Tag: klesick family farm

Posted on by

This Christmas, leave the running around to us!

Let us help you get some names checked off your Christmas shopping list this holiday season. Food is just one of those universal gifts that everybody enjoys. Even those people that are just hard to find something for will be pleased with a gift of produce or a food gift basket. Even more, gifts from Klesick Family Farm send the message of care for the recipient (organic), our communities (local), and our environment (sustainable practices). For delivery the week of Christmas, orders need to be received by 12/16.

Produce Gift Boxes


A delivery of healthy organic produce makes a thoughtful gift! You can have us deliver a one-time gift of one of our standard produce boxes or give away a month’s worth of deliveries to be enjoyed throughout the season. We can either make the delivery for you (subject to our delivery area) or we can deliver the box to you so that you can give it away yourself. When placing your order please specify which box you would like to give.

Gift Baskets
All gift baskets come in a decorative 7.5” x 10” x 3.5 “ chocolate scroll print tray and packaged up in a clear cello bag, tied up with a ribbon. Eco-friendly gift card included…just let us know if you want a message sent with your gift!

  • Gift Basket  –  Fruit Medley


Contains a beautiful assortment of fresh organic fruit. A perfect gift idea for the office! Unique and a refreshing change from the usual holiday sweets!

Contains an assortment of the following: Northwest pears*, Granny Smith apples*, Pink Lady Apples*, Ruby Grapefruit, Satsumas, Bananas, and Kiwi.

  • Gift Basket –  Coffee Break*


A special holiday selection, with a sampling of two Camano Island Coffee Roasters’ delicious holiday blends, the Papua New Guinea Coffee is a delightful blend of light, medium, and dark roast beans,  the Midnight Holiday Blend is a special, extra dark roast Brazil. A delicious array of handmade cookies from Renee at the Breadfarm finishes out this charming basket. Perfect to for the coffee lover in your life, or treat the office break room!

Note: coffee is drip grind.

Contains:  1/2 lb. Holiday Blend Papua New Guinea coffee, 1/2  lb. Holiday Blend Midnight Dark  Coffee, 1 Biscotti Sampler 6-pack, 6 oz bag of Cocoa Niblets,  8-pack of Cranberry-Pistachio cookies.

  • Gift Basket  –  Snack Time


Packed full of organic goodies…this one is meant for munching! Tasty snacks, but without the sugar load, so you can feel good about giving this one to families with small kiddos. Note: the candied pepitas are pumpkin seeds tossed with a small amount of organic cane sugar, cayenne and allspice, mild…and addicting!

Contains: 12 oz. bag of CB’s Peanuts*, 8 oz. bag of Pistachios from Terra Firma Farm, 6-oz bag of candied pepitas from Breadfarm*, 24 oz jar of peach –apple nectar, 6.4 oz bag whole wheat crackers from Breadfarm*, and we had to include a 24 oz jar of peanut butter* from the Breadfarm –it’s the best EVER.

* Denotes items grown, and/or produced in the Pacific Northwest

Other Gifts

  • Holiday Cookie Box – $30.00
A variety of Breadfarm’s most popular holiday favorites, including Cocoa Nib shortbread, Lemon Crumiri, Hazelnut Espresso, Almond & Chocolate Biscotti, Cranberry-Pistachio cookies and Double Chocolate Ginger Spice.
  • Holiday Wreath $45

Beautifully handmade wreaths from Sunrise Holly Farm on Camano Island. A combination of several different types of English hollies combined with silver tip holly, cedar sprigs, red berries, and a red bow. A festive treat for yourself or as a gift!

Posted on by

Know Your Produce: Kohlrabi

Have you ever eaten a kohlrabi? These little sputnik-shaped vegetables come in green or purple, can be eaten raw or cooked, and taste a lot like broccoli stems. The word kohlrabi is German for cabbage turnip (kohl as in cole-slaw, and rübe for turnip) though kohlrabi is more related to cabbage and cauliflower than to root vegetables. We usually eat them raw, just peeled, sliced and added to a salad, but they are also delicious cooked and are often used in Indian cuisine.

