Author: Brooke Lucy

by Ashley Lodato

Bluebird Grain Farms staff writer

Photo Credits: Amy Sandidge

The kitchen of food blogger and culinary photographer Amy Sandidge is exactly the kitchen you want to enter when you have a hankering for a snack. Feel like a ham and cheese pocket or some laminated pasta with edible flowers? Or is your sweet tooth demanding strawberry cake with lime buttercream frosting or raspberry swirl loaf? Either way, Sandidge has you covered. Better yet, she’ll incorporate whole grain flour into what she feeds you.

Raised in Alaska, Sandidge remembers a childhood of mild foods, saying “the only spices…in our home were salt, pepper, minced onions, paprika, and garlic powder.” The variety of foods, Sandidge says, “was just as limited.” But in culinary school at the Alaska Vocational Technical School  in Seward, where Sandidge completed a culinary arts and baking program, she was “exposed to a variety of foods, spices and techniques for preparing food.”

“You would think growing up with limited exposure to new foods I would have been hesitant about trying new things,” says Sandidge, “but it was the opposite, I loved it. I did everything I would to finish my assignment early and try new things.  I still get excited trying a new food, spice or learning new preparation technique.”

Working in the culinary scene, Sandidge says she was attracted to “the fast paced environment, the drive to create new and exciting dishes and the feedback from customers,” adding, “You work hard to create beautiful and unique dishes, when the customers love it, it is such a great feeling.”

As a food blogger, photographer, recipe developer, and mom, Sandidge’s pace seems no less fast, and she’s still creating beautiful and unique dishes. These, however, are consumed enthusiastically not by restaurant diners, but instead by Sandidge’s two teen boys, her friends, and neighbors.

Feeding large groups is familiar to Sandidge, who grew up in a family of 12. (There were 10 of us [kids], all from the same parents,” she says. “Although I’m sure the thought crossed their minds, maybe even several times a day, my parents are saints for not strangling any one of us.”) Sandidge’s mother got Sandidge involved in the cooking at a young age by buying her a “huge cookbook with plenty of photos for me to ogle over.” It was this moment–the gift of a cookbook–to which Sandidge attributes her fascination with food.

Sandidge has a “keen interest in whole grains” and has spent the past few years learning more about them and incorporating them into her family’s diet. “I stumbled upon Einkorn online when I was looking for local ancient grain,” she says. “I hadn’t heard anything about it but was intrigued. I ordered some and have been obsessed ever since.” Of Einkorn, Sandidge says “I love the health benefits, of course, but also love the way it bakes. My family has loved it.” Sandidge makes most of her baked items with partial whole grains and says that Einkorn is “perfect for families starting to transition into a higher whole-grain diet.”

During the coronavirus pandemic, everyone seems to be baking, as evidenced by bare flour sections in grocery store aisle. For Sandidge, it’s business as usual, and she didn’t have to worry about sourcing ingredients. “One thing our family didn’t really worry about during this pandemic was food shortages,” she says. “I have always tried to make it a practice to have a well-stocked pantry. Most everything the stores were short on, I already had in good supply.”

Sandidge doesn’t recommend overstocking, but she does encourage pantry-style shopping, where people keep their kitchens supplied with enough ingredients to cook delicious, wholesome meals from scratch–“keeping the things we use daily in large supply.” With a little creativity, Sandidge says, limited storage space can be accommodated, and she reminds readers that “whole grains are a great, healthy food group” to prioritize.

“Juneteenth today, celebrates African American freedom and achievement while encouraging continuous self-development and respect for all cultures. As it takes on a more national, symbolic, and even global perspective, the events of 1865 in Texas are not forgotten, for all of the roots tie back to this fertile soil from which a national day of pride is growing.” -Juneteenth.com

To our community, customers friends, and neighbors, we say loudly – Black Lives Matter! At this pivotal moment, we add our voice to the myriad of voices calling out for compassionate structural reform, social justice and transformation, so that we may become a culture that supports life rather than takes it.

We believe our expressions of solidarity must be grounded in self-responsibility for the choices we make. We each have a responsibility to listen and learn from one another while acting out of our shared humanity. This individual work is necessary for the collective work required to dismantle white supremacy, racism, inequality, and oppression. We invite you to dig in with us, and deeply consider the wound of racism on the hearts of  our black communities.  We believe this day requires a deeper engagement with the history and systems of anti-Black oppression.

Collet Watson shares in her article How to Honor Black Liberation on Juneteenth “We cannot celebrate Black freedom without acknowledging the conditions of Black enslavement. We must ground our observance of Juneteenth in an explicitly anti-racist framework, which includes seeking understanding of enslavement, exploitation, family separation, and racial terror in the United States. These conditions did not end in 1865.”  Here, she offers poignant suggestions on how to honor this day.

