by Beverly Faxon
Cream Month
When it comes to ice cream, my childhood was idyllic— perhaps because my dad loved ice cream so much, or because we were a family that had nothing but good things to say about sugar. Whatever the reason, ice cream was a nightly pleasure—a couple of bedtime scoops with Hershey’s chocolate sauce.
We lived within a short drive of the University of Maryland dairy, where milk from cows tended by the agriculture students got churned into ice cream. It was sold out of a long, low building, on a long, green hill. Easy fans slowly moved the air, and a wooden screen door banged with
The Washington Monument came in a giant mixing bowl— ten scoops of brightly colored ice cream, topped with puffs of pastel whipped cream, sprinkles, and competing sauces, all accompanied by a fistful of long-handled spoons. Even the kid-sized dishes were special: I still have the small, red plastic cowgirl boot that my hot fudge sundae came in, little parasol askew on top.
And then of course, there was the ice cream truck, which jingled curbside in our neighborhood each summer afternoon, prompting a race to scoop up nickels and dimes and another slamming of screen doors. In my house, ice
Director of Prepared Foods Lisa Gilden and her grandson Hideo enjoying luscious licks of Co-op chocolate ice cream.
2024 Board Election Results
Thanks to all our member-owners who voted in the 2024 Board Election and those who attended our Annual Membership Meeting on May 8.
We are happy to welcome back incumbent candidates Tom Theisen and Brad Claypool. The two will serve 3-year terms.
Co-op Board of Trustees
Tom Theisen
Brad Claypool
Rob Smith
Kristen Ekstran
Casey Schoenberger
Laura Bady
CCMA Recap Curbside Service Permanently Closed
Genaro Gomez Staff Board Member
Leigha Staffenhagen Board Administrator
At the end of May, several Co-op Board members, our General Manager Tony White, and Leigha Staffenhagen, our Board Administrator and Community Marketing Manager attended the annual Consumer Cooperative Management Association (CCMA) conference for the second year in a row, this time in Portland, Maine. As a refresher, CCMA is organized by the University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives and attended by food co-op leaders from around the country. The 380 attendees represented a broad range of co-ops, from newly formed to multi-stored behemoths.
The conference provided a broad overview of where co-ops are today and how they are addressing the common pressures we are all experiencing.
One standout issue is how some food co-ops are addressing the need, especially in inner-cities, to bring real food at affordable prices into areas that have historically not been served by corporate grocers food deserts. In many areas, the nearest store other than a minimart, or dollar store, is located far from the residents who need it. In these situations, co-ops are providing customer-driven solutions that don’t look a lot like the “natural food” co-ops many of us are used to. They are providing what the communities want and at prices that work, while providing education, employment, and respect for the community. This work is complicated by many factors: the demands of federal programs, like WIC; the lack of familiarity with grocery stores; the fear of gentrification; the reputation of co-ops being too “bougie”; and a host of other dynamics like culture, language, and turf. These co-ops are working hard with the communities to figure out how to make this all work to allow better access to real food while highlighting the many benefits that would accrue if they succeed.
At Skagit Valley Food Co-op, we have been discussing how to address underserved areas and populations, and the experiences of these pioneers was a valuable learning.
It was also beneficial to take a few days and reflect on what a co-op is. At its most basic, a co-op is a democratic, non-corporate business model—one where the business works for its members and its community. One speaker said it best: “The Co-op IS community.” I think we don’t emphasize this enough. Our co-op exists to serve our community, and our members have a voice in what we do. We aren’t extracting profit for a remote corporation, we are nourishing our community, both through better food, as well as cooperating to make the community itself a better place to be. It was good to hear other co-op’s efforts to build on this ideal and to be able to share what we’ve been doing.
Tony and Leigha led one session on how we stay relevant to our members, our employees, our non-member shoppers, and our community as a whole. They discussed our communications (like this excellent newsletter!), our living wage goals, our employee recognition and benefits, our community giving programs like our Growing Good Fund, support for Viva Farms, 4% Friday, Tokens for Tomorrow Tokens, and a lot more. The session was very well received by the near standing room only crowd, with one person saying he found it “truly aspirational.”
Overall, we all came away proud of our accomplishments, aware of some things we could do better, and even more committed to Skagit Valley Food Co-op, our members, our employees, our community, and the co-op model in general.
In May, after long deliberation, we permanently closed our curbside grocery service. Our Co-op was one of the only co-ops left in the country still offering the service. Unfortunately, it no longer made sense for us: the decision was made because of low utilization and the staffing required to fulfill orders. Labor and staffing continue to be a challenge, and this change allows us to provide a better overall experience to in-store shoppers, especially at checkout. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but we’re excited to welcome all shoppers back in the store to provide you next-level customer service every step of the way.
2024 is the 20th Anniversary of our 4% Friday Community Shopping Day!
That’s 240 Fridays, over $500,000 donated, and thousands of lives impacted. Thank you to our shoppers for marking your calendars, showing up, and giving back to our friends and neighbors for the last 20 years.
In July, mark your calendars for the 26th to support Food to Go (pictured) Food to Go is an amazing program improving food access for children in need. F2G is a weekend backpack food program serving children in the Anacortes School District, providing 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, and 2 dinners, healthy snacks and fresh fruit every Friday to children who are food insecure over the weekends. Because of donations, they are often able to supplement the bag with additional food. All donations to Food to Go are used only to purchase food for the children.
Know of any other groups doing good in our community? The Board of Trustees is currently accepting non-sectarian, non-partisan charitable applicants for the Co-op’s 4% Friday Community Shopping Day Program in 2025.
Groups chosen, one per month for the calendar year, receive 4% of the day’s gross receipts at the Skagit Valley Food Co-op. These community groups are selected for their service to the community in the following areas: local community service, organic food, natural health, environmentally friendly and sustainable agricultural practices, human rights, environmental preservation, and other areas that reflect “like-minded” mission statements. The Board also hopes to select at least one organization with a focus on youth.
Once all applications are received, a small selection committee meets in October to select the new 4% Friday recipients. All groups will be notified of their application status once approved by the Board, and the selected groups will be announced to the public in January 2025.
Applications
Hours
by Brad Claypool
Seedlings growing at Twin Villages Foodbank Farm.
Local charcuterie at Rising Tide Co-op.
Tom and Brad at our 50th Anniversary.
A giant check for Food to Go.
General Manager’s Update
by Tony White, General Manager
I feel like I keep saying it, but time is really rolling by! It’s hard to believe we are halfway through 2024. Last August’s Golden Jubilee feels like it was just yesterday, but also like a lifetime ago.
We’ve accomplished a lot since then, and I’m happy to report that sales through mid-May are up 5.87% over the same period of time in 2023. I feel very fortunate to be the General Manager of a co-op that has strong sales year-over-year and a committed member-owner shopping base.
On May 8, we held our Annual Member-Owner Meeting off site for the first time at WSU’s Northwest Research Extension Center, just down the highway. Turnout and participation were great, and we were able to enjoy good food and drink amongst friends. We gave a short recap of 2023, discussed financial performance, and highlighted our social and environmental accomplishments. Our 2023 annual report is available for you all to pick up a copy at the store or it can be viewed online as well. It is a great publication that highlights the efforts of our Co-op. We also had the privilege of hearing from Carolyn Moulton of Lautenbach Recycling on the work being done at their facilities and elsewhere in the county to reduce, reuse, and recycle waste. The technology and innovation right here in Skagit is impressive. Our sincere thanks to everyone who attended! As I have mentioned, the former Third Street Café restaurant space has been successfully transformed into an expansion of our Co-op kitchen facility. Almost everything you’ll find in the Deli is being handcrafted in what we now call the Makery, by our food production team. These upgrades and our dynamic prepared foods team will allow us to bring you new food offerings sometime later this summer. You can expect to see hot sandwiches, a wider selection of salads, grain and protein bowls, and more entrées, too. We’ll also be installing a new case to better highlight our amazing in-house baked cakes, pastries, and dessert offerings.
In order to make space for all this wonderful new food, we’ve purchased a 20-foot upright case that will be placed against the deli window alongside First Street, where the grab-n-go case is currently. We decided to go with a case that has doors because they reduce energy consumption by up to 40%. But don’t let that stop you from opening them to grab something delicious! Obviously, there isn’t room for both the new case and the existing grab-n-go case, so once the new case is installed, there’s going to be a bit of shuffling in the store. The grab-n-go case will be relocated near the dairy department, where the chocolate and snack bars are now. (Don’t worry—we’ll point you straight to your favorite chocolate’s new spot.) This move means more room for more dairy products! Co-op products currently in the produce cooler will move behind the big beautiful doors of the new deli case! We’ll also have space to offer cut fruit and veggies from the produce department.
Speaking of produce, let me not forget, for those of you have not yet seen our new fresh squeezed juices, we now have fresh squeezed juices! They are fabulous. We invested in a very cool machine that squeezes grapefruit, oranges, tangerines, limes and lemons, and other citrus fruit. I know what I’ll be sipping on this summer. Definitely give the juices a try, they’re just great.
One more significant upgrade, that I’m sure you’ve noticed if you’ve been in the Co-op recently, is our new floor! After a six-week long project of grinding away the old floor, which in some places was several layers of old tile and other flooring material, we are left with an amazing shiny concrete floor.
By choosing to redo the floor in this way, we have established a low maintenance floor that will last for decades. I want to shout out to all the staff that had to repeatedly relocate products every single night to allow the work crew in to grind and finish the floors. It was tedious and demanding work. Thank you all so much! I also appreciate all of our members and shoppers who consistently shopped our store even during this six-week period of dust and construction. For our curious shoppers, please ask a produce staff member to show you the horseshoe that was found under some floor tiles. It is now a permanent part of our floor. Lucky us!
