Tag: organic home delivery

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Plenty of moisture around here!

Every crop needs a few necessities to get off to a good start. Soil: it holds the nutrients like Phosphorus, Manganese, Magnesium, Nitrogen, Boron, Calcium, etc. Soil critters: microbes, fungi, earth worms, beetles, spiders, bees and other creeping, sliming and crawling critter that digest decaying matter or breakdown minerals so the plant can utilize the nutrients to grow. Sunshine: everything loves a few heat units. Water: check that off the list, until August!

In our micro climate, we can really assist the crops we grow by amending our soils with nutrients in the form of compost or mined minerals, like calcium, through soil sampling and application rates. We can also inoculate our fields with good bacteria and fungi that help the plants thrive. We can do as little harm as possible to earthworms, beetles and spiders by not spraying our fields with herbicides, pesticides, fungicides and bactericides. We can also help the critters help the plants by not overtilling or overcultivating our fields.

When it comes to soil and soil critters, we can treat them alright and have a measure of control. But when it comes to sunshine and water, we barely have an “oar in the water” to guide that boat! The greenhouses can help, but sunshine is still needed to generate some heat. We don’t use propane or lights in our greenhouses. Propane and lights can mimic natural sunshine, but they come with their own environmental impacts and expenses. Have you ever tried to heat a 1000 sq. ft. space to 70 degrees with 1/16th of an inch of plastic between winter and the crops? That is a sure fire way to “burn” some dollars up. For us, we use them as season extensions to try and capture a little more warmth as spring comes on or fall leaves us.

But water, that is completely outside my control. Yes, we can irrigate a little in the summer, but for the most part we work with what falls from heaven and is conserved in our soil. Our soils have great moisture holding capacity (a.k.a., clay!). They are slow to dry out, which is a great attribute in August, but fairly detrimental NOW! Ideally, I would have some sandy soil for the spring crops and some of “heavier” (clay) soils for the summer/late summer crops when a lack of water is an issue. But alas, I have heavier soils, which makes springs like this one very challenging.

But the good news is that we have perennial crops, like tree fruit, berries and a few greenhouse crops, to offset a wet spring, but we will need a warm summer to catch up. It is going to be a good year for our vegetables.

Farming for the future,

tristan-sign

 

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Harvesting Lettuce & Spinach

When it comes to greenhouses, I am a newcomer. For years, I have eschewed the technology, but after a spring like this, “I am a believer!” We have taken a beating from the weather this spring and our planting windows have shrunk considerably.  I know I have a relatively short memory (comes with age), but I am a little dismayed by the lack of farmable weather for April—March was a better month.

But if you saw my “Wednesday Farm update Video” last week on Facebook, you can tell that I have turned 180 degrees on my opinion about greenhouses. If it wasn’t for my two greenhouses, I wouldn’t have gotten peas planted and then transplanted out to the fields. Granted, I mudded them in, but they are growing and when the weather breaks they will take off and get growing in a hurry.

For the first time, I planted an early spring crop of lettuce and spinach in one of the greenhouses and, experimentally speaking, I might make it a habit. The spinach is not as profitable to grow in the greenhouse as the lettuce, but it does grow a few weeks quicker and can be direct seeded. Lettuce, however, needs a little warmer nights to start from seed, but as transplants they are good to go. Next year, I will probably grow lettuce exclusively in both houses. Mostly, lettuce is a little simpler to harvest and handle than spinach. And during most springs, “simpler to harvest and handle” is appreciated by this farmer.

In our valley, the farmers are traditionally dairy farmers or they raise crops like spinach, cabbage, chard and beets for seeds. The dairy farmers need to start cutting their fields soon, before the grass is overripe, and then they need to get the corn planted. The seed crop farmers (farmers who raise crops for their seeds and not the vegetable) need long growing seasons and April is a critical month for them. But this hasn’t been a normal “wet” spring and some of my large farming neighbors are going to be financially impacted if warmer dry weather doesn’t come pretty darn quick.

