Year: 2018

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Twenty Nineteen

When did that get here! Thankfully, the new year is filled with fresh optimism and energy. And as a farmer, I really appreciate the increasing day length that comes with the turning of the calendar. We get to practice eating healthier for another year!

The New Year resolution season is upon us and more than a few of us are going to be getting after making some changes.  After 26 years of being involved in this organic food movement and 21 years at the helm of Klesick Farms, I have thought through and lived through a lot of food trends. I want to say: “our bodies are amazing!” Every time we take a bite of healthy, minimally processed, or raw food our bodies start a healing journey. We can eat poorly, never exercise and then as soon as we start the process to eat better and get a little more exercise, our body starts to repair and heal itself.

We must love ourselves, believe in ourselves and trust ourselves to do healthy things. Healthy habits reward us with healthy bodies, minds, and emotions. Adding vegetables, one big salad or cooked veggie dish a day, could be a goal for some. Eating more fruit and less packaged foods could be a goal for some. Everyone should KILL SUGAR in their diet.

Eliminating sugar is not so easy, especially because it is a very addictive substance. When I refer to sugar I am talking about processed sugars. I do not believe that sugars found in whole fruit are an issue because they come with fiber and a boatload of phytochemicals our bodies need to prosper. White sugar, sugary drinks, etc… no fiber, no nutrition and no phytochemicals.

I would encourage anyone who thinks they are addicted to sugar to read Susan Pierce Thompson’s book Brightline Eating and check out her Brightline Eating program. She really “unpacks” how to lose weight and the science behind how the processed food businesses keep us coming back for their food. I wish I could say that the USDA and FDA are on our side and want a healthier American population, but I can’t. The USDA’s job is to promote calories. The more calories we eat, the more the farmers make. Less calories, less profit. And the FDA regulates what products get to the grocery store and ultimately to us.

The bottom line is: health is a personal choice and a personal decision. And for anyone to succeed, they need a plan to eat better and move more. Only you can affect your health and only you can make the changes for your health. The awesome thing about change is, IT IS POSSIBLE.

The quickest way to get discouraged is to tackle too many lifestyle changes at once. If I could encourage one change for the new year, I would start with eliminating sugar, and then add more whole foods, water, and exercise. And if you slip up, just get up, or as Susan Pierce Thompson says: “just re-zoom” and make the next food decision better.

I believe in you,

Your Farmer and Health Advocate,

Tristan Klesick

 

 

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Cheers To Your Health

It is amazing how we can anticipate Christmas for months and the next day, I mean the next day, send out a search party to retrieve that scale that we hid a few months back around Halloween to assess how much weight we need to lose in the new year.

The goal is to be as healthy as possible for as long as possible. It is the same goal every year, only the year changes. This year happens to be 2019. It might look like 10lbs. or more, but the real goal is to be as healthy as possible. And being healthy looks different than the path that most Americans are on. Metformin and Statins might help make your “numbers” look better, but they are not healing heart disease and diabetes.

Today, our society and much of the world is suffering from diseases of excesses. Hypertension is too much salt, heart disease is too much fat, and diabetes is too much sugar. But really it comes down to a diet high in processed foods and not enough vegetables and fruit. 75% of Americans do not eat a single piece of fruit a day. I wonder how many vegetables that group is eating?

All the growth in the “organic” food sector is mostly processed foods, some new ice cream or potato or quinoa chips. Many consumers are making better processed food choices by purchasing organic processed foods. It is a trap, a feel-good trap. People say, “It’s organic” and gives them permission to eat foods that are not helping, and in some cases hurting our bodies. Eating organic ice cream and organic cookies and organic potato chips lead down the same path as their conventional counterparts. Of course, we can eat those foods, but not every day.

I lean towards a whole food plant-based diet. I think that everyone can benefit from eating more plant-based calories from whole foods. But for some reason, eating vegetables and fruit are some of the hardest foods to incorporate into our diets. Probably because we are so busy, or we have created busy lives. With a finite amount of time and a finite amount of years, making time to eat well should be important because it fuels our lives.

