Category: Newsletters

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Right2KnowMarch.org – A MOBILIZATION FOR GMO LABELING

I have been thinking about the state of our national health and the health of our national food supply. Frankly, it is really pretty poor. We (the government) have been incentivizing corn, soybeans, cotton, and canola for far too long. Ironically, these are also the crops that the biotech industry has been promoting for years. And one could draw a parallel between the health of our people and the health of our food supply.

Sadly, legislative change is the only solution to America’s nutritionally void food crisis.  Farmers need to be encouraged to stop planting GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) crops and start planting more fruits and vegetables—more real food with real nutrients for the dinner plates of Americans. It is then that we will see the health of Americans improve. But this is no easy task. Half of the senators in DC are have constituents in the regions that grow GMO crops and the USDA is pro-biotech. And if half of the senators are going to vote favorably for GMOs in their district, it is nearly impossible to make meaningful legislative change.

What is the solution? Labeling, labeling, labeling! The only thing that will stop GMOs and this nutritionally poor USDA food policy is labeling. Give consumers the right to know what they are eating and stop hiding the GMOs in processed foods. We deserve the right to know if our food contains GMOs or not.

Starting this week, on October 1st, there is going to be a “Right to Know” march from New York City to our nation’s capitol.  For 16 days, concerned citizens are going to be marching to bring awareness to the importance of labeling. This is truly a fight, a good food fight, and our children’s children are beneficiaries. The biotech companies of the world do not want this to happen. They are adamantly opposed to labeling, but this is America and Americans should have the right to know if their foods contain GMOs or not!

You can follow along at right2knowmarch.org

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Not Until You Eat Your Veggies!

You know the routine. Opening up the vegetable drawer in the refrigerator to fill it up with produce from your box of good and, lo and behold, there are the beets from the last delivery—limp, wilted, and once again destined for the compost. You know that you would eat them, but no one else will eat them if you prepared them.

Now, growing up I didn’t like things like beets, kale, or other green things. 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, but 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—it takes time before we come to the point of enjoying them. If your family has recently made the switch to healthy eating, it can be a bit of a challenge changing your diet from processed, and/or high-sugar foods, to one that includes home-cooked meals with organic ingredients and more fresh vegetables.

A balanced diet is important when it comes to your personal health, but it is doubly important in your children’s. Diseases that were only heard of with adults over 50 are now a legitimate concern among our country’s youth. What your child is eating now is laying the foundation for later in life, and your behavior and attitude about food will make 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 your children may finish the entire serving the second or third try, 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. Finding creative names for veggies is a great way to add a fun perspective to eating. Cool names can make cool foods: “dinosaur broccoli trees,” “elf trees,” “power peas,” or “X-ray vision carrots.” Getting them to try something new is 90% of getting them to like it!

In summary, when it comes to changing your family’s eating habits, Mom, you are the one who makes it happen. You are changing your family’s futures for the better. And you are doing an awesome job!

Cheers!

Marty, for the Klesick Family Farm

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What a Season!

I am thankful for this Indian Summer. It seems like we haven’t had one for a few years. And this is the craziest of all seasons. Our fields are literally bursting during this harvest season.  I usually think of spring as the busiest season, but with spring the weather is heading towards summer, but with fall it is the opposite. With fall coming, we are trying to get the farm to bed for the winter. Which means that, unlike spring, when winter comes the game is over.

So as we get ready for our last dance with nature this year, we are harvesting, applying compost, and planting cover crops, as well as the last plantings of vegetables. I will be praying for a mild first frost this year. Oftentimes, with warm weather like this, the first frosts can really do some damage, especially to the squash, beans, cucumbers, and, of course, tomatoes. But on the flip side, the frost also adds a measure of sweetness to the greens and does signal that my family will get a winter’s rest.

Oh, but the frost is still to come and we have lots of harvesting to do. This year we have had the most beautiful green beans and incredible basil. Our corn crop is plumping up and our fall raspberries are coming on. Potatoes are ready to dig and the winter squash crop is late, but gaining steam. We are going to have lots of beautiful Cinderella pumpkins and sugar pie pumpkins, in addition to our favorites: delicata, acorn, and carnival squashes.

While the spring was difficult this year, as soon as the weather warmed up our farm has never produced better. We have healthier plants, more fruit set, and flavorful crops. After three years of compost, soil microbe applications, and cover crops, we are starting to see our field fertility management kick in.  It is very rewarding as a farmer to know that the long-term investment in the health of our land is paying off with healthy food for you and your family.

Our farm is a part of the Good Food Revolution and it is because of customers like you who care, we are encouraged to press on – and press on we will!

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Savoring Summer

If you listen closely, you can just start to hear it. It’s the voice of fall whispering. She calls out through the cool mornings and evenings, through the few leaves starting to drop, and through the subconscious longing for apples, pumpkins and warm foods.

For now, I’m not listening. I’m tuning out her voice and soaking in these last beautiful sun-filled days. One of these days I’ll wake up with eagerness to make our annual trip to the orchard. I’ll be dreaming of pumpkin pie and kids in costumes seeking out treats. But not now.

