Spring Creek Farm Since 1996 Chris Robinson and Melissa Southwick have been working at Spring Creek Farm, a small family farm in Rochester, WA. Chris and Melissa
reduce their environmental impact by utilizing solar power in their home, farm, and irrigation. Spring Creek Farm produces their own organic soil mixes and uses biological controls for the rare pest occurrence.

For more than a decade, Co-op shoppers have enjoyed beautiful vegetable starts provided by Spring Creek Farm. In this issue of the Co-op Spoonful, you’ll find a Local Savings Coupon good for two dollars off vigorous organic Spring Creek Farm bare root blueberry bushes.

Spring Creek also produces strawberry plants, fig trees, and hops, lavender, mints, thyme, motherwort, skullcap, arnica, and much, much more.

Cobb’s Rebecca and Stephen Cobb formed “Cobb’s” in 2013, with a mission to “create tasty food that connects us to our common roots – nature.” Cobb’s uses simple, quality, unrefined ingredients, highlighting nature’s essentials.

Everything is dairy and grain (gluten) free and as organic as possible. They’re even using ‘bee-centric’ raw honey, which means they “pay a premium for honey harvested by small-scale organic beekeepers who keep healthier, happier bees.” Cobb’s recipes honor those with food sensitivities, and their packaging is low impact.

The Co-op is proud to carry Cobb’s current product lines which are Chocolate Cups (in the Grab N Go Cooler) and Cashew Cream Cheese (in the Cheese Cooler.) Cobb’s Peanut Butter Cup is a “rich cinnamon-kissed, honey-sweetened, dark-roasted peanut filling in a salty dark chocolate shell.” Cobb’s Sunbutter Cup is “a buttery smooth, honey-sweetened, darkroasted sunflower filling in an espresso dark chocolate shell.” Cobb’s Pecan Crunch Cup is “bold, maple and cardamom-forward, with a toasty kasha crunch, and garnished with sea-salted roasted pistachios.” Cobb’s Walnut Crunch Cup boasts “fresh, fennel-forward, brightened by lemon myrtle, with forthright tannins and a kasha crunch, and garnished with pollen from fennel flowers” NEW! Cobb’s Cashew Crumble Cup is “a maple-sweetened, roasted and salted cashew filling with a crumbly nougat mouthfeel in a dark chocolate shell ~ our latest and second 100% plant-based / vegan cup.”

Cobb’s Cashew Cream Cheese is a dairy-free, probiotic rich, full-bodied spread reminiscent of creamed chevre. Using cashews and local well water, the cheese is cultured with acidophilus. Lemon juice, cider vinegar and dried raw coconut are added. These cheeses are free from fillers, starches or preservatives. You can find four flavors: Green Onion, Garlic & Truffle, Balsamic & Tomato and Plain & Simple.

Take fifty cents off any Cobb’s purchase with the Local Savings Coupon in this issue of the Co-op Spoonful.

(Quotes taken from www.cobbstreats.com)

Olympia Food Co-op Logo Ware Save $.50 on any Olympia Food Co-op logo ware product including hoodies, t-shirts, baseball caps, shopping bags, water bottles, pride stickers, and bumper stickers!!

Start Something Goods The Olympia Co-op is proud to carry unique greeting cards and motivational banners from Start Something Goods, the brain child of our own long-time Co-op Staff Member Kitty Koppleman. Use the Local Savings Coupon in this issue of the Co-op Spoonful to receive fifty cents off of your purchase of any greeting card or banner motivating us to “Consult The Ancestors,” “Protect Queer Youth,” “Know You Are Loved,” “Enjoy Humility,” “Cultivate Empathy,” and most importantly, to “Start Something”!

To see the full collection, visit Kitty’s website

Assorted Greeting Cards This issue you can save fifty cents on any of our beautifully designed and locally made greeting cards that range from funny to touching. Just use the coupon at the bottom of the page!

Gothberg Farms Cheese. Rhonda Gothberg has been an inspirational leader and mentor in the Washington Artisan Cheese community. She was instrumental in starting the Washington Artisan Cheesemakers Association and annual festival and she previously served as its board president. She cries when she talks about her goats, being so full of love and gratitude!

Rhonda and her husband just announced their retirement and are selling wheels at half price. Price was an impediment to the Co-op regularly stocking their cheese and it has been a long time since we’ve had any. We are thrilled to honor Rhonda’s passion and work over the last 15 years by featuring some of her last existing wheels.

Use the Local Savings Coupon in this issue of the Co-op Spoonful to save 50 cents on what may be your last chance to purchase Gothberg Farm Cheese!

Lost Peacock Cheese. Rachael and Matthew Tuller, along with their two children, live and work on their farm situated on Cross Creek Lane in northeast Olympia. Every day they milk some 36 goats and every other day make that milk into some outstanding cheeses which the Co-op is pleased to offer to our members.

Chevre is a soft creamy farmstead cheese, touched only with a little sea salt, and is a wonderfully spreadable cheese. For a spicier version, they have created Thai Garlic Chevre which comes with a hint of Thai chili. Halloumi shows up crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside, sprinkled with fresh from the farm mint and sea salt. Look for them in the cheese departments of both stores, and use the coupon!

Aspiring to what is called in Europe “high farming,” the folks at Lost Peacock look for the perfect balance between plants and animals, pointing out on their blog that “animals enrich the soil, the soil produces plants, the plants feed the animals.” To meet this goal, they power their farm with alternative energy. Lost Peacock does not use antibiotics or growth hormones so prevalent in factory farming.

Lost Peacock supports agritourism and open their doors to public tours of the farm by appointment.

Olympia Coffee Roasting Company has developed direct trade partnerships with coffee farmers in eight countries across three continents. But they began in 2005 as a wholesale coffee roaster, housed in an unmarked downtown Olympia warehouse. Sam Schroeder was the first employee to do production and make deliveries; he’s now a co-owner with Oliver Stormshak. In 2007, Olympia Coffee opened a coffee bar two blocks away from the original location. The store had just four tables, and showcased the roasting process through windows into the roastery.

In 2009, Oliver Stormshak came on board, and organized a direct trade project with Costa Rica. Direct trade allows Olympia Coffee to have unprecedented control over the coffee flavors through varietal selection, day lot separation and experimental processing. Olympia Coffee has gained increased understanding of the science behind roasting. Their detailed approach to coffee selection and processing had led to their success.

Sam and Oliver say that, “Success and recognition feels great but what we really love is for creating and sharing extraordinary coffee with our community in the Pacific Northwest and with our friends throughout the world.”

This fortnight, the Olympia Food Co-op is excited to offer fifty cents off any purchase of Olympia Coffee Roasting Company coffees, Big Truck, San Fermin, and Morning Sun, with the coupon in this issue of the Co-op Spoonful!

Fog Woman starts with coffee that is certified organic and shade grown so it tastes better and is better for you – and the environment. Fog Woman processors roast the beans slowly over controlled heat, so their coffees are smooth and never burned or bitter.

Song birds and hummingbirds that migrate from the coffee farms in Central and South America to Alaska need habitat to survive. When you purchase certified organic coffee, you’re preserving this rainforest habitat. Organic coffee farming requires trees to be interplanted with coffee shrubs. This process will fix nitrogen in the soil, prevent erosion, and provide shade for coffee plants. Free from pesticides, organic coffee thrives from beneficial insects.