I hope things are well with you all, and we look forward to showcasing our new food offerings in August!
In
Cooperation,
Tony White
Now Accepting SUN Bucks
500,000+ children will get $120 in nutrition benefits this summer!
More than 500,000 Washington children will receive funds this summer to help buy food through a new Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) program called SUN Bucks. The Co-op is happy to accept SUN Bucks as we work toward providing even greater food access to our community.
In December 2022, the federal government authorized a permanent, nationwide Summer EBT program to support children who lose access to free and reduced-price school meals during the summer months. The Department of Social and Health Services received federal approval to implement SUN Bucks in April 2024 and is partnering with the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction to distribute these benefits starting this summer.
“Students need nutritious meals to learn and grow,” said State Superintendent Chris Reykdal. “The Summer EBT program provides essential support to children across Washington during the summer months when they don’t have their regular access to school meals. This program is an important way that we support the well-being of children and families across our state.”
“No child should suffer from hunger,” said DSHS Secretary Jilma Meneses. “Every bit of support we can provide families is critically important, especially during the summer months when other resources are not as readily available.”
The SUN Bucks benefit is a one-time payment of $120 per eligible child in each household and will be deposited onto new SUN Bucks cards and mailed beginning in early June.
2023 Annual Report: Fifty & Feeling Golden!
Last year, the Co-op turned 50! What a year! And what an accomplishment! It was such a bright spot to be able to come together at the Golden Jubilee in honor of all the Co-op has accomplished and endured this decade and all of those since 1973.
Our deepest gratitude to each and every one of you who attended the Golden Jubilee in August and a very heartfelt thanks to the countless others who have supported the Co-op in one way or another over the last 50 years to make the evening possible in the first place.
The year was full of celebration and good food, that’s for sure, and lots of other good stuff, too. The 2023 Annual Report is now available online and in the store, so you can see what else we achieved together last year.
Scan to view online
Dona Flora Herbs: Four Decades of Hard, Beautiful Work
by Anne Basye
On Instagram, flower farming looks idyllic.
Beauty is a given when flowers are your main crop— but Beth Hailey of Dona Flora Herbs knows the grit behind the glamour. One of the first small-scale flower growers in Skagit County, she has been raising flowers, herbs, and specialty vegetables for 41 years. She knows what it takes to start seeds and transplant, weed, water, pick, arrange, market and sell their blooms. She’ll tell you about coping with mud, drought, cold spells, heat waves, and wholesale clients who declare bankruptcy without paying you. About prepping flowers for a wedding until midnight and getting up early the next morning to set them up.
“My mom works harder than anyone I have ever known,” says Hailey’s daughter Maya Romero.
“She works all the time. I don’t think she’ll ever stop.” Hailey had been growing annual and perennial flowers for six years when her husband died in 1987. Romero was 13 and her younger brother Ole was 11. The new widow faced a tough decision: get a job, or stick with her business? She listened to her customers, and today has four decades of flexibility and persistence under her belt.
Flexibility, because small farmers who rent land have to be ready to move on short notice. Persistence, because she shows up day after day, week after week, year after year to work her magic, no matter the weather or economy.
She shows up to farm in rainstorms. Shows up at the Bellingham Farmers Market on days so chilly most other vendors have stayed home. Shows up for her Sunday job at the Skagit Valley Food Co-op and her twice-a-week spring gig at Christianson’s Nursery, because multitasking is how the smallest farmers make ends meet.
If you live in or visit Skagit County, you’ve enjoyed Hailey’s small tabletop bouquets during breakfast at the Calico Cupboard.
Shop at the Co-op, and her bunches of her sweet peas and dahlias are just inside the front door.
Browse the fall Rexville Grange Art Show for her dried flowers and braids of garlic, and you can sip hot cider flavored with her mulling spices.
Most of what she grows she places directly into someone’s hands.
At the Bellingham Farmers Market, her tomato starts and dahlia tubers meet enthusiastic gardeners, and her bouquets, herbal salves, peppers and tiny lemon cucumbers find eager buyers.
Not to mention the hundreds of couples whose wedding flowers she has done. “Now I’m doing flowers for their children’s weddings,” Hailey says. For the last 10 years, she has farmed at the eastern slope of Pleasant Ridge on Best Road. This one-acre plot, the sixth place she has rented, had never been farmed. “I didn’t realize that bindweed and horsetail were waiting in the ditches for me, and I never had to deal with reed canary grass before,” she says.
On the other hand, the soil absorbs moisture better than her previous plot. Except in spring, when water can pour down from the Ridge.
Even her single acre requires year-round work. In January she orders seeds. In March, she starts those seeds in her home greenhouse or her three Best Road hoop houses. One is devoted to tomato starts, another to culinary peppers of all kinds. In the third are delicate gomphrena, celosia, ageratum, and early dahlias.
Outside, as the weather improves, she plants rows of beans, a thick stand of dahlias, and flowers tall and small. A hundred-foot long border of hydrangeas yields gorgeous blooms in the fall.
In spring, Hailey and her seasonal workers keep weeds away from the “babies”—newly planted plants and transplants.
In summer, watering is more important than weeding. “I focus on things I have just planted and things that are reaching blooming time,” she says. “Things in the middle I can water last.” In hot weather, she keeps the hoop houses cool and moist so their residents don’t burn up.
Summer has its own rhythm. Hailey gets up early to tend plants at her house, make deliveries, and irrigate. Workers arrive about 11 o’clock. Everyone eats together around 2. On Tuesdays, she and her workers pick flowers for deliveries to local restaurants and co-ops.
She makes deliveries on Wednesday mornings. On Thursdays, some workers weed, mow and water; others pick. Fridays are long and intense, as the crew preps for the Saturday market and that weekend’s weddings.
As fall approaches, the focus is stretching out the selling season. The day before the first frost, workers cut every dahlia or dahlia bud with even a little color and put them in the farm cooler to ripen. The beans are cut from their poles and dried in Hailey’s sunny living room. Flowers that can be dried end up in holiday wreaths, swags and dried bouquets.
All the while, Hailey is keeping dozens of details in her head: what’s planted where, what’s in the farm cooler, what’s starting or drying in her home garden, what is needed for which market or wedding, what has to be loaded on the truck and delivered.
Hailey doesn’t mind. “It makes me happy,” she says. “I like doing puzzles, and every year is a puzzle. How will I rotate plants that shouldn’t be planted in the same place, which ones need more sun, which have to be staked, how to make sure dahlias are planted and labeled according to the map I make, and more.”
Janet Murray of Bellingham didn’t grow up around agriculture. Working for Hailey, “I was astounded at how close the margins are and how she was able to keep her business going,” she said. “But I also learned that being outside is a beautiful life. $@#*! miserable sometimes, but a great life in a lot of ways.”
Hailey can be a demanding boss—but she’s also kind, says daughter Romero, who makes bouquets every Friday during growing season. “I could call her at 11 at night and say I need help and she would drive over and help me. As busy as she is, she would do anything for you.”
And she asks a lot of herself. Hailey is over 70 now, with no plans to stop farming. “I will continue as long as my body will continue,” she says.
Until then, she’ll stay in motion. “I can’t just stand here,” she says on a summer day. “I have to cut.”
This article was originally published as part of Skagitonians to Preserve Farmland’s “Meet a Farmer” series. Visit skagitonians.org to sign up for more farmer stories.
Beth vending at the Bellingham Farmers Market, where she has been a vendor for more than 30 years. Photos by Marci Plank.
Dona Flora bouquets on display.
Ketchup & Other Condiments: An Origin Story
by Sarah Stoner
In my defense, I no longer believe it.
In earlier years of my life, I admit, I believed ketchup came from a bottle. Like most of our ingrained beliefs, we aren’t even aware we have them— until we are confronted with a different truth. I didn’t realize how much I accepted that certain foods came to me off a shelf. My ketchup shake-up, unexpected wake-up, arrived when I was fourteen.
The Thailand of the 1980s that I lived in as a U.S. teenager did not have readily available ketchup on grocery shelves. Nope. You know the bottle, the one with the comfortable white cap nested above two numbers on its octagonal glass frame.
Hot sauce, fish sauce, yes. Red Bull, yes, before it was branded for the U.S. market, sold under the name Krating Daeng (Thai for "bull red"), and bought by many tired high school classmates by caffeine strength, named like powerful firecrackers: M-100, M-150.
If you could find American ketchup, it was expensive. The bottle slapped with a white import label covered in six-point black Thai type: country of origin, ingredients, tariffs, customs duties tax. Our family never bought one bottle. One day, out of our kitchen sprang homemade ketchup. Wait, what?! I had no idea…
It’s a bit embarrassing to admit this a-ha moment. Then, it’s fascinating to realize, there are some foods that, to me even today, come off a shelf— seemingly born in a box, or in a package.
When’s the last time I made mustard, mayonnaise, ricotta, puffed or corn-flake-like cereal…? Ramen noodles, ranch, tofu, tempeh, crackers of all kinds… mm, those flaky leavened ones? Ketchup…?! I do realize that you, as cool Co-op people, are the most likely of any to say, “Well, just yesterday I made/brewed/stewed my own .” But play along with me. For most of us today, cereals, cheese, crackers, and condiments come from a grocery shelf. Not our kitchen pots.
