Meet Your Farmer: Sunseed Farm

by Megan Stilp, Cordata Produce

Locally grown organic garden starts available now at your co-op!

Nick Guilford tending plant starts in Sunseed Farm’s eight greenhouses. After the germination chamber, the small starts move into this warm greenhouse to grow before being hardened off for outdoor planting in the cooler greenhouses.

Nestled in the valley of the south fork of the Nooksack River sits Sunseed Farm. Nick Guilford, proprietor, has been using organic growing methods since starting the business in 1997 and obtained organic certification in 2001. On the farm you’ll find organic garden starts, many destined for sale at the Co-op, growing right alongside the plants that go into Sunseed’s fields for vegetable and herb production.

This makes for less transplant shock, and an earlier, more abundant yield.

Most plant starts sold in our area are chemically raised, which can make for a hard transition into a garden where they aren't being fed a nutrient solution every day. According to Sunseed’s website, “Our organic starts not only come with a longer lasting nutrient base in the pot, but the plants are also in a more natural, nutrient foraging relationship with the soil. This makes for less transplant shock, and an earlier, more abundant yield.” Additionally, over a 20-year career as a market farmer, Nick has selected varieties of crops that have been proven to thrive in our climate. All of these factors can help produce a successful home gardening experience when using starts from Sunseed Farm.

You can find their organic garden starts at both Community Food Co-op locations from about mid-March through the end of our often unpredictable local planting season. You can also find Sunseed Farm at the Saturday Bellingham Farmers Market.

Dedicated to your gardening success, Sunseed’s website is a great resource for the home gardener, with planting tips and schedules, articles on season extension, and even a selection of their favorite gardening tools and books available for purchase.

margaret gerard and nick guilford on their farm

Margaret Gerard and Nick Guilford at Sunseed Farm get your garden starts growing with the best soil, optimal growing conditions, and lots of love.

planting chart for veggies herbs and starts

Local Vendor: Spring Time Farm

by Meggan Simpson, Downtown Produce

July, 2017

spring time farm nick spring and sarah robinson

Farmers Nick Spring and Sarah Robinson enjoy a quiet moment on their farm in Everson with farm dog Henry.

photo by TwoFish Photography

Here at the Co-op we realize that farming is hard work, seven days a week, and a pretty challenging way to make a living. It is also an integral part of our community and local food system, which is why the Co-op has created programs like the Farm Fund that offer resources to help small farms like Spring Time Farm make their dreams of bringing fresh, nutrient-dense food to their community a reality.

Sarah Robinson and Nick Spring took the next step, with the assistance of a Co-op Farm Fund Next Step grant, and purchased property for their expanding produce and flower farm.

Nick Spring and Sarah Robinson at Spring Time Farm recently received a Next Step Grant—a relatively new Farm Fund program designed to help small farms take the next step and scale up to provide the wholesale market—and we are so happy to help them expand to their very own property. After farming their first four years leasing land, sharing tools, and receiving mentorship from Dusty Williams at Broad Leaf Farm, they are now in the process of moving to their recently purchased 37-acre property where they plan to farm 5 to 7 acres at a time while rotating their crops to ensure soil fertility and health.

Sarah washing lettuce. Look for signs identifying their organic produce and flowers in our stores this summer and support these up-and-coming local farmers.

photo byTwoFish Photography

So where did it all begin for Spring Time Farm? Nick Spring is originally from Portland, Oregon, and was attending Western Washington University in 2012 while running a garden system in town called Bellingham Urban Growers Syndicate (BUGS). You may have seen him bicycling around between classes with rototillers, rakes, and shovels in his trailer, or perhaps you owned one of the 11 plots of land he grew veggies on throughout town. He didn’t grow up farming or gardening but it is in Nick’s genes.

The name Spring Time Farm was the name of the farm Nick’s grandfather ran until he was 90!

