Tag: Newsletters

Posted on by

Thanksgiving

It is here, and we are here to make your Thanksgiving simpler and less stressful. For the last 20 years we have been helping families enjoy the holiday more by trusting us to source their organically grown produce and through meal planning, allowing people to skip the hectic store shopping. There are two specific events in which our home delivery really saves you time and measurably lowers your stress level: 1) during Thanksgiving week and 2) just before a predicted snow storm! Well, we got the snow storms out of our system and now it is time to brace for the masses who will be heading to the grocery stores.  

Years ago, before I was a farmer, I worked in retail produce, both small boutique and large produce departments. I could almost predict the weather based on shopping patterns—for Thanksgiving, hang onto your hats, that was a wild ride trying to keep the shelves full. If I was lucky enough, I wouldn’t have to work the register and those never-ending lines.  I much prefer the life of a farmer and delivering fresh fruits and vegetables, especially during Thanksgiving. 

Our network of local producers and suppliers allows us to get you the freshest ingredients all year and Thanksgiving is no different except we will be squeezing 5 delivery days into 3 days. Yes, it is a little crazy for us, but not for you. Sit back, place your order, and we will do the rest. 

Food Banks

Every week of the year, Klesick’s, with your help, donates 20 boxes of good to area food banks which is in addition to the “end of the week” produce that is still useable but not up to our quality standards.

 We also have an opportunity to partner with local food banks for Thanksgiving. The Holidays are especially difficult for families in need. We partner with local food banks because:

1. We believe that access to good organic produce is not a privilege, but a basic right.

 2. We believe that local problems are best solved at the local level. 

3.  We have the relationships, the network and distribution system to make a difference in solving hunger at the local level.

Please consider partnering with us this Thanksgiving by purchasing one (or more) Holiday Donation boxes and we will do the rest. We will send you a tax receipt in January for your donations that you can deduct from your taxes.

 We are stronger together,

 

Tristan

Farmer/Health Advocate

 

 

Shop the Holiday Box here: 


Posted on by

Time to Make Some Plans

Is it hard to believe that it’s already time to be planning for Thanksgiving? Those of us in the farming and food business have already been planning for this major food holiday, but now it is time to share with you what we are “cooking up” on our end for deliveries.

Delivery Schedules:

For the week of Thanksgiving, all deliveries will be happening Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Which means if your normal delivery day is Thursday, Friday or Saturday, your order Thanksgiving week will be before the Holiday. Don’t worry about it now, we will email and communicate the delivery changes well in advance.

Holiday boxes: 

For the Last 20 years we have been helping families with their Thanksgiving meal planning. This year will be no different, except, we have two ways to order your Thanksgiving items.

1.            You can either order the Holiday Box (with my regular order) or the Holiday Box (replacing my regular order). Either way, the Holiday Box is the same box, but inevitably Mike will be thinking about Holiday box orders that also have your regular boxes still being ordered. Many of you intend to order a holiday box and your regular order and conversely many of you intend to only order a holiday box, but forget to move your current order out. This change in how you order the Holiday Boxes, will make it easier on Mike to get your order perfect and make sure you get exactly what you ordered perfectly.

2.            The Holiday Boxes are available for the weeks of November 12th through December 2nd. The Holiday box is a popular box all month.

3.            You can also send a Holiday Donation Box to one of our 8 food banks that we partner with weekly and make this Holiday Season even more nutritious for a family in need. For each donation box purchased, we send out end of year tax receipts.

4.            And as usual, you can order all your Thanksgiving ingredients “a la carte“.

5.            The Holiday Box menu and prices are available below. 

Changes to the Box of Good Menus

Starting the week of November 12th, we are adding two new boxes of good and will be ending the Seasonal NW Box. The Seasonal NW Box will resume in May/June next year when the local farm season gets going again.

Our Essential line of boxes consists of 4 boxes: Fruit, Fruit/Vegetable, Fruit/Salad and Vegetable/Salad. These options have been very popular with many of you, but there are a lot of you that need/want more quantity than the Essential line has to offer. So, we are now offering the same options at our Middle Tier, which we are renaming the Family Tier.