Not everyone, I know. I loved the time when a neighbor friend invited us to taste test their three different batches of root beer. That’s right, my mind was a little blown that it came from their brew keg. Not a can. One of the three versions was an old-timey recipe that tasted downright medicinal. Sufferin’ sassafras! I rather liked that root-forward walk back in time. Today, the industry of food has been long established. “In the late nineteenth century, the emergence of processed food altered the daily consumption habits of millions of U.S. households,” notes historian Nancy F. Koehn, in a Smithsonian essay on Heinz’ early marketing. “Bottled horseradish, canned coffee, packaged meat, boxed cereal, and other mass-produced foodstuffs began to appear on urban grocery store shelves in the decades after the Civil War.”
And here we are. So, how did two ubiquitous U.S. sauces travel from stovetop to cupboard staple?
Origins of Ranch Dressing
Ranch dressing is as American as it gets. The mild creamy herb-rich dressing was created in 1949 by a Black American who made his riches in Alaska as a contract plumber. Steve Hensen made the buttermilk dressing to accompany the meals he served to his work crews on job sites. The plumber-turned-cowboy did well enough to retire at 35 and move with his wife Gayle to California, where they bought a ranch. Fathom a guess at its name? ...Hidden Valley Ranch.
The Hensens hosted parties where they served the tangy dressing (alongside steaks) to guests visiting the ranch. Perhaps young and restless, Steve introduced the recipe to some local businesses near their Santa Barbara farm (one still serves what they claim is his original recipe). Soon, they established a mail order business, sending packets of dressing around the country. Customers added buttermilk and mayonnaise to the original 75 cent seasoning packet. In 1972, Hensen sold the business for a cool $8 million. Stores sold only the dry ranch mix until 1983 when shelf-stable bottles of the creamy dressing came along. The Cool Ranch Doritos phenomena hit the grocery scene shortly after. Today, ranch dressing keeps strange bed fellows, part successful marketing, part undeniable creamy, cool coating as complement to chicken wings, nuggets, pizza, and buffalo cauliflower. Yup, about as American as it gets.
Origins of Ketchup
Ketchup’s birth story, on the other hand, begins in China, as a dark sauce thin in texture and based on pickled fish parts. In Cantonese, the condiment was called “keh-jup” or “koe-cheup,” meaning fish sauce. The fermented sauce stored well.
This led, in the early 1700s, to Dutch and British merchants bringing Chinese ketchup to Europe, where cooks tried to recreate the sauce and ended up adding new ingredients. Nope, not tomatoes yet. In 1700s Great Britain, “catsup” was made mostly of mushrooms and included oysters, anchovies, or walnuts. Seems the sauce morphed from fermented Chinese fish to a sort of Euro fungi-shellfish chutney.
Versions of the sauce we know today didn’t show up until 1812, when an American horticulturist created the first known tomato-based ketchup (and brandy) recipe. Soon after, tomato-based versions appeared in Europe and the USA, though still contained earlier ingredients like oysters and anchovies. Pharmacies in the 1830s started to sell tomato ketchup as a medicine for diarrhea, jaundice, and indigestion. Farmers at the time primarily prepared the country’s ketchup supply. It was another method of conserving tomatoes. U.S. companies took note of ketchup’s growing popularity and decided to enter the game. Hence… Heinz. 1869. And, following: my well-branded “ketchup bottle” brain more than 100 years later.
Just goes to show. You can take the girl out of America, but you can’t take American branding out of the girl.
Homemade Ketchup
Result = Yum.
· 6oz can tomato paste
· 1/4 cup honey, or agave
· 1/2 cup white vinegar 1/4 cup water
1 tsp sugar
· 3/4 tsp salt
· 1/4 tsp onion powder
· 1/8 tsp garlic powder
Directions:
1. Combine ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat; whisk until smooth.
2. Bring to a boil, and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring often.
3. Remove from heat and cover until cool. Store refrigerated.
Smashburger Sauce
Homemade Ranch Dressing
Channel that OG Hidden Valley. Use a little more salt to make as a dressing, and a little less when serving it as a dip.
1/2 cup cold buttermilk, or kefir
· 1/2 cup cold sour cream
· 1/2 cup mayonnaise
· 1 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp onion powder
or 2 tbsp finely chopped chives
· 1 tsp dried parsley, or 2 tbsp finely chopped Italian parsley
· 1/2 tsp dried dill, or 1 tbsp chopped fresh dill
1/2 tsp garlic powder, or 3 medium garlic cloves
· 1/2 tsp fine sea salt, plus more to taste
· 1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
Directions:
Simply combine all the ranch ingredients in a bowl and give it a good whisk to combine. Store refrigerated.
Credit to my 14-year-old for introducing our family to this sauce—we no longer eat homemade burgers without it. Katherine wings the sauce with no measurements, and we scrape the mixing bowl clean. No leftovers. What’s a smashburger, you ask? Thin, crispy Internet-sensation patties made from flattening small balls of ground beef in the pan while cooking. Served as a stack of patties on one bun with sauce between each.
· 1/3 cup mayonnaise 1/3 cup ketchup
1 tbsp yellow mustard
· 1 tbsp pickle juice or Worcestershire sauce, to taste
· 1 tbsp dill pickles and onion or shallot, chopped
· 1 tbsp sambal, horseradish, or sriracha, for kick (optional)
1 pinch garlic powder
1 pinch fresh cracked black pepper
Directions:
Combine all the ingredients in a jar and shake, or in a bowl for a good whisk to combine. Adjust ingredients to taste, Katherine-style.
The first known printed ketchup recipe in Eliza Smith's "Compleat Housewife", published 1727. Sarah, circa 1984 at Wat Arun, Bangkok Thailand.
Teenage Sarah, 1985
Hand Repair
by nancylee bouscher
My dad never wore gloves. He was forever in the garage ruining his work shirts as he tinkered with a machine, and his hands came into the house covered in black grime. The crevices of palms and peaks of decades-old calluses highlighted by motor grease like a topographical map of his latest project. Watching him wash away the traces with potent citrus degreaser in the kitchen sink was like witnessing a magic act—transforming his almost robotic fixing digits back into the hairy knuckles and freckled fingers that made fried egg sandwiches on weekend mornings. I’d survey his hands for the latest nick or bruise, asking for the story of what happened. Sometimes he’d remember the saga of a stubborn bolt or the slip of hammer, but most times he wouldn’t know—too caught up in using his hands to know just how he wound up abusing them.
My mom never wore gloves either. She planted honeysuckle and passionflower vines that grew into a wall of buzzing bees and left dirt under nails. Washing dishes until her hands were wrinkled and her nails too soft, always peeling away if she tried to grow them into anything longer than function allowed. Grabbing Brillo pads that felt like wresting a porcupine for the sake of a scrubbed sink left her hands soft but dry, sensitive and irritated at times. She used shampoo to wash off the house paint when the urge to cover the walls with a new hue hit. Her hands had chronic hang nails, and even now, she always has an emery board to keep them filed evenly. I never saw her use hand cream, but my mom’s hands are softer than the finest silk, even as age spots spread and the skin thins.
Gloves came to mind, when, in the span of three weeks, I had a hair stylist and a massage therapist both don one glove during my appointments because of an injury. Tanner, of Curls Etc in Stanwood, explained he had a small cut, so he was wearing a blue latex glove to protect it. I mused that I don’t remember ever seeing a hair dresser wear only one glove. I tried to see if it felt any different as he washed my mane, but couldn’t discern one at all. Then, when a massage therapist wore a glove to protect a burn from their woodstove, I got that tingly feeling, not related to the amazing massage that something was afoot about hands. The universe was somehow urging me to think about the 5 to 10 to 15 to 20 wonderous ways hands are simply awesome. No wonder our dogs are so jealous. I never actually took to wearing gloves as I tackled blackberries, and so, I found myself with splinters. I still did not take heed to be more careful, so I burned my wrist in hot bath mishap. And I have stopped taking all my supplements, so my nails are also peeling in honor of my mom’s genetics. Learn where I have not, and consider some ways you can cherish and care for one of the best parts of our bodies. All hand care starts with washing them, and my current soap-affair is in full swing: The Goat Project bar soaps. Yes, it’s partly due to the Nubian goats that provide the milk, but the soap itself is divine. If you haven’t tried fresh goat milk soap, please join the cult. The hemp patchouli is great for the die-hard crunchy folk, and there are also more chill options like spearmint.
If Badger Balm had existed when I was a kid, it would have been ideal for both of my parents. The balm is made with just five ingredients, and they are all organic. It comes in a metal tin in two sizes, and Badger is still owned and operated by the same family that started it in 1996. They also make the best cuticle care salve ever invented, with twelve organic ingredients. Give one of each of these to everyone you know, and they’ll love you forever. Or maybe just try it for yourself—baby steps. Wild Carrot tops the sales charts with their “Lord! My Hands are So Dry!" lotion. The glass bottle with pump makes the perfect sink-side aide to fighting Madge’s dish-pan-hands (if you know, you know). Then, after many customer requests, we now have Serious Hand Repair Cream by The Naked Bee, which comes in a tidy tube that is small enough to fly with you and your hands.
Or, if you’d like to be able to fill your own bottle, we now offer Griffin Remedy’s unscented Omega-3 hand and body lotion in the bulk personal care area.
For fancy fingers, we have vegan nail polish from BKind. They are 77% plant based and free of 21 toxic ingredients that are often found in conventional nail polishes. These polishes also go on like a dream and come in colors, like Tampa Teal, that make you whip your hands around when you talk like you made it on the cheerleading squad. Grab the base and top coat to extend the experience.