Not only was BUGS a transition to reconnecting Nick to his farming heritage and his realization that he wanted to make a career growing food for the community, but BUGS is also how Nick met his amazing and talented partner Sarah Robinson. Sarah grew up in Maryland, went to college in Boston, and spent many years bicycle touring the continent before coming to Bellingham. It was here with the already passionate vegetable-growing Nick that she discovered her love for farming. With the constant and diverse challenges of farming—keeping her mind and body engaged while allowing her to be outside connecting with nature— she was hooked!

Nick with an armfull of giant alliums. The farmers of Spring Time Farm found a natural division of labor with Nick Spring taking the lead on the vegetable side of things and Sarah Robinson using her decidedly green thumb as the lead farmer-florist. Of course, they both frequently work together across all areas of the farm.

photo by Sarah Robinson

Nick and Sarah have been farming together for four years now and the quality and abundance of fruits, veggies, and flowers they bring to the community makes me feel like they have been doing this for so much longer. He is “in charge” of the veggies and she is “in charge” of the flowers, and they have a wonderful employee named Josiah who has been there from the beginning and whose knowledge, hard work, and fresh perspective have been an integral part of their success.

Sarah, Nick, Josiah, and the rest of the crew at Spring Time Farm are always trying new things, looking for new ways to nurture their land and preserve their bodies so they can continue to farm for a very, very long time. And we hope they do!

Nick and Sarah are such a joy to be around, you can see and feel the genuine passion for what they do, and for life in general, shine through in even the smallest interactions with them. You may see them delivering sun-kissed boxes of produce or flowers to either
Co-op store or selling at the Bellingham Farmers Market on Saturdays. Either way, we hope you get a warm and happy feeling when you put something from their local farm into your reusable shopping bag.

nick and sarah jumping for joy during the garlic harvest

Nick and Sarah's enthusiasm for organic farming is contagious. Here they are jumping for joy during the garlic harvest.

photo by Meaghan Flesch

We all benefit from the vibrant local organic farming community in Whatcom County. Maybe you have never grown a vegetable, or just didn’t have time to plant a garden this year, or perhaps all your greens have bolted—don’t fear! Spring Time, Broad Leaf, Terra Verde, Cascadia Mushrooms, Rabbit Fields, Viva Farms, Cedarville, Moondance, Spring Frog, and so many others deliver their
farm-fresh produce to the Co-op to make sure you have delicious and healthful local food to eat.

We know the hard work, dedication to sustainable farming, and connection to nature of these farmers is a large part of what makes the Co-op where you love to shop and Whatcom County such an amazing place to live, eat, and play. Thank you, Hamsters, for supporting your community and all the people who make it go round.

Learn more about the Co-op’s Farm Fund. The fund is supported by donations. You can join your friends and neighbors who support the Farm Fund by donating at any Co-op register or on our website.

Take a closer look at Spring Time Farm.

Hopewell Farm

by Dave Straub, Cordata produce department

Buckets of freshly harvested Hopewell Farm organic blueberries await their final destination—our produce departments and your tummies.

Recently a co-worker asked me, “If you could only eat one kind of fruit for the rest of your life, what would it be?” I was quiet for a moment, looked deep into my soul, and then said, “Blueberries.” Hypothetical questions don’t usually have correct answers, but we both knew I nailed that one.

Blueberries are nutritious, taste amazing on everything from ice cream to salmon, and are historically one of the most local foods available.

People in these parts have feasted on them for thousands of years, and if you’ve hiked the North Cascades in September when the trails are lined with ripe huckleberries then you’ve probably enjoyed this local bounty as well.

These days we don’t have to brave the mountain wilderness for fresh produce, thanks to Pete Dykstra of Hopewell Farm and his 16 acres of blueberry bushes nestled at the base of Sumas Mountain. I journeyed out to this picturesque field and walked the rows already abundant with dainty bell-shaped flowers that will become my breakfast. While there I chatted with Lisa Dykstra, Hopewell’s sales rep and the youngest of four Dykstra generations to farm this land.

As we talked I got a sense of how diversified Hopewell Farm has become over the years due largely to the prodigious efforts and entrepreneurial spirit of Pete.