Organic coffee farmers receive a premium price for their crops and that means a living wage to care for their families. In 2007, Fog Woman Coffee developed a scholarship for higher education. The organization has also been donating assistance for the people of Democratic Republic of Congo for over 35 years. Fog Woman supports Women in Safe Homes which provides a safe haven for women and their families in Alaska in times of crisis.

Support this Indigenous-owned business by purchasing Fog Woman Coffee with the fifty-cent Local Savings Coupon in this issue of the Co-op Spoonful!

Any Local Winter Squash! Whether you’re a fan of acorn, butternut, delicata, kabocha, red kuri, or the good old fashioned pie pumpkin, our beautiful colorful and hearty local winter squash from farms such as Piece by Piece, Calliope, and Boistfort are all 50 cents off your total purchase with our Spoonful coupon this issue!

Our Local Savings Coupon this fortnight will save you 50 cents on your purchase of any variety of cherry tomato! While these succulent tangy sweet morsels are bursting with flavor, cherry tomatoes are also low in sodium, and very low in saturated fat and cholesterol. They’re a good source of vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), thiamin, niacin, vitamin B6, folate, magnesium, phosphorus and copper, and a very good source of dietary fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin K, potassium, and manganese. The sungold variety are lower in acid than their ruby red cousins.

Our primary source for cherry tomatoes right now is Piece by Piece Farm, a 6-acre certified organic vegetable farm in northeast Olympia run by Kelly Battershell and Laura Mosher.

Battershell is a graduate of the program on sustainable agriculture program offered through The Evergreen State College. He then became an apprentice at Peacemeal Farm in Maine for two seasons. Mosher was also in Maine, working at a small farm as an apprentice cheese maker. They met at a farmer’s market, and profess to love hard work, great food, and sarcasm.

In addition to producing these sun-ripened jewels of the harvest season, Piece by Piece grows a diverse number of crops, including snap peas, melons, and peppers. You will also find them marketing their produce through their CSA, and at farmers markets.

Zucchini! In this issue of the Co-op Spoonful, you’ll find a coupon good for 50¢ off your purchase of local organic zucchini squash in celebration of our annual Harvest Party! If you aren’t growing your own, and your neighbors, co-workers, and family haven’t yet blessed you with this ubiquitous green goodness, you can pick up loads of versatile tender local zucchini from the Co-op in preparation for the big day. Both Rising River and Wobbly Cart farms will be supplying us with fresh organic zukes all season and we’ll be sharing our excitement with you!

Rising River This family farm in Rochester has been certified organic “since day one.” They use cover cropping, fallowing (resting the land) careful crop rotation, and fertilize with only natural ingredients. Rising River is surrounded by wild hedgerows, hay fields, a creek, and woods and like-minded, responsible neighbors which helps keep their fields protected and clean.

*Ingredients available in the Co-op bulk department; other items available in the produce, meat and cheese departments.

Wobbly Cart Farm Located 30 miles south of Olympia on the banks of the Chehalis River, Wobbly Cart is a diverse, 10-acre, certified organic farm. Since 2005, their work combines a love of land with a commitment to a lifestyle that celebrates their passion for delicious, local, organic food.

Old School Pizzeria Olympia Food Co-op is proud to partner with our local businesses to provide our shoppers with the highest quality products that travel the least distance! The Co-op’s definition of “local” means within five counties, and you can’t get more local than Old School Pizzeria in downtown Oly!

The pizzeria opened in 1995, and Kenny Pugh, one of the original owners, has been running the pizzeria for the last 13 years with his partner Connie and their kids Rosemarie, Theo and Felix. The Star Wars mural on the building was one of the first things they did!

Kenny says, “it was so important to us that pizzeria be a part of the community that surrounded us and hope it’s still an example of that.”

This issue of the Co-op Spoonful includes a coupon for $.50 off of Old School’s scrumptious pizza dough located in our frozen department.

Chuckanut Bay Foods This issue of the Co-op Spoonful features a coupon for savings on local cheesecakes from Chuckanut Bay Foods!

A “family-operated purveyor of gourmet cheesecakes, authentic Tiramisu, and other baked delights, that takes pride in supporting neighbors.” To help ensure their high standards of quality and taste, Chuckanaut buys the finest locally and regionally homegrown ingredients for their boutique bakery. Purchasing from surrounding dairies and farms, Chuckanut creates the superb gourmet taste you crave.

At Chuckanut Bay Foods they’ll never use high fructose corn syrup or partially hydrogenated oils. Their cheesecakes feature 100% natural cream cheese, real butter and fruit. Each cake is handmade from scratch.

This wonderful company feels that “Even though this is more expensive for us, we feel the exceptional taste and appearance are worth it.”

Quinault Native Harvest In this issue of the Co-op Spoonful, you’ll find a coupon for 50 cents off your purchase of any Native Harvest sustainably managed wild coho and wild steelhead.

The Co-op offers this delicacy through Sonny Davis, who formed Native Harvest for buying and distributing some of the finest of the tribal catch. Sonny sells directly to chefs at restaurants, and wholesale and retail grocers, and the Olympia Food Co-op carries Native Harvest smoked salmon, and whole pieces of steelhead. Davis also sells halibut spot prawns, and high grade caviar which makes up the majority of the sales.

The tribes have developed sustainable practices over a thousand years and their treaty rights give them co-management of salmon habitat with Washington state. Davis encourages his fishers to take advantage of fish handling workshops in order to continually increase the quality of their offerings. Rooted in the rich salmon gathering tradition of tribes throughout the northwest, this family business continues their deep and ancient connection to harvesting and honoring their food.

Just as salmon runs have seasons, so too the harvesting. In the winter are steelhead from Quinault on the Olympic Peninsula and ocean king from Makah at Cape Flattery, and in the spring are salmon from Yakima on the Columbia River. From Sunday through Tuesday, Sonny can be found driving from Olympia along the Washington coast to buy wild caught seafood straight from licensed tribal fishers.

Sonny makes clear his cultural inheritance and the foundation for his business when he says, “I love the simple act of sharing amazing seafood with people. It’s at the heart of our culture and it’s at the heart of my business.”

Colvin Ranch. The Olympia Food Co-op Meat Department is proud to feature Colvin Ranch beef raised on an ecologically conscious, community centered fourth generation family ranch near Tenino in South Thurston County. Colvin Ranch supplies freshly frozen ground beef and a variety of steaks to Co-op shoppers.

Fred and Katherine Colvin use an intensive rotational grazing system that enables them to raise delicious, tender beef. The cattle are raised without any antibiotics or hormones, handled in a safe and gentle manner, and spend their lives outdoors on healthy prairie lands.

There are myriad documented ecological benefits to the type of grazing system practiced at Colvin Ranch. Native grasses and other prairie species are able to flourish, sequestering carbon and rebuilding healthy soil ecosystems while increasing filtration to improve and recover local watersheds. Many local conservation districts celebrate Colvin Ranch for successfully encouraging the recovery of native prairie plants and protected species.

Grass fed and finished beef is healthy for you, especially when eaten in combination with a rich supply of organic fruits, vegetables, and grains! Studies have shown that cattle raised entirely on grass and forages (as compared to beef raised on corn and other feed) have many health benefits. Grass fed and finished beef has been shown to contain extra omega-3 fatty acids (the most heart-friendly of all the fats), higher levels of cancer-fighting CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), up to four times as much Vitamin E, and more Beta-Carotene, B-vitamin thiamine, and riboflavin, calcium, magnesium, and potassium.

