WHAT'S HAPPENING - Slow Food Whidbey Island
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Slow Food Whidbey Island
P.O. Box 1545, Freeland, WA 98249
www.slowfoodwhidbeyisland.org
CONVIVIYUM
April 2021
WHAT’S HAPPENING
SAVE THE DATE: APRIL 22 IS GIVE WHAT YOU CAN DAY
Coming up! Another “Give What You Can” day from Slow Food USA. On April 22nd you can
join both Slow Food USA and Slow Food Whidbey Island for any amount you choose. Don’t
miss this opportunity to become part of an international program supporting good, healthy food
and the farmers who grow them. We will send out an email reminder as the date approaches with
instructions on how to sign up. If both you and your spouse would like to join, be sure to do
each one separately. Be sure to show WA-Whidbey Island as your chapter. We look forward to
having you become part of the Slow Food family here on Whidbey
WAYS YOU CAN HELP DURING THE PANDEMIC
Community Loave
Do you like to make bread or have you always wanted to
“give it a go”? Do you want to help mediate hunger on South
Whidbey right from your kitchen? Then you are going to
love the Community Loaves program.
In April of 2020, Katherine Kehrli decided she wanted to do
something to help during the pandemic so she started a
program called Community Loaves. What started out as 5 people baking 19 loaves of bread has
grown into a program with 750+ bakers across Washington and into Oregon. Community
Loaves donates bread 2x/month to local food banks and the last donation was 2162 loaves!
Now Whidbey Island is able to participate and contribute locally. Sue Mills in Clinton opened up
a Hub for Whidbey Island and is looking for volunteer bakers to help supply loaves of honey oat
bread for donation to the Good Cheer Food Bank. If you would like to be part of this worthwhile
program, email Sue at sue@effectiveness.org to learn more. You can also get more information
about the program at their website: communityloaves.org.
Some of you may remember Gerry Betz of Tree Top Bakery in Clinton. Gerry has moved to
Everett and opened up a Community Loaves hub there to support Everett’s local food bank.
There was a great write-up about Gerry in the Everett Herald which you can read at https://
www.heraldnet.com/news/loaves-made-with-love-for-the-food-insecure-in-everett/
CONVIVIYUM Page 1 April 2021
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Can You Help Whidbey Life Magazine Publish the Next Issue?
Most of us are familiar with Whidbey Life Magazine, which
has great articles and photographs about farms, food, and life
on Whidbey Island. The pandemic has caused businesses to
cut back on advertising, which has affected revenue for the
magazine. A donation from you will make up the
difference...and make all the difference. Among the exciting
stories underway for Issue No. 14 is a feature on bread,
including a recipe from Seabiscuit Bakery for their potato loaf
and interviews with Whidbey's professional bakers and with
Jim Hicken, Slow Food member and baker extraordinaire.
Your gift, in any amount, will make the spring/summer issue a
reality. Your name will appear in the magazine and you will
receive a copy in the mail. A donation of $20 or more will
make you a subscriber to the next two issues of the magazine;
$500 will get you all 14 issues beginning with the rst one in
2014; $1000 will get you an ad supporting the business,
service, or charity of your choice. If community support PHOTO PROVIDED BY
doesn't make up the shortfall and Issue No. 14 doesn't go to WHIDBEY LIFE MAGAZINE
press, all donations will be returned
Contributions can be sent to: Whidbey Life Media, PO Box 284, Langley, WA 98260
For more information, contact dianna@whidbeylifemagazine.org
WIN and South Whidbey School Farm are looking for help creating a new digital cookbook
WIN and the School Farm are hoping to develop a
digital cookbook that supports the nutrition & farm
education that other programs deliver to students, and
can be used as part of the seasonal “healthy snack”
challenges that they’ll be hosting throughout the
school year. They would like to source recipes from
local chefs, farmer, food groups, students and other
interested community members. The goals of the
cookbook so far are
• Offer simple, equitable snack recipes that most
households could manage. An additional idea
to this is that recipes could also have a “level
up” version that could either be an
enhancement of technique or ingredients, or
both. Video links to cooking tutorials are a possibility as well
• Focus on produce found on Whidbey and in Washington State - broken into sections for
seasonal cooking
• Include some basic food preservation recipes/techniques
• Include some simple and very obvious foraging (blackberries, apples, etc.)