Besides their famous blueberries and carrots, they grow a variety of other vegetables, medicinal herbs, and seed crops. They operate a dairy farm and grow their own silage for the cows that in turn produce compost for the fields. They even maintain wild habitat for beneficial predators such as hawks, kestrels, and owls.

The evidence of their holistic approach was all around me ...

... honey bees buzzed in their hives at the end of every row, happy cows played beyond the fence line, and Lisa spoke glowingly about being on the forefront of progressive efforts.

Hopewell is certified organic, GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) certified, and receives outstanding scores for worker satisfaction. In Pete’s own words this means, “The fields are healthy, they produce great crops, and there is life in the soil.”

And if you’re wondering what all this means for you, my patient Co-op shopper, it means the most delicious blueberries you are likely to eat this summer—fresh, hand-picked, and delivered farmer direct to our shelves for your culinary pleasure.

Farm Fund Grant Update: Viva Farms

by Laura Steiger, Outreach Team

farm fund, local, farms, farmers, viva farms, grant

Amy Frye of Boldly Grown Farm (see back page) prepares her field for planting with Viva Farm’s new field cultivator that was purchased with a Co-op Farm Fund grant. The field cultivator is shared with all 14 farmers working land at Viva Farms, and is more environmentally sustainable and efficient than using a rototiller.

Photo courtesy of Viva Farms.

Started in 2009, Viva Farm’s mission is to launch a new generation of farmers.

In the 2016 grant cycle, the Co-op Farm Fund issued $8,000 in grants to seven inspiring proposals. If you tried your hand at playing the Farm Fund Game in the April Co-op News, you may recall the diversity of the funded projects. They tackled issues related to grazing management in a changing climate, formation of a new tool co-op, purchase and training for a multi-farm portable sheep shearing system, and four more innovative ideas. We are excited to watch these projects come to fruition in the coming year and to share their success stories with you.

One project that is already cultivating positive results is at Viva Farms, a nonprofit, small business farm incubator located in Skagit Valley. Its mission is to support aspiring and limited-resource farmers to overcome barriers to farm ownership by providing bilingual training in holistic and organic farming practices and management, and much needed access to land, infrastructure, equipment, marketing, and capital.

Viva Farms received a Co-op Farm Fund grant to purchase a new field cultivator. The implement was purchased from Farmer’s Equipment Co. in Lynden where the farm received a nonprofit discount, further leveraging its Farm Fund grant. Hooray for local businesses!

Several farmers at Viva have already had great success using the new field cultivator, which prepares soil for planting without the need for rototilling. Rob Smith, Viva Farms operations and incubator director, described the cultivator as “a missing link in our ‘toolkit’ that allows us to work up a field in a more efficient, timely, and sustainable manner.”

Efficient because the field cultivator is much faster to use in the field, and with fewer mechanical parts, it is less likely to break down and requires less maintenance. All these factors result in less downtime in the field, fewer costly repairs, and overall labor savings.

Sustainable because it is gentler on the soil structure, known in farmer lingo as the “tilth.” A rototiller, on the other hand, can create soil compaction or pulverize the soil resulting in hardpan that impairs drainage and plant growth. Also, because rototillers are powered implements, they use more fuel to operate than the cultivator that is simply pulled behind a tractor.

This improvement in efficiency and sustainability allows farmers more time to, well, farm, and will hopefully result in greater productivity and eventually more deliveries of local food to the Co-op’s produce departments. Throughout the growing season Viva, and the 14 independent farmers currently working the land and sharing equipment with Viva, provide certified organic vegetables, herbs, and berries to the Puget Sound Food Hub, which serves many Whatcom County food businesses.

In the same way that the Co-op is committed to the principal of cooperation among cooperatives, the farmers on-site at Viva Farms are building community and learning from each other. Rob said: “Despite working on their own independent operations, the farmers help support each other for success. This all happens across language and cultural barriers—finding out what is shared between all farmers, and all humans, really.”

For the first time, Viva Farms is at 100 percent capacity and will look into expanding in 2017. Rob wants to spread the word about what Viva Farms is accomplishing, and tell people that it wouldn’t be possible without the farmers and a network of community partners.