The Family Tier already consists of the Fruit Box, Vegetable Box, and Family Box. We are adding a Fruit/Vegetable Box and a Fruit/Salad Box. The beauty in this restructuring is it will give you more options to tailor your orders to your families eating preferences. Of course, shopping online at klesickfarms.com is a great way to get exactly what you want, but many of you, also, love to get a box of good and leave the menu planning to us. 

 

Thank you,

Tristan,

Farmer/Health Advocate

 

 

Holiday Box Menu—$40

Granny Smith Apples, 5 each.

Green Beans, 1 lb.

Cranberries, 7.5 oz.

Garnet Yams, 2 lbs.

Satsumas, 1 lb.

Carrots, 2 lbs.

Breadcubes for Stuffing, 1 lb.

Yellow Potatoes, 2 lbs.

Celery, 1 bunch

Yellow Onions, 1 lb.

Acorn Squash, 1 ea.

Navel Oranges, 2 ea.

 

The Holiday DONATION Box—to Food Banks 11/17

Purchase a Holiday Donation Box for only $32 (reg. Holiday Box price $40), to be given to local food banks the weekend before Thanksgiving.

Last year 130 Holiday Donation Boxes were distributed and this year we’d love to have a greater impact!

The volunteers at the food banks have expressed again and again how wonderful and satisfying it is to be able to supply people with fresh produce.

You can order a Holiday Donation Box online or by contacting our office.

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

From Wet Dust to Wet Flooding

In August of 2003, Joelle and I purchased our current farm. That seems like a lifetime ago! The 1892 old farmhouse was in pretty bad shape and the bank wouldn’t let us move into until we remodeled it. Having sold our home in Machias, we were stuck in that awkward state of nowhere to live. In hindsight, the bank was right. The old farm had “good bones”, but was in serious disrepair.

It was hard, but rewarding. We were finally on our own farm and everyone was pitching in, both family and friends. So much work but we found amazing treasures too. Treasures that you would never find unless you rolled up your sleeves and got to work! There was so much lathe and plaster and wall paper and more wall paper. The whole place needed to be rewired and replumbed and insulated. I remember when we were started to “attack” the lowered ceiling that was made up of acoustic tiles. As soon as we pulled out those tiles, everything stopped. We were in awe. Untouched and as beautiful as the day they were first installed 10’ up in the air was a 20’ long cedar 1” x 4” tongue and grooved bead board.

We were stuck. We knew it had to come down in order for us to do the wiring and plumbing, but we also knew that you just can’t buy that stuff anymore. I remember the moment like it was yesterday. We just stopped working in that room for a whole month! There was no way to patch it up and do all the upgrades. It had to come down, but yet it was a part of this home, its history, its craftsmanship. Eventually a plan came together. We removed the ceiling and broke boards, but we were able to save lots of good useable pieces. We repainted that beautiful rich dark green cedar bead board the same color and used it as wainscoting.

Why all this reminiscing? Well, October of 2003 was also the first year we were introduced to the Stillaguamish River and from that day on, we understood who the valley really belongs to. And this week we have our first flood watch for the season. Hopefully a nonevent, but in 2003 it was supposed to be a nonevent too but turned out to be the largest flood on record. Thankfully, technology has gotten better, and the forecasts tend to be more accurate, but that first flood, oh my! 

This month we have also been talking about Cancer and asking people to share their stories. In some ways our old farmhouse and the valley we live in serves as reminder of how precious and how fragile life is. That old farmhouse was in need of some love and care and it couldn’t do it on its own. People battling Cancer or any major disease also need love and care. They need a team filled with hope to “carry” them at times and help them win this very real fight.

At Klesick Farms we are privileged to be a part of your team. We believe in you and we want you to be healed. If you would like to share your story or the story of someone you know battling cancer, please click the link and submit a prayer request. It can be anonymous or not. We pray on Thursdays for the prayer requests we receive.

 

Your Health Advocate and Farmer,

 

Tristan

Posted on by

The Path Less Travelled

I read an interesting article about Agriculture in Holland last week. The gist of it was how a little country like Holland can be the #2 exporter of food in the world. A country 1/270th the size of America. You can find the article here. 

It was a refreshing article. Also, all their food is NON-GMO! (Which is unlike a lot of the United States’ export crops.) Holland became an Agricultural power house because of vision and a desire to have food security. Their goal was to produce twice as much food on half the inputs (fertilizers, water, herbicides, etc.)

