Jake Krelieck, founder of Lake Missoula Tea Company, will be in the store brewing up samples of his company's artisanal, loose leaf, organic tea blends. Featuring Gaia Chai, Milk Oolong and Spicy Ginger Snap, . 

Alongside the tea tastings, artist Glenn Hendrick will be back in the store reading tarot from her handmade deck and selling hand thrown pottery. Get a reading on the start of 2019 while you find your perfect tea blend and a mug to match!

Co-Op Recognition

We are pleased to announce that the Co-Op was recently awarded the Certificate of Excellence for a member in the shopping category during the Chamber of Commerce annual awards dinner. 

Sarah and Paul had an opportunity to meet with local business members as well as community advocates and were more than surprised when our name was called! 

From Siskiyou Seeds I'm interested in some new peppers.  One that I'll probably try this year is Chimayo, a hot pepper from Chimayo in New Mexico, where a late friend of mine lived, and which is a very special place, with historic church that houses healing soil.  According to the catalogue, these peppers are unpredictable, some long and skinny some short and fat, all on the same plant.  They make a great red chile sauce, sweet and then hot, also popular for roasting.  I'm intrigued!

We are also going to grow the Fish pepper for the master gardener's sale this year, an heirloom known in seafood cookery houses around Chesapeake Bay, with heritage from Africa via African-American seed savers.  They ripen from green and white, through orange brown and then to red.  They have a wide range of heat from jalapeño level to cayenne.

And Miranda is another pepper I want to grow.  It's akin to Carmen, which is a Corno di Toro type long sweet pepper.  I haven't been able to find Corno di Toro for a few years, planted some Carmen last year, but had them planted too close to other plants and they didn't get a chance to thrive.  So I'll give Miranda a try this time around.

 

   

 

The Territorial catalogue offers the orange cherry tomato Orange Peruche, which pretty much won the taste testing we master gardeners did at one of our luncheons last summer.  It is an F1 hybrid, but so is Sungold, which has never stopped anyone from growing that tomato!  Its growth habit sounds a lot like that of Sungold according to the catalogue, one inch fruits on trusses, indeterminate vines.  Territorial says it was the winner of their in-house taste test too in 2018.

The Baker Creek catalogue is such a treat for the eyes, you should send away for it just to look at the amazing photos, but be warned, it will make you hungry.

This year we're going to be beating the drum for Amish Paste tomatoes from the Baker Creek catalog, a really good one for sauce.  We grew it for the sale a couple of years ago but people were put off by the name, if you can imagine that, saying "eew, paste sounds gross" not realizing that paste is the terminology for a sauce tomato.  Well, no such confusion this year.  Many seed savers believe this to be the ultimate paste tomato; it's from an Amish community in Wisconsin and it has no problems with blossom end rot that San Marzano tends to suffer from.

-- Alice Deane

Simple, Garlic-Braised Greens

If you're anything like me, winter is a challenging time for salad. There's a scarcity of good local greens, and it just seems too cold for a bowl of chilled vegetables, especially when they come from far away. Despite these setbacks, my body insists on leafy green nutrition. Every winter around this time, I fall back on one of my very favorite things: tender, warm, garlicky greens. In my mind, it's the most satisfying way to enjoy our local brassicas in these dark months, and I find they make a delicious meal any time of the day. Topped with poached eggs and sourdough toast they are a perfect breakfast; served alongside silky, simmered beans, baked squash, or a cut of meat they're a soul-warming lunch or dinner. And of course, all these ingredients can be purchased at the San Juan Island Co-op! The following adaptation is based on a recipe featured in New York Times Cooking, by Marian Burros.

Braised Garlic Greens

Yield: 2 large servings (I often double this recipe so that I have enough for several meals)

Time: 20 minutes

12 ounces hearty greens, such as kale, collards, or Swiss chard, washed, drained, and chopped into 2-inch lengths
4-6 slices bacon, thin cut, sliced into ½ inch pieces*
3-4 large garlic cloves, sliced very thin or minced

1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
2 Tbsp dry white wine
1 Tbsp sherry vinegar, optional
¼ tsp hot red pepper flakes
 
Make sure to use a large, deep sauté pan with a tight-fitting lid. Warm your pan over medium-high heat for 1-2 minutes. If using the bacon, add to the pan and sauté until crispy (about 5 minutes). Set aside. If at this point the pan is very hot and smoking, remove it from the heat for several minutes, leaving the bacon grease in the pan.
 
If omitting the bacon, add 2 Tbsp olive oil to your warm skillet, then add the garlic and pepper flakes to the hot oil (or bacon fat). Immediately turn the temperature down to medium-low, and let the garlic infuse until fragrant, about 20-30 seconds. Don't let your garlic burn or brown; it becomes very bitter. Working in handfuls, add the greens to the pan (you may need to add a few handfuls and let them reduce a bit before adding the rest; no matter). Turn the greens over in the pot to coat evenly in fat and garlic and wait for them to decrease in volume by half, about 3 minutes. Add the white wine and sherry vinegar, if using. Allow the liquid to evaporate, then add back in the bacon and the stock. Place the lid on the pot and allow to gently simmer for 8-10 minutes. There will be some liquid left in the pan. Season to taste and enjoy!