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They are getting ready to plan the rst meeting. If you are interested in being part of this project,
use the Doodle Poll link below to let us know when a good time to meet might be. Please
indicate your af liation with Slow Food Whidbey Island when you use the poll
https://doodle.com/poll/kqfsageain6zyx5w?utm_source=poll&utm_medium=lin
If you’re not able to attend or would like to be involved more peripherally, you can respond to
winourishes@whidbey.com with your interest (i.e., submitting recipes, design/tech help, etc.)
and they’ll keep you in the loop as things progress. Again, indicate your af liation with Slow
Food Whidbey Island
CLASSE
April 7 from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm
Educational “Farmer’s Shadow” Food Growing Series 202
This month Anza Muenchow will be recommending the veggies that should be started indoors
and transplanted out and those that should be directly sown into the garden. She will discuss
other ways gardeners can extend the growing season especially when we have such cold springs.
If you are not yet on the distribution list and would like to receive the Zoom link, please contact
Anza at education@southwhidbeytilth.org
April 13 from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm
The Cookbook Connectio
A Cook’s Tour of Franc
Sno-Isle Librarie
People desire to travel to France for many reasons, but food and wine are always high on that
list. The Cookbook Connection will take a tour with forks and knives to explore the foods of the
provinces of France. Cassoulet, Coq au vin, Rillettes, and Pissaladière - all this and so much
more!
A link to join the event via Zoom will be sent to registered participants the day of the event. If
you don’t see the email by an hour before the event, check your spam folder. You can access
Zoom in your computer’s browser, or download the app for free on an Apple or Android device.
You do not need to have your own Zoom account in order to participate. For more information
go to https://sno-isle.bibliocommons.com/events/search/fq=audiences:
(5ea9a60c385cb03a0010b3f8)/event/6049721eb46aa13900ac9d2f
April 15 from 7:00 pm to 9:00 p
Food for Though
"Two Steps Forward" & " Basque Country
Sno-Isle Librarie
One of the world's most traveled pilgrimages is the Camino de Santiago. In Graeme Simsion's
new book, Two Steps Forward, the journey begins in Cluny, where it is known as the Chemin
Saint Jacques. Follow two very different pilgrims on this journey and see how their paths cross.
The Camino crosses from France into Spain through the Pyrenees mountains and the lands of the
Basque people. Explore the delights of the Basque table in Basque Country.
CONVIVIYUM Page 3 April 2021
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A link to join the event via Zoom will be sent to registered participants the day of the event. If
you don’t see the email by an hour before the event, check your spam folder. You can access
Zoom in your computer’s browser, or download the app for free on an Apple or Android device.
You do not need to have your own Zoom account in order to participate. For more information
go to https://sno-isle.bibliocommons.com/events/6049724a998bd5440098d4c5
IN THE NEWS
FARMERS OF THE MONT
Mark and Melissa Stewart
Owners of One Willow Far
By Lynn Wenze
You’ve just retired from a 23-year
military career (almost half of those
years spent here on the island), you’re
still young and you’re ready to start
your second career. What to do? Well,
if you just learned that the average
age of a farmer in the United States is
64 years old and there’s a push to get
younger people into farming, and you
grew up on a farm in South Dakota
and already have some experience
under your belt raising chickens, you get yourself off to the Armed to Farm: Sustainable
Agriculture Training for Military Veterans program in Boseman, MT, which is just what Mark
and Melissa Stewart did
And if, during that training opportunity, you were exposed to a farm that sustainably pasture
raised chickens, a concept that you loved and wanted to emulate…well, you just bring yourselves
and some chickens back “home” to Whidbey Island to roost.
Mark and Melissa left that training program knowing three things: 1) they wanted to raise their
animals in the most ethical, humane way, hormone and antibiotic-free, and on pasture whenever
possible; 2) they wanted to make sure they were taking care of the land in the process and not
depleting it; and 3) they wanted to be in service to their family, friends, neighbors, and
community. These three principles remain at the core of their homestead, One Willow Farm
Products and Plans for 2021. Mark and Melissa have big plans for 2021. They anticipate
raising approximately 1,700 meat chickens (Cornish Cross) this year and 30 Heritage Bourbon
Red turkeys for the holidays (If you are interested in scoring one of these turkeys, I suggest you
place your order soon since they expect them to sell out fast). One Willow also sells chicken
cuts, chicken giblets, and whole broilers.