Currently, I’m still enjoying bathing suits, iced tea, and simple meals that taste of summer. The kind of meal where you quickly run in from outside not knowing what to make, but finding yourself with plenty of produce, you have dinner ready in an instant. The one where you forage through your pantry grabbing at a few staples, your imagination going wild and your stomach rumbling in anticipation. These meals are like delicious Kodak moments that I tuck away into an edible memory bank, knowing that I will long for these tastes about six months from now.

I reach for a can of white beans and a jar of sun-dried tomatoes. I grab a zucchini, which I always have on hand and often don’t know what to do with the current bounty. A quick trip outside to my little garden and I have a small handful of rosemary. I open the can, rinse the beans, add a few hefty spoonfuls of the tomatoes and the flavorful oil that comes with it. The rosemary gets a tender mince and all is tasted and adjusted with salt and pepper. On top, a vegetable peeler slices perfectly thin and elegantly long strips of zucchini. If I happen to have feta, goat cheese, or Parmesan on hand, that gets tossed in as well. A hearty tug on a loaf of crusty bread and dinner is served.

All the while the splashing outside continues. The iced tea flows freely and we savor the last burst of heat, the sounds of gleeful laughter ringing throughout the neighborhood, and the tastes of summer. Soon there will be fall, I’m almost ready.

by Ashley Rodriguez

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

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Klesick Family Farm Festival

Come on out to Klesick Family Farm and join us for an old fashioned farm celebration!

Saturday, August 20th 10:00am-4:00pm


Celebrate the season with us by enjoying a fun-filled day with live music, wagon rides, a pioneer play area, tug-o-war, balloon toss, gunny sack race, raffle prizes, farm walks, good food, and a produce stand – all set in the picturesque Stillaguamish River Valley.

We’ll also have a farm tour with Tristan so you can see exactly where your fruits and veggies are grown.

Directions: Klesick Family Farm, 24101 Miller Road, Stanwood, WA

For more information, check out our Facebook event and be sure to RSVP!

We look forward to seeing you at the farm!

*Please bring your own picnic blanket or chairs.

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Planning For Gray

Imagine yourself sitting inside this winter, watching the rain drops race one another down the windowpane. The constant drizzle and gray days have come and you now wonder if you’ll remember what the sun looks like or if you’ll ever see it again. The thought of roasting another root vegetable is too much to bare. You dream of drinking cold lemonade on bright green grass, where a sudden shock of cold spray from the sprinkler refreshes and quenches under the heat of the sun. For some reason, the drizzly rain of our winter is nothing like the welcome sprinkler in the summer.

I want you to really think about your future self, sluggishly meandering through those long gray months, when you long for a taste of summer – one of the tastes that we presently have in abundance.

The saying is true: “Live in the moment.” Eat raspberries right off the vine. Bite into a peach so juicy you are forced to eat it over the sink. Pluck peas off the vine. Eat a tomato that has fully ripened on the plant with just a whisper of salt. These are the summer moments you will cling to when the sun fades. Preserve these moments. Soak up as much of our northwest sun as you possibly can. Eat a sweet, juicy apricot now and freeze the rest in order to attain a taste of summer in the winter. Stock up on this bounty, then can it, jam it, pickle it, or freeze it. Your future self will thank you.

Recently, I spotted a 20-pound box of apricots. I had to have it. My husband, ever the realist, pointed out that this is a very busy week and we are leaving on vacation next week. Would I have the time to deal with 20 pounds of fruit? Valid question. But these are apricots – fresh, sweet, local apricots. They might not be around by the time we return from our week-long trip. In my mind there was no option.

I immediately set out to work and a mere two days, pounds of jam, bags of frozen fruit, and three tarts later, I paraded an empty box in front of him.

With a freezer full of rhubarb, strawberries, apricots, and jam I anticipate the cold, gray mornings! I’ll be there, hot coffee in hand, with a slice of butter wheat toast slathered with apricot jam.

by Ashley Rodriguez

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

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Lazy Summer Lasagna

Ingredients

  • Fresh pasta sheets, cut into eight 5” squares (note: you can use store-bought lasagna, cooked, cooled slightly, and cut into 5” lengths)
  • 2 T olive oil
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1/2 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 small zucchini, sliced thin
  • 1 small yellow squash (or more zucchini), sliced thin
  • 2 cup fresh whole-milk ricotta
  • 3 tablespoons chopped, summer savory (or oregano)
  • 2 tablespoons chopped, basil
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 tomato, sliced thin

Directions

  • Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta sheets, two at the time (to prevent sticking), 3-5 minutes until al dente. Transfer, with tongs, to a plate.
  • In a sauté pan, add oil over medium-high heat. Stir in garlic and onions, and cook 5-7 minutes until golden brown, stirring frequently to prevent them from burning. Transfer garlic and onion to a medium bowl, and set aside. In the same sauté pan, add zucchini and summer squash, and cook 6-8 minutes, stirring, until translucent.
  • Add ricotta, summer savory, basil, salt and pepper to the bowl with garlic and onion. Stir well and season to taste.
  • To assemble, place one pasta sheet on a plate. Spread with ricotta-herb mixture. Top with zucchini, summer squash and tomato slices. Finish with an additional pasta sheet, if desired. Season to taste with additional herbs, salt and pepper. Repeat to make a total of four lasagnas.