Ironically, the weather is one reason I like to farm. I like the challenge of working with what comes my way and the different management styles each season, crop and weather require. The weather is also why I grow different crops, because from year to year, I won’t know which crop will “pay the bills.” It can be spinach and other leafy vegetables or potatoes or tree fruit or beef cows or any combination thereof.

But then the weather can be almost perfect like last year, when almost everything we planted did well. And in those rare seasons, when all the crops do well, it had a lot to do with the weather!

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Living a Giving Life

I have been thinking about the act of giving. Giving is an opportunity to participate in making some thing, some place or some one’s circumstances better than could be accomplished by itself. Giving requires sacrifice, a lot or a little, but you have to be willing to deny yourself something in order to give.

This past week, the world celebrated Easter—a holiday to remember the resurrection of Jesus. Nothing has more radically impacted the world than His birth, ministry, death and resurrection. He is the ultimate example of giving.

We believe in giving. And we believe the act of giving, whether money, talents or time, is freeing. It reminds us that we are not the most important entity in this world. It changes our focus. It intensifies our senses and awakens us to the needs of others and other things. Giving also allows us to give more, and it is contagious and infectious. Being generous is a surefire way to live a happy life.

This is why, when an opportunity to give arises that we can participate in, we are all in, in whatever capacity we can participate. But we have had to learn where to draw our giving boundaries over the years. Here is what we have learned about giving:

1. We have planned giving and then we dig deeper for emergency giving.

2. We always pray for whatever the pressing need is.

3. Then we assess how we can help. Is it with time, knowledge, communication, money or all of the above?

4. Sometimes we are unable to participate because of location or skills needed.

5. If we cannot help physically at the location, that is okay. Help comes in many different shapes, sizes and methods, and all of it is needed.

6. Refer to #3 and decide what you can do and then do it with all your heart!

Lastly, we are grateful and thankful for your partnership as we reach out to the Oso and Darrington communities. As a group we are able to collectively do more than as an individual, but community can only happen when two or more agree to walk together.

Thank you for walking alongside us to help Oso and Darrington land on their feet again.

Tristan

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Spring

This week, it looks like we are going to have a decent stretch of good weather and every farmer is going to be hard at it working the ground. As much I try every year to get ahead of or prepare for the farm season, I never feel that I am quite ready for it to begin. We have been plugging along doing many non-weather-related projects, but these can be miserable chores when it is raining sideways or hovering around freezing. But we do get many of them done; albeit, all layered up and looking like the Michelin man trying to stay warm.

Although Urgency and Procrastination are distant cousins, they both can be task masters. I try to strike a balance between the two of them, between what has to happen and what can wait. Nevertheless, there is nothing like a few good days in spring to put a bounce in your step and a burst of “get ‘er done” coursing through your veins!

Much to the disdain of Cousin Procrastination, we have made some pretty significant changes this winter. We have realigned our farm fields to make them more efficient to farm, upgraded fencing for our grass-fed cattle and invested in farm equipment to help us with harvest and post-harvest handling.

I find it ironic how Cousin Procrastination lives with me, but I am not quite sure when Cousin Urgency is going to pay me a visit. Although I do expect a visit every time this year, I am just not sure when it will be. However, the thought of Cousin Urgency coming does tend to accelerate the pace of activity and the need to get ready for the visit.

Well, Cousin Urgency has arrived and the Klesick family is going to be busier than a “one-armed wallpaper hanger.” We still have fencing to button up before the cows arrive. We have 3,000 pea plants to get in the ground and trellised, plus another 10,000 peas to direct seed. There is a ton of potatoes waiting to be planted, so I need to get that ground ready, fertilized and composted, and IT ALL HAS TO BE DONE YESTERDAY! At least this is what Cousin Urgency is saying. In reality, it can be accomplished over a few weeks and everything will be just fine. Striking that balance is the hard part, and as sure as “the cream rises to the top” the most pressing tasks make it to the top of the list.