For those of us that aren’t skilled with a paint brush, try the non-toxic nail wraps by Lotusby. Think: stickers for your nails. Great designs, easy to apply, and you’d be supporting a local woman-owned business too, which is next-level fancy.
Now that your hands look great, let’s get to the bare bones of having them feel good. Topical pain treatments often have essential oils that, while effective at pain management, are tricky to use on our hands because we touch things—like our eyes— and then it feels like your eyes are melting. So, if you have achy hands, I recommend locally made Infinity Lotion, a lightweight lotion that works wonders for pain relief and is even gentle enough for irritated or sensitive skin.
Sadly, lots of folks struggle with arthritis in their hands, and researching arthritis can be really overwhelming. A great resource to start with is The Arthritis Foundation (arthritis.org) which offers insight into the types of arthritis, treatment options— from lifestyle to supplements to pharmaceuticals— and is really easy to navigate. Popular supplements for arthritis include fish oil and turmeric because of their anti-inflammatory properties.
Remember that doses can vary, so take your time finding out what, or if, they work for you. Collagen continues to fly off the shelf, and shoppers often report to us that they feel that this helps their joint discomfort, and it can also help with weak nails. One of the easier supplements to take, many just add it to their coffee.
Tropi-Cool Summer
There are interesting studies on Alpha Lipoic Acid as treatment for nerve pain, including pins and needle feeling in hands and feet. Lion’s Mane mushrooms have also been used to treat this (pubmed.com has more details on these studies) and are also a popular supplement for memory and focus. Both are available from some of our favorite independently owned local companies: Natural Factors and Host Defense
The hardest part about healing our own hands is that, like removing a sliver, we can’t always do it on our own. As always, the Wellness Department staff is ready to lend you a hand in finding what you need for your hands or feet, or anything in between. We also know that because our shelves are full of healing power, they can be a lot to navigate, so while we can’t give medical advice, we are pretty handy at research, know our products like the back of our hand, and can point them out to you in snap. And we love to hear about how something did or didn’t work for you. Your feedback helps us to continue to bring in great products and share your experience with others that are looking for ways to lessen the grip of life’s more thorny parts, so we can enjoy the jazz-hands moments more fully.
Fluicer (fold flat easy juicer) | DREAM FARM
A splash of lemon, squirt of lime, or fresh OJ to start the day. Summer is sweeter with fresh-squeezed fruit. The Fluicer is an easy squeeze citrus juicer that folds completely flat for space-saving storage. Plus, who doesn’t love a good portmanteau?
Paradise Room Spray | AURA CACIA
Create a personal oasis with this mix of pure citrus, jasmine, and rose essential oils. Coming from our friends at Frontier Co-op, this spray will transform your space without adding harmful chemicals to your home.
Tropi-cool Cactus Wind Up Fan | RELAXUS
Nothing like a fresh breeze when the temps turn up! This handy dandy fan will give you a blast of air whenever you need it— no batteries required. Just crank, and cool!
Awapuhi Scrub Butter | OHANA ORGANICS
Fair Trade. Certified Organic. Soften, refresh, and moisturize your skin. A sugar-salt shea butter cream with the sweet ginger smell of Awapuhi for use in the shower, bath, or even on dry skin.
Coconut After Sun Balm | BADGER
Sun-parched skin made better by coconut. This moisturizing after sun balm gives skin relief with blue tansy and lavender. The Fair Trade coconut oil provides hydration, recovery, and helps skin feel softer when you’ve caught too many rays.
Dog Days of Summer
by Magnolia Mullen
The title brings to mind hot, lazy afternoons when the air is heavy with the scent of flowers, cut grass, and dust. Seeking solace in a skinny patch of hard found shade, ice clinking sweetly in a glass covered with condensation, floating on a comical inflatable in the always frigid Skagit River.
As this is being written, it is almost June. Outside it is pouring rain and the temperature is barely reaching fifty degrees. The locals are in many layers. The days of cut-off shorts and tank tops seem as though they will never arrive. But we hold out hope for the heat. We wait, for those perfectly sultry dog days of summer.
“Dog days of summer” has, in fact, very little to do with humankind’s panting, furry best friend, and mostly refers to an astronomical being, Sirius. Part of the constellation Canis Major, Sirius is the brightest star to be seen with the naked eye from our earth. The dog days refer to the twenty days preceding and succeeding July 23rd, when the star Sirius rises in conjunction with the sun. During the summer months, look east before dawn to find it. On a crisp clear night in winter, Sirius can be found twinkling in a rainbow of colors during the evening hours.
The name Sirius is derived from the Greek word Seirios, meaning “glowing” or “scorching”. Ancient civilizations believed the rising of Sirius with the sun added to the heat of summer days. In our current civilization, we know the tilt of the northern hemisphere towards the sun is responsible for our warmest season.
For the gardener, the dog days of summer are not a time of lazy afternoons, or solace in the shade. This is a time of continued work. A time of constant watering, abundance, and preservation.
Stay diligent with a watering schedule to avoid underwatering, which often leads to a panicked overwatering, both of which are bad for your crops and flowers. Bitter, split, misshapen vegetables and blossom rot are all symptoms of inconsistent watering. Your vegetable garden needs much more water than your well established perennials. Try to water your warm weather crops such as basil and tomatoes before 10am. Cool weather crops, like salad greens, benefit from watering in the evening. Following this method in the morning darkens the soil, absorbing more warmth for the heat loving babies. For the evening cycle, it cools down the soil, preventing greens from bolting. Greens used for salad mixes are far more likely to not flower if they are watered regularly, harvested frequently, and amended with a nitrogen rich fertilizer. Mulch around plants to stave off the scorching sun, reduce evaporation, and aid in moisture retention. Mulching also suppresses weeds, who are competitors for precious water, especially in the summer.
Depending on what you have planted, it will be peak bloom time for your flowers. Your kitchen table, and those of loved ones, should be cheerful and colorful. Dahlias and multi-branching sunflower varieties will benefit from continuous cutting, rewarding you with many more blooms until our first frost, long after the dog days of summer are over.
Don’t stop picking beans, cucumbers, and summer squash. Leaving fruit on the vines will lead to energy being transferred into seed production, and reduce your yields. Continue to eat fresh (and share!) your summer squash and greens. Cucumbers, tomatoes, green beans, and beets will all do well canned for storage. Fresh berries and peas can be placed directly into freezer safe bags, with little to no processing in the moment. When your pantry and freezer are full, add dehydrating and fermenting to your preservation process. For an even longer shelf life of storage variety onions and garlic, make sure to cure them properly. Allow the gently cleaned bulbs to air dry out of direct sunlight and store in a cool dry place.
As knowledge and technology progress, we have added systems in our ability to understand the cosmos and saving food. Yet we still use many of the same terms and preservation methods that we have for thousands of years. Keep your eyes on the stars, the sun, and your garden. Enjoy the preserved fruits of your labors. Relish the official forty dog days of summer, as we will be back in rain, layers, and fifty-degree days soon enough.
Squeeze the most out of summer with juicy, fruity, and fresher than fresh foods from the Makery! Local strawberries, ripe raspberries, bluebs, citrus, mint, and apples are shining bright and adding amazing flavor to our upcoming features.
And as we head toward another school year, mac 'n' cheese, PB&J, and good pizza crust are a must! Look for these Co-op Made foods all sunny-season long.
Fresh Baked Shortcakes
Basil Ice Cream Summer Rice Salad with Feta & Mint
Razzbandit Smoothies Lavender Ice Cream
Salad
Bars
Smoked Gouda
Co-op dogs Barnaby and Huxley enjoying the magic Skagit River with Magnolia.
Buddy on a boat ride.
Meet Our 3rd Quarter Tokens for Tomorrow Groups!
Every time you bring in a reusable shopping bag, we honor your commitment to reducing waste with a token worth 8¢ that you can give back to one of four local organizations.
Diaper Bank of Skagit County
The Diaper Bank ensures that all individuals, from babies to adults, have access to clean, dry diapers, which are essential for healthy living. By partnering with local community organizations the Diaper Bank effectively distributes donations of baby and adult diapers, wipes, formula, and diaper ointment, to families and individuals in need. This support alleviates the financial burden of purchasing these vital items and promotes healthier, happier lives. Committed to compassion and care, the Diaper Bank of Skagit County plays a crucial role in enhancing the well-being of the community.
Little Mountain Elementary
Little Mountain Elementary School’s theme the last couple of years has been, "Growing Greatness". In the fall of 2024, LME will have two full transitional-to-kindergarten classrooms, as well as two classrooms (K-5) serving students needing specially designed playspaces. Their current playground is not accessible for its youngest students and students with special needs. With this project, Little Mountain is committed to ensuring students have the adequate equipment that is accessible for 4- and 5-year olds and students that need extra accessibility.
Recycle This!
Boys & Girls Clubs of Skagit County
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Skagit County's mission is to inspire all young people and empower them to reach their full potential as productive, responsible, caring adults in their community. Clubs provide a safe, fun, and positive space for youth ages 3–18 to thrive in where they engage in Targeted Programs, focusing on the Priority Outcomes of Academic Success, Healthy Lifestyles, and Good Character & Citizenship. Boys & Girls is committed to reflecting the Club Values of Fun, Respect, Integrity, Community, and Acceptance.
Youthnet
Youthnet is a nonprofit agency committed to serving children, youth and families. Their purpose is to provide foster homes for children in need of a temporary home until they can reunify with their families. Youthnet also provides family preservation services to keep families safely together. Ultimately, Youthnet and its families are working together to create opportunities for healing from the past and promoting hope for the future.