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.This year, Mark and Melissa are also preparing to raise approximately 75
Heritage breed egg layers comprised of Rhode Island Red (non-industrial)
and Dominique hens, which are in danger of extinction. They hope to have
fresh eggs in May. A quick note here: The Livestock Conservancy has
de ned Heritage Chicken to draw attention to over three dozen endangered
breeds, to support their long-term conservation, to support efforts to recover
these breeds to historic levels of productivity, and to re-introduce these
culinary and cultural treasures to the marketplace by establishing certain
criteria chickens must meet before being marketed as Heritage. You can learn more about this at
https://www.livestockconservancy.org/index.php/heritage/internal/heritage-chicken.
That’s a lot of chickens to feed! One Willow Farm feeds their animals with a high-quality feed
from Red Bridge Farm Feed (another veteran owned family business) in Kettle Falls, WA. This
feed is produced from grains grown in Washington and is non-GMO, corn and soy free
(especially important to those with a sensitivity to soy products).
Issues they’re facing toda
As you know, I always like to ask our island farmers what issue(s) they are facing that they
would like our members to know about and how, if possible, we may be able to assist them with
the issue at hand. Without a moment’s hesitation, Melissa expressed her frustration over the
operation of large industrial chicken producers who are able to advertise “free range” on their
labels because they have met the de nition of “access to the outdoors”, even though they may
have thousands of chickens in barns who only have access to the outdoors through one of two
small doors at each end of a large barn.
Mark and Melissa feel strongly that you have to know your farmer and know how they raise and
treat their animals. That’s why they love having people visit their farm. And if you can’t visit
their farm, check out the following video that Melissa sent to introduce One Willow Farm to us
and to help educate us all about how they raise their chickens: https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=w7ar3m7wNjk&t=15s
How You Can Support the
I hope that by now you have gotten to know these two farmers a little better. You can support
them and delight your family by ordering whole chickens, chicken cuts, chicken giblets or a
whole Holiday Heritage turkey from them directly from their website, by sending them an email,
or contacting them through Facebook or Instagram. They make deliveries here on the island on
Saturdays for a small fee. You can also nd their chickens at the Whidbey Island Grown
Cooperative. Eggs will be available at their Old Yellow Truck Farm Stand on Highway 20. Look
for signs on the farm stand and follow them on Facebook and Instagram for when these eggs will
be available. And hopefully, this summer should nd them at our Farmers Markets, so keep an
eye out for them there
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fiWe are so fortunate that these two chicken farmers have chosen Whidbey Island as their home
and as the place to pursue their second careers.
Mark and Melissa Stewar
One Willow Far
29332 State Route 20 (Look for the old yellow Chevy truck by the road
Oak Harbor, WA 9827
(360) 499-6108
Website: www.onewillowfarmwa.com
Email: onewillowfarmwa@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/onewillowfarmwa
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/one_willow_farm_wa/
SAVORY- new restaurant in Langle
This new restaurant serves eclectic comfort food inspired by their mothers, grandmothers,
travels, the avors of Whidbey Island and the Paci c Northwest. Their cozy dining room and
deck overlook Saratoga Passage in the "Village-by-the-Sea", Langley, WA. Their address is 220
1st Street in Langley across from the Clyde Theatre. Phone: 360-221-710
Email: info@savoryrestaurantwhidbey.com
Farmers Markets opening in Apri
The Bayview Farmers Market will open on Saturday, April 24th from 10 am to 2 pm
South Whidbey Tilth Farmers Market will open on Sunday, April 25th with new expanded hours
of 11:00 am to 2:00 pm.
