Monday, September 27, 2010

BUYING LOCAL AND EATING LOCAL: SAMISH HEIRLOOMS FARM








I believe in both concepts of buying local products (including food) and eating local food whenever possible. In my community, and probably in yours, there are co-ops and other type deals where you can get local fresh produce delivered to your home regularly for a reasonable price. You get whatever is in season, so it's pot luck in that regard, but some of the co-ops in my area offer some pretty nice produce most of the year.

And yes, it generally beats the hell outta even the good produce at high end grocery stores like Whole Foods in both better taste and lower prices.

My good friends Bradley and Ellen have begun farming and making various farm supplies and produces and I suspect some publications and writings will be coming forth soon. They're up in Washington state, although Bradley's a native Texan.

Here's their website right 'chere and I suspect it will do some growing as they get it going.

http://www.samishheirloomsfarm.com/

On these web pages, they have the beginnings of their store and some other products that they sell. The produce they sell locally. I already tried to buy some produce from them, and dear friend Bradley told me that the whole idea behind his operation was grow local, sell local and eat local, and shipping food sort of defeated the whole process.

http://www.samishheirloomsfarm.com/store/375

http://www.samishheirloomsfarm.com/currentproducts

I don't know exactly what will be developing on their site, but perhaps Bradley or Ellen or even Ray the cat could leave a comment about what they'll be doing on their site. I plan to extend the opportunity to Ray to guest blog post here sometime in the future, and I have no doubt that something profound will come from his musings.
Ray already has an online presence, and here's a sample of his early efforts:
In any event, I'll be buying me a Samish shirt and a hat, just because Bradley has always been such a mentor and friend to me and because those items will help me vibe on getting my own setup like he and Ellen have up yonder in Washington.

I've known Bradley for the better part of two decades. Know him well, and got to know his lovely wife Ellen as well. They are both as good as gold. They're the kind of people you want as neighbors, as co-workers, as friends and as the people you do business with.

Since I know them both personally and very well, I can say that they are absolutely trustworthy folks and folks that are worthy of your business. I can tell you that you won't have any problems dealing with them and that whatever product or information you may receive will be top quality.

A friend of mine named Cowboy has a theory that goes like this. Cowboy says that in order for someone to be his friend, his truly dear friend, they have to be the kind of people that if you were hanging by a rope off of a cliff, dangling with your life in danger, that they'd be the folks you'd want on the other end of that rope, trying to save your life, that wouldn't give up no matter what.

That's the kind of folks Bradley and Ellen are, and I don't render such opinions lightly. In fact, they both deserve the great life they are living right now that it's just blessed to see them having the opportunity to do so.

So for what it's worth, if you're into growing your own food or thinking about it, their website will be a great place to go and source of information. Bradley doesn't do anything half-ass, trust me on that. I know he'll have some great opinions and educational information about growing different types of God's gift to us. He's a smart man, and like every smart man, he's got a smarter woman behind him.

I'm very interested with the life that he and Ellen are living and Mrs. El Fishing Musician and I are quite envious of them. It gives us hope that one day we can escape the rat race and do things a bit differently and be a lot more in touch with nature. We've escaped the rat race a bit the past few years, but yearn for living in a truly wonderous and beautiful place like the area where Bradley and Ellen are now. Good for you, B&E!
Oh, and I snarfed both images from various Samish Heirlooms Farm pages I found googling, so I hope Bradley and Ellen are not offended that I lifted some images to promote their site. And yes, in the top photo that is Ray hisself leaping over lettuce in his Jack Bauer imitation, making sure that quality control is being upheld. And making sure that our government and way of life are not threatened by any evildoers, both foreign and domestic. The other photo is of some rare variety of tomato Bradley grows.
I'm not a big cat person, but even a fool can tell you that Ray is cool.

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