From www.fresh365online.com

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Bitter, Short, and Ugly

No, the title has nothing to do with my personal description—ummm, I’m not bitter :). It has to do with some of the challenges we faced last week in our effort to bring you the freshest quality organic produce available.

Our goal at Klesick Family Farm is to deliver a box of produce that will “Wow!” our customers and leave them with the feeling that we have served them the way we ourselves would want to be served. Tristan working the crops in his field, Marty coordinating with our suppliers and planning the produce for the week, Mike and Brenda processing hundreds of customer orders, our warehouse crew quickly hand packing a multitude of boxes, and our delivery guys scurrying throughout our region to place a box of good at your doorstep, all have one goal—to serve our customers with perfection.

Now, of course, this perfection of service sometimes gets a bit of interference from Mother Nature and human fingers. Last week, for example, the baby leaf lettuce we planned on using from our farm was bitter so we had to change to regular lettuce. We ended up short on the russet potatoes because we were accidentally sent a few cases of a different type of potato. We also had to cancel many orders for fresh raspberries because, although scrumptious, they arrived partially juiced.

These last minute hiccups usually require us to adjust your order or change what we had planned for your box of produce. We feel badly when these things happen because we know at times they may inconvenience you. But because we will never intentionally send you a wrong or bad product, sometimes we do end up having to make changes in order to serve you well. If we end up having to change an item(s) in your box from what we had originally planned, please know that you are always receiving the same value.

You are why we are in business and to serve you well is our goal. We appreciate your understanding when changes happen as we work to bring you the freshest quality organic produce available.

Wishing you all the best,

Jim Coleman

Office Manager

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Barn Swallows

I love those voracious consumers of insects. Often when I am working with a tractor or my horses there will be squadron of swallows following me around the field.  I notice them more when I am clipping (mowing) pasture. These beautiful birds are fun to watch. It almost reminds me of a Star Wars movie. Here I am on this big tractor motoring my way through acres of grass and my squadron of swallows usually six or seven swooping here and there, darting this way and that.

At one time swallows built their nests in caves, but now they have an affinity for man-made structures. Hence the name barn swallows. I have been systematically adding habitat for wild life on our farm and the increasing populations and variety of feathered friends is impressive and beneficial.  Most birds have a specific function, whether it is an affinity for weed seed, grubs, or flying insects.  Swallows love flies and mosquitoes, and their babies love to eat about every 15 minutes or so.  Some swallows will fly over 600 miles a day on their feeding missions to try and stay off their young ones’ appetite.

My only challenge with swallows is that they have now discovered my front porch! Eeeeeeek! They are welcome to the sides of my barn, the rafters of my stables, but the front porch is not going to work. I definitely don’t want swallows hanging around and making a mess on the front porch, but I definitely do want those insect eating machines living on the farm.  I also know that once that nest gets built, it will be inhabited for generations to come and when those critters have babies they will be dive bombing us every time we leave the house trying to protect their little ones.

So I have been conflicted over how to handle this invasion of good on my porch. We keep knocking down their front porch nesting efforts, but those critters are more determined than a strong-willed two year old! For now, I am going to treat them like a two year old and keep persisting one more time than them.

Working with nature to raise good food,

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The Picnic Basket

I found it in a stack along with other picnic baskets but I immediately knew this was the one. It’s quite rare when you go antiquing with something specific in mind and you walk out with that very thing, and for a good price, I might add. That’s when you know that purchase is meant to be.

Her woven weave is thick, not dainty. The lid closes just slightly askew, letting you know that in her day she was well-loved and frequently used. Her body is deep, leaving plenty of room for a blanket, multiple Tupperware filled with dips, spreads, cheeses, etc. and a nice bottle of wine, if one chooses. She is the color of a hearty loaf of artisan bread and already we love her.

Picnic season is a happy one around here. I am not sure if I love them most because the birds take care of the majority of the clean up or because my favorite meal is a simple one of fresh fruit, fine cheeses, a crusty loaf of bread and a crisp, clean wine.

We don’t travel far for our picnics with many of them being a few inches from out front door but the lure of dining outside remains. The squirrels and crows look on with anticipation just waiting for us to drop a taste for them. Sitting in the midst of our modest garden, I dream of the summer day when the snap peas are at their peak and we can pick our picnic food straight off the vine.

The beauty of food that can be eaten outdoors is that it often can be made well in advance. The best picnic food doesn’t require the extra load of utensils and begs to be scooped up with crackers or bread. Which is what makes this week’s featured recipe – red pepper relish – simply perfect for picnics. With the addition of cream cheese it instantly becomes a sweet and savory spread. Slathered on a tortilla and rolled up with turkey and lettuce you’ll find yourself with an irresistible wrap. Or simply scooped up on a wheaty cracker or a crispy baguette with a pillow-like interior. Without the cream cheese it stores in the fridge for weeks or can easily be made in bulk and then canned.

My family, including our new picnic basket, and I want to wish you all a very happy picnic season!

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