Join us. listen to what our black communities are asking,  learn about the Black Lives Movement, and how we can support our fellow African Americans at this moment in time.   Read the rules of engagement by Dr. Robin Diangelo. to understand the barriers, fears and deep-seated cultural values that may keep us from moving forward.  Learn about White-Fragility and why it may be so hard to talk about race. This article offered us some incredible insights that are hard to look at but resonated with the truth about white culture.

At Bluebird Grain Farms we are committed to learning and growing within our community to further this work. We are also donating to the following organizations to further their good work and leadership in bringing about much-needed changes to our legal system and food /land inequities. We invite you all to donate to these organizations or those of your choice as well.

ACLU.ORG

Civil Eats

And please support Black-Owned Businesses in your communities.

Follow the following link for Northwest owned businesses:

The Intentionalist list serve of Black-Owned Businesses

Check out this national listserve of African American owned Farm Businesses and find black-owned farmers in your own area.

Agritecture

Thank you for reading and holding space for this day.

by Ashley Lodato

Bluebird Grain Farms staff writer

When Jim and Judy Evans, Bainbridge Island residents since the late 1960s, decided to develop a pub on a waterfront piece of property on the island’s north shore, they had two distinct objectives. Jim, who was born and raised in England, “envisioned an English-style pub as a community gathering spot without TVs and jukeboxes like their American counterparts–a place for lively dialogue fueled by the small but growing craft beer industry of the time,” says Harbour Public House general manager Jeff Waite. Meanwhile, Judy imagined a friendly pub that welcomed and served women, regardless of whether they were in the company of men. After all, in 1985 when Jim and Judy began planning the new pub, Washington State had only very recently abolished a law that prohibited unescorted women from being served while standing at a bar. Ultimately, the Evanses sought to nurture and maintain community through “heritage and hospitality.”

Harbour Public House‘s ethic of hospitality is a legacy of  Jim and Judy, who built Harbour Marina–a 45-slip pleasure craft moorage facility–in 1982. The boating community that emerged from marina residents living aboard vessels was a collegial one, cultivated by Jim, a college professor, and Judy, a primary school teacher. Opening parts of their own on-site home to marina residents and friends, the Evanses encouraged gatherings, reading and board games in their day room, and offered yard space for communal gardening.

The building’s heritage is a post-Civil War story. Built by war veteran Ambrose Grow and his wife Amanda in 1881, the homestead was the site of the Grow family’s fruit and vegetable gardens and free-ranging cattle. In 1991, Jim and Judy completed a five-year construction project and opened the Harbour Public House on the footprint of the home where the Grows had homesteaded a century before, and even re-purposed some of the old-growth fir found in the walls and floors of the original building.

Although local residents soon warmed to the pub, initially they were wary of a new drinking establishment in the neighborhood. Says Waite, “The hard-drinking, seafaring past with a nearby bar named the “Bloody Bucket” was not yet a distant memory.” The pub opened as a non-smoking, 21+ only tavern and has remained that way ever since. Neither Jim nor Judy had any experience in the bar or restaurant industry, but they had a knack for creating community and confidence in their two adult children, who had been part of the construction and completion of the pub and who slowly assumed its managerial duties. When Jim and Judy eventually retired, their daughter Jocelyn held the reins.

Jocelyn, who had scrapped law school plans in favor of joining the family enterprise, brought one of the pub’s regular patrons into the family fold, marrying Jeff Waite–now general manager–in 1994. It was Jocelyn who hired the pub’s first kitchen manager, who in turn added two enduring items to the food menu: Pacific Cod Fish & Chips, and the Pub Burger. They kept Jim Evans’ commitment to local craft beers as well.

Along with Jocelyn and Jeff Waite, Chef Jeff McClelland of the Culinary Institute of America embraced a local and regional ethic for the pub’s kitchen. “Long before ‘farm to table’ even had a name,” says Waite, “Chef Jeff has been working to shorten our delivery miles as much as possible. During that time, we have established relationships with local farmers and local producers that have enriched our lives and experiences along the way. The kitchen manager’s interaction used to be a weekly dialogue with two major food delivery distributors. Today, over 40 farmers, producers and suppliers call on him. It has changed all of our jobs quite significantly.” Later, Waite says, as price points improved, pub management applied the local and regional ethic to its wine and spirits offerings.

With the bounty of the Pacific Northwest at its fingertips, Harbour Public House’s menu is a cornucopia of products sourced regionally and locally. The pub buys much of its meat “on the hoof,” says Waite, and is “particularly proud of its products from a Spanaway beef ranch and a Port Townsend goat ranch.” Much of the pub’s green produce comes from an island farmer. The Puget Sound basic and the Washington coast provide cheese, clams, oysters, grains, legumes, and dairy, while the pub’s cod and tuna is Pacific-caught and humanely treated by Bainbridge resident fishermen. Farro items on the menu come from Bluebird Grain Farms’ Organic Emmer-Farro. While diners are used to seeing such high-quality products on fine dining menus,” Waite says, “it once was very rare, and still is today for casual restaurants to take up the challenge as extensively as this.”