New Farmers Market on Whidbey Islan
After extensive outreach to 27 local farms, the
Whidbey Island Farmers Market board deliberated a
decision to have the new Whidbey Island Farmers
Market on Sundays, 11-3 pm from June to September
at Windjammer Park in Oak Harbor. The day and time
may change in future years but based on farmer
feedback this seemed like the best choice to maximize
attendance. The board will begin reaching out to
crafters, processors and hot food vendors in the coming months. If you are or know anyone who
is interested in becoming a vendor please have them email Whidbey Farmers Market directly at:
whidbeyfarmersmarket@gmail.com
Foggy Hill Farm is offering their CS
Some of you may remember Alanah from her time working at Willowood Farm and Foxtail
Farm. She has her own farm now in Clinton. Her CSA at Foggy Hill Farm is a 20-week farm
share from June 2nd to Oct 15th. A sample week would include spinach, micros, carrots,
radishes, kale, pac choi, scallions and parsley. Email Alanah at hello@foggyhillfarm.com for
more information. She also has a farm stand at 3460 French Road in Clinton, which offers both
owers and vegetables during the growing season
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.A new form of CSA from SkyRoot Far
One aspect of the CSA that we value is that the winter sign-up and payment establish a
relationship that we get to build on over the course of the season. That payment is also essential
for our cash ow in a business where the months with the greatest expenses and the months with
highest vegetable production are at opposite ends of the calendar. Our ideal for the virtual farm
stand (VFS) is that it would parallel the CSA, with customers paying up front for a month or two
of orders -- or for the whole season. If you are currently a pay-by-the-order customer, we hope
you will consider shifting your approach to your farm stand payment! If you anticipate ordering
regularly from the VFS in 2021, please consider making a deposit now that covers some or all of
the season. If you're not comfortable making a large deposit, please consider paying for a month
in advance, or even just paying for a couple of orders at a time
Because up-front payments are especially valuable to us right now, we're offering a deposit
bonus: If you bring your account balance up to $200 or more by the end of March, we will offer
a bonus 5% in vegetable credit. In other words, your $200 turns into $210 in vegetables, or $500
(about the cost of a CSA share) turns into $525. To make a deposit visit our website
(www.skyrootfarm.com). We are keenly aware that access to good food is not equitable and not
everyone can afford to pay in advance, and we really want everyone to be able to eat as many
vegetables as possible, so paying each week will remain an option
Ciao in Coupeville announces indoor dinin
Ciao Restaurant is ecstatic to announce that indoor dining has reopened at 25% capacity, as per
Governor Jay Inslee's reopening plan. Ciao will be accepting indoor dining customers during
their normal hours of business. Seating is rst come, rst served with no reservations at this
time. They have currently adopted a counter service style ordering arrangement with limited wait
service. They appreciate your support and hope to see you soon! http://ciao.store
Nettle Forest Farm opens farm stand for the season
Nettle Forest Farm is opening their farm stand. Since the offering will be very limited (a few
dozen eggs, purple broccoli, etc.) they won't be doing a weekly update until they of cially open
sometime in April. Their soft opening will start Saturday, March 20th at 11am, and continue on
Saturdays at 11am. www.nettleforestfarm.com
RECIPES
The folks at Nettle Forest Farm have learned over
several years of farming that eating seasonally means
eating creatively. To eat some of the Fall crops that
grow well here, like parsnips and celeriac root, they've
found some great on-line resources for fun, seasonal
recipes. They made a wonderful dinner of parsnip
latkes, and found the parsnips to be a delicious
substitute for the typical potato form of latkes. They
enjoyed theirs with applesauce and yogurt, some fresh
greens, and their homemade hot sauce. Yum!