The Olympia Food Co-op meat department managers maintain an ongoing close working relationship with Fred, Katherine, and their dedicated employees. We visited Colvin Ranch several years ago and witnessed the prairie blooming with camas and wildflowers while contented cattle grazed nearby. We heard first-hand the lifelong expertise of Fred’s work on the ranch. Fred says, “The facilities are designed to ensure the safety of both the people and the animals. The cattle are born and raised on the ranch and are always handled in a safe and humane manner.” We found this to be absolutely true. Colvin Ranch welcomes visitors at any time (by appointment) so you can see it for yourself!

Find Colvin Ranch products in the frozen meat section at both our Olympia Co-op locations and receive a $.50 discount when you use this Spoonful coupon. For more information or to contact Colvin Ranch, go to their website: colvinranch.com Enjoy!

Cozy Vale Creamery. A small-time dairy located in Tenino, WA, Cozy Vale has been producing raw milk since 2009. They currently milk eight to ten cows of many different breeds. Cozy Vale farmers strive to keep their cows healthy, letting them romp and graze throughout lush pastures all year long. Cozy Vale farmers harvest their own hay and store it for the winter. Cows are kept occupied during milking times with a small amount of tasty grain. Cozy Vale milking cows are not treated with antibiotics or hormones.

Raw milk is truly one of the most nutrient dense foods in the world. When milk is pasteurized, key nutrients and enzymes are greatly reduced. Because raw milk comes from cows or goats grazing on grass, research studies have shown that it contains a higher level of fat-soluble vitamins than the milk that comes from factory-farmed cows.

Each bottle of creamy raw Cozy Vale milk carries the visage of the noble cow who produced the contents. Try the delicious results of Cozy Vale’s gentle small-scale farming with a Local Savings Coupon worth $.50 off any container of their raw milk in this issue of the Co-op Spoonful now at registers!

OlyKraut has handcrafted their delicious sauerkrauts, pickles, and sipping brines in Olympia, Washington since 2008. Using centuries-old preservation techniques and sourcing the best possible ingredients, OlyKraut has developed original recipes you can enjoy at the Olympia Food Co-op, both packaged in our coolers and ready-to-serve on our eastside salad bar.

OlyKraut’s founder, Sash Sunday, discovered that the best way for her to contribute to the food system and economy she would like to see is by putting her fermentation fanaticism to good use turning regional farmers’ produce into delicious sauerkraut. Sash graduated from the Evergreen State College where she focused on food, fermentation, and sustainable agriculture and earned her MBA in Sustainable Systems at Bainbridge Graduate Institute at Pinchot University.

OlyKraut has met rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency to become a Certified B Corporation and been the proud winner of several grant competitions, including the University of Washington’s Jones + Foster Accelerator, Edg3 Fund, and Eileen Fisher Grant Award, all strong votes of confidence.

Mountain Muesli’s founder Chris Young traveled to Iceland with his family where they developed a love affair with muesli, a cereal that is somewhere between oatmeal and granola, and a familiar part of breakfast throughout Europe. Chris came home to Tacoma, and formulated Mountain Muesli’s signature “American style” of muesli!

Mountain Muesli’s mission begins with, “Healthy, tasty food for everyone” and demands their creations be, “Absurdly Good.” Their products are made in Tacoma using local organic ingredients whenever possible, including oats honey, flax seeds, and and assortment of dried fruits. Mountain Muesli uses unrefined sweeteners like honey, agave nectar, and coconut sugar, and attempts to avoid GMO ingredients in all of their products.They prepare their delightful cereals in small batches in facilities free from wheat, dairy, eggs, corn, and peanuts, so you can feel safe from these common allergens.

Chris is not just dedicated to delicious healthy food, but also to a healthy environment and local economy. Mountain Muesli believes in protecting wild spaces for future generations and donates a portion of every purchase to the non-profit, non-partisan advocacy group the National Parks Conservation Association. 

In this issue of the Co-op Spoonful, you’ll find a coupon for $.50 off of any package of Mountain Muesli! Look for the easy reclosable bags (perfect for camping!) on shelves at both stores.

Burnt Ridge Nursery and Orchards. Since 1980, Burnt Ridge Nursery and Orchards has run their family owned farm at the foot of the Cascade Mountains. Burnt Ridge nursery fills orders by mail, and specializes in rare, disease-resistant cultivars of nut and fruit trees, shrubs and vines that thrive in an orchard setting. Burnt Ridge also supplies a wide variety of native northwest landscape trees and ornamentals. The varieties we carry have done well in our orchards. Burnt Ridge houses a commercial kitchen on their farm for immediate processing of their ripe certified organic fruits into jellies, jams and apple butter! As they say on their website, “these little jars of joy make great tokens of appreciation for loved ones.” Use the coupon on this issue of the Co-op Spoonful to receive 50¢ off any jar of their heavenly fruit spread.

Spring Creek Farm. Since 1996 Chris Robinson and Melissa Southwick have been working Spring Creek Farm, a small family farm in Rochester, WA. Chris and Melissa reduce their environmental impact by utilizing solar power in their home, farm, and irrigation. Spring Creek Farm produces their own organic soil mixes and use biological controls for the rare pest occurrence.

For more than a decade, Co-op shoppers have enjoyed beautiful vegetable starts provided by Spring Creek Farm. In this issue of the Co-op Spoonful, you’ll find a Local Savings Coupon good for fifty cents off robust and flavorful organic Spring Creek Farm strawberry plants.

Spring Creek also produces blueberry bushes, fig trees, and hops, lavender, mints, thyme, motherwort, skullcap, arnica, and much much more.

Wiser Worm Farm Our April coupons are dedicated to the gardeners, and this issue we celebrate the work of the good folks at Wiser Worm Farm. Wiser Worm Farm has been producing Worm products in Olympia for more than seven years. They do this by vermicomposting (vermi: worm) with Red Wiggler worms, which they also sell. Worms break down organic matter simply by eating these products. As the matter passes through their digestive tract, the chemical reactions prepare the nutrients within the organic matter to be more easily absorbed by your plants. The resulting product of their digestive process are called “worm castings.” Worm castings are beneficial to the environment, providing absorbable minerals and nutrients. Non-sterile, it also provides beneficial microbes and bacteria. Castings are non-toxic and won’t burn your plants like nitrogen fertilizers. Use worm castings in your garden and with all your outdoor plants to give them a flush of nutrients. Your healthy plants will be more resistant to fungus and disease. Redeem the coupon in this issue of the Co-op Spoonful to receive $2.00 off your purchase of Wiser Worm Farm’s Worm Castings!

To use: Scratch in one cup of Wiser Worm Farm’s Worm Castings around the base of your plant and then water. You can also mix 20% worm casting to 80% potting soil when planting.

Blue Heron Bakery “Natural before it was fashionable.” Blue Heron Bakery was founded by a group of friends back in 1977 (the same year as the Olympia Food Co-op!) with the goal of creating great tasting foods with the freshest ingredients available.

