2014 - The Year of Good Food

GoodFood World

Good food is everybody's business!

Welcome to GoodFood WorldDecember 2, 2014
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
(Maimonides, 12th Century Spanish philosopher)

 

Or you could help him set up a business catching and selling fish and he could feed you, your community, and himself for that lifetime.

 

Today is "Giving Tuesday" a fabricated day meant to encourage all of us to give to our favorite charities this holiday season; but at GoodFood World we believe there is a better way. Instead of charity and philanthropy, we all need to give our support by buying from the small businesses that are struggling to produce products and services that are useful, of exceptional value, and supportive of a healthy environment and healthy lifestyle.

 

Forget Black Friday and Cyber Monday! Forget Small Business Saturday� - after all, it's a trademark registered by American Express! Forget lining up at the registers of the nation's biggest retail chains!

It's time to support the family farmers, small boat fishermen, neighborhood retailers and restaurants, and small food processors we've had the good fortune to work with. Today's newsletter is dedicated to those we patronize and whose products we enjoy: Loki Fish Company, Bruce Gore Frozen at Sea, Taylor Shellfish Farms, Crown S Ranch, Jubilee Biodynamic Farm, Amaltheia Organic Dairy, Fairhaven Flour Mill, Tall Grass Bakery, Timeless Natural Foods, Firefly Kitchens, Mendoza's Mexican Mercado, Central Co-op, and Stumbling Goat Bistro. Scroll down and check them all out! 

 

Wishing you good food, good friends, and good times during the upcoming holiday season!  

Fish and Shellfish

Since we're domiciled in Puget Sound, it's only appropriate that we start with small boat fishermen. Sailing the north Pacific Ocean in good weather and bad, and pulling in lines and nets for hours and hours of cold wet labor seem pretty risky - and definitely hard work! Though anyone working the land will tell you that farming is just as hard and has its own scary times.  

 

Loki Fish Co. Seattle WA     

Pete Knutson, founder of Loki Fish, is a familiar face around Seattle's Fishermen's Terminal. He's fished Puget Sound and Alaskan waters for more than 30 years and provides fresh, frozen, smoked, and pickled fish to customers from the Canadian border to Portland OR.

 

We highly recommend any of his salmon products and if you can find Loki at one of the year round farmers markets, you can also buy some of his lucky catches like halibut or rock fish.

 

Bruce Gore "Frozen at Sea" Bothell WA  

Krist Martinsen and his sons, Olin and Karl, are troll fishermen on the Fishing Vessel Constance out of Sitka Alaska, selling their fish under the brand name: Bruce Gore "Frozen at Sea."  

 

The Martinsen's catch fish the "old fashioned" way; hunting for them and tempting them to bite on a hook using bait or artificial lures. One at a time. And the fish are processed one at a time too. They are cleaned, carefully positioned with the belly open and the tail fins spread flat, and transferred to a blast freezer that chills them to 40 degrees below zero. Now that's a fish that is better than "fresh!" 

 

Look for the Bruce Gore brand at Town and Country Markets and Central Markets throughout Puget Sound.  

 

Taylor Shellfish Farms Bow WA

Shellfish farming is actually more like gardening. You plant the oyster "seed," give it time and proper water conditions, and when "ripe" - that is, fully mature - you harvest them.  

 

Taylor Shellfish Farms, started in the 1880s, is now a fifth-generation family operation. The farms cover a total of 3 � square miles of tide flats located primarily in Puget Sound with another farm on Willapa Bay in southwest Washington.  

 

The farms employ more than 400 workers to raise, harvest, and process a wide variety of shellfish, including Eastern, Pacific, Olympic and Kumamoto oysters, Manila clams, Mediterranean mussels, and Puget Sound geoduck.

 

There aren't many parts of the country where truly local shellfish are available. Go right to the source by stopping by one of the three Taylor Oyster Bars and picking up a dozen or three. And you'll find Taylor products in supermarkets and restaurants not only in Puget Sound, but across the US.  


Sponsor
Kamut International
Meat, Produce, Dairy

Crown S Ranch Winthrop WA

On Crown S Ranch, Jennifer Argraves and Louis Sukovaty have focused on developing ecologically-balanced management processes to turn their farm into a closed system. The cattle, sheep, pigs, turkeys, and laying hens are born on the farm; the broilers arrive newly hatched.  

 

Much of the lumber used on the farm for fences and buildings is harvested from the land; the rest is scavenged and recycled. Kitchen scraps are fed to the animals; offal, feathers, and other animal waste is composted and spread on the fields to nourish the soil. Winter hay for the cattle and sheep is grown on the farm and Louis plants a variety of grains together to grow feed for the chickens, turkeys, and pigs.  

 

By working with natural systems as part of the local ecology, Jennifer and Louis have eliminated the use of chemicals, fossil fuel fertilizers, and preventative antibiotic treatments. "Create a healthy environment and you will have a healthy animal," says Jennifer. "That's why our motto is: Better for the animal, better for the environment, better for you!"