CONVIVIYUM Page 7 April 2021
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fiThis recipe is from Smitten Kitchen. The web link is: https://smittenkitchen.com/2011/12/
parsnip-latkes-with-horseradish-and-dill/
Potato-Parsnip Latkes with Horseradish and Dil
Yield: About 18 2-1/2 to 3-inch latke
Pancakes
1/2 pound (about 1 large) Russet potat
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juic
1 pound parsnips (about 2 large or 4 medium
1/4 cup all-purpose ou
1 teaspoon baking powde
2 large eggs, lightly beate
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dil
1 teaspoon table sal
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black peppe
Olive oil (or a mix of olive and vegetable or peanut oil) for fryin
Sauce
1 cup sour crea
1 tablespoon lemon juic
1/2 teaspoon table sal
1 tablespoon freshly grated or prepared horseradis
1 tablespoon chopped dil
Preheat: Oven to 250 degrees. Line one large or two smaller baking sheets with foil and leave
them in the oven until needed
Prepare vegetables: Peel vegetables and grate them on the large holes of a box grater or (my
preferred method) using the shredding blade of a food processor. If using the food processor, I
like to lay the vegetables sideways in the chute, in an attempt to get the longest strands of
vegetables. This creates latkes that look like little piles of mops, which is my goal
Transfer shredded vegetables to a lint-free dishtowel or square of cheesecloth, and wring out as
much liquid as possible. Let stand for two minutes, then wring again. Wetness is the enemy of
crisp, light latkes, so we want to get rid of as much as possible
Make batter: Transfer wrung-out vegetables to a large bowl. Add lemon juice. In a tiny dish, stir
together the our, baking powder, salt, pepper and any herbs or additional seasonings and toss
with vegetables, evenly coating the strands. In the same tiny dish, whisk your egg(s) and then stir
this into the vegetable- our mixture, evenly coating the strands
Prepare pan: Heat a large, heavy skillet, preferably cast iron, over medium heat. Once skillet is
hot, add 3 tablespoons oil and heat oil until shimmering. If you’re unsure, you can ick a droplet
of water onto the oil; if it hisses and sputters, you’re good to go
Cook: Using a fork or your ngertips (letting the eggy batter drain off a little is good), gather
spoonful-sized mounds of battered vegetables and drop them onto the heated skillet. When
CONVIVIYUM Page 8 April 2021
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flgolden underneath, 3 to 4 minutes later, ip pancakes. [If you’re using a gas range, you’ll likely
have to rotate your pancakes 180 degrees halfway through the cooking time so that they color
evenly underneath.] Cook on the other side until nicely bronzed underneath, another 2 to 3
minutes, and transfer to paper towels brie y to drain pancakes, before transferring them again to
tray(s) in warm oven. If latkes cook too quickly or slowly on the stove, adjust the heat
accordingly. Add more oil if needed (you want to keep the pan at that 3 tablespoon level), being
sure it is heated before adding more pancakes to the skillet. Repeat with remaining batter. Keep
the latkes in the oven for at least 10 minutes to ensure they’ve cooked through before serving
them. This gives you time to
Make sauce: Mix sauce ingredients in a small dish. Adjust seasonings to taste
Serve: Warm with a dollop of the sauce
COMMENTS FROM OUR READER
Judy Feldman at The Organic Farm School has a book suggestion for you. Here’s what she has
to say about Lentil Underground: Renegade Farmers and the Future of Food in America, by Liz
Carlisle. I am only a page into the "Forward" for the book and can already tell we should ALL
be reading it. I suspect it will con rm my thought that Regenerative Ag has to also be
Collaborative Ag, weaving farmers and eaters together into a vibrant community of resilience
and hope. Want to read Lentil Underground with me? Please?
https://www.patagoniaprovisions.com/products/lentil-underground?
gclid=CjwKCAiAjp6BBhAIEiwAkO9Wut9RwAZwsmgxU4kolsp3dJGtd87SDjo3sh9TJjIpOvQ
ghPQ64vRPDxoCu-8QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
Thanks for the insider-information about Fare Market restaurant! Looking forward to their
opening! Marie Monte Fior
There was this great article in the Seattle Times about cancer nutrition research and their
website for recipes. It's not exactly Slow Food newsletter info but do you think it should be
included? https://www.seattletimes.com/life/wellness/fred-hutch-initiative-cook-for-your-life-
brings-cancer-nutrition-research-to-the-kitchen/ and https://www.cookforyourlife.org/
Tracy Heffel nger
SOCIAL MEDIA
And as always, don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Instagram, plus check out our website
at http://www.slowfoodwhidbeyisland.org/
If you would like to join Slow Food, go to https://slowfoodusa.org/become-a-member/
Be sure to click WA-Whidbey Island as your chapter. This will make you a member of both
Slow Food USA and Slow Food Whidbey Island.
CONVIVIYUM Page 9 April 2021
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