Blue Heron caters to those with special diets, offering a selection amazing breads and treats you can enjoy without guilt. This issue, we are offering our Local Savings Coupon for $.25 off any Blue Heron treat which at the Co-op means cookies! Try their incomparable walnut chocolate chip, spelt chocolate chip, peanut butter chocolate chip, alternate date pecan, Turbo, and vegan Soul cookies with nuts and chocolate chips, and of course, their traditional oatmeal chocolate chip raisin. We also carry Blue Heron’s decadent fudge bars, and three flavors of elegant biscotti for the coffee break connoisseurs. Take a look at Blue Heron’s unique breads, pastries, pizza and ice cream, all locally handmade with natural
ingredients. The Bakery has even expanded to a cafe with a full menu located at 4419 Harrison Ave NW #108 in Olympia. They have a beautiful patio and a poplar Open Mic!

8 Arms Community Bakery. Ever feel like you have to sell out for your sweet tooth? Good news: Now you can have your pastry and eat it too. In this edition of the Spoonful, we’re giving you a $.25 off coupon for any bakery treat from 8 Arms Community Bakery.

The 8 Arms gluten-free bars are a huge hit at both stores, so look for the Happy Hiker (gorged with chocolate chips, raisins, and sunflower seeds), the Oh My Goodness! (replete with chocolate chips, peanuts, and coconut), or the Chocolate Brownie, Cherry Almond Love Potion, Cranberry and White Chocolate, or Double Chocolate Mint Delight. On the eastside, you can also find their assorted fruit tarts and freshly baked cookies!

Based in Olympia, 8 Arms Community Bakery is about as local as you can get. Jen Ownbey started 8 Arms Bakery in 2007. With humble beginnings operating out of a converted garage, the bakery now occupies a nearly 2000 square foot space with six staff members.

With an innovative “bakery CSA” model, community members can buy into 8 Arms’ bakery share model, getting yummy baked goods delivered weekly. The community share model also enables producers to buy ingredients in bulk, making prices lower. 8 Arms Community Bakery’s relationship with the Co-op offers another way to support and benefit from their delicious treats.

Not only do the Co-op and 8 Arms Community Bakery make sense together economically, there is a convergence and mutual support of shared values and principles. The Co-op is proud to partner with a home grown small business in Olympia with a community oriented model. Sourcing local products is one of the Co-op’s core values because this creates a minimal carbon footprint, and keeps our hard earned money within our local economy where it can benefit our families, friends, and neighbors.

Let your sweet tooth win without losing your conscience (or sending your money out of state!) Indulge in a treat from 8 Arms Community Bakery with the coupon at the end of this article!

Spring Creek Farm. Looking to add a little color to your garden? Blueberries add both beauty and flavor to any garden or urban farm. Now you can find Bareroot Blueberries from Spring Creek Farm at both Co-op locations as the westside’s Garden Center has reopened for the season. Be sure to bring the $2.00 off coupon on the bottom of this flier!

For over 20 years, Spring Creek Farm has been providing local, organic, sustainable vegetable starts, fruit trees and bushes, herbs, hops, and more. Located in Rochester, WA, Spring Creek Farm is family owned and dedicated to the same earth friendly and labor positive principles as Olympia Food Co-op. We have been partnering with Spring Creek Farm for over 10 years, and we’re proud to be featuring them in this issue of the Spoonful.

Bareroot blueberries are in a dormant state, with exposed roots ready to be planted. Bareroot blueberries can either be placed in a container with soil to be transplanted later, or planted directly into the ground, as long as the conditions are right. Blueberries love acidic soil between 4 and 5 pH. You will also want to add organic material to your soil before planting, so check out our local organic compost at the garden center.

Because blueberries are shallow rooted, the soil needs to hold adequate moisture, but also drain well. The Old Farmer’s Almanac suggests blueberries be planted as early in the spring as possible, so now is the right time to prepare. In order to have fresh, ripe blueberries next summer, get started now!

Visit either Co-op to check out the selection, and talk to a friendly garden department staff member to learn more about growing blueberries.

Master Tonic. Ready to master your health? Challenge yourself to a Master Tonic made locally in Rainier. Known for its immune system boosting magic, Radiant Health’s Master Tonic carried by the Co-op will not disappoint. Lavern Strunk has been making Master Tonic for seven years, taking the business over from a friend who taught her the craft. Lavern produces in small 24-gallon batches each month and puts her personal touch on the process. She prepares the tonic on the new moon, and after letting it marinate for about two weeks, she bottles it on the following full moon. Laverne tops off the process with the cloudy “mother” liquid from 100% organic apple cider vinegar, and even a blessing.

Master Tonic has been concocted for centuries, and according to the inscription on the Radiant Health bottle, it “historically has been used as an anti-plague, immune system formula with antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal properties.” With an ingredient list including tried and true immune boosting mainstays like ginger and apple cider vinegar, it’s no wonder it works so well. Also known as “fire cider,” the nickname is an apt description of Master Tonic.

When the author decided to try the Radiant Health Master Tonic, they summed it up in one word, “emblazoning!” Upon the first sip, the flavor demands your attention. Its boldest ingredient, fresh hot pepper, provides a powerful yet refreshing burn. The flavor profile is satisfying, rounded out with the sour and slightly sweet apple cider vinegar and the savory garlic bulb. Horseradish provides an additional hint of fire, while onion and ginger root complete the sensory experience. The effects are as exciting as the flavor and, confirming the branding, elicits a feeling of radiant rejuvenation. Do you need any more reasons to feel good about Radiant Health’s Master Tonic? There is no expiration date, and it never requires refrigeration! Now try it for yourself!

Yoga Way of Life. Looking for an organic skin care line produced in Washington? Olympia Food Co-op is honored to carry “Yoga Way of Life,” a line of pure and nourishing skin care products based on the principles of Ayurveda. Ayurveda is a Sanskrit word meaning “life science” (ayus: science + veda: life). Bharti Nagal and her sister Sunila founded Yoga Way of Life in 2014. But years before this, in July 2007, Bharti was diagnosed by an autoimmune disorder and her symptoms went into remission following Ayurvedic treatments with doctors in India. She took special care of her skin because of the symptoms she had exhibited had during her illness. During this time, Bharti learned that the healthiest oils we ingest are also the healthiest skin moisturizers. Bharti decided that the best way she could show appreciation to nature for her healing was to create a line of high quality organic products that are safe and easy to use. She traveled home to India for six months and gathered her team of Ayurvedic doctors. After revising their soap recipe more than 20 times, the research team succeeded in developing Bharti’s desired results!

Yoga Way of Life launched their first soap in May of 2014, and by the end of March 2015, they had developed creams, body washes, shampoos and scrubs. When choosing your Yoga Way of Life products, you may wish to consider the Ayurvedic principle of the three doshas (or energies), inherent in every individual. These doshas are Vata (Air), Pitta (Fire), and Kapha (Water). According to Yoga Way of Life’s website, the following are skin characteristics of that can be used to help identify your predominant dosha and determine your most beneficial products, foods, and lifestyle:

• Vata: Dry, thin, fine-pored, cool to the touch, may be dry and flaky. Common skin imbalances are premature aging, dehydration, fine lines and wrinkles.
• Pitta: Warm to the touch, reddish or freckled complexion, sensitive to sunlight. Common skin imbalances are breakouts, redness, inflammation and rosacea.
• Kapha: Thick, moist, cool to the touch, pale complexion, large pores. Common skin imbalances are cystic acne around the mouth, excessive oiliness and blackheads.