Thanks for checking in. Your good food team will be hard at it growing, sourcing and delivering organic and GMO-free fruit, vegetables and grocery items for you this week and every week.

 

tristan-sign

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Providence

I often quote to myself (and to others) that simple prayer by Francis of Assisi, “Lord, 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.”

planting_lettuce6

 

As the farm season starts to unfold, there are bound to be things that I have planned to do, but just won’t get to. It might be weather related, it could be a timing issue, or it could be just a lack of time. But one thing is for sure, I will get to a lot of things on my list and a few things that weren’t. And at the end of the day, at the end of the farming season, I will have gotten something planted, weeded and harvested.

This week, we are planning on doing something that wasn’t on my farming list. In January, I ordered 4 flats of lettuce to transplant into our greenhouse. Our greenhouse isn’t very big and I was planning on only planting lettuce in half and spinach in the other half. I planted the spinach by seed and then went to get the lettuce transplants—all 512 of them.

When I arrived to get the flats, we walked over to get them and I started to grab the 4 I ordered and the nurseryman asked, “Is that all, you ordered 40?” My response was “gulp.” 40 flats x 128/flat = 5,120 plants. I have never planted 5,120 lettuce plants in my life at one time. So much is really out of our control when it comes to farming, and this week I picked up the remaining 36 flats of lettuce to transplant.

This will be a big undertaking, because the weather has not been the greatest for preparing a seed bed. Well, when an opportunity presents itself, like an extra 4,608 lettuce plants to plant, I stop, pause and evaluate the opportunity and then I pray, “This wasn’t my idea, but Lord if you want to do that, I am game!” Then I start looking for an opportunity to plant 5,120 more heads of lettuce in the first week of spring.

This is a bold move and definitely qualifies as borderline stupid, which is why I normally don’t plant lettuce in March! But sometimes on occasions like this, you discover a new way of doing something and other times you affirm why you don’t do something. Time will tell. For now, I am going with Providence and growing a lot of lettuce at the Klesick farm!

Your local lettuce farmer,

 

tristan-sign

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In Remembrance

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.

 

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Chives, Crocuses, Daffodils and Tulips

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.

 

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Potato Salad Recipe's From Contest Winners

The Potato Salad Recipe contest is over! Thank you to everyone who participated; we truly enjoyed all of your great recipe ideas. We have picked our winners and
recommend you try them out for yourself for this Labor Day weekend!

From: Laura Strzelec:

“Those who don’t appreciate traditional potato salads will find much to enjoy in this recipe. Potato salads were never a favorite dish of mine – until I tasted this one. Wonderful things often come together – this recipe was shared with me by the same good friend who introduced me to the Klesick Family Farm. This recipe also provides a great incentive to keep my herb garden healthy.”

Herbed Potato Salad

serves 4 to 6

2 lbs. small red potatoes, cut in 1-inch cubes
2 T. red wine vinegar
1/4 c. olive oil
1 T. Dijon mustard
1 T. chopped fresh oregano
1 T. chopped fresh chives
1 T. chopped fresh basil
3/4 t. salt
1/4 t. freshly ground black pepper
1/2 c. diced red onions

Steam potatoes 12-14 minutes, until tender. Whisk vinegar, oil, Dijon, herbs, salt and pepper. While potatoes are still warm, toss with dressing and onions. Cool and serve.

From: Kristy Black

Ingredients:

5lbs red skin potatoes
4 Scallions
6 slices of bacon cooked and crumbled
2 tbsp of Chives
1 tsp dill
1/2 tsp celery seed
1 1/2 cups sour cream
3 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp cider vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Dice up potatoes into bite size pieces and boil until tender. Drain and set aside.

Chop up scallions, dill and chives (if using fresh herbs, dried are perfectly acceptable).

Whisk sour cream, sugar and vinegar together. Then add scallions, herbs and crumbled bacon. Once potatoes have cooled mix in with dressing and add salt and pepper to taste. Have it cool in the fridge at least one hour prior to serving as to allow flavors to “marry”. I sometimes add shredded cheddar cheese as well.