The goal is to be healthy, not thinner. Thinner is a by-product. The way to be healthy is to eat whole foods as close to the source as possible. For vegetables, eat them raw or steam them or roast them and lightly season them. While the vegetables are cooking make a salad. Make enough for two days. Leftovers are some of the best food.

The great thing about eating your veggies is that your body gets an incredible immune boost filled with a plethora of phytochemicals, minerals, vitamins and fiber. And to top it off, most vegetables fall in the 100-200 calories per pound range. Maximum nutrition and less calories by eating vegetables is one of the most effective strategies to get healthy and/or remain healthy.

At Klesick’s, we deliver hope with every box of good, hope for a healthier America and a healthier you in 2019.

Cheers to your Health!

Your Farmer and Health Advocate,

 

Tristan Klesick

 

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Wow!

It is finally here! Thanksgiving came so early that Christmas seemed like a longways off and BAM! Well hopefully, you are mostly ready for this Holiday Season because it is happening now! I know that for us it can get a bit crazy at the Klesick home. At any given moment we can go from a few of us at home to 25 people and it looks like Christmas is trending towards 25 at the farm.

Last week, the Klesick team took a field trip to the WSU Bread Lab in Burlington. We rolled up our sleeves and prepared a meal with Niels Brisbane, WSU Culinary Director. We made pasta, lots and lots of pasta. We made all sorts of shapes and sizes of pasta. The roasted vegetables with a hazelnut, roasted chili pepper and olive oil dressing – incredible! As was the fennel and onion sauce for the pasta, OH MY WORD! I would have never thought to cook onions and fennel together and then blend them to make a pasta sauce. I love to cook and eat really good food and it was fun to bless my team with a fun cooking/Christmas party. They even stayed and helped with the dishes!

This week’s newsletter (found here) features a hummus recipe (found here) which is a perfect side dish to bring with your vegetable platter to all the holiday parties you have scheduled for the next few weeks 🙂 Be sure to stock up on chickpeas, tahini, olive oil, and whatever spices you want to mix in!

Lastly, keep in mind the upcoming delivery day changes for the week of Christmas. Some minor adjustments have been made with the holiday falling on a Tuesday, so double check your day. And of course, if you have travel plans for the next couple weeks, be sure to change your next delivery date from your account online, or contact us and we’ll handle it for you.

We wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and Holiday Season!

See you after Christmas!

Your Farmer and Health Advocate,

 

Tristan

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What’s Cooking

What are you cooking up for the holidays? What are your family favorites? So often food is at the center of our holidays, birthdays, summer picnics…. A favorite dish is tied to a favorite season which ties everything back to memories.

I know for our family the one thing that gets made every year is pumpkin roles. Flour everywhere, every cookie sheet is filled with pumpkin bread waiting to be rolled up in kitchen towels and then filled with a healthy version of cream cheese filling. They are beautiful and tasty.

Roots and Fruit: 

This week we are building boxes filled with fruit and roots. Not really, but we are purposely omitting lettuce from the boxes of good. The lettuce world is sorting out the premature move to Arizona and Southern California from Mid California.

Every fall produce starts to head back down I-5 as the local produce season starts to wind down and more produce is sourced from Oregon and Northern California and then Mid California and finally down to Southern California, Arizona and Mexico. Of course, there is some local produce available year-round, but the weather for growing fresh crops is primarily down south. About mid-May fresh produce begins its return to the Northwest, reversing its course and comes back up the I-5 Corridor until we are in full production in the Northwest again. We are so blessed to have so much incredible fresh produce available year-round and much of it local.

The recent food warning on Romaine lettuce, that has since been lifted, caused a wrinkle in production. Most of the Romaine lettuce had been growing in Mid California regions and was nearing its growing cycle when the CDC issued its warning. So, the lettuce growers, basically, tilled in a lot of good food and shifted to Southern California a little earlier than was planned for. Which has caused a gap in production of leafy greens since Southern California and Arizona were not quite ready to harvest.

The long and short of it is. Lettuce is scarce and expensive, so I decided to build a menu around roasted vegetables and a Dill, cucumber, tomato salad recipe. And by next week, lettuce will be more reasonably priced and back in the menus.