This issue of our Co-op Spoonful contains a local coupon for 50¢ off all Yoga Way of Life offerings, which may vary somewhat between our east and west locations. Bharti says, “What started out as an idea to share my personal healing journey has turned into something beautiful that others are enjoying. I am grateful to all for your support!” We thank you in return, Bharti.

Skokomish Ridge Mushroom Growers’ Cooperative. In this issue, use your local savings coupon to receive 50¢ off any purchase of fresh Skokomish Ridge Mushrooms in our produce department! Skokomish Ridge Mushroom Growers’ Cooperative (and its individual grower members) cultivate delicious specialty mushrooms. Currently, they produce shiitake, maitake, lion’s mane and king trumpet.

Bob and Harriet Ames established the cooperative in 2016. With more than 12 years of experience in mushroom production, their business model eliminates many costs faced by commercial mushroom growers. Unlike the one owner commercial model, which requires investments in many acres of land for contiguous growing structures and produces unpleasant odors when managed on a large scale, Skokomish Ridge Mushrooms grower members build smaller facilities on their own property.

The cooperative provides technical support and materials at cost, including bags containing a sterilized substrate inoculated with the mushroom species king’s trumpet mushrooms to be grown. After performing lab work and attending to other preparation, the cooperative purchases the mushrooms produced by their member growers. The support doesn’t end there, because the cooperative also packages, markets, and distributes the fresh gourmet products of the member growers’ labor. Growers receive monthly payments and annual bonuses for their participation. Four of the seven grower members have constructed grow rooms and are receiving income from the production of their high quality specialty mushrooms.

The Olympia Food Co-op is proud to support this local organization, and to promote their successful cooperative model by offering you savings on the mouthwatering and nutritious results of their valued labor.

Photo by Bob Ames

Blissful Wunders In this issue of the Spoonful, you’ll find a coupon for 50 cents off your purchase of any of the Co-op’s delicious selection of Blissful Wunders Chocolates.

If you want to treat yourself, your friends, or your family to a chocolate truffle that has been hand-rolled, dipped, designed, packaged and labeled, then this is for you! These chocolates are made with local organic butter, cream and cream cheese from Tunawerth Creamery, and filled with pureed berries from our local Johnson Berry Farm and Pigman’s Farm. As for sweetening, only organic syrups are used – absolutely no corn syrup or refined sugars – and only organic extracts and nuts.

A vegan variety has been created, using coconut cream, Earth Balance organic coconut spread, chocolate and fruit purees, as well as a diabetic friendly truffle, available through his website, in which only plant based sweeteners are used.

The chocolates are made with 65% cocoa mass chocolate from Columbia through Cordillera, a company that honors fair trade and organic practices. Brother Bliss, founder of Blissful Wunders Confectionary Chocolats’, has long loved to “play with food”. He works joyfully hard to gather his ingredients from local sources, but admits that so far, cacao does not grow in the Pacific Northwest. It is his fantasy to build a greenhouse by spring that can offer him a tropical environment to grow his own Pacific Northwest cacao trees! Go Bliss!

Local Greeting Cards. We may find ourselves, this time of year, wanting to reach out to friends and loved ones. What more heartwarming way to do this than with an original art note card from the creative local card vendors at the Co-op? In this issue of the Spoonful, you’ll find a coupon for 50 cents off your purchase of greeting cards from artists including:

Sherry Buckner
Sherry has been selling her cards at the Co-op for around 10 years. Her creative process is to begin with a silkscreen original of multi-colored limited editions that are then printed for cards. When asked what she most likes about making cards, she told me, “It is really fun to have something I created join with people. I love the pleasure they get from them. I love it when people stop me at the Co-op and tell me so.”

LaLa Love
Laura has been selling her cards for several years. Her cards have hand drawings and written thoughts on the outside. Each one begins as a personal card for a friend or relative, often with words of empathy or encouragement at difficult times and hitting the mark with insight and humor. They were so appreciated, that eventually she was nudged to make them available to others.

Tucker Petertil
Cards from Tucker (pictured) have been available through the Co-op for a decade. His chosen art forms are painting and mosaics. Tucker’s cards come as prints from his acrylic paintings, inspired early on around the story of a mouse, shifting later to spring from his love for his cat, Ash. He also leans toward rustic and humorous art. Tucker sells primarily at the Co-op, but his work has shown in galleries around the region.

You can also use your coupon for local cards from Bison Zodiac, Brother Bear, Nancy Partlow, Amber Travis, In Tune With Nature, Janine Unsoeld, Karen Lohmann, Nature’s Reflections, Petals By Liza, Prarie Aprec, Red Twig Studio, Rita Robison, DB, DS, KK, 12 Steps To Serenity, Gianluca Buci, Mary Vanderjack, Robyn Ivey-Black, Seasons Glnings, Standing Rock, and Tender Virgo.

Tunawerth Creamery. In this issue of the Spoonful, you’ll find a coupon for 50¢ off your purchase of any of the Co-op’s wonderful selection of Tunawerth cheeses. These artisanal cheeses come from the Tunawerth Creamery, a local dairy located in Rochester, Washington, on 36 acres of pasture land.

Anita and Peter de Boer, who left The Netherlands in 1996, purchased this local dairy property five years ago, bringing with them ancestral cheese-making recipes from home. Even their dairy’s name, Tunawerth (or Thunder of Mounds) is the medieval name for Ternaard, their small town that sits up on a hill at the edge of the North Sea.

Anita finds that morning milk makes the best cheese and yogurt. Using low pasteurized raw milk, her gouda recipe comes from a cheesemaker back home, and is flavored either with cumin, red pepper, hops, nettles, or garlic and parsley. While not possessing organic certification (something common to many small dairy farmers, due to the great expense) Tunawerth is careful to follow organic practices. Their cows are fed on grass in their soon-to-be-certified organic pasture and supplemented with GMO free barley and canola.

They offer gouda, feta, cream cheese, and ricotta (plain or brined in red wine), in addition to their excellent yogurt and milk. Contact them here

Mel O’Soup Mel Bilodeau, creator and owner of Mel O’Soup, has been a working member cashier for the Olympia Food Co-op for over 20 years. After some experimenting, she has developed some unique soup flavors. The soups are concentrated because she considers water to be an unnecessary filler, thus reducing the size of her product containers. She calls them “stew-soups” because they are thicker, and can be used not only as soup, but also as delicious sauces for a variety of dishes.

Mel approaches her soups with the heartfelt belief that “vegetables have a high healing quality—especially local and organic veggies.” So consider that as you reach for one of her jars—yes, Mason Jars. Her soups are not canned but are pasteurized and vacuum- sealed: an exceptionally sound process that gives them a long fridge life. In producing her soups, she goes out of her way to perform practices that help reduce trash in our environment. Her jars are also returnable to her booth at the Olympia Farmer’s Market (she’s working on doing this at the Co-op too.)

Mel O’Soup will be featured for lunch at the Co-op’s Annual Membership Meeting November 3rd at The Olympia Center, 222 Columbia NW, 11 am–3 pm.

Our Spoonful Local Savings Coupon this fortnight includes all of Mel’s amazing stew-soups:

Bodacious Coconut Curry
Mel describes this wonderful soup as “American curry” because it has all the vivid curry flavors sans the heat.