From www.simplyrecipes.com

Posted on by

Holiday Meals

Are you rushing around yet? It’s the season for holiday plans, schedules, trying to find that perfect gift, and entertaining friends and family. It’s also a time of dietary excess, increased stress, and let’s not forget colds and flu. Statistics show that December is the most stressful month of the year. That and the cold weather alone can wreak havoc on a person. Rest assured! There are things you can do to prepare yourself for the holidays and prevent certain discomforts that can accompany this season.

Growing up, in my family, it was considered impolite to not sample food being offered, especially if Grandma made it. We would eat and eat, sometimes having three to four holiday meals in one day! Some of you can no doubt identify with this situation. To help you avoid overeating during the holidays, here are some tips. First, avoid starving yourself early in the day to “save room” for the holiday meal. The easiest way to overeat is to create maximum hunger this way. Small frequent meals are always better. Second, remember to drink plenty of water. This will prevent you from serving and eating a huge portion which you will “have to finish,” since you “don’t want it to go to waste.” Third, decide on a maximum and reasonable portion size for the meal and stick to it. After eating, drink some hot herbal tea to promote relaxation.

With too much good food comes heartburn. To decrease your chance of getting the discomfort and pain of heartburn, start the meal with apple cider vinegar. This helps increase digestive enzymes and break down foods faster. Another way to avoid stomach upset is to use deglycyrrhized licorice (abbreviated DGL). Licorice is an herb that stimulates the cells lining your digestive tract to produce mucus. The mucus, in turn, protects the stomach and esophagus from digestive acid. DGL can help tremendously with heartburn or food-related excess stomach acid or if you have esophageal reflux (backflow of stomach acid). A typical prescription is to chew and swallow two 400mg tablets 10 minutes before each meal to help keep your digestive tract in order. Talk to your ND to find out what’s best for you.

by Rebecca Dirks, N.D.
Associate Physician, NW Center for Optimal Health
Marysville, 360-651-9355
Producer & Co-Host, Healthy Living, KSER FM 90.7

Posted on by

Reaching Out

So far this year, KFF and our customers have donated a record 500 “boxes of good” to local area food banks! The volunteers at the food banks have expressed again and again how wonderful it is to be able to supply people with fresh produce.

Every Thanksgiving we partner with our customers to donate traditional Holiday Boxes as well. Last year our customers donated 100 Holiday Boxes and this year we’d love to reach a new record here also.

To find out how you can contribute, please read the holiday information on back

Posted on by

Trumpeter Swans

These majestic birds have returned to the valley.  When we see these marvelous wonders of creation it is a sure sign that the farming season is nearing its end.  Their ever distinctive trumpeting can be heard clearly as they grace the skies above our farm.

As a farmer, I find that the longer I farm in this region the more I am tied to the nuances of its local ecosystem.  In the spring I am reminded that it will be time to work the ground when I see the early bulbs start to emerge and the grasses wake up. It is the same when that fall air begins to grace the end of August—I better hurry up because the season is coming to a close. And with winter right around the corner, early November brings the swans.

I can be walking in the field, or sitting at my desk, or working with the draft horses and I will inevitably stop and listen and then look up.  I love that sound on a crisp fall morning as they fly eastward over the farm to their morning feasting grounds. And conversely, at about dusk on their return flight to Port Susan, I am reminded to head in myself and enjoy my family.

Nature has been embedded with a whole lot of wisdom and farming that keeps that wisdom in mind always succeeds.
As for now, I am looking forward to our farm’s winter rest and the music of the trumpeters till spring.