While I was doing some research on dill for our plant powerhouse feature, we do weekly, I was like, “WOW, I should eat Dill every week”. Dill is definitely an amazing herb and offers so much healing potential from tying up free radicals to aiding digestion. I might even add it to my list of crops to grow for next year!

Enjoy,

Your farmer and health advocate

Tristan

 

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Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving 

This is the foodie holiday of food holidays. So much energy is going to be invested with planning, shopping, house cleaning, meal prep and cooking. A few of you will even have 2 or 3 engagements and you might have to eat turkey TWICE! But before I delve into my plan to eat healthy this Thanksgiving, I wanted to extend a HUGE thank you to our box of good community. This Thanksgiving holiday we have donated over 170 Holiday Boxes to local food banks totaling almost $8000.00 in high quality organically grown fruits and vegetables.  

These donations are powerful and convey hope and help the food bank community extend care into many vulnerable populations. Year to date as a box of good community we have delivered, through our Neighbors Helping Neighbors program, over 800 boxes to 12 different food banks. 800 boxes of good donated by our customers is incredible. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You.  

Tristan’s plan to eat a successful Thanksgiving Meal 

This week is one of those food “traps” that will be foisted upon Americans. Yep, Thanksgiving, a time to be thankful will be greeted with a barrage of pies, ice cream, jello, lots of gravy and, and, and. Just the sheer amount of food will be immense and the selection on most tables will be enough to feed a family for a week.  Most of us are not going to be in control of how much food gets set on the table, but we can control how much food gets put on our plates. 

To be a successful eater at the Thanksgiving table, I would encourage a few Non-Negotiables.  

Choose to eat better so you will feel better and not bloated or stuffed. It is a choice. 

Limit snacking and choose the fruit and veggie snacks. 

Plan to eat at the main meal, whether that is lunch or dinner for your family, but be reasonable with your portions.  

Just one plate, not one plate at a time, not heaping (wink, wink). Just one plate, it will be enough food.  

Remember, dessert will be coming, so pick none or just one. I know this is a hard one, because there will be lots of selection and a sampling will be tough to turn down. 

These simple non-negotiables or guidelines will help anyone enjoy family, friends and the Thanksgiving meal with energy and enthusiasm. Imagine feeling full and thankful this Thanksgiving. That’s my goal! 

Enjoy! 

Tristan 

Farmer/Health Advocate 

Vegan Apple Crisp 

Author Notes: A straightforward, fuss-free, no-nonsense apple crisp. Enjoy it for dessert, or hell, enjoy it for breakfast. Coconut oil helps to create an irresistibly sweet and buttery topping — without so much as a hint of butter! —Gena Hamshaw 

Serves: 6 to 8 

Ingredients 

For the apple filling: 

7cups (about 8 to 10 medium sized) sweet-tart apples (such as Gala or Jonagold), peeled, cored, and chopped (1/2- or 3/4-inch pieces) or thinly sliced (1/4 inch thick)
 

1 tablespoon lemon juice
 

¾ cup organic sugar or organic light brown sugar
 

1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
 

½ teaspoon nutmeg
 

1/8 teaspoon clove
 

1/8 teaspoon salt
 

1 ½ tablespoons arrowroot or cornstarch
 

½ cup water
 

For the crumble topping: 

1 cup all-purpose flour
 

¾ cup quick oats
 

1 cup organic brown sugar
 

½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts
 

¼ teaspoon salt
 

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
 

½ teaspoon ground ginger
 

½ cup melted coconut oil
 

Directions 

  1. Preheat your oven to 350° F. 
  1. Place the apples in a large mixing bowl and toss with the lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and salt. Place these ingredients into a greased 9 x 13-inch baking dish. 
  1. Whisk together the arrowroot and water, then pour the mixture over the apples. Toss them lightly with your hands to get everything coated with the arrowroot. 
  1. Place the flour, oats, brown sugar, nuts salt, cinnamon, and ginger in a food processor, and pulse a few times to incorporate everything. Add the coconut oil and pulse the ingredients quickly in the processor until they’re forming large crumbs. Sprinkle the topping over the apples. Bake for 40 to 55 minutes, or until the apples are bubbly and the topping is golden brown. Serve. 