I will be honest, I am guessing at measurements here as I usually just eyeball everything. This is requested all the time by friends and family. Hope you enjoy as well!

From: Kelly Cooney

I made this a couple of weeks ago with the amazing fresh peas and potatoes in our box, and chives from the garden!
Yum! It is an adaptation of a recipe from epicurious.com

Potato and Pea Salad with Chive Aioli:
• 3 pounds small red-skinned new potatoes, unpeeled (can substitute with other types of potato as available)
• 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 3 celery stalks, thinly sliced
• 1 1/2 cups fresh green peas, shelled
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 6 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 2 garlic cloves, pressed
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Cook potatoes in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender, about 25 minutes. Drain; cool. Cut potatoes into quarters. Transfer to large bowl; add vinegar and toss to coat. Mix in celery and peas.
Whisk mayonnaise, 5 tablespoons chives, mustard, garlic, and cayenne pepper in small bowl to blend. Add to potato mixture and toss. Season generously with salt and pepper. Cover and chill at least 1 hour to allow flavors to blend. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep refrigerated.) Sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon chives and serve.

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Not Until You Eat Your Veggies!

Those beets we keep sending in the boxes…do they just sit in the corner of the veggie drawer for weeks until they are limp and wilted, good for nothing except the compost heap, all because nobody will eat them if you fix them? Customers will tell us, “Um, beets? NO one in our household will eat them besides me!” Now, growing up I didn’t like things like beets, kale, or other green things either. For me, the only thing to do with beets was paint my plate, lips and face with them, until my mom caught sight of it and then I still had to eat them, which I did with great reluctance. (As a child, I discovered that if you plug your nose when eating foods you can’t stand, you can’t taste them as well so they’re easier to swallow!) My sister, however, loved beets and sometimes she was nice enough to eat mine for me. Today, I eat beets, along with many other veggies, probably largely due to my mother’s persistence in getting me to eat my veggies.

Good food should be something one enjoys! Often, certain veggies are an acquired taste and it takes time before we are to the point of enjoying them. If your family has recently made the switch to healthy eating, the transition of changing your diet to one that includes home-cooked meals with more fresh vegetables can be a bit of a challenge.
A balanced diet is important when it comes to your personal health but it can be doubly important in children. What your child is eating now is laying the foundation for later in life, and your behavior and attitude about food is making an impression on them every time you sit down at the dinner table.
For a three-year-old, a plate of veggies may not seem very exciting. Changing perception can go a long way in getting your children to eat healthy and balanced meals. A plate of veggies that is colorful and topped with a homemade cheese sauce can be very fun. Incorporating the flavors s/he is familiar with and enjoys may be the difference between food introduction failure and success, and first impressions are very important when it comes to introducing new foods.

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again! This rings true in the food world. Remember, taste buds do change over time. Also, by trying different ways of serving up the veggies, they may finish the entire serving the second or third time, despite having a declared hatred for it! The secret is to either make the vegetables tasty or go completely unnoticed. Serving up veggies on their own may not be that appetizing, but as soon as you throw a good dressing into the mix or pile them into a tasty casserole, you can enjoy watching as they are happily devoured!

Consider grating or chopping veggies to make them go unnoticed. Broth-based soups are a nutritional wonder and when puréed many things that have difficult textures are easier to swallow.
In summary, when it comes to changing your family’s eating habits, Moms, you are the ones who make it happen. You are changing your families’ futures for the better, and doing an awesome job!

Cheers!
Marty, for the Klesick Family Farm

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Klesick Family Farm Wheat Threshing

Watch two videos filmed by Tristan showing examples of Wheat Threshing at the Farm.  To see a live demonstration of this make sure to come join us for our Old Fashioned Farm Day Festival this Saturday, August 21st from 10 AM – 4 PM!

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Spinach

Spinach, prepare it right and they’ll eat it.
Spinach is a much maligned vegetable, but oh, so good for you. It is the prep work and cooking that makes for delicious spinach.

