go shopping. It also saves that family money that they can use on co-pays, medicine, travel and loss of work, etc.
Here is what I am proposing. We are a small company and a small farm, but we want to be your partners in good.
You can also donate towards this outreach. Just go to the Products page of our website, select the Gifts category, and choose the Healing through Nutrition donation you’d like to make. We will use these donations to meet the needs we know about. These donations are not tax deductible.
Lastly, we can pray. Fighting diseases like cancer and heart disease is physically, financially and emotionally draining, but it is also spiritually draining. Please let us know about people you know who are fighting these terrible diseases. Just send us an e-mail at mike@klesickfamilyfarm.com with their first names and a short biography, and our team will join you in prayer for them.
Please consider joining us as we tackle these diseases with local resources from local farms for local people. We can make a difference with good food.
* www.cancer.org/Research/ResearchProgramsFunding/CurrentlyFundedProjects/extramural-and-intramural-funding-in-selected-areas-of-research
If you know of someone who cannot afford organic produce, consider investing in their health by purchasing them a box. Klesick Family Farm will discount that box of healing 5% if we deliver it to them or 15% if we bring it with your order and you deliver it.