 

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The Taste of Treviso Italy via Mt. Vernon

We have been enjoying a few different soups that hail from the region of Tuscany, Italy. The White bean soup and Tuscan potato kale soup have quickly become staples here at the farm. Both easy to make and nutritious. And those two characteristics, easy to make + nutritious = health!

This week we are traveling 3 hours to the north and east from Tuscany to Treviso for a taste of Radicchio of the chicory family. Radicchio in Italy is tied to regions in a similar way wine is tied to regions. And this week’s Treviso Radicchio comes from the Treviso region of Italy. Ironically, Treviso in Italy is as big a deal as Romaine is here. You can find 3 packs of Treviso in Italy on the shelves of grocery stores just like we have 3 packs of romaine in the states. You will also find Romaine in your box of good this week, my thinly veiled attempt to highlight and contrast how we eat compared to other parts of the world.

Treviso radicchio hasn’t been cultivated in America very long, maybe 40 years, compared to 4+ centuries in Italy. Fortunately, in the PNW we have a similar climate to Treviso, Italy and grow excellent Radicchio. While the inspiration comes from Italy, the perspiration required to grow this crop comes from Mt. Vernon.

Ralph’s Greenhouse and its rich alluvial soils in the Skagit valley coupled with its cool maritime nights mimic the ideal growing conditions for this super nutritious vegetable. I am also pairing the Treviso with French shallots from Hedlin Farms in La Conner and I asked my neighbor, Vivian, to cut one sprig of sage for each of you (make sure you find it) to use in this week’s recipe.

Also, I am bringing over Spitzenburg apples from Okanagan. There is a small organic grower’s co-op over there that we (Klesick’s and you) support by buying their fruit. And Spitzenburg is an excellent apple that dates back to Thomas Jefferson, our 3rd president of the United States. It is reported that this was his favorite apple and I can see why.  This week you can use a Spitzenburg apple to balance the deep flavor of the Treviso Radicchio in the wilted salad recipe. The recipe uses a technique called braising, it works great with all types of greens. I would be tempted to, also, create a freshly made Valencia orange/balsamic vinaigrette with the Valencia oranges in your box and add it to a Romaine/Treviso salad. So many choices!

Health does come down to choices. Thank you for choosing Klesick’s as one of your partner’s in health!

Tristan

Your Farmer and Health Advocate

Recipe: Braised Treviso with Sage & Balsamic

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 5 (about 125g) French shallots, peeled, halved lengthways
  • 1 treviso lettuce, cut into 6 wedges
  • 125ml (1/2 cup) Massel chicken style liquid stock
  • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar (Optional)
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage

Instructions

  • Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook shallot, stirring, for 20 minutes or until soft. Add treviso. Increase heat to high and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add stock, vinegar, sugar and sage. Cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes or until the treviso wilts. Season with salt and pepper.

Radicchio, Teviso:

A favorite of Italians, whom it is believed their cultivation originated with, Treviso radicchio look a bit like purple romaine hearts. Italians almost never use radicchios in a mixed salad, but savor them alone with the simplest of olive-oil dressings. Often, they cook radicchio, turning to varieties like Treviso, that are milder in flavor, since the bitterness of radicchio intensifies with cooking. The tonic bitterness, however, is a good contrast to rich or fatty flavors. Radicchio is good braised, grilled, or in a soup. Store: keep radicchio in a tightly sealed bag in the refrigerator for up to one week.

Radish, Daikon:

Daikon is a white root vegetable often seen in Japanese and Chinese cuisine that resembles a carrot. However, unlike a carrot’s sweetness, daikon is spicy and tart, similar to a radish. Its pungent and sharp flavor can be enjoyed raw, pickled, or cooked. The white pigment in daikon is called anthoxanthin, which is an antioxidant that may lower cholesterol and blood pressure. In Asian cuisine, daikon is often eaten alongside meaty dishes, and is said to aid in digestion and breakdown of oil, fatty animal protein, and dairy.