Children, almost universally, hate spinach.

Our ancestors grew spinach in their gardens right up until shortly before World War II, when canned vegetables became stylish. But in the 1950s, spinach came mainly in cans, and it tasted like it. It tasted like tin can. (Oh, the slime of it, the metallic taste that coated the mouth, the gagging goosh slithering down the throat, the repulsive yuck of it.) Then came along frozen spinach, which was marginally better, having as it does, almost no taste at all.

Fresh spinach? Who knew? Nowadays, fresh vegetables are both stylish and available, and, yes, if you prepare spinach right, they will eat it!

Spinach is extremely perishable and is best cooked within a few days of purchase. The proper cleaning of spinach is very important. Even people who love spinach do not like gritty spinach and gritty spinach is one reason many people do not use the vegetable fresh. Do not rinse it as if it were lettuce. Do not scrub it as if it were a potato.
Fill your kitchen sink with water. Take the whole head of spinach leaves in one hand. In a firm, all at once motion, twist off the stems with the other hand. Dump leaves into the sink and, while the spinach is cleaning itself, pluck off the remaining stems.
The spinach leaves will float on top of the water. Any dirt or grit or sand will sink to the bottom. Skim the spinach leaves off the water with a colander and let the dirty water out of the sink. Repeat the process.
Overcooked spinach is a second reason people don’t use it fresh.
To cook fresh spinach, dump the drained spinach into a pot. Leaving only the water clinging to the leaves from its wash, cover the pot and cook for 3-5 minutes. Spinach is a delicate leaf that cooks rapidly. If it is overcooked, it loses its tenderness and sweet flavor. It gains only in toughness and slime.
Drain the spinach and that’s it. Spinach does not like to be boiled. All of its goodness is lost to the cooking water. If you enjoy it sautéed in garlic and oil, let the raw spinach drain very well, then toss it into the hot oil and move it around for two minutes.

Yes, that’s all it takes.

And now recipe for people who don’t like spinach:
Spinach Balls
2 heads chopped, cooked (as above), fresh spinach, drained well
2 cups Italian breadcrumbs
1 large onion, chopped fine
6 beaten eggs
3/4 cup melted butter
½ cup grated Romano or Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
½ teaspoon thyme
Mix all ingredients together and form into loose balls. Bake at 350 degrees on a greased cookie sheet about 20 minutes until spinach balls are brown. Serve as a side dish to fish, meat or chicken.

Eat your spinach; it tastes good!

Parmesan Spinach Cakes

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/parmesan_spinach_cakes.html

INGREDIENTS
12 ounces fresh spinach, (see Note)
1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese, or low-fat cottage cheese
1/2 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish
2 large eggs, beaten
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

PREPARATION
1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Pulse spinach in three batches in a food processor until finely chopped. Transfer to a medium bowl. Add ricotta (or cottage cheese), Parmesan, eggs, garlic, salt and pepper; stir to combine.
3. Coat 8 cups of the muffin pan with cooking spray. Divide the spinach mixture among the 8 cups (they will be very full).
4. Bake the spinach cakes until set, about 20 minutes. Let stand in the pan for 5 minutes. Loosen the edges with a knife and turn out onto a clean cutting board or large plate. Serve warm, sprinkled with more Parmesan, if desired.

TIPS & NOTES
Make Ahead Tip: Equipment: Muffin pan with 12 (1/2-cup) muffin cups
Note: Baby spinach is immature or young spinach—it’s harvested earlier than large-leaved mature spinach. We like the sturdy texture of mature spinach in cooked dishes and serve tender, mild-flavored baby spinach raw or lightly wilted. Baby and mature spinach can be used interchangeably in these recipes (yields may vary slightly); be sure to remove the tough stems from mature spinach before using.
Weights & Measures
10 ounces trimmed mature spinach=about 10 cups raw
10 ounces baby spinach=about 8 cups raw