-image from tufts.edu

Posted on by

Thanksgiving Holiday Planning

Holiday Meal Planning: Every year at this time we offer an additional special Holiday Box ($35) full of traditional Thanksgiving meal items for your celebration. This year, not only can you can schedule a Holiday Box to be delivered the week of Thanksgiving, but also the week before and the week after (available Nov. 15-Dec. 3). You can have this box delivered along with your regular order or in place of your regular order. Check the Fresh This Week page of our website for the box menu.
Remembering Neighbors in Need:  If your celebration includes helping the less fortunate who live in our community, we would like to partner with you by giving you the opportunity to purchase the same Holiday Box, to be given to local food banks the week of Thanksgiving, for a discounted price of $29. Please call or e-mail us to set up this donation.

Holiday Delivery Schedule: We will not be making deliveries on Thursday and Friday the week of Thanksgiving, so we will have an adjusted delivery schedule that week. After reviewing the general delivery schedule below, if you are still uncertain as to your delivery day the week of Thanksgiving please give us a call. We are e-mailing a more exact schedule.

For delivery
Monday, 11/22
Tuesday customers
Skagit County customers

For delivery
Tuesday, 11/23
Wednesday customers, except those in Skagit County
Customers in the Lake Stevens area
Customers in the Marysville area

For delivery
Wednesday, 11/24
Thursday customers, except those in the Lake Stevens and Marysville areas
Tulalip customers
Friday customers

Posted on by

Walnuts

We have been busy picking walnuts up off the ground twice a day. We are nearing the end of harvest based on a quick perusing of the trees.  Walnut trees blossom later than most trees and their fruit comes off later as well.  I love our walnut trees. They make great babysitters with their strong branches which provides hours of climbing and swinging in the  two tree swings.  We have added a hammock for dad, but I must confess I usually just go to bed when it is time to sleep. And not to mention a sleeping dad in a hammock is too much temptation for any of my well meaning and playful children to pass up?!?!?!

Our trees were planted in an era before air conditioning and heat pumps were the norm and with great precision they shade the early morning sun and the evening sun, keeping our home cooler in the summer. Our family appreciates the previous generations for blessing us, since those trees have taken decades to reach their height. Another blessing is that walnut trees are deciduous, letting in a lot of winter light, which would have been invaluable in the days of candle lighting, and allowing us to enjoy the winter sun as it warms our home.

But as a farmer, I must admit the harvest is one of its best gifts. Most of the walnuts fall out of their husks to the ground, then the husks fall and then leaves last. It is a very efficient process. As a farmer you are rewarded for being diligent, especially this year.  This year is our 7th year on this farm and for the first time I am seeing a huge wildlife uptick on our farm. We have lots of birds, rabbits, voles and moles, coyotes, raccoons and tree frogs. Most of their damage to crops has been negligible with the ecosystem in check.  But after seven years of rehabilitative work, we could have a fight on our hands to harvest the crops for you.

A  few years ago we saw one stellar jay sharing in the harvest of walnuts, but now there are 10+ visiting us. Even if they take two or three a day that ends up being 30, and over the month-long harvest that is 300. And the raccoons sure are cute as they scamper from branch to branch munching away—this year we have had them visit us a few times at night. To make matters worse, I saw our very first bushy tail critter in seven years—please not squirrels!!!!  We even have passersby stop and help themselves to a few walnuts.  I feel pretty fortunate to harvest as many as I have, but the odds are definitely looking pretty bleak extrapolating forward.

I know that I have invited wildlife back onto this farm by farming in accordance with nature. We haven’t killed everything with chemicals, we planted habitat to encourage many different types of critters and restored this farm into a living micro and macro happy zone.  But I hope those critters share, because I need something to sell you if I am going to call myself a farmer.
I am considering calling Christopher Robbins and asking him to facilitate a local agreement with the wildlife, so I can farm and you will have something to eat.

Posted on by

Know Your Produce: “Excuse me, but do you have the thyme?”

From http://homecooking.about.com

Thyme is one of the best known and most widely-used culinary herbs. It is quite easy to grow and is commonly found as a decorative as well as a functional plant in many home gardens.

You will find thyme a welcome flavor in salads, soups, chowders, sauces, breads, vegetable and meat dishes, and even jellies and desserts.