Luscious Sesame Potato
Mel developed this soup for those who have allergies to sulfurous vegetables, coconut or squash.

Diane’s Borscht
Created on the good advice of Mel’s friend Diane, this classic beet soup comes cumin and dill-flavored and includes other root veggies and dark greens.

Garlic and Greens
Mel’s most popular soup, this one creams up with coconut milk and yams and makes a great sauce for many dishes.

In this issue of the Spoonful, you’ll find a coupon for 50¢ off your purchase of any size of Host Defense immunity boosters: Stamets 7, MycoShield, and MyCommunity.

In 1980, Olympia celebrity Paul Stamets pioneered Fungi Perfecti as a local, independent business, dedicated to promoting the cultivation of high quality gourmet and medicinal mushrooms. Paul is considered an intellectual and industry leader in fungi – its habitat, medicinal use and production. Paul’s experience and research have taught him that habitats have immune systems, just like people, and mushrooms are cellular bridges between the two.

Receiving Paul’s book ”MycoMedicinals: An Informational Treatise on Mushrooms” in 2002, our Wellness Manager Barbara L’Aimont knew that Fungi Perfecti’s Host Defense products would greatly enhance the wellbeing of our membership, and introduced the line to the Co-op thereafter.

Extending far beyond the edible mushroom, Paul’s work is considered groundbreaking for helping ecosystems worldwide, from bioremediation of toxic waste to addressing the pollinator crisis. Paul’s work with University of Washington was recently published in Nature’s Scientific Reports, demonstrating immune benefits to bees from mycelium extracts of polypore mushrooms (Reishi and Amadou). With Colony Collapse Disorder threatening 90% of our food supply, this breakthrough research has already improved our chances of survival.

Fungi Perfecti’s Host Defense products all serve us in fortifying our immune systems as winter approaches. With this issue’s Local Saving Coupon, you’ll find

• Stamets 7, a blend of 7 mushroom species that support general immunity
• MycoShield Spray, which combines 5 powerful polypore mushroom species, these provide a unique “shield” of immune support
• MyCommunity, which offers 17 powerful mushroom species for immune system health.

In this issue of the Co-op Spoonful, you’ll find a coupon for 50 cents off your purchase of any Native Harvest sustainably managed wild coho and canned wild steelhead.

The salmon are battling their way up rivers, streams, and even tiny rivulets in our pacific northwest, to renew their existence. Some also make it to our tables. The Co-op offers this delicacy through members of the Quinault Tribe, including Sonny Davis, who formed Native Harvest for buying and distributing some of the finest of the tribal catch. Sonny sells directly to chefs at restaurants, and wholesale and retail grocers, and Olympia Food Co-op carries Native Harvest smoked salmon, and whole pieces of canned steelhead. Davis also sells halibut spot prawns, and high grade caviar which makes up the majority of the sales.

The tribes have developed sustainable practices over a thousand years and their treaty rights give them co management of salmon habitat with Washington state. Davis encourages his fishers to take advantages of fish handling workshops in order to continually increase the quality of their offerings. Rooted in the rich salmon gathering tradition of tribes throughout the northwest, this family business continues their deep and ancient connection to harvesting and honoring their food.

Just as salmon runs have seasons, so too the harvesting. In the winter are steelhead from Quinault on the Olympic Peninsula and ocean king from Makah at Cape Flattery, and in the spring are salmon from Yakima on the Columbia River. From Sunday through Tuesday, Sonny can be found driving from Olympia along the Washington Coast to buy wild caught seafood straight from licensed tribal fishers.

Sonny makes clear his cultural inheritance and the foundation for his business when he says, “I love the simple act of sharing amazing seafood with people. It’s at the heart of our culture and it’s at the heart of my business.”

In this issue of the Co-op Spoonful we’re offering our shoppers a Local Savings Coupon worth 50¢ off any purchase of any variety of Olympia Salsa! Olympia Salsa is a local family owned business that graces our shelves with three delicious salsas made from a South American recipe. Juan “Jose” Pineda has lived in Washington since 1972, and recently purchased the Tierra Juanita Company and its Olympia Salsa.

Juan’s parents settled in Texas as immigrant farm workers, and his family has been involved in Olympia’s Latino community for many years. With the help of his partner, two sons, and daughter-in-law, their company mission is “to create and promote a great tasting and healthy salsa and to build a socially-conscious business.”

Olympia Salsa currently comes in fresh and flavorful mild, medium, and hot varieties! They also sell a wonderful Garlic Cilantro Sauce. In addition to the original salsa recipes, Juan and his family are testing their Tex-Mex family salsa recipes, with plans to introduce their new line of salsas for your cooking and eating pleasure coming soon!

In this issue of the Co-op Spoonful, you’ll find a coupon good for 50¢ off your purchase of local organic zucchini squash in celebration of our annual Harvest Party & Zuke Fest! If you aren’t growing your own, and your neighbors, co-workers, and family haven’t yet blessed you with this ubiquitous green goodness, you can pick up loads of versatile tender local zucchini from the Co-op in preparation for the big day. Both Rising River Farm and Wobbly Cart Farm will be supplying us with fresh organic zukes all season and we’ll be sharing our excitement with you!

Rising River Farm
This family farm in Rochester has been certified organic “since day one.” They use cover cropping, fallowing (resting the land) careful crop rotation, and fertilize with only natural ingredients. Rising River is surrounded by wild hedgerows, hay fields, a creek, and woods and like-minded, responsible neighbors which helps keep their fields protected and clean.

Wobbly Cart Farm
Located 30 miles south of Olympia on the banks of the Chehalis River, Wobbly Cart is a diverse, 10 acre, certified organic farm. Since 2005, their work combines a love of land with a commitment to a lifestyle that celebrates their passion for delicious, local, organic food.

This issue of the Spoonful offers a Local Savings Coupon for 50¢ off your purchase of any cheese from the Lost Peacock Creamery, a Grade A goat dairy that prides itself in being listed as a Thurston County Green Business and an Animal Welfare Approved Farm.

Rachael and Matthew Tuller, along with their two small children, live and work on their farm situated on Cross Creek Lane in northeast Olympia. Every day they milk some 36 goats and every other day make that milk into some outstanding cheeses which the Co-op is pleased to offer to our members. Chevre is a soft creamy farmstead cheese, touched only with a little sea salt, and is a wonderfully spreadable cheese. For a spicier version, they have created Thai Garlic Chevre which comes with a hint of Thai chili. Halloumi shows up crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside, sprinkled with fresh from the farm mint and sea salt. Look for them in the cheese departments of both stores, and use the coupon!

Aspiring to what is called in Europe “high farming,” the folks at Lost Peacock look for the perfect balance between plants and animals, pointing out on their blog that “animals enrich the soil, the soil produces plants, the plants feed the animals.” To meet this goal, they power their farm with alternative energy. Lost Peacock does not use antibiotics or growth hormones so prevalent in factory farming.

In July, these two farmers took a trip with their children to Washington DC to speak with our Washington congress people about the most recent Farm Bill. Their farm loan company, Northwest Farm Credit Services, brought together veterans from all over the country that have taken the leap into farming post-military-service. There they learned how farmer representation in Washington DC has changed as small farms have dwindled, and how important it is for us all to speak up about farming issues. We were charmed to learn the resolute farmers even invited Senator Maria Cantwell to attend a session of Goat Yoga at their homestead!