In April, as part of Earth Month, we recycled over 140 pounds of socks and 200 pounds of denim through Smartwool’s Second Cut Project and Cotton’s Blue Jeans Go Green™ program. Both programs collect used material, so it can be recycled back to its original fiber state and transformed into something new – like dog beds, insulation, and even new socks! Better yet, some of the jeans collected were still wearable, so we donated them for someone else to wear. A few pairs did not contain enough cotton to be sent back, so we recycled them through our local Goodwill. By recycling old clothing and diverting textile waste away from landfills, we’re doing good for our community and the earth. Thank you for preventing almost 350 pounds of textiles from ending up at the dump.
More Ways to Recycle Your Old Clothing & Textiles
Missed the collection period in April?
No problem! If you have clothing or fabric scraps that can’t be donated, don’t throw them away! There are a few companies who can recycle them, some of which give you rewards just for sending in your scraps.
· Cotton’s Blue Jeans Go Green™ bluejeansgogreen.org
· Goodwill of Mount Vernon College Way, Mount Vernon
· Ridwell | ridwell.com
· Trashie | trashi.io
· Retold Recycling retoldrecycling.com
Meet the Youngs!
Meet Megan and Jeremy Young, both celebrating 5 years at the Co-op (and 10 years together) this year! Megan started as a cashier and has been our Graphic Designer for almost 3 years, while Jeremy recently moved from the Produce Department to his new role as POS/IT Assistant. You can find Megan's work on posters and all throughout the Co-op, and Jeremy works to keep our pricing and signage up to date! Here’s what they had to say about working at the Co-op:
Megan: I grew up in Skagit Valley, so it means a lot to work somewhere that benefits our community so much. I love getting to do my part to make the Co-op a special place for everyone to enjoy, from designing this very newsletter to painting the First Street windows. My favorite Co-op treats are the oatmeal cream pies, Skagit-grown bouquets, and the local jewelry in the mercantile!
Jeremy: I like seeing what produce comes in through the year, whether it's a local favorite or something entirely new. I also like that the co-op has a focus on supporting and being a part of the community. My favorites from the Co-op are the bakery’s Cheddar and Chive scones, honey-roasted peanut butter, and Gold Nugget mandarins. Our favorite meal to make is a hand-tossed pizza using the Co-op’s pizza dough, topped with whatever local veggies I bring home.
Editor’s Picks
by Nicole Vander Meulen
Light, bright, fruity, and fun! That’s how summer makes me feel, and I’m so excited for the abundance of it all. On top of all the wonders of fresh, juicy Skagit produce and sunshine on my shoulders, these are the things making me happy right now.
Lively Carrots & Beets
SKAGIT VALLEY FOOD CO-OP
There’s just something about eating pink food that’s... exciting! Even looking at it gives you a jolt of energy—a little buzz. And like, how healthy are you?! Eat that rainbow, girl! Lively Carrots & Beets are all that and taste good, too.
Mexican Street Corn Chips
LATE JULY SNACKS
I love it when foods actually taste like the flavor they are, and these chips do not disappoint. If you’ve ever had Mexican street corn, or elote, you know it’s a treat.
Certified Non-GMO and made with organic corn, these chips are boldly flavored—sweet and tangy seasoned with buttermilk, sour cream, and lime and perfect for summer cookouts or a quick chips ‘n’ salsa fix. ¡Delicioso!
Rosé
LOST RIVER WINERY
Sometimes Co-op “homework” entails sipping wine while pruning a lilac. Assignment accepted! New to the Co-op are wines from Lost River Winery in Winthrop, and I know rosé isn’t for everyone, but it is for me. LRW’s take is a blast of bright fruit that’s crisp and refreshing without being too sweet (bleh!)
Pair it with BBQ ribs, grilled peaches, and ahi tuna poke… or yardwork.
Sliced Potato Bread
SKAGIT VALLEY FOOD CO-OP
And sometimes Co-op “homework” means trialing new sandwiches. I’m usually a sourdough gal, so when I was tasked to try a sandy with our potato bread? What. A. Treat.
So pillow-y soft and flavorful. Flavorful because we start with roasting organic Yukon gold potatoes right here at the Co-op. Toast with butter, slap together a cheese sandwich, or use it as a hot dog bun – all yum!
Naughty
Dog Stoneware
Mug
PETSHOP BY FRINGE STUDIO
We’ll
If you’ve been paying close attention, you know that I’ve got a couple of dogs I’m completely obsessed with. Yes, I’m that person. And you’ve probably seen them in Co-op communications at some point. Anyway, I love them, so when I saw this mug, I couldn’t resist. I bet you can’t guess which one is which.
Megan & Jeremy on parking lot duty during the Tulip Festival street fair
Anacortes Food to Go
Food to Go is a weekend backpack food program serving children in the Anacortes School District. They provide 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, and 2 dinners, healthy snacks and fresh fruit every Friday to children who are food insecure over the weekends. Most receive free or reduced breakfast and lunch during the week from the school district.
All donations to Food to Go are used only to purchase food for the children. Their numbers have risen— they presently pack 230 bags a week. Food to Go has no paid positions and their yearly goal for fundraising this year is $100,000.
The Holding Space
Founded by two female Navy veterans in 2021, The Holding Space Birth & Wellness Cooperative offers affordable, comprehensive, and personalized support groups and health and wellness education to the community including over 19 different classes, groups and workshops focusing on the various health stages in a woman’s life.
Funds from 4% Friday will be used to maintain The Holding Space’s current programming, which is free to community members. This includes the technology to manage scheduling, registration, marketing, correspondence as well as the cost for a physical location.
Children of the Valley
Children of the Valley provides daily free after school, instructor-led academic assistance, enrichment activities, social-emotional learning opportunities, and other help so families can meet basic needs.
Funds from 4% Friday will be used to provide necessary supplies needed to grow and harvest food in a community garden, along with the additional gardening and cooking supplies needed in order to carry out activities in 2024. This year, COV students plan to make stone soup, corn bread, pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread, and other items from the food that’s harvested.
One of our most exciting ways to support the community is through 4% Friday! You shop and together we give 4% of Co-op sales one Friday a month to a non-profit, charitable community organization. And just think–each of these organizations is, itself, supporting the community! What a great circle of giving.
Applications for 2025 4% Friday groups are now available on our website:
Sweet & Juicy Sips, Snacks, and Cool Treats
by Leigha Staffenhagen
Everyone’s favorite time of year is finally back! Summer is extra special in the Valley, and the Co-op has tons of new refreshing sips, icy treats, gummy-fruity and salty-sweet snacks to keep you cool, hydrated, and fueled up, no matter what kind of fun you’re getting into this summer.
Summer Sippin’, Havin’ Some Fun
Something bubbly, something caffeinated, something fruity… so many summer sips in-store now!
Ice Cold Summer
Blue Bus Kombucha
Beep, beep! Here comes the kombucha for non-kombucha drinkers! Perfectly sweet and smooth, featuring bright, summery flavors, Blue Bus Kombucha is brewed in the heart of the Columbia River Gorge and made with locally-grown ingredients whenever possible.
Load up on their Citrus Sunrise, Peach Hops, Turmeric Ginger, and Elderberry Rosehip kombuchas in the grab-n-go drink cooler.
Blood Orange HOP WTR
All the hops, hold the buzz! HOP WTR is non-alcoholic, but packed with bright, citrusy flavor and a strong hint of Citra, Amarillo, Mosaic, and Azacca hops. No calories and no sugar, enjoy this light, refreshing, adaptogen-filled fizzy drink at your next happy hour. Available in a 4-pack near the sparking water.
ALO Juice Drinks
Made from 100% juice, ALO drinks are a tropical escape in a can. Enjoy them as-is, pair with a bubbly seltzer, or mix into a homemade cocktail for happy hour on the porch! Refreshing flavors include watermelon, mango, peach, pineapple, and staff-favorite lychee
Summer is for clear skies, cool treats, and flavors that pop! ...agreed? Agreed.
JonnyPops
Ice pops just hit different on a sunny Skagit day, but not just any old popsicle will do! JonnyPops are certified organic and made with cane sugar, real fruit juice, and are free of dyes and artificial flavors, so you can chill out without the yucky stuff!
Try the new summery flavors in the freezer: Tropical Paradise Punch, Star Spangled, and Cotton Candy Cloud.
Straus Family Creamery
Super premium ice cream for a supreme summer! Straus Family Creamery’s organic ice cream is gluten-free and made without preservatives, fillers, or artificial ingredients. Scoop into their new Lemon Cookie ice cream or Vanilla Fudge Swirl if chocolate is more your jam.
Road Trip Snackies
Is it even a road trip if you aren’t switching between salty and sweet snacks for hours on end? Whether you’re the captain behind the wheel or the laid back “passenger princess”, everyone needs a snack or two (...or three) to keep the spirits up and the bellies full until the next stop. Highway 20 here we come!
Sun Tropics Filipino-inspired Crunchy Munchies
Put the pedal to the metal and take the next turn with a tropical twist. New to the Co-op are Sun Tropics snacks.
Craving salty? The tamari teriyaki and golden curry mochi snack bites are for you. Feeling sweet? Their salted caramel or espresso CocoRolls are lightly sweet, crispy, and co-pilot approved. Want the best of both worlds? The saba banana chips are lip-lickin’ good.
Whatever flavor you fancy, be sure to roll the windows down. You’ll find Sun Tropics snacks near the chips and cookies.
Zack’s Mighty
Rolled Tortilla
Chips Buckle up! The moment I sampled these bad boys, I went from 0 to 60 in 2.2 to buy my own bag.