 

Spared by a summer of wild fires, hail storms, wind storms, and floods, Crown S Ranch is dedicated to delivering the very best pastured and grass-fed meats to Puget Sound and central Washington.   

 

Jubilee Biodynamic Farm Carnation WA

An active farm nearly for 25 years, Jubilee Biodynamic Farm is home to one of the largest and oldest Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs in the state of Washington. Jubilee delivers 4 seasonal CSA programs year round to residents of the greater Seattle metro area.  

 

Jubilee is an intensively managed, diversified farm comprised of 14 acres of fruits, vegetables, and grains and around 35 acres devoted to beef cattle, pigs, and ducks. With the help of 3 employees and 80 work-share volunteers, Erick and Wendy Haakenson, and their son David and his wife Kristin, grow a wide variety of crops on the banks of the Snoqualmie River.

 

Growing big is not part of Erick's vision of the future; he sees his real opportunity as doing a better job at what he already does now. His goal is to create a farm with character that is a place where people want to experience and enjoy the land in harmony with nature.   

 

Amaltheia Organic Dairy Belgrade MT

Just a little north of Bozeman in Belgrade MT, Amaltheia Organic Dairy is backed up to the Bridger Mountains. Pull into the drive and you'll be met by a view of hundreds of goats and kids - somewhere around 400 is the latest count. Mel and Sue Brown milk more than 200 goats and, in their small cheese plant, they turn out chevre, whole milk ricotta, and feta cheese.  

 

To produce the milk they need, the Browns have five different breeds of goats: Saanen, Alpine, La Mancha, Nubian, and Toggenberg. Some breeds give more milk while others produce milk that has higher butterfat levels. It takes 5 pounds of milk to make one pound of chevre and 8 pounds to make 1 pound of feta. Each goat gives about three-fourths of a gallon of milk a day. Do the math... milking 200+ goats every day means thousands of pounds of cheese a week.

 

Amaltheia Dairy cheeses are available in quality markets and co-ops in Puget Sound and across the country. You haven't tasted really good chevre until you've tried Amaltheia Dairy's cheese!  


Sponsor
Timeless Banner
Grains and Flour

Founded as a cooperative, Fairhaven Organic Flour Mill opened in Bellingham WA in 1974. It was owned and run by a handful of worker-shareholders, which dwindled to just 2 by the end of the 1980s, when one bought out his partner and went on to run the mill for nearly 20 more years.

Then in June of 2007, Kevin Christenson, a Bellingham resident looking for a "green" business, discovered an ad on Craig's List: "For Sale - Fairhaven Organic Flour Mill." Kevin didn't know a thing about flour or milling, but he was willing to work hard and learn. After a short "internship," Kevin became a miller and the business has flourished ever since.

More than 60% of all the grains milled at Fairhaven are grown in Washington, as is more than 50% of the wheat Kevin mills. Loaves that are predominantly Fairhaven flour come out beautifully every time for me.

Fairhaven offers a wide variety of flours that can be found in supermarkets and co-ops throughout Puget Sound and as far south as Portland OR.

Forty years ago, David Oien decided to take a stand and became the first in his Montana county to plant a radically different crop: organic lentils. Unlike the chemically-dependent grains American farmers had been told to grow, lentils make their own fertilizer and tolerate variable climate conditions.

Today Oien leads a network of organic farmers who work with heirloom seeds and biologically diverse farming systems. Timeless Natural Food sells lentils, other legumes, and heirloom grains to hundreds of independent natural food stores and co-ops. Look for Timeless products on the shelf or in the bulk bins.

Tall Grass Bakery Seattle WA 

Bakers like Amanda Irving and her team of twelve at Tall Grass Bakery, Seattle WA, are bringing back healthy and nutritious breads; breads that don't require "fortification" to provide the healthy nutrition that is missing from commercially manufactured bread.

 

At Tall Grass, Amanda makes primarily naturally leavened breads using a living culture of flour, water, and natural yeast that many people would refer to as sourdough starter but she calls "levain" - French for "leaven" or "to rise."

 

By keeping three starters - one spelt, one whole wheat, and one rye - alive and well-fed, the Tall Grass bakers have the natural leavening needed to make a wide variety of hand-formed loaves, from baguettes (long and skinny) to boules (round).

 

If you're not up to baking your own, Amanda and her team make delicious artisan breads with all the flavor and nutrition that has been "industrialized" out of the bread you'll find in plastic bags on grocery shelves. Tall Grass loaves are sold at the bakery and in the artisan bread section of fine supermarkets in Puget Sound.  

Processor

Firefly Kitchens Seattle WA

Source: Firefly Kitchens 

A small processor of naturally fermented foods, Firefly Kitchens has grown to serve retailers in Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, Hawaii, and western Canada. Since the company's founding in 2010, Firefly has fermented over sixty tons of organic and sustainably grown vegetables, sourced primarily from local, family-owned organic farms.  

