|
|
The Local Choice Food Box is the only CSA* in Washington that let’s each customer choose the food that goes into their box each week! The Local Choice Food Box lets you choose EVERY ITEM, EVERY WEEK. No food you don’t recognize or vegetables you dislike. Just fresh, local, organic food you know your family will eat. You choose it, so you know you’ll use it!
Register early and save! Purchase your food box before April 1 and receive a 5% discount.
Visit the Local Choice Food box website for details. The Summer CSA runs 18 weeks from June to October, beginning at $24 per week for a small vegetable box. There are options for larger boxes, fruit, and flowers.
*Community Supported Agriculture
If you are a chicken keeper or urban farmer in the city of Seattle and would welcome the chance to talk to other citizens about building coops, the different varieties of chicken breed, or to show off you organic garden or fruit orchard in the city, then consider becoming part of Seattle Tilth’s Chicken Coop & Urban Farm Tour.
Download the Host Application, and return it to chrisiberle@seattletilth.org by Friday, May 25, with 3-5 photos of your coop and urban farm. Seattle Tilth is looking for hosts to add to the tour with interesting coop designs, varied chicken breeds, goat, duck, bee, and rabbit raising, and more sustainable, urban farming aspects that fascinate and intrigue.
If you would like to give back this holiday season to causes you care about, consider gifts that support the local food economy and farms.
How about a copy of Cascade Harvest Coalition’s (CHC) cookbook, Fresh! Seasonal Recipes with local ingredients. At $20, this beautifully illustrated and smartly arranged book features seasonal and local recipes, courtesy of local farmers, chefs and food writers including Tom Douglas, Jeff Miller, and Seth Caswell. Local artist Lida Enche filled the 80-page layout with original woodcuts and illustrations of stunning beauty. Honey bees, salmon and ladybugs swim across the floral backdrop. All proceeds will benefit CHC, a non-profit organization dedicated to “re-localizing” the food system in Washington State. Order online. Shipping and handling included!
Consider a Community Support Agriculture (CSA) subscription that can provide someone you love with the benefits of farm fresh food throughout the year. Or give as a gift to your family and help with New Year’s resolutions for healthier eating! A CSA is a great way to support local farmers and the local economy. Download a directory of Puget Sound CSA’s (1.2MB PDF).
This is your chance to visit folks who are keeping chickens and creating “urban farms” right here in the city of Seattle and in the surrounding area. In this self-guided, mapped Chicken Coop & Urban Farm Tour organized each year by Seattle Tilth, you can glean great ideas from creative neighbors who are incorporating animals and unique gardens into their home landscapes.
In this year’s expanded tour, discover other creative trappings of modern Seattle urban farms, including productive organic gardens, fruit orchards, water catchment devices like rain barrels, cisterns and swales, solar and cob construction, and crazy garden art.
Buy tickets online through brownpapertickets, $10/$12 members/singles or groups (3-7 people) $30/35.
You can also visit one of these many fine retailers to buy your tickets and get a map in-person:
City People’s Mercantile in Sand Point; 5440 Sand Point Way NE 98105
City People’s Garden Store in Madrona; 2939 E Madison St. 98122
Central Co-op in Capitol Hill, 1600 East Madison St. 98122
Next to Nature in West Seattle; 4543 California Ave SW 98116
Portage Bay Grange in the U-District; 4110 Roosevelt Ave NE 98105
Walt’s Organic Fertilizer in Ballard; 1528 NW Leary Way 98107
Or buy yours at the Seattle Tilth offices at the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford, Monday through Friday, 10:00a.m.-5:30p.m.; 4649 Sunnyside Ave N #100 98103
Celebrate Father’s Day at West Seattle farmers market!
- Watch master Chef Jacob Wiegner demonstrate easy and fabulous tips for grilling with plenty of delicious ideas and free recipes. (Demo starts at 11am)
- Enter for a chance to win a free Weber grill!! Anyone who shops the market on June 19 can enter to win at the market info tent! The drawing will take place at 1 PM on June 19.
- Free ice-cream treats for shoppers, courtesy of Husky Delli and local berry farmers in honor of Father’s Day.
- Kids activities sponsored by Yarrow Spa and WS Helpline.
- Live music from KTandHoops.
The West Seattle Farmers Market is located in the heart of the “Junction” at 44th Ave SW & SW Alaska St., Seattle, WA 98116. There is free street parking in the area surrounding the market.
Find a pumpkin patch, corn maze, hayrides and other Fall and Halloween fun in King County. Some are farms, where you take a hay ride out into the field, others are elaborate farm stands with mountains of pumpkins and other activities, and some are simple roadside stands. All should have loads of pumpkins to choose from. ALWAYS call before you go to confirm all information. The page also lists other Washington counties and other states.
Pumpkin Patches and More!
Another list of pumpkin patches from Trekaroo
Also see these reviews on Yelp for local pumpkin patches
Get out of the city with one of these “free-range” farm adventures and celebrate the beauty of the season! Harvest festivals at local farms are underway throughout Puget Sound. By visiting the farms, you can learn about sustainable farming methods and the environmental stewardship that farmers provide while enjoying the bounty of rural communities. Local farmers cultivate some of our most vulnerable lands and waterways, and responsible farming deserves recognition. During these harvest celebrations, you can meet the farmers right where your food is grown, shop for produce and much more, like custom meats, exotic flowers, and fiber products. In addition to the tours, there are plenty of family fun activities like hayrides, tractor rides, zucchini contests, canning demonstrations, raffles, wine tasting…to name a few (activites vary by location–check the links below for details).