Crunchy, tangy, and slightly spicy, Zack’s Mighty rolled tortilla chips might make you wanna crank the AC. No artificial flavors, no dyes, fantastic flavor. Choose from Chile Lime and Fiery Nacho for a fiesta in the fast lane.
Chewy, Fruity, Gummy Candies
So many new gummy candies, you’ll have to buy all the bags… for road trip snack science, obviously, starting with bite-sized biology: vegan-friendly Vegobears are made from organic fruit and naturally colored with veggies.
Available in California-dreamy flavors like fruity Santa Monica, sour Venice Beach, and foamy Malibu so you can cruise down the coast. Or, at least your taste buds can.
Looking for a lower sugar option? Try Oomph fruit mini chews (1g sugar per gummy) or Smartsweets (3g sugar per gummy)
July 24–30
It’s smoke season at the Co-op! And by that we mean, our smoker is running at full force to bring you even more sensational smoked meats for all your summer BBQs, cookouts, and celebrations. The fundamentals of smoking meat are pretty much the same, no matter which region you are in. One important factor that sets smoked meat regions apart from one another is the wood used for smoking, and that’s what makes our smoked meats so special. At the Co-op, we only use applewood, and it all comes from Washington State. The decision to use quality local wood helps us define the flavor of PNW/Skagit Valley BBQ, and dang, is it good. We are always working on new smoked meat offerings, and the assortment in the case is always rotating, so it’s important to stop by and see what we’ve got going. Be sure to look for the word “applewood”!
Other Co-op Smoked Meats:
· Chicken Wings & Drumsticks
· Whole & Half Chickens
· BBQ Shredded Beef & Chicken
· Pulled Pork
Pastrami
Brisket
Wild Salmon
· Bacon
· Fresh Sausage
with
Mark your calendars for the sweetest week of the summer! We’re bringing in a rainbow of raspberries from our friends at Viva Farms.
Come enjoy the bounty of the County and bite into berries bursting with fresh farmstand flavor.
Shredded BBQ chicken on our brioche bun.
An Ode to Life à la Mode
What IS it about ice cream and summer?
I’ve been thinking why some of us are made so happy by ice cream. There are of course, the memories— ice cream memories tend to feel carefree and sun-dappled. Then, too, ice cream is just a wonderful base for almost any flavor you can imagine. Unlike the subtle flavors of cake or truffles, ice cream flavors— vanilla, peach, caramel, peanut butter, pistachio, lemon, salted caramel, coconut—marry the creamy base and come to the fore. You may not like every flavor of ice cream (no thanks, amaretto), but you can rarely fault an ice cream for being overwhelmed by the taste of milk.
And perhaps, there is the simple fact of ice cream’s transitory nature—an absolutely Zen example of impermanence—a hard and bite-able cold that is icy enough to seize the brain, slowly becoming softer and meltier and messier. Still delicious, but urgent in its insistence on being enjoyed.
Finally, ice cream seems not just connected in our minds with season (those long summer days), but with comfortable places: the lazy fan-stirred breeze of the Maryland dairy; the rump-polished red leather booths of Weile’s; my spot on my childhood couch, bowl in hand, Lassie on the TV.
And, of course, the Co-op.
A brief, personally skewed history of ice cream at the Co-op: in the summer of 1981, I was one of three paid employees at the Pine Street store. I didn’t have many remarkable accomplishments, but I do remember advocating for, and finding a supplier to bring us, eight pints of Häagen-Dazs every week. This was an act of self-preservation—there was nowhere to get Häagen-Dazs quality ice cream in the Valley at that time, and I wanted some.
After that, over the blur of decades, the Co-op ice cream section grew and thrived, and then, in 2010, we started making our own ice cream and scooping out of the Deli.
Lisa Gilden, the Co-op’s Prepared Foods Director, remembers then General Manager Todd Wood’s devotion to the ice cream project, “Making ice cream in-house was one of Todd’s dreams. His obsession with recipes, with sheets he’d torn from various
Celebrate National Ice Cream Day with
OFF
ps of Co-op Ice Cream!
Sunday, July 21
Does not apply to milkshakes, sundaes, or pints.
magazines—so many piles in his office, THEN in my office! —were the origins of most of our ‘fun/creative’ flavors like Date Cardamom, Fig 'n' Fennel, and the ill-fated Bacon Bliss.”
To my taste buds, making our own ice cream was a landmark moment in Co-op history, fulfilling an unspoken part of our mission statement: “To make people just a little bit happier.”
Lisa tells us that “by far,” Vanilla is the Co-op’s best seller, “We spin an average of 21 gallons per week of just Vanilla. Our next best seller is Cookies-nCream, with an average of nine gallons per week, which we keep as a staple flavor. As far as a seasonal flavor favorite, Candy Cane Ice Cream comes to mind. Perhaps because it is MY favorite. I have been known to eat an entire pint on my drive home. Anything that is swirled with caramel (which we, of course, make in-house) also does well—Coffee Salted Caramel, Chocolate Peanut Butter Caramel...”
Lisa adds that we go through about 105 gallons per week during our peak season, in spring and summer. Fresh, local ingredients, and ingredients handcrafted at the Co-op, are a hallmark. Each season brings its own specialty ice cream flavors to the Co-op. July ushers in Strawberry Balsamic Basil, juicy with local, organic berries from Hedlin Farms. August will feature Lavender. Peanut Brittle and Jam, with in-house brittle from our bakery and in-house jam from those Hedlin berries, will sweetly echo backto-school PB&J lunches in September. Sometime in September, we will also see fan favorite Blueberry Mascarpone, with local, organic berries.
Asked what makes our ice cream a real treat, Lisa replied, “Our small-batch, artisanal process makes our ice cream truly special. Our ice cream is another avenue for us to showcase and support what we do in the Makery with our in-house talent and skill. Our Bakery Manager, Alex, holds up the integrity of our product by adhering to the original recipes when it makes sense and adjusting when needed to accommodate availability or ensure consistency. By using only the cleanest of ingredients (for example, we use chlorophyll to give color to our Pistachio ice cream) and utilizing local farms and vendors for those ingredients, our ice cream program is an inspired way for us to extend our desire to provide quality and fun to our customers.”
Twin Brook Creamery: 100+ Years of Happy Cows, Family, & Stewardship
by Leigha Staffenhagen
Maybe you remember, or maybe you’ve just heard the stories, but once upon a time, many Americans were reliant on their friendly neighborhood milk man for their daily dose of dairy. In fact, by 1960, despite the rise of big grocery conglomerates, 30% of household were still reliant on daily, or weekly, deliveries from the dairy farm. And while we may have gained the convenience of being able to pick up a gallon of milk at basically every grocery, convenience, or corner store, what we may have lost in the shuffle is our connection to high-quality, locally produced milk from neighbors we know. But not at the Co-op! From organic to raw to A2 milk, we are proud to support local dairy farmers, large and small. And we’re very pleased to welcome another locally dairy to our selection: Lynden-based Twin Brook Creamery!
Family owned and operated since 1910, Twin Brook Creamery prioritizes stewarding the soil and animals in their care, in the best possible way. 5th generation farmers Larry and Debbie Stap are the current owners/operators, Larry being the great-grandson of founder Jacob Stap. Their herd is made up of purebred registered Jersey cows, a breed that is known to produce milk with a
higher protein and butterfat content, which in turn translates to a very flavorful product. All of their gals are raised without synthetic hormones, and are welcome to graze in the pasture all summer long, so long as the growing season allows it. During the winter, the cows are fed a diet of grass that was harvested during the summer and stored until needed.
Twin Brook does not homogenize their milk, which allows the cream of the milk to rise to the top of the glass jug. What that means for you is an ultra-creamy cereal or coffee experience that’s unlike other milk you’ve had. Just give it a good shake and enjoy!
Aside from the creamiest, dreamiest, most flavorful milk around, what I’m really loving about Twin Brook is their glass bottle program. If you, like me, are beyond tired of milk containers that can’t be recycled, Twin Brook milk comes in glass containers that can be brought back to the Co-op for Twin Brook to pick up and reuse at their Lynden creamery through their bottle deposit program. Better milk for a better planet? You betcha! Come and taste the difference for yourself.
This summer, we mark the 40th year of July’s designation as National Ice Cream Month, which sounds like a good excuse for a cone. Depending on the source consulted, Americans average four to five gallons of ice cream each per year. They are bested by New Zealanders, who enjoy 7.5 gallons each per year—so in this Olympic year, if you are feeling competitive, you know what sport you might take up. I know a good place you can go to play.
Attention! Every Twin Brook Creamery purchase requires an additional $1.85 glass bottle deposit.
Please clean your bottle after use and return it to the Co-op to get a $1.85 credit or gift card at checkout, so Twin Brook can reuse the bottle!
Co-op kiddo Seren (Nancylee) keeping his eye on the prize.
More Co-op kids, Novella and Saylor (Amy) doubling up on delicious!
Sorbet bound strawberries, and a scoop of finished sorbet!
2%, whole, and chocolate milk - take your pick!
Calming The Fire Within: An Anti-Inflammatory Eating Approach
by Laura Bady
Yes, it’s true, sometimes we want inflammation to happen. For instance, when we have an external body injury, the area becomes noticeably red, warm, and swollen. This is the body’s natural defense system kicking in, bringing nutrients to the area to heal the injury. When we get a virus, our immune system sends in antibodies causing inflammation. Again, this is an inflammatory response and is part of a normal healthy immune system. Your immune system can also become triggered when it encounters a foreign body, chemicals, pollen, or other allergens. But when the body can’t turn off inflammation and chronic inflammation persists, it can lead to advanced disease states. Research has shown that an anti-inflammatory diet may prevent chronic disease and can be used as a treatment plan for disease.
