Snow isn’t in the forecast this Christmas, but we are sure to have memorable days of winter seas and skies on the Island. Whether it’s a tequila sunrise with Mt. Baker in silhouette or lemon and blueberry light slanting across Legoe Bay, it’s delicious out there. Mark and Livie have been taking walks in the afternoon, meeting others who seek their own peace and calm hiking along the beach, watching the sunset from their cars, taking photos of sea, sky, and clouds or riding bikes fast with the wind in their faces.

A Continuum of Seasons

Now we have time to reflect on last year’s garden, make plans for next, sort saved seeds or buy new ones, schedule the planting of starts, and get the beds ready for spring planting. We are tarping dormant beds, building new compost piles, managing the chard, kale, cabbage, lettuce, Chinese greens and herbs that are still producing, and moving the chicken tractor around the pasture daily. New work has begun. Roger has vermiculture underway and he’s making apple cider vinegar from our last pressing. Olivia is making a new flower beds for daffodils, anemones and ranunculus so we can have earlier flowers and finding new products to stock next year on the stand

Good News for the Farm Stand

Due to popular demand, the online Farm Stand and the Grab and Go Farm Stand at Full Bloom Farm will both remain open year round! That means regular weekly bagel orders will continue - yay! Note: for this and next week only, bagel pick ups will be on Tuesdays due to the Holidays. You have until 2pm on Tuesday to get your order in for pickup after 4:45 later in the day.
We will continue to source from excellent local farms to offer more choices for you. New to the farm stand this month is breakfast sausage from Skagit Valley Ranch and Chili Chive Onion Gouda Cheese, a seasonal offering from Samish Bay Cheese Company. AmaRosa Fingerling potatoes! These are delicious and beautiful with burgundy skin revealing intensely dark red flesh rich in antioxidants. They stay bright in color even after cooked. You’ll also find, red cabbage and green Savoy cabbage from Ralph’s Greenhouse, and Lacinato kale from Cabrera Farms.

Last minute treats and gift ideas!

Olympic Provisions Pepperettes - mini cured sausages that come in petite boxes that are adorable and make delicious snacks. We sell them in packs of 3 so you or your gift recipient can try all the flavors.
Coro Salami - these 12 oz sausages are the perfect stocking stuffers. Coro salumeria in Seattle (a women-owned business) produces very tasty salami with inventive flavor combinations using old world Italian style sausage-making techniques. These are a filling and satisfying treat. Don’t miss out on them. They are great!
Farmhouse Granola - we have lots of bags this week, which I think would make a great stocking stuffer.
INNA Jam Bay Laurel Shrub - only a handful of bottles left. This makes delicious drinks and we’ve been making their version of Gin & Tonic with it.
Mark’s solar evaporated sea salt - As of right now we have 4 bags of this special salt that he makes on the farm with Salish sea water. We won’t have anymore of this until mid-summer next year when we have enough sun to start evaporating again!
Fat Gold Olive Oil - makes a wonderful gift! It is our favorite olive oil. The packaging is so pretty and vibrant all it needs is a bow!
For more information on each product, read the product pages on the online store.

Christmas and New Year’s Eats

Our squash harvest this year was mighty. Squash must be grown to maturity, picked at the proper time, and some varieties require up to 2 months of curing to reach optimal flavor, texture, and storability. Our squashes make the perfect holiday meal accompaniment. Some of these squash can be daunting in size (see 25lb Hubbards on the stand) so we are offering meal-sized portions of them on the grab and go stand. The Sweet Meat, Hubbard, Carnival, and Pumpkin all make incredible ravioli filling - but a simple, silky gratin alongside turkey or ham would be eyes-rolled-back perfect.
Here are some more recipes we’re enjoying with our squash …
Vietnamese-Style Spaghetti Squash “Noodle” Bowls with Skirt Steak - the sauce almost makes this dish taste like papaya salad. We really enjoyed this dish. Don’t skimp on the sauce!
Brown Butter Winter Squash - you can make this with just about any winter squash and it will turn out delicious.
Grains and Roasted Squash with Spicy Buttermilk Dressing - This makes a very tasty meal and it’s something you can make and then assemble throughout the week. If you don’t have buttermilk, you can use milk instead since you’ll still get some tang from the yogurt. We added a bit of garlic to the dressing as well.

Wreath Raffle A Success!

Lis made a beautiful Holiday Wreath that we raffled off last weekend. The raffle was great fun to put on and we were amazed by the response. THANK YOU ALL! Because it’s always fun to have an extra surprise, two additional raffle tickets were pulled to receive $20 gift certificates to the Farm Stand for some holiday cheer. The raffle raised $150 which Full Bloom matched for a total donation of $300 for the Beach School’s Lummi Island Foundation for Education.

Thank you all for your continued support this year!
Wishing you all a safe, joyous, and restful holiday season,

Mark, Lis, Livie, and Roger