They did it! Unlike American agriculture’s goal to export more GMO’s. The American food system is broken. To prove my point, in 2012 ZERO states had average obesity rates above 35%. In 2016 there were 5 states above 35%. Also interesting is that in 2012, 10 states were below the 25% average, but now only 4 states remain below the 25% threshold.

Several factors account for the obesity numbers, but I would contend that we are not going to shed those pounds just by hitting the gyms. We need a food revolution to take back our health. We need a different goal.

Thankfully, American agriculture and its food manufacturing partners can’t tell us what to eat. That is on us. We still have choices. I will concede that the processed food manufacturers are experts at marketing and lobbying. Sadly, even the healthy options merely replace one form of sugar for another, which only improves the food in minor ways. This is because many of those same companies are owned by the General Mills or Pepsi’s of the world. And they expect us to believe that their company missions are to provide healthy sustainable products that improve your health. (sarcasm intended) Anybody out there switch to the “Organic” version of the American diet and basically see no appreciable results?

Merely switching to the Organic American diet will have little or no impact on our personal health or our Nation’s health. If we are going to see lasting meaningful health benefits from the food we eat, we need to switch: 1. how we eat and 2. what we eat. Saying yes to fresh vegetables, fresh fruits and quality proteins and grains is a great start.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Congress set an “Every American Healthy” Goal for our Country to reduce the National Obesity rate by 5% by year 2023? The by-products of this goal alone would save millions of dollars in health costs and improve the quality of life for millions of Americans. It would shift our food system from profits to health and from sugar and grains to vegetables and fruits and quality proteins. The environmental gains would be great because of the non-GMO and Organic farming practices implemented to produce better foods. A simple goal, but alas, it will never see the light of day because of the way our political campaigns are financed. But, as I mentioned earlier, they can’t tell us what to eat. And in the words of the poet Robert Frost, “I chose the path less travelled.” We can choose the path with little or no sugar, a path filled with hope and a better quality of life. And thankfully, we can make that choice every day. Every time you get a “Box of Good” delivered, you are on the path less travelled.

 

Eat heathy, Be healthy,

 

Tristan Klesick

Health Advocate and Farmer

 

Posted on by

Back to School!

I have this tension that revolves around the school calendar. Every Spring I need help with planting and weeding and the kids are still in school. Then, every Fall I need help with harvesting and the kids are back in school, though I do appreciate the return to a normal schedule that comes with this time of year. But, unlike the Spring where the work is more tractor and less harvesting, the Fall is more harvesting. What typically gets planted as tiny seeds in the Spring will be harvested by the ton – think pumpkins, winter squash, potatoes, beets. So, if I could choose the ideal school calendar, it would be: out in mid-May, back in July, out in September and back in mid-October. That would accommodate a vegetable farmers schedule nicely!

But that is not the School calendar and I am not going to attempt to change it either. Farmers represent 1% of the population and an even smaller percentage of the 1% are vegetable/fruit farmers. Of those who are smaller vegetable/fruit farmers an even smaller percentage of those actually hire school/college kids to work on their farms. Which makes me a really small percentage of the farming population and an even smaller percentage of the overall population. Suffice it to say, it would be a better use of my time to work on solving the Salmon/habitat/farming issues that affect local food production in the Puget sound area than to try and change the school calendar!

Which is precisely where I have been investing my time for the last few years as a Co-Chair of the Snohomish Sustainable Land Strategy. In addition to parenting, running a home delivery company and a 40-acre vegetable/fruit and grass-fed beef farm, I also donate about 10-15 hours a week on environmental issues. So, when Fall rolls around and the farm begins to slow down, I also get to a little more sanity in my world. One reason is that the kids are going back to school, but mostly it is because my farm is requiring less of my time. Yes, it is a crazy life, especially during farming season! But each of us has a crazy element to our lives and managing the “crazy” goes with the territory.

Even though farmers are a very small part of the population, I hope is goes without saying that we need more local vegetable and fruit farms, not less; and those local farms need more places to sell, not less. Which brings it back to you. Because you choose to buy from a local farm, who also buys from other local farms, you get super fresh food, while supporting a different food system, a smaller more intimate food system.

 

With your help we are changing the food system one nutritious bite at a time.