Lost Peacock supports agritourism and open their doors to public tours of the farm by appointment.

Our Local Savings Coupon in this issue will allow you 50¢ off all Certified Organic vegetable starts from our friends at Ellis Creek Farm!

Nestled on three acres near Priest Point Park in Olympia, this small family operation relies mostly on human power to do their work, using hand tools and a walk-behind tractor to ensure a low environmental impact. To serve as stewards of the land and nearby waterways, neonicotinoids, copper-based products, and pesticides (which are harmful to bees and salmon) are never used by the farm. Ellis Creek Farm has been certified Salmon Safe, and they take their commitment to the environment even further by choosing packaging made from recycled bottles.

The folks at Ellis Creek Farm created their own custom seed starting mix containing balanced nutrients and mycorrhizal fungi, and their cultivars thrive! In addition to plant starts for gardening, they also produce salad mixes, baby veggies, edible flowers and gourmet greens.

A long list of available starts can be found at the Garden Center and on the Ellis Creek Farm website. While you’re there, you can also check out their blog for instructions on building a portable chicken coop, or using rotational grazing with goats to hold back the onslaught of blackberries!

The Co-op receives a variety of stone fruits from Brownfield Orchard during the summer season. Overlooking the Columbia River Valley in Chelan, Washington, this 46 acre family orchard has been in operation since Mike Brownfield’s grandfather planted the first fruit trees on this fertile soil some 26 years ago.

Mike’s father John co-founded the Tilth Producers of Washington and co-created the standards for organic tree fruit certification. Naturally, Brownfield Orchard became one of the first farms to gain organic certification when it began in Washington in 1988.

With fruits ripening in succession, Brownfield operates year round, al­lowing their employees full time work, including off season pruning. Brownfield Orchards grow, harvest, package and deliver fine fruits to our region. They are one of few orchards that directly market their own fruit, picked ripe and delivered for maximum sweetness and nutrition.

Next to ripen, right after cherries, are the apricots, here for our succulent eating pleasure. The apricot season is short, so now is the time to bring them home!

Bulk items from Blue Heron Bakery are featured in this issue’s Local Savings Coupon! Save 10% when you stock up on vegan granola like Rebel Crunch, Raisin Rebel Coconut Almond, and Rebel Island Tango, as well as Tamari Cashews, Pumpkin Seeds, and Trail Mix, all perfect for the summer camping season!

The Blue Heron Bakery has been selling its wonderful edibles at Olympia Food Co-op since 1977 when a group of friends working together at a downtown cafe decided to start a bakery. For most of their 41 years, the bakery was housed on Mud Bay Road. Three years ago, the business made a move to a new location, closer to town. They expanded their menu and services to include a breakfast, lunch and dinner menu, serving hungry customers from 7 AM to 7 PM, seven days a week. Enjoy indoor or outdoor seating, and a menu with a delicious array of goodies, from soups, salads, and sandwiches to pizza (both traditional and gluten free), polenta, lasagna, their wonderful breads, and both sweet and savory pastries. Check out their entire menu.

Always concerned with producing healthy products, they have never allowed any artificial preservatives, colors, or flavors into what they make, and have created pastries and dishes that honor those needing gluten-free and vegan fare. “Natural before it was fashionable” is more than just the slogan for the bakery: it’s a 40-year tradition.

This issue the Co-op Spoonful is featuring fresh organic gourmet salad mixes from our neighbors at Calliope Farm! As fresh as three miles away, their greens are lovingly grown and bagged in fully compostable packaging!

Calliope Farm is a family run certified organic farm, owned and operated by Jacob Wilson and Teva Grudin. They grow more than 100 varieties of gourmet quality vegetables and berries and integrate livestock on a small scale for family and farm use. Passionate about quality and diversity, some of their favorite things to grow are gourmet salad mixes, sugar snap peas, tender carrots, sunflower shoots, heirloom tomatoes, tender blue lake beans, specialty cucumbers, and radicchio.

Jacob and Teva grow on 30 acres divided between three sites around Olympia, Washington. Their practices emphasize soil building cover-crops and long crop rotations, efficient water use, and season extension to offer customers and employees year-round produce and employment. Calliope Farm is proud to have been a part of the collaborative and vibrant local food movement since 2004, with a vision to create a healthy farm ecosystem that can preserve and improve farmland, while sustaining this community now and for future generations.

See the farm and meet the whole family in their Olympia Food Co-op Local Partner Profile video

“Eating healthy doesn’t have to be boring and rigid,” says Nicole Obermire of Peace, Love & Raw. Inspired by her children to eat well, Nicole has created a menu that sings ballads to healthy eating, a harmony of delightful treats that are completely raw, vegan, and organic.

Olympia Food Co-op carries Peace, Love & Raw packaged delicacies, such as Forbidden Rice and Red Lentil Chili, always bursting with savory goodness, and free of gluten, corn, soy and common allergens. Both Co-op locations also carry their raw healthful versions of traditional confections. Nicole’s Macaroons, Cinnamon Rolls, Strawberry Parfaits, German Cacao Cake, and avocado-based Key Lime Pies are in high demand. Her raw vegan “Cheezecakes” are rapturous creations. The tantalizing flavors, such as Strawberry and Cream, Chocolate Orange, Salted Caramel, White Chocolate Rose, and Mint Chocolate Chip, change weekly. Nicole’s three layer “Rawnaimo” dessert bars are built upon a sprouted almond and coconut crust, filled with a creamy almond butter middle, and covered with a raw cacao top.

If you wish to experience the full menu, drop in to their store locations for a juice, smoothie, salad or sandwich. Peace, Love & Raw Cafe, downtown on Legion Avenue, is convenient during Capital City Pride, or you can visit their Capital Mall location. By all means, treat yourself!

We are proud to offer our local coupon in this issue for savings on two popular Jalisco products, Flour Tortillas and Maggie’s Salsa Verde!

Jalisco Tortilla Factory is a family-owned and operated business. Maggie Velasco-Lucero and her partner Medardo “Eddie” Lucero have been examples to everyone in their family by demonstrating that hard work and perseverance can pay off.

Both Maggie and Eddie migrated here from Mexico, and both became citizens of the United States years ago. In 1997, they opened the doors to Tortilleria Jalisco (Jalisco Tortilla Factory). Although Maggie and Eddie struggled for many years to get their small tortilla business off the ground, they put everything on the line to ensure the survival of this small business in a highly competitive marketplace.

The Luceros attribute their success to hard work, sacrifice, and their faith. Maggie and Eddie have never forgotten where they came from, and have always been gracious with donations to their local Shelton community. The Olympia Food Co-op also carries Mag­gie’s Red Salsa, Corn Tortillas, and Tortilla Chips!

Oyster Bay Farm is a certified organic, woman owned and operated business located in Olympia, overlooking Oyster Bay, on Totten Inlet. One of Thurston County’s oldest farms, it was recently preserved through a conservation easement partnership between the landowners, Thurston County, and South Sound Farm Trust.