A member of the mint family, thyme is a perennial evergreen shrub, whose sometimes woody stems are covered with small, gray-green to green leaves. Its small, two-lipped flowers range in color from pale pink to purple and bear quadruplet nutlet fruits. The entire plant is aromatic.

There are over one hundred varieties of thyme, with the most common being Garden Thyme and Lemon Thyme. The many types are so close in appearance, it is often difficult to differentiate them.

Lemon thyme has a slightly more-pronounced lemony fragrance, particularly good with fish. All varieties of thyme are highly attractive to bees.

Honey from bees that feed on thyme flower nectar is a gourmet delight.

Yet interestingly enough, insects are repelled by thyme. Make a cup of thyme tea, put it in a plant mister, and spray around doorways and windows in summer to repel insects.

Posted on by

Plenty of Pumpkins

The summer toys were still strewn all over the yard and the leaves were just starting to think about their annual transition from green to shades of red, orange and yellow, and yet I was already dreaming of pumpkins.

Every year it is my mission to try and squeeze pumpkin into as many meals as possible. This is a skill I am very gifted in. I roll out of bed and make myself a homemade pumpkin spice latte. For breakfast I eat pumpkin muffins. For lunch it’s pumpkin soup. Dinner is some sort of pasta dish with pumpkin, sage, parmesan and bacon. Dessert is pumpkin rice pudding.

As a newlywed, I was determined to make a pumpkin pie completely from scratch for my contribution to our first Thanksgiving. I had heard rumors that it was possible to make a pie from the actual pumpkin rather than using what is found in the can. So, I got myself a pumpkin, clumsily hacked off the top and began to remove the innards. That’s where my project came to a halt. “What part do I roast?” I asked myself. I’m ashamed to admit it, but up to this point in my kitchen career pumpkin had always come from a can. I was in foreign territory. With the help of the internet, my questions were answered and I continued on my mission. The results were well worth the effort. I was rewarded with a pie rich in fresh pumpkin flavor and the thrill of telling people that this pie was made completely from scratch.

Since that embarrassing kitchen fiasco, I have roasted many a pumpkin. I have also turned back to the trusted canned pumpkin on several occasions and there is nothing wrong with that.

From the 1st of October to the last bite of my second helping of pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving, I get my fill of pumpkin. This is enough to last us the rest of the year, which gives me plenty of time to figure out all the recipes that I can squeeze pumpkin in to for the next season.

by Ashley Rodriquez

Chef, food blogger, and full-time mom. Read more of her writings at www.notwithoutsalt.com

Posted on by

Know Your Produce: Is it a Yam or a Sweet Potato

From www.southernfood.about.com

Yam or sweet potato, what in the world is it? Many people use these terms interchangeably both in conversation and in cooking, but they are really two different vegetables.

Popular in the American South, these yellow or orange tubers are elongated with ends that taper to a point and are of two dominant types. The paler-skinned sweet potato has a thin, light yellow skin with pale yellow flesh which is not sweet and has a dry, crumbly texture similar to a white baking potato. The darker-skinned variety (which is most often called “yam” in error) has a thicker, dark orange to reddish skin with a vivid orange, sweet flesh and a moist texture.

The true yam is the tuber of a tropical (African) vine (Dioscorea batatas) and is not even distantly related to the sweet potato. It has tubers which can grow up to seven feet long!

Store: Yams should last for two weeks or more if stored in a cool, dark, well-ventilated place and handled with care.

Prep: Before using, gently scrub sweet potatoes with a cloth under running water, to remove dirt. Avoid using a brush, as it will take the skin off of the sweet potato.

Use: Like potatoes, sweet potatoes are always eaten cooked, but their sweetness makes them versatile. They can be used in a wide variety of dishes, both savory and sweet, and go well with cinnamon, honey, lime, ginger, coconut and nutmeg. Enjoy them in baked desserts and quick breads, puddings and custards, casseroles, stews or croquettes.