 

Tristan

Farmer, Health Advocate

Posted on by

The Days Are Getting Shorter

This is the season where I just run out of gas, figuratively and sometimes literally. The one thing you never want to run out of is DIESEL. Nope. Never run a tractor out of DIESEL. Gas yes; Diesel no. But sometimes, I personally just run out of gas. I have been at this farming season for 7 months so far and there are a few more to go.

And this farm season has been hard. Wet early and well into June. Then DRY! The weather pattern has stressed some of the crops and blessed others. Great year for cucumbers and tomatoes; lettuces and spinach, marginal at best. Blackberries and raspberries were happy, as were the birds that descended on them like locusts. Farm years like this one require so much mental energy.

Twenty years ago, I made a choice to not farm with chemicals, to focus on soil health, biology and habitat. Which means that I have to work with nature. When the weather is too wet or too dry, the crops can get bug and disease pressures. But, if you are going to choose to not farm with chemicals/poisons, you are going to have “those” years that remind you how fragile the farming and the food system is.

But this is the time of year when local farmers have lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. We will be into peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers till the first frost and soon we will be harvesting our pears and plums. Potatoes and winter squash will be coming after that. And then we will start to put the farm to bed with cover crops of wheat, rye, oats and vetch to protect our soils and feed the biology.

As the days get shorter and Summer marches towards Fall, so does my outside work and I am grateful for that. Yes, life is returning to normal and I can get back on a schedule. Anybody else feel like you can’t wait for school to get out and you can’t wait for it to start? I know as a farmer, summer is just crazy. Your life is ordered around the day length and chores, but when school starts, life takes on a different rhythm.

It is a more peaceful rhythm like the “Resolve” at the end of a great symphony. Still very intricate, but as the seasons change from Spring to Summer to Fall, this farmer senses it is time to begin to hush the horns, percussions and, eventually, the winds and let the farm I partner with rest, rejuvenate and get ready for next season.

 

Tristan

Farmer, Health Advocate

 

Posted on by

Hand in Hand

Being a first-generation family farm has been an amazing journey. For nearly 20 years, Joelle and I have been supplying, growing, and delivering our produce and produce from other farms. As we near Fall and the Fall harvest, I am reminded that what was a little seed a few months ago is ready for harvest now. Time flies by.

For Joelle and I, our farm has transitioned from being the young farming family to being a multigenerational farm family. Time has flown by. With each season there are so many rewards and riches to be had, but some of the most precious are the excitement and wonder of children.

Our youngest, Joanna (7), still excitedly reminds us to look at the sunset every night. She hasn’t quite figured out how to remind us to look at the sunrise, though. ? Sunsets and sunrises are spectacular, but seeing another grandson or granddaughter join the family – that is life changing.

Joelle and I are both parenting and grand parenting. The older children have gotten married and are having children and our little Joanna is now an Auntie 4 times over with one more coming in November.

A few weeks ago, we welcomed Nathan Lee Klesick to the world. I haven’t got him on the tractor yet, but it will happen sooner than I can say scalafragilisticespcalldocius. Because, well, time flies by. And before I know it that little guy will be under foot harvesting strawberries alongside his grandparents, just like his older brothers and cousins, and just like their parents did.

Seeing your third generation is a gift. Having them grow up near the farm, spend time on the farm, and experience the farm, that is priceless. Right now, those little ones are more likely to get a taste of the dirt on our farm, but that taste could very well lead to a future taste for farming.

For me, I am going to work a little slower and take a little more time to get the chores done, because I will have the third generation trying to keep pace with grandpa’s footsteps. To hear “Grandpa, Grandpa” and turn around and see a little one toddling as fast as those little legs can go is all the motivation I need to slow down, bend down, and swoop them up!

Maybe it is just me, but I think that locally grown food tastes better, because a local family on a local farm is growing it and quite possibly, as it is with our farm, another generation of future farmers, too.

 

Teaching another generation to farm,

 

Tristan

Farmer, Health Advocate

Posted on by

Rain – It’s Overrated

Water. Who needs water?

We just passed a record without rain for the Seattle area that has stood since 1951. YES, 1951! My parents were wee lads and lasses back then. I wonder if global warming was the talk of the day. They were probably more concerned with the Russians coming through Canada or maybe it was how North Korea with the help of China and Russia invaded South Korea?