   

You'll find Firefly's krauts, kimchi, and fermented ginger carrots in fine supermarkets, natural food markets, and food co-ops in the western US. Fermented foods are living foods and are best enjoyed from local or regional processors.

 

Trust me, these are some of the best fermented vegetables you'll ever taste. And if there's a little brine left in the jar when you've eaten all the veggies, just pour a little into your tomato juice or add to salad dressing. Amazing!  

Retail and Restaurants

Mendoza's Mexican Mercado Seattle WA  

Carlos and Sonia (Mendoza) Cervantes, and Sonia's brothers Edgar and Gorge combined their entrepreneurial skills and launched a family business: Mendoza's Mexican Mercado, in north central Seattle. In a county where nearly 7% of the population considers itself Hispanic/Latino, the market has the potential to reach more than a 128,000 customers.

 

Coming from a family where cooking and selling food is "part of our blood," they are committed to bringing the flavors of Mexico to Seattle. Many of dishes Sonia prepares and offers as ready to eat in the shop are family recipes; dishes "mi abuela hizo" - "My grandmother made..." - like carnitas, enchiladas, taquitos, and frijoles. Sonia's corn tortillas have the "taste of home!"


Just in time for the holidays! For Les Posadas - a nine-day celebration that begins December 16 and ends on Christmas Eve - Carlos and Sonia supply everything you need from the pi�ata for the kids, to stuffed pork loins for family dinners, to the traditional Christmas ponce (punch) made with fresh and dried fruit, and tamarind (add a little tequila) for the adults.  

 

Central Co-op Seattle WA 

Seattle's Central Co-op is unique in a number of ways and the Co-op's very strong personality shows through. The location in a racially and economically diverse community (sandwiched between Seattle's Capitol Hill and Central District neighborhoods), the owner membership, and the cooperative structure have turned this market into one of the most politically and socially active co-ops in the Pacific Northwest.

 

Committed to making sure that everyone can have access to good food, the Co-op has created a number of programs. For example, for customers on a limited budget, Central Basics subsidizes the cost of a selection of inexpensive hot meals, canned goods, and bulk items that are always available.

 

Visit the co-op and select from products offered by more than 1000 local and regional growers, processors, and producers. This is a co-op that truly supports small businesses!

 

 

Stumbling Goat Bistro Seattle WA 

In a city where everyone seems to shop at one of the dozens of area Farmers Markets, one of the 12 natural food co-op stores, or one of four Whole Foods Markets, a chef can be challenged to deliver on his or her claim of local sourcing.

 

The good news: Stumbling Goat Bistro's Joshua Theilen has farmers, ranchers, cheesemakers, fishermen, and millers beating a path to his door. Stumbling Goat has been in operation for about 12 years and the focus has always been on local food; suppliers come knocking.

 

If you're looking for an unusual treat of scratch-made meals - including breads, pastries, and pasta - from local and regional meats, fish, produce, grains, and dairy, give the Goat a call this holiday season. You won't be disappointed. 


Sponsor


 We Need Your Help!

 

GoodFood World, a publication of Nickel Resources, is an important platform to help re-establish the missing connection with our food and our farmers, fishermen, millers, and bakers - all the people who grow and prepare it.  

 

We've sought out sources of local or regional, whole or minimally-processed meat, fish, produce, grain, dairy, and more. We introduce producers who are growing and harvesting good food. We promote food products that we believe are not only good food, but are food produced in a way that is environmentally sensitive and socially responsible.

 

Publishing an online magazine, particularly one dedicated to deep research and careful coverage - the "long read" - takes a team. It takes writers, editors, and committed readers like you. We are counting on you to be our partner to help keep good food on our tables and grocery shelves so we can all eat better and be healthy!

 

As part of our team, your contribution of $100, $50, $25, or more, will keep GoodFood World online and on the road, working one-on-one with creative, dedicated, and tireless good food producers so they can succeed and thrive; and we never lose our connection with the sources of our food!  

 

Whether you consider it an investment, a donation, or a contribution,  

please make it here.

 

Seeking Referrals and Recommendations

At Nickel Resources we offer consulting services to small businesses in the office, in the plant, and in the field. It's our job to keep small business IN business!  

 

Do you know anyone who is thinking about a start up or who needs a helping hand along the way? We greatly appreciate your referrals and recommendations. Send them on here.

Contribute Content, Advice, Input

We welcome photos, tips, observations, and links to stories about the world of good food. Send us stories about what you've seen or heard. Tell us what we're doing right. We like "atta boys!" Got a beef? Send it on... we need to know! Here's the place to do it.   

 

Take care, eat well, and be well!

 

Gail Nickel-Kailing and Ken Kailing

Co-Publishers/Editors

 

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