It can be eaten raw like you would a radish, sliced or grated into a salad, or baked, sautéed or grilled like any other root vegetable. Cooked daikon has a similar texture and flavor to turnips.

 

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Farming and Family!

Anyone else have summer chores that just didn’t get done?!!!! I have a few that are pressing, but I am content with what we did get done. And often what is left over or unfinished would have been nice to finish, but in reality, those projects could wait.

I also have noticed that as I get older, my energy or appetite to tackle as many big projects is waning. When I look back over the last 20 years, I think “we did that”. We resurrected a dilapidated farm house, rescued a farm from the chemical agriculture world, planted habitat for wildlife, planted a 200-tree orchard, built farm buildings, poured concrete, fenced and refenced 40 acres, and farmed with Belgian Draft horses. All the while having babies and raising children, seeing them grow to adulthood and find their spouses. It is overwhelming just recounting that and I am sure we were overwhelmed while we were doing that! For that season, Joelle and I had the energy of 30-year old’s!

But now that I am turning another year older and I look back I can only smile at all the memories, all the hard work and heartache, all the love and all the life. And because I am an eternal optimist, I can hardly wait for the next 20 years to unfold. What will this life bring, what changes are on the horizon?

For sure, life is not static, and I know that Joelle and I will continue to live rich meaningful lives surrounded by our family and grandkids! And those grandkids are running circles around us, it just seems like it was yesterday that our parents were playing ball or games with my children, and now it is Joelle and I that are playing ball with our grandkids. And they are quick, I mean way quicker than my children ever were!

John Maxwell tells a story about parenting. My paraphrase. John says, “you want to let your children live to adulthood, so you can get grandkids and that is the real prize for being parents! When you see your first grandchild, ‘you think to yourself, this is the smartest human being ever born.’” As the story goes, John was at a conference sharing this story and his son was in the audience. Well John proceeded to tell everyone that Intelligence skips a generation and that his grandkids were considerably smarter than his own children. Of course, the audience, which was primarily grandparents completely understood John’s sentiments. His son caught up with him behind stage and John said, “now son that stuff about you not being as smart as your children, is all fun and..” But his son stopped him and said, “Dad, I think you are onto something, Grandpa and I were just having the same conversation about you last week!”

If I have learned anything in the last 5 decades, it is that every season of life is meaningful and important and so is every generation!

Cheers to your health,

 

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Dinner

Last week I attended the Farm Fish Come Together dinner at Swans Trail Farms in Snohomish. This dinner was hosted by the Sustainable Land Strategy (SLS) of Snohomish County. I have been Co-chair of this group for the last 4 years and every other year the SLS Executive committee host a dinner for farmers, policy makers and elected officials.

It is a powerful time to interact face to face with all the Natural Resource community. At my table were folks from Fish and Wildlife, the Puget Sound Partnership, State Legislator Derek Stanford, Terry Williams for the Tulalip Tribes and Rob Duff from the Governor’s office. The SLS hosts this dinner as meet and greet, because we believe that open dialogue about our limited natural resources between land owners and those that are tasked with managing/regulating the natural resources should find noncombative ways to work together. This is a different approach than what we are seeing unfold in DC or for that matter anywhere politics is in play. But as Dan Bartelheimer, the Snohomish County Farm Bureau President shared with the entire group, “we have more in common than less and most of us are sitting on the same side of the table.” He is absolutely right!

I have been involved in Snohomish County Land use and farmland preservation for over two decades and have donated thousands of hours during that time to imagine a community with farmers farming the land and rivers filled with Salmon. And I earnestly believe, that planning for local farmland, local food and habitat are critical for the future residents of Puget Sound.  This is no easy task when you consider the effects of climate change, sea level rise, and water shortages. And add the need for housing, education and mental health, so many compelling and real needs to balance. There is so much to consider and planning is the only way to go forward, but planning built upon relationships and from the ground up is best way to go forward.