Early civilizations such as the Romans recognized that people eat with their eyes, not just with their palates. Ever wonder why we are so attracted to colorful foods? Brightly colored foods stimulate our appetite and call us to eat them. The FDA approved food-colored additives so manufacturers can make food more eye appealing. Think of M&Ms, and picture them in black and white…. how appealing is that?
We as humans, along with other mammals, are innately attracted to color in food, maybe because the colors in food alert us to the beneficial nutrients in them. The color in a food signifies specific antioxidants, phytochemicals, vitamins, and minerals. This is where an anti-inflammatory eating pattern comes into play.
An anti-inflammatory diet is not a specific diet, but an approach to eating that emphasizes a variety of foods that are inclusive of cultural and individual preferences. It is not meant to dictate how and when to eat, but types of foods to include in your diet at least 80% of the time to reduce inflammation.
Think of it as the 80/20 rule. 80% of the time you are following an anti-inflammatory eating approach, 20% of the time you eat what you feel like, and 100% of the time you eat without judgment.
There are many anti-inflammatory medicines on the market that may relieve symptoms, but research has shown that some of the best medicine to reduce inflammation can be found right in the produce department.
Diseases & conditions with links to chronic inflammation:
· Crohn’s Disease
Ulcerative Colitis
· Heart Disease
· High Blood Pressure
· Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Inflammatory Bowel Disease
· Multiple Sclerosis
· Psoriasis & Eczema
· Diabetes Type 1 & 2 Cancer
· Alzheimer’s
· Depression
Some simple guidelines to follow for an anti-inflammatory eating pattern:
· Minimize highly processed, refined, and fast foods, and avoid high fructose corn syrup.
· Choose healthy fats. Decrease saturated fat from animals and increase monounsaturated fats from plants. (1:2:1 ratio of saturated to monounsaturated to polyunsaturated fats.)
For omega-3 fatty acids (polyunsaturated) eat salmon (wild preferably), sardines packed in water or olive oil, anchovies, herring, black cod, sardines, mackerel, trout; omega-3 fortified eggs; hemp seeds, flaxseeds, walnuts.
Fish, Meat, & Poultry
Most anti-inflammatory benefits come from colorful plant sources, but animal products also contain vital nutrients. Fish, low in mercury and high in omega-3 fatty acids, (such as salmon, trout, sardines, anchovies, mackerel, and herring) can be safely eaten 2-6 times per week.
· Red meat (beef, lamb, bison, pork) provides significant iron and protein, along with fat, which supplies energy to the body. 100% grass fed beef is preferable since it has significant amounts of anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids and less saturated fat than grain fed beef. Grass fed beef also contains conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) which is known to be heart healthy. Limit red meat to no more than 1-2 servings a week.
Poultry is considered a lean source of protein and healthy to eat 2 times a week.
Fruits, Vegetables & Grains
Eat an abundance of vegetables, 3–5 or more servings a day; (1 serving = 1/2 cup cooked, 1 cup raw) and fruits, 2-4 servings a day; (1 serving = 1/2–3/4 cup raw). Make at least half the grains you eat whole grains.
Sanoosh Gamblewood
Facilities Manager Co-op Employee since September 2023
A Familiar Face in Facilities
The Co-op Building is a special place. It is also an old one, requiring constant maintenance and upkeep. In an effort to keep our facilities in good operating order, we hired Sanoosh Gamblewood as the Co-op’s Facilities Manager. And as you may know, Sanoosh is no stranger to the Co-op!
Sanoosh grew up in and around the Skagit Valley Food Co-op, where his dad worked as General Manager for 42 years. You know him as Todd Wood.
Each color in food has its own role to play, bright color usually means freshness. These nine food colors are divided into five groups, each with their own benefits. Here's a list of what nutrients and health benefits each one brings to the table:
From facing shelves as a little kid to helping out with all the early expansions and renovations later on as a carpenter and general contractor, the Co-op and its people have been a constant in Sanoosh’s life. So, when the opportunity arose to join the current Co-op team to continue to care for and support the Co-op as Facilities Manager, Sanoosh said it felt like a very natural fit: “I have really enjoyed getting to know and work alongside all of the great folks keeping our Co-op alive and well, and I am honored to be a part of the team.” Sanoosh is the right person to help protect one of our greatest assets, and we’re happy to have him here!
apples, beets, blood oranges, cherries, cranberries, grapefruit, goji berries, plums, pomegranate, radicchio, radishes, raspberries, red cabbage, red pepper, red grapes, kidney beans, rhubarb, strawberries, watermelon
Benefits: anti-bacterial, blood vessel health, brain health, cell protection, heart health, prostate health. Contain lycopene, may reduce cancer risk. Red/Pink
Orange/Yellow
apples (yellow), apricots, bananas, cantaloupe, carrots, corn, ginger root, mango, nectarine, orange, papaya, pears, persimmons, pineapple, plantains, pumpkin, squash (acorn, butternut, winter), star fruit, sweet potato, tangerines, turmeric, yams
Benefits: Vitamin A, C, E, and folate (a B vitamin that helps prevent birth defects), blood vessel health, brain health, cell protection, digestive health, eye health, heart health.
Green
artichoke, arugula, asparagus, avocado, bean sprouts, bitter melon, bok choy, broccoli, broccolini, brussels sprouts, cabbage, celery, chayote, cucumbers, edamame, grapes, green beans, green peas, greens (chard, collards, kale, mustard, spinach, turnip, lettuces), green pepper, kiwi, limes, okra, olives, snow peas, tomatillos, watercress, zucchini
Benefits: excellent source of magnesium, Vitamin B, and folate, blood vessel health, bone health, brain health, cell protection, heart health, metabolic health.
Blue/Purple
berries (boysenberries, huckleberries, marionberries), black beans, eggplant, figs, grapes, olives purple carrots, purple cauliflower, purple kale, plums, potatoes, prunes, raisins, rice (black or purple)
Benefits: memory function, blood vessel health, bone health, brain health, cell protection, digestive health, heart health, liver health.
White/Tan/Brown
beans/legumes (chickpeas, dried beans, hummus, lentils, peanuts), cassava (yucca root), cauliflower, cocoa (dark 70%+), coconut, coffee, dates, garlic, ginger, jicama, lychee, miso, mushrooms, nuts (almonds, brazil nuts, cashews, pecans, walnuts), onions, pears, sauerkraut, seeds (flax, hemp, pumpkin, sesame, sunflower), shallots, soy, tahini, taro root, turnips, whole grains (amaranth, barley, bulgur, brown rice, oats, quinoa, rye, spelt, teff, wheat)
Benefits: cholesterol lowering, especially legumes, which are also an excellent source of magnesium. Blood vessel health; blood pressure, bone health, brain health, cell protection, digestive health, heart health, immune health, metabolic health.
Favorite Items in the Co-op:
For a favorite item I’ll have to go with Barbara’s Jalapeño Cheese Puffs with a pastrami sandwich from the Deli as a close second!
Favorite Way to Spend Time
Outside of Work:
Outside of work I like to spend time with my wife and daughter and two dogs, work in my wood shop, and just generally make the most of living in this beautiful valley that we get to call home.
Acupuncture Barbara Paul-Mayer, MAc. LAC 360-336-6809
Core Synchronism Julie Kongs 360-630-6742 Colon Therapy
Jayne De Felice, I-ACT Certified 360-336-5220
Reiki & Theta Healing®
Valerie Jean Rose, Reiki Master 360-840-1723
Massage Therapy Spencer Kelliher, LMT 425-231-7605
Rolfing Structural Integration® Nils Larsen 360-293-5866
Clinical Massage & Lymph Drainage GuruBani Whitney, LMT, CLT, CPHt, RH www.alchemy-wellness.co
She
Specializing in Abdominal Health and Energy Medicine. You
(Cheaper
High 5 Recipes
by Leigha Staffenhagen
Hungry for homemade, but don't feel like cooking?
That happens, and we're here to help. Our Co-op High 5 Recipes are made with five main ingredients (or less!), using delicious Co-op foods, so you can breeze through meal prep and still enjoy a tasty meal.
You’ll be surprised at just how many meals are a total high five— five ingredients that is! Here are some simple summertime favorites we're enjoying during these long, sunny days.
Fresh-Squeezed OJ Crush Cocktail
New to the Co-op is a fancy new juicer and our fresh-squeezed OJ! Slurp up some sunshine with your weekend brunch and save some for a sunny day cocktail (or mocktail).
· 1/4 cup Co-op Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice
· 2oz vodka
· 1oz Grand Marnier orange liqueur
· 3–4oz lemon-lime soda or seltzer
Sprig of fresh mint
Directions:
Fill a tall glass with crushed ice.
Pour in vodka, orange liqueur, and orange juice. Stir gently and top with the soda and a sprig of fresh mint. Cheers!
Deli Samosas... Made Gourmet! | Serves 2
Whether you need an easy veggie-friendly dinner or something to make entirely in a microwave for lunch at work, samosas from our Deli can be turned gourmet in a snap! Here’s our favorite way to take them to the next level. *insert chef’s kiss emoji here*
2 Co-op Deli Samosas
1 package of Tasty Bite Basmati Rice
1 package Tasty Bite Coconut Veggies
· Hot n' Spicy Muruku
· 1 avocado, sliced
Pantry ingredients: sour cream, your favorite hot sauce
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Once hot, place samosas on a sheet pan and bake for 5-7 minutes or until heated through.