King County Harvest Celebration festivals are free, however a $10 donation is suggested. Make your suggested $10 donation at the first farm you visit. Your contribution helps make the farm tour tradition possible. Remember that sustainable farming depends on local residents buying locally—so come prepared to buy farm-fresh products! Be sure to review the reminders and guidelines (downloadable PDF) for enjoying the King County Farm Tours while respecting the farmers and their farms.
Saturday September 25, 10am-4pm in Snoqualmie Valley where nine farms are open to welcome you.
Sunday September 26, 10am-4pm on Vashon Island where seven farms welcome you. For fares and last-minute ferry information, please visit http://wsdot.wa.gov/ferries/ on the day of the tour.
Discover the agricultural richness of the northwest corner of Snohomish County and Camano Island where the farms are many, the people friendly, the food fantastic, and where you’ll find an abundance of activities for all ages.
Saturday, September 25, 10am-4pm in Standwood for the Stanwood Harvest Jubliee.
Sunday September 26 on Bainbridge Island for the Bainbridge Island Harvest Fair. Free park and ride shuttle with pick-up at Bainbridge ferry terminal for each ferry arrival from Seattle, from 11:15am (10:35 Sailing from Seattle) and final return drop off at 6pm for the 6:20 sailing back to Seattle.
The tours are BIG! Choose and research your route ahead of time. It is recommended to select 3-4 farms to visit. Here are some brief guidelines:
Bring water and snacks or a picnic lunch
Dress for the weather
Bring a map!
Leave your pets at home!
Any Elementary School, Middle School or High School participating in the National School Lunch Program, located within 50 miles of a Whole Foods Market store is eligible to apply for a Grant Award to receive a portable 5-well Cambro salad bar and training tools for school personnel. All applications must be submitted electronically and received no later than midnight, November 1, 2010. A school representative must apply and secure the signature of their districts superintendent, school principal and school nutrition director. This application can be found at: www.saladbarproject.org Grant applications will be accepted between September 1, 2010 and November 1, 2010. Successful applicants will be announced by January 15, 2011.
Whole Foods Market is partnering with Chef Ann Cooper, the “Renegade Lunch Lady”, on The Salad Bar Project to raise awareness about the need to improve school lunch both nutritionally and by incorporating fresh, real food. With the assistance of Chef Cooper’s nonprofit group, Food Family Farming Foundation, grants will be awarded to schools based on their grant application as well as their school’s commitment to the ongoing support and sustainability of the Salad Bar.
The FDA has issues an URGENT Nationwide Egg Recall. Wright County Egg in Iowa has expanded its recall to cover all 5 of its farms and 380 million eggs. The recall affects eggs shipped since May 16, 2010 and sent to food wholesalers, distribution centers and foodservice companies in California, Illinois, Missouri, Colorado, Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Arizona, Texas, Georgia, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Iowa. The FDA is initiating effectiveness checks of the recall, conducting checks at retail stores, wholesalers and distributors to make sure the recalled shell eggs are being removed from the market.
What do Consumers Need to Do?
Don’t eat recalled eggs.
Consumers who have recalled eggs should discard them or return them to their retailer for a refund.
Individuals who think they might have become ill from eating recalled eggs should consult their health care providers.
How to determine whether you might have affected eggs
Shell eggs under the August 13, 2010 recall are packaged under the brand names: Lucerne (Safeway brand), Albertson, Mountain Dairy, Ralph’s, Boomsma’s, Sunshine, Hillandale, Trafficanda, Farm Fresh, Shoreland, Lund, Dutch Farms and Kemps. Shell eggs are packed in 6-egg cartons, 12-egg cartons, 18-egg cartons, and loose eggs with Julian dates ranging from 136 to 225 and plant numbers 1026, 1413 and 1946.
Recalled shell eggs affected by the expanded recall are packaged under the brand names: Albertsons, Farm Fresh, James Farms, Glenview, Mountain Dairy, Ralphs, Boomsma, Lund, Kemps and Pacific Coast. Eggs are packed in varying sizes of cartons (6-egg, 12-egg, and18-egg cartons, and loose eggs for institutional use and repackaging) with Julian dates ranging from 136 to 229 and plant numbers 1720 and 1942.
Dates and codes can be found stamped on the end of the egg carton or printed on the case label. The plant number begins with the letter P and then the number. The Julian date follows the plant number, for example: P-1720 223. More information about how to identify affected eggs is available at the Egg Safety Center.
If consumers are unsure about the source of their eggs, they are urged not to eat them and to discard them immediately.
 Nature’s Last Stand, a true family farm located in Carnation, Washington, is offering GOTC readers a sale on their 100% organic produce delivery service. The boxes feature amazing in-season organic produce, much of which is grown personally by them on their farm. The produce boxes are semi-customizable, can be delivered weekly or every other week, and are offered in affordable large and small box sizes to accommodate your specific needs. Go to natureslaststand.net for more information.
Nature’s Last Stand is offering $15 off the first box and free delivery when you sign up for their service. Enter the word GROW in the Discount Code section once you’ve started the checkout process. Tell them Greater Seattle On the Cheap sent you!
|
Greater Seattle on the Cheap is a member of Living on the Cheap, a network of websites published by frugalistas, journalists and consumer advocates. Find another cheap city and get advice from experts on how to live the good life for less wherever you live and travel.
|