That network includes every Co-op shopper who has contributed to the Farm Fund and chooses to purchase local produce from the Co-op—Whatcom County’s only community-owned grocery store.

Learn more at vivafarms.org

Grocery- Rockin’ Around the Clock

by Michael Elkins, Grocery Department

Amy's Soup cans in aisle Community Food Co-op grocery straightening

Grocery Assistant Managers Chuck Marston (front) and Travis Meyer (back) align product to keep the Downtown grocery shelves looking just right for Co-op shoppers.

When I was asked to compose an article about the grocery department it seemed like it could be a daunting task. There are so many things to talk about—product selection, pricing, promotions, the staff, and on and on. I thought I would start off with a little bit about the staff.

There are 23 grocery team members at the Downtown store and 13 at Cordata. Not everyone works full time, and a few folks also work shifts in other departments, but there is a cumulative total of 285 years of Co-op experience working in the grocery department every week. We have a couple of new hires still getting their feet wet, and one of our team members is coming up on her 30th anniversary in September-hi there, Sandy Hanson!

“there is a cumulative total of 285 years of Co-op experience working in the grocery department ”

The grocery department is comprised of all the packaged dry goods, bulk foods, frozen, dairy, refrigerated goods, beer, wine, and mercantile. Specific staff are responsible for making sure these sections have the goods you buy, and that they run smoothly year in and year out. The grocery department, overall, is responsible for approximately half of the Co-op’s total sales. We work hard, and we have a really good time doing it!

You may see a lot of these folks when you’re shopping, but one HUGE piece of how we provide you with products happens behind closed doors and after hours. The grocery department has a crew of incredibly hardworking individuals who receive the majority of our freight after hours, and work well into the night and early morning stocking those shelves that always seem to be full. Combined, the freight crews at our two stores receive, on average, 35 tons of goods three times every week that they break down and stock to store shelves in a matter of hours. That’s more than 100 tons of product every week. While many things are done by the folks who run the individual sections within the grocery department, and we also receive many additional deliveries during business hours, we would never be able to achieve the success we have without the hard work of the unsung heroes on our freight crews.

At any given time the grocery department houses about 7,500 different items. We add about 100 new items every month, but, of course, that means we drop about the same number to make room for the new ones. We meet monthly with food brokers that are hired by manufacturers to show us new products, and we also receive up to 50 product requests per month from member-owners through our website. While we can’t bring in everything that we’re shown, or asked for, we do our best to stock our shelves with what we think our shoppers want. We taste nearly every single product for quality, and we have fairly strict guidelines on what we will carry, including a list of “Not Acceptable” ingredients. Our most recent addition to our product guidelines is the Co-op’s commitment to decline any products with high-risk GMO ingredients. This means if it’s not organic and has any ingredients sourced from potential genetically modified crops, we will not make room for that product on our shelves. We are hopeful that through our working product guidelines, and the work of many other co-ops and natural food stores that are taking a similar stance, we can send the message to food manufacturers that we do not want GMOs in our food.

It has long been thought that co-ops are higher in price than other grocery stores, but the reality is if you compare organic apples to organic apples we are very competitive in our community. Just know that we strive to offer you our best possible price on all of our products.

“part of our commitment to make high-quality, nutritious, culturally appropriate, and affordable food more accessible”

Our co-op is part of a larger group of co-ops nationwide called National Cooperative Grocers Association (NCGA) that helps us stay competitive with our everyday prices, as well as offering some tremendous savings on sale items in our stores. Check out the percentage savings that appear on our sales signs; some offer more than 40 percent savings. Each store has aisle-end displays that highlight some current sale items, so if you’re not already looking there for savings, you should certainly start checking it out. We also started the successful Co-op Essentials program last year; look for the red and white signs in every department throughout the store—the largest number of which are in the bulk department. The program is part of our commitment to make high-quality, nutritious, culturally appropriate, and affordable food more accessible to every customer who walks through our doors.