2. While the samosas are heating up, cook rice and coconut veggies according to package instructions.
3. Once everything is heated, distribute rice and veggies between two plates.
4. Top with the samosas, and finish everything with a dollop of sour cream, sliced avocado, a drizzle of hot sauce, and a topping of crunchy muruku. Enjoy!
Note: If you’re making this at work or don’t want to take the time to use the oven, you can always toss your samosas in the microwave after heating up the rice and veggies. Reheating the samosas in the oven is preferred as it will keep them crispy. An air fryer is even better!
Green (or Red!) Enchiladas | Serves 4
Hot roasted chickens are back in the Deli, and this recipe has been on rotation in our house ever since! Quick, easy, flavorful, this recipe serves a crowd, or results in leftovers that heat up surprisingly well in a workplace microwave.
I’m a leftover skeptic, and I stand by that statement!
2 ½ cups shredded roasted Co-op chicken
4 cups shredded Mexican-style cheese
(a mix of mozzarella and Monterey jack is also great!)
· ¾ cup sour cream
· 10—12 corn tortillas
28oz can of green or red enchilada sauce
Pantry ingredients: 3 tbsp taco seasoning, cilantro
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375°F. While the oven is preheating, add a drizzle of oil to a skillet and fry tortillas until crispy, but still pliable.
2. In a large bowl, combine shredded chicken, sour cream, half the cheese, and taco seasoning. Mix until well incorporated.
3. Assemble the enchiladas: Scoop 1/3 cup of enchilada filling into the tortilla and top with a dollop of enchilada sauce. Roll tortilla up tightly, and arrange with the edge facing down in the casserole dish. Repeat with remaining tortillas.
4. Pour remaining enchilada sauce over the top, followed by the remaining cheese.
5. Bake for 25 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and melted. ¡Buen provecho!
Are you a Teacher?
Have a skill you’d like to share? We can host your class!
The Juice is Loose!
by Ben Goe
The Produce Department recently invested in a pretty cool citrus juicer, and astute shoppers may have noticed a few new housemade products: fresh-squeezed Valencia orange juice, lemon and lime juice, and lemonade and limeade sweetened with organic sugar. Today, I sadly juiced the last blood oranges of the season for our blood orange-Valencia blend.
The juicer is quite an impressive piece of equipment. It’s almost as tall as me, and has a hopper at the top that holds about forty pounds of oranges. Fruit feeds down over a blade that splits the fruit in half, and then into a set of wheels with cups and balls. The halves are crushed, but the skin is left largely intact, making for a less bitter juice. And the thing can juice forty fruits per minute!
Fresh-squeezed juice is just one of the exciting new developments the Produce Department has in store for you this year! When food production moved to the Makery, Produce was able to take over some second-floor prep kitchen space for ourselves, including real estate for our giant juice machine.
Twice a week, we are juicing organic Valencia oranges sourced through our friends at the Organically Grown Company (OGC) in Portland, with whom we’ve partnered for many years to source other produce, too. For many years, OGC was a farmer and worker-owned co-op, and in recent years, has been placed into a perpetual trust.
Organically Grown Company is an outstanding business, and they do great work to support and advance sustainable, organic agriculture in the Pacific Northwest. They are currently providing us with Valencias from Buck Brand, one of our favorite California citrus growers, and they will continue to keep us supplied with juicing oranges throughout the year.
More Excitement On the Way!
By the time you read this, we will have at least one shelf of watermelon halves and quarters, and there are bigger, juicier things on the horizon. The Co-op will be installing new coolers and moving a few things around to make space for them. The Produce team will start to cut more than just watermelon – fruit, veggies, and more. Jackfruit is high on the list! Weighing in around 15 to 25 pounds, these delicious, but gigantic, fig relatives are too much to handle for most people. We’ll start cutting them into quarters and eighths, so more people can enjoy these tropical wonders.
This is the aspect that excites me most about cut fruit: allowing people to try more things, things they’ve never tried before, and making it easier to add new healthy foods to their life. Not everyone has the capacity to do the prep work some produce requires, even if they know how. Peeled and cored pineapple, zoodles, mirepoix, mixed berries, and more will all find their way to the shelf soon as well. We hope to set up the coolers in early August, and then we will start rolling out the goodies.
Finally, we are excited about next citrus season. We started juicing at the tail-end of citrus season, partly by design. With limited availability of certain citrus fruits, we felt good starting out with a focus on just a few new juices. That said, the juicer has three sets of wheels and mechanisms that can process a pretty wide range of fruit sizes. This upcoming season, keep your eyes peeled for Cara Cara navel orange juice, Rio Star grapefruit juice, tangerine juice, and more! We will share plenty of free samples and plan to show you some behind-thescenes action of the machine behind the magic. It’s exciting to see it in person! Did I mention that it juices 40 fruits a minute? If you haven’t tried our fresh juice yet, summer is the perfect time to fill up on liquid sunshine.
Seasonal Produce List
THE CROWS FARM: bunched herbs, radicchio, edible flowers, bagged basil, heirloom tomatoes, cilantro, Roma tomatoes, pickling dill, fennel, bunched green + purple kohlrabi
BOLDLY GROWN FARM: green + purple bell peppers, hot peppers, eggplant, red, green + Savoy cabbage, Persian + Japanese cucumbers, assorted radicchio, collard greens, sweet, pink + red onions
SOUTHERN EXPOSURE: assorted specialty very hot chilies, Jerusalem artichokes/sunchokes
LONG HEARING FARM: Italian + curly parsley, radishes, turnips baby kale mix, spicy greens mix, baby spinach + arugula, mini sweet peppers, radishes, chard, mixed cherry tomatoes, cilantro, purslane
SKAGIT FLATS FARM: Romaine + green leaf lettuce, yellow + green zucchini
FIRST CUT FARM: green beans, baby bok choy, potatoes, sugar snap peas, shallots
WELL FED FARM: mixed salad greens, cucumbers, bunched carrots, assorted kale, grape tomatoes, slicer tomatoes, red cabbage, bunched beets, radishes, zucchini, corn
LOPEZ BROTHERS FARM: raspberries, blackberries, strawberries
HEDLIN FAMILY FARMS: red, yellow, + orange bell peppers, kale, corn, celery, tomatoes, Persian cucumbers Anaheim, Poblano, Serrano, + other peppers
RALPH’S GREENHOUSE: fennel, red + green dandelion, juice carrots, bagged, bunched + loose carrots, parsnips, leeks, kale, cabbage, lettuce, bunched beets
MOONDANCE FARM: sunflower greens, mixed salad greens, Napa cabbage, fresh sweet onions, escarole, frisee, specialty summer squash, eggplant Shishito, Padron, + mixed peppers
DAHLIA DEPOT: microgreens, mild mix, spicy mix, onion, radish, + pea shoots not certified organic, grown with organic seed
BLUE HERON & VIVA FARMS: raspberries
CASCADIA MUSHROOMS: oyster, Cosmic Queen oyster, Shiitake, + Lion’s Mane mushrooms, dried oyster, Reishi, and Shiitakes Shiitake, oyster, + Lion’s Mane growing kits
RABBIT FIELDS FARM: dandelion greens, garlic, radicchio, garlic scapes, shiso, bunched fresh onions, collard greens, specialty summer squash
July August September
BROWNFIELD ORCHARD
aronia berries
WILLOWROSE BAY blueberries
BOW HILL BLUEBERRIES + BLUE HERON FARM raspberries
VIVA FARMS
aronia berries WILLOWROSE BAY blueberries BOW HILL BLUEBERRIES + BLUE HERON FARM raspberries
VIVA FARMS
Not So Peachy
Brownfield Orchard Crop Update
Dated: April 25, 2024
Hello Dear Customers,
heirloom melons, Japanese + Italian eggplant
EDIBLE ACRES blueberries
SILVA FAMILY FARM
cauliflower
HEDLIN FAMILY FARMS
The weather of 2024 has presented our crops with some challenges already this season. The Arctic air mass that descended upon our state moved our temperatures from 44°F on January 9 to -9°F on January 13! Over 48 hours were endured below 0°. During my many years I don’t recall seeing a low below -5° in the Chelan area.
In early March we heard stories of this event affecting the peach and apricot fruit buds. We could see that some of ours were damaged, but we were hopeful that some bloom would emerge. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed.
The peaches had no bloom and the apricots had very few. These side by side photos compare this year’s trees to how they normally look at full bloom. We will not have peaches or nectarines to sell this year, and the few apricots will be sold locally.
This Spring has generally been warm, and bloom has come nearly two weeks early. I was apprehensive that an April cold spell could strike at an inopportune time, and Mother Nature concurred. The low on April 17 was 27° at a time when apple blooms were beginning to open. Some flowers were killed. Since then the temperature dropped below freezing for five out of six mornings in the orchard. Our cherries are on higher (warmer) ground, and their crop is looking good so far.
Thank you for your many years of supporting our farm. Some of you have been our customers for over 20 years!
– Mike Brownfield
This Year
Note! The Co-op will still have plenty of organic peaches, nectarines, and apricots for you to enjoy the abundance of summer stone fruit. However, we wanted to share the news from Brownfield Orchard so you’re aware that we won’t be sourcing our stone fruit from them this year.
Honeycrisp, Cosmic Crisp, + early Fuji apples
BROWNFIELD ORCHARD
Gala, Zestar + Gingergold apples, Bartlett + Starkrimson pears
Ben and the fancy citrus juicer.