And happily, in Puget Sound there is an earnest desire to work together from the farmer to the Governor’s mansion. Collaboration is the key to unlock a vibrant future for local food producers and for local habitat. We can have both and the Sustainable Land Strategy of Snohomish County is hard at work as a nonregulatory advisory committee. And the Farm Fish Come Together Dinner was just one part of this strategy that builds relationships to ensure a vibrant local farm community and the local habitat that make this place so beautiful!

Your Farmer and health advocate

 

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Fall Beans

Fall Beans

3,000 pounds of green beans! That is a lot of handpicked and hand selected nutrition. This has been an incredible farm season. The weather was manageable. It wasn’t too hot, it wasn’t too cold, and most rain events were welcomed. The smoke? Not so much!

Now that we are transitioning to Fall, the farm work shifts to putting the farm to “bed”. We are actively working ground that we are rotating to pasture that will be hayed for the next 3-5 years. We are also prepping the ground for garlic that we hope to plant in two weeks.

Speaking of garlic, this year’s crop was so good, large flavorful bulbs. I use garlic all the time for cooking. If I am roasting potatoes, beets, onions, or all of the above, I always toss in a few cloves. If I am sautéing or making a stir fry, I slice the garlic much like slivered almonds. And if I want to intensify the flavor of soup, I will mince it or use the garlic press add it that way. I am a big fan of garlic.

And since we are talking about garlic, John and I have decided to grow next year’s crop in hills that are going to be about 10” tall and 15” across the top. We are hoping that this will make it easier to harvest them next year. I am always tinkering and trying to find the best way to harvest or plant or just have a little less work.

Back to the farm, we are picking our last planting of green beans this week and next week. Fall beans tend to come on slower and yield a little less, but they also tend to hold a little longer on the vine than the summer plantings. A lot of growers will plant different varieties of the same crop at different times throughout the year. We see this with sweet corn where they want to stagger the harvest or tree fruit where you plant an early August apple, followed by a September apple.

Unfortunately, Organic growers, when it comes to green beans, have less options. But the Strike Bean seed happily grows from May – Frost and this year it did not disappoint. Beans are my go to snack when I am in the field – crisp, tender green beans.

Bon Appetit,
Thanks for eating Klesick Farms green beans and garlic! Tristan

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Hoping for a Gully Washer

Actually, I am looking for a good rain to clean the air and end the fire season early or at least allow a respite for all the fire crews and families directly impacted by all the forest fires. And for the rest of us breathing this smoke, it would be most appreciated too. Lord, please send the rain.

Last week, Joelle and I and a few of the kiddos snuck off to Moclips for a few days before soccer starts, school begins and the final push to the Fall farm season. Fortuitously, it also happened to have the best air quality in the state, not great but not above 100 either.

We just played at the beach.

The waves just kept coming and coming and coming! Awesome power and rhythmic. When all was quiet during the wee hours of the morning, (I might be on a vacation, but I still get up at 5am) you could hear the constant roar of the ocean, like a freight train, but it is never accompanied by a crossing signal or the faint coming or going of a train. What power, magnificent power!

Most of us reading this newsletter, appreciate the tide coming and going as it pertains to the Puget Sound of Salish Sea. And for sure the sound can be very stormy, but it is a tame beast compared to the Pacific Ocean.

We wandered out into the Griffiths-Priday state park and waded the quiet waters of the Copalis River. We made our way to the mouth of the river, a completely different experience than the Stillaguamish and Skagit Rivers. There we came across the biggest hoof prints I have ever seen. Definitely not coastal black tail, or horses, they belonged to an elk. I guess Elk Creek was appropriately named after all! The tracks were huge, and the gait had to be 6 feet between hoof prints. We followed the tracks in the wet sand till it crossed back over the Copalis River and though we searched and searched, we couldn’t find the tracks on the other side of the river. But it was fun to look and since we are on vacation and no need to be anywhere at the moment, looking was perfectly acceptable.

Nature is beautiful. It is beautiful at the ocean, and in the city and on the farm. There is so much intricacy on a centipede or a robin or skate. Leaves floating above the water and leaves jostling below the water both making their way to the ocean or the bottom, but both destined to rejuvenate the ecosystem.

It is a privilege to participate actively or passively with nature and all its wonder.

 

Tristan

Last week wanderer, this week farmer