I’ve worked at the Co-op for more than 18 years and have been a part of the incredible growth we’ve experienced in that time. I always feel good when I come to work, and I always feel even better when I go home at the end of the day, because of the work I am fortunate to be able to do. Whether it’s once a month, every week, or every day, I hope that every time you shop we’re offering you the same great experience that I enjoy. Thanks for supporting the Co-op. We couldn’t do it if we didn’t have each other!

Erin Baker’s Wholesome Baked Goods

by Laura Steiger, Outreach Team

Boys and Girls Club eating green apples eating breakfast cookies

A percentage of every purchase of an Erin Baker’s™ product is donated to the “Help Feed 1 Million Kids Program” that provided 100,000 breakfasts to kids at Boys & Girls Clubs in Washington in 2015. Below, Erin visits kids at the Bellingham club.

We’ve all been there, rushing out the door to work, school, an appointment, or to catch the bus while neglecting breakfast in our haste. In 1994 Erin Baker purchased her first Kitchen Aid mixer and, inspired by her mother’s wholesome baking, set her sights on creating a solution to this common situation—a healthy, grab-n-go breakfast treat.

a healthy, grab-n-go breakfast treat

Erin set up shop in a rented 4-H kitchen, and from those humble beginnings her business has grown to become an impressive local success story. Erin Baker’s™ Oatmeal Raisin Homestyle Granola was featured in Oprah magazine, the bakery was profiled in an episode of Unwrapped on the Food Network, and when flying Delta Air Lines you can nosh on an Erin Baker’s™ Breakfast Cookie included in the airline’s in-flight snacks.

Erin Bakers Breakfast Cookie oatmeal raisin with coffee blueberries and strawberry

From the Cookie Maker

Toast your favorite flavor of breakfast cookie for a delicious toasty treat.

Of course, the Co-op was way ahead of any of those highfalutin accolades—we’ve been fans since the beginning, and you can still buy the full assortment of breakfast cookies and granola (also in bulk) in our stores.

Beyond the delicious, whole-grain treats Erin Baker’s™Wholesome Baked Goods makes in its Ohio Street bakery in Bellingham, there are plenty of other reasons to love this local business—1 million of them in fact.

After learning that many children were arriving at the Whatcom County chapter of the Boys and Girls Club without eating breakfast, Erin established the “Help Feed 1 Million Kids Program.” In 2015, the business delivered more than 8,300 Breakfast Cookie Minis, in colorful kid-friendly packaging, to Boys and Girls Clubs across Washington state and to Homeport Learning Center in Bellingham—that’s 100,000 breakfasts for hungry kids!

But Erin didn’t stop there. Her company also partners with the Mt. Baker Ski Area to provide a free Erin Baker’s™Breakfast Cookie or cup of Homestyle Granola and milk to kids of all ages in Mt. Baker Ski Area’s Winter Ride Program. In addition, 100 percent of the proceeds of all Erin Baker’s™ Wholesome Baked Goods sold at the ski area benefit the children of the Winter Ride Program, providing scholarships and gear to kids who otherwise might miss out.

Just like Erin Baker’s™, the Co-op is passionate about giving back to our local community and increasing access to healthy food for everyone. Next time you’re in the Co-op, stock up on some Erin Baker’s™ Wholesome Baked Goods to help ease your morning rush, and know that with every purchase you are supporting a local business that in turn supports local kids.

Meet Your Farmer: Sunseed Farm

by Megan Stilp, Cordata Produce

Locally grown organic garden starts available now at your co-op!

Local Vendor: Spring Time Farm

by Meggan Simpson, Downtown Produce

July, 2017

photo by TwoFish Photography

photo byTwoFish Photography

photo by Sarah Robinson

photo by Meaghan Flesch

Hopewell Farm

by Dave Straub, Cordata produce department

Farm Fund Grant Update: Viva Farms

by Laura Steiger, Outreach Team

Grocery- Rockin’ Around the Clock

by Michael Elkins, Grocery Department

Erin Baker’s Wholesome Baked Goods

by Laura Steiger, Outreach Team

From the Cookie Maker

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