Melissa Barker and Sarah Wiley met over a decade ago and have worked together ever since. “We produce a variety of pasture raised livestock and poultry. Our happy hens enjoy pasture year round with plenty of access to grass, bugs, sunshine, fresh air, and the highest quality certified organic feed. In return, they provide us with delicious, beautiful rainbow eggs, diverse in color, size and shape, due to the assortment of breeds in our flock. We are dedicated to providing a quality product to our local community, promoting health, sustainability and animal welfare to the highest standard. Follow us on Facebook!”

Our local coupon this issue saves you 50¢ on any four inch culinary or medicinal herb from Spring Creek Farm—a small family home­stead in Rochester. Owners Chris Robinson and Melissa Southwick have been providing starts to the Co-op for over 10 years. Theirs is a business built upon ingenuity, experi­ence, and a love of plants.

Since they began in 1996, Chris and Melis­sa have been committed to maintaining a low environmental impact. Both the farm and home operate partially off the grid, us­ing solar power to water the plants. Spring Creek Farm’s growing methods are free from chemical pesticides or fertilizers. They utilize biological controls when they experience rare pest issues, and craft their own organic soil mix.

Chris and Melissa are dedicated to their work and the care they take is evident in the health and quality of their cultivars. They grow about 150 culinary and medicinal herb varieties, including about 25 varieties of lav­ender, many mints, plenty of thyme, and an abundance of harder-to-find medicinal herbs such as motherwort, skullcap, and arnica.

Spring Creek produces any vegetable start you may be seeking, from peas to pumpkins to peppers. They also cultivate fruiting favorites such as blueberry bushes, fig trees, strawberries, and hops. Respect­ing their workers and supporting a strong local economy, they pay their modest 1–2 person staff at $15 per hour.

We hope this coupon inspires you to try growing a new herb, or to finally get that lovely lavender plant you’ve been eyeing.

In this issue of the Spoonful, we’re offering a local coupon for 50¢ off of Kirsop Farm Chicken Bone Broth and Chicken Stock! These products are 100% certified organic and made only with ingredients grown on their Rochester farm, with the exception of a small amount of organic apple cider vinegar. Since 1996, Kirsop Farm has been producing high quality organic fruits and vegetables for our community. In 2007, they began lovingly caring for chickens. The chickens forage in pasture within movable shelters that are relocated to clean grass every day, fertilizing the pasture and removing pests. Their organic site grown grain feed contains field peas and minerals. We hope you love these new products, available in our frozen department.

Black Hills Organic Microgreens owner Karl Schaffner is originally from Landshut, Germany, and now lives in the Black Hills west of Olympia. Within the greenhouses at Black Hills Organic, grow a wide variety of carefully tended sprouts that pack up to 40 times the vitamin concentration of fully grown vegetation.

The Co-op carries Sunflower Shoots Pea Shoots, Broccoli, and Arugula Microgreens, as well as Spicy, Mild, Radish and Red Mixes!

The Co-op invites you to join us in our mission to “make human impacts on the  earth and its inhabitants positive and renewing” by tending to the health of your soil and plants this spring! We’re offering a local coupon for $2 off all Black Lake Organic soil amendments, to help make these top of the line organic fertilizers accessible to more people.

Since the 1980’s Black Lake Organic has been developing and producing some of the highest quality, most thoughtfully blended organic soil amendments on the market. In 2007, their innovations in building and maintaining soil health earned them an Environmental Excellence Award from the Washington State Department of Ecology.

The Co-op is proud to offer our members the full BLOOM (Black Lake Organic Optimum Mixes). They are crafted with an expert knowledge of soil and plant biology to encourage robust and healthy plants. These products contribute to the overall health of the soil and surrounding ecosystem, as well as improving human health by increasing the nutritional value of food.

Intimidated by the prospect of amending your soil? You’re not alone, but you need not fear (especially if you are using the right BLOOM blend for your individual situation). Once the soil dries out and warms up a bit, just follow these easy steps:

Clear the weeds from your garden bed or from around the base of existing plants. Pull them out by hand or use a weeding tool (Come visit us at the Garden Center for help finding the right tool for you).

Apply the appropriate fertilizer blend according to the application rates on the package.

Add some compost or aged manure.

Work into the soil using a shovel, spade, digging fork or other cultivating tool. Check the directions on the package for the right depth.

Some fertilizers need a little time to mellow out before you sow seeds. Follow instructions on the package.

In this issue of the Co-op Spoonful, save $.50 on HOTSAUCEfresh’s full range of hot sauces! The first HotBabe- HotSauces were made in Yelm in 2013. Sandra Bocas, dubbed locally as the “Queen of Peppers”, took her enthusiasm for fresh, clean food and hot peppers, mixed them with her Caribbean roots and imagined bottled hot sauce into reality. In 2017 she and Fiona Douglas- Hamilton joined their talents operating the business under the name HOTSAUCEfresh and moved to a larger commercial kitchen in Tumwater.

The two are fiercely committed to healthful living and eating. Their ingredients are organic, vegan, without chemical preservatives or additives, and their Caribbean peppers are grown exclusively here in Thurston County. The duo is intent on expanding the use of hot sauce as a condiment by focusing on Heat with Flavor™ and producing a range of delicious fresh hot sauces that can also be used as marinades and cook sauces. They utilize their fresh and fermented hot peppers in dynamic combinations with fruits and vegetables, preserving with either fresh lime juice, pepper brine, or their proprietary blend of vinegars.

Their product range consists of the original HotBabe-HotSauce in three distinct heat and pepper flavors (medium, hot, and xhot), a Trini Hot pepper sauce (this one is hot!), Winter Solace (a cranberry, orange, and fermented habanero hot sauce) and SweetBabe Quince Hot Sauce (a delightful blend of quince, raw organic sugar and spices).

HOTSAUCEfresh would like to thank Mary Ellen Psaltis for the November 2017 article in Thurston Talk which provided a basis for this piece.

In this issue, the Co-op Spoonful is proud to feature a coupon for $.50 off of Honeylove Chocolates. In 2014, our local Olympia chocolatier Kirsten Sogge decided to turn her love for chocolate, bees (and their honey), and good healthy food into a business. Joined by her holistic business coach, Laurie Rivers, they created Honeylove Chocolates, which has flourished and now sells regionally.

Experimenting in Kirsten’s Olympia kitchen, these two have been creating the finest chocolate treats using the foundation organic ingredients of Pacari brand fair trade biodynamic cacao, and raw local honey. Pacari has won the gold medal at the International Choco­late Festival since 2012.

Honeylove’s vision statement says it all, “To share our love of life through the co-creation of delectable, sensuous food and experiences that induce joy, promote health, increase awareness and provide sustainable comfort.”

Look for the Spoonful shelf-talker in the candy isle and grab the coupon in this issue. We hope you enjoy these morsels of the divine, and share them with a friend.

Our Spoonful coupon this week features the delicate sweetness of jams and jellies created by the family-owned and operated Burnt Ridge Nursery and Orchards. As their name implies, they have been developing, over the past almost 40 years, unusual and disease-resistant vines, shrubs, and fruit and nut trees that love the soil and climate on their farm in the foothills of the Pacific Northwest mountains.

From many years of research and experimentation, their nursery can offer a variety of regional fruiting plants – trees, bushes, vines, and ground covers. They also offer nitrogen-fixing plants, ornamentals, and native plants.

And, here’s the best part! In the commercial kitchen at their farm they have been producing, from the bounty of their orchard, delicious certified-organic jams, jellies, and apple butter.