One could conclude that not much has changed since 1951. What are we talking about in today’s local and world events? How dry it is, North Korea, China, and Russia. Hmm, I guess I don’t have to worry about wondering what my grandparents were thinking about in the 50’s anymore. I am reliving it.

 

Oh, and of course the Modern Supermarket got a solid stronghold on the American marketplace. And our cheap food model has been exported all over the world to the detriment of local communities everywhere. What about today? We see a mini renaissance of local food outlets. Victory gardens and eating locally were still widely in use in the 50’s and lots of small farms dotted the landscape. But once again, we see the big getting bigger with Amazon buying Whole Foods and the PCC’s building another new store every year or another local farmer selling out and a larger farmer taking over.

 

But we are not seeing the local farm community keep pace; it is as if the American populace has chosen industrial food all over again, only this time it is even more convenient – you don’t even have to leave your home to get what you want!

 

In 1997, when we started a home delivery company based on a local farm and farm-direct model, quality and convenience was our niche. Back then, we knew that if we were going to make it as first-generation farmers, we needed to serve local families and that’s what we did. We chose to serve one family at a time, to provide the freshest ingredients at competitive prices. We built our farming methods around variety and quality and our business model around customer service.

 

These are the things that Joelle and I wanted for our diet – variety and quality – as well as actually being appreciated for being a customer. We extend these basic tenets to you, our customers, every day, in every interaction, whether it is through email, Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, or a phone call or when you get a box of good delivered.

 

The only reason that Klesick Farms is even a farm today is because a local family said we want the freshest, best quality, farm-direct fruits and vegetables. There was no other way for us to be able to farm unless a family like yours said “Yes” to a local farm and our delivery service.

And that is a good thing that I hope never changes, because local food only comes from local farmers and organic food only comes from organic farmers. I have the best of both worlds, I am small family farm serving local families in my community, just like it was in the 50’s.

 

May this never change.

 

Tristan

Farmer, Health Advocate

Posted on by

My Summer Garden

Last time we spoke I boldly proclaimed that this year I would finally give my little garden the attention it deserves. It has served us well in years past providing yard snacks of sugar snap peas, wild strawberries and raspberries. But this year I wanted to be able to cook a few dinners solely using the harvest from the garden.

In spite of me the garden flourished. By April I was giddy with the thought of spending extended periods of time outside again. Evening dinners by the garden seemed an impossible act when as the rains persisted. I started seeds on the ledge above our sink and watched their steady progress. For hours, I dug deep into the dirt extending the garden’s borders making room for squash, peppers, tomatoes, beans, zucchini, potatoes, lettuce, carrots, radish, and cucumbers. Hopes were high.

And then reality hit. Summer with three kids, camping trips, beach picnics, book writing and opening a retail/studio in Seattle leaves little time for pulling weeds. And yet the garden gives and rewards my efforts – no matter how lacking they may be.

Last week, after a quick jaunt to the islands, I came home to an empty fridge and a deep desire to order take out. I wandered into the garden to turn on the sprinkler but immediately found myself pulling weeds and making plans for dinner. There was a zucchini – a rare one not yet enjoyed by our squirrely garden guests, tender skinned potatoes, ruffled butter lettuce, green beans and plenty of fragrant herbs.

The potatoes I boiled in a vinegar brine then roasted until crisp on the outside and buttery inside. With the zucchini, I cut it into thick coins then fried in a bit of olive and finished with sumac – a brilliant red spice that tastes as if it’s laced with lemon – and mint. The greens were lightly dressed with a lemon yogurt dressing immersed with herbs. And the green beans, well, the kids ate those raw as a snack while they waited for their garden dinner.

Perhaps next year is the year I really dig deep into gardening and I can live out my dreams of weedless rows and towering teepees of greens beans. In the meantime, I’m thankful for tangled stems that produce tomatoes sweet and bursting with flavor, and jungle-like web of green beans that bring smiles to my kid’s faces, and potatoes springing from the dirt in which I proudly hold them high in the air and proclaim to my husband, I grew that! Really, the earth does the work and for that I am so grateful.

 

Ashley

 

Get Ashley’s recipe for this week’s box menu, here.

 

Ashley Ashley Rodriguez is a NW Mom, Chef, Food Blogger at notwithoutsalt.com and author of Date Night In: More than 120 Recipes to Nourish Your Relationship