This commitment to quality ingredients is a bit of a double-edged sword in the restaurant business, as patrons often have difficulty understanding the relationship between food quality and prices. The market demands inexpensive food, yet increasingly customers want to eat and drink products with integrity: locally grown or sourced, organic, humane. Restaurant prices, then, reflect not only the quality of the food, but also the cost of preparing it thoughtfully.

Jim and Judy phased out of the family business in 2006 and for nearly a decade, Jocelyn and Waite owned and ran the pub together. In 2015, however, Jocelyn began teaching at an island Waldorf school, while Waite remained the General Manager of both the pub and the marina operations and grounds. Despite these larger managerial roles, Waite still prioritizes giving line-item attention to the menu, in collaboration with Chef Jeff. Most recently, the Jeffs have turned their focus to wheat. Both were disappointed with most American varieties of wheat, blaming it for increasing levels of inflammation in their joints; in fact, both had been avoiding American wheat in their personal diets.

After becoming acquainted with Bluebird Grain Farms at one of the early Chef’s Collaborative F2C2 gatherings and incorporating emmer-farro into their menu, in 2019 Waite began experimenting with Bluebird’s Einkorn in his bread baking. He liked the results, and convinced Pane D’Amore, which provides the pub with all of its bread and buns, to develop a custom 100% Einkorn bun just for Harbour Public House, which hit diners’ plates in the summer of 2019. Later, Pane D’Amore added 5% wheat back into the bun to help with consistency. “It’s a work in progress,” Waite says.

Like the Pub Burger’s bun, some things at Harbour Public House are evolving. Others, however, remain consistent, such as the atmosphere of the pub as a welcoming spot for excellent food and beverages, a strong community, and lively conversation. To this end, Waite notes, with a nod to the pub’s roots, “No TVs or juke-boxes have ever been permanently installed and women continue to be a large percentage of its clientele.”

To learn more about the Harbour Public House, visit their website.

by Ashley Lodato

Bluebird Grain Farms staff writer

Although Marlene Beadle was met with “moans and groans” from her family when she introduced a new, healthier way of eating at home, Marlene was undeterred. “Our family came to realize how fresh and flavorful the meals were that she was making,” says Marlene’s daughter, Lisa Gebhardt, who gives her mother full credit for the food philosophy she developed and still holds to this day.

Marlene’s interest in whole grains, natural sweeteners, and abundant fresh produce soon extended beyond the family dinner table, however, when Marlene purchased a tiny health food store in Federal Way in 1976, later naming it Marlene’s Market & Deli. “She immediately doubled the inventory with foods made from natural and organically grown ingredients,” says Lisa, noting that the founding principles of sourcing organic, sustainably-produced and socially-responsible products were and continue to be the underpinning of Marlene’s Market & Deli (MMD). “Commitment to organically grown, non-GMO, environmentalism, support of the community, and helping people was a complete circle for [Marlene] that all together built health in an individual, a business, a community, and the world,” says Lisa. “This is what we continue to believe at MMD. We work to teach our employees to help us carry on our commitment to Marlene’s founding belief.”

Marlene’s belief in quality natural foods anchored MMD, but it was “her caring for her customers was the basis for a business that continued to grow over 43 years,” says Lisa, who started working with her mother at MMD while she was in college, packaging bulk foods and grains in the back

room, and who is now the business’s general manager. “I discovered I took after her in my enjoyment of helping people and running a business, so I continued to learn every aspect of it. After 43 years, I’ve done every position except making espresso!” Lisa says.

The legacy of enthusiastic customer service and high-quality products was not the only thing Marlene passed down to Lisa, however, “I learned how to make amazingly yummy cookies with natural ingredients,” says Lisa, who carried that tradition on with her daughter, who, according to Lisa, “now has a reputation as making the ‘best’ cookies!”

The steady and thoughtful growth of MMD over the past 40+ years is a testament to the vital role it occupies in the communities it serves. Twenty years after the flagship store opened in Federal Way, Marlene and her crew launched a new market in Tacoma, which proved as successful as the original store. Lisa

attributes the market’s popularity to its commitment to quality. “Our customers appreciate that we buy from local companies committed to exemplary quality,” she says, adding, “Marlene’s has always supported local, small businesses.” She calls this a “win-win-win”: the small businesses win, MMD wins, and the customers, who benefit from the range and quality of products available at MMD, also win.

One example of the 3/win scenario was when MMD came across Bluebird Grain Farms during product research. “Our then Bulk Category Manager, Michelle, happened to be traveling through Winthrop and saw Bluebird Grain Farms products in the community,” Lisa says. “What a great connection to make! We brought Bluebird Grain Farms products in shortly after that – right now, we carry whole grain emmer and whole grain emmer pancake and waffle mix.”

MMD recognizes that newly-harvested and milled grains are best eaten in their most fresh condition, so, Lisa says, “we have a specially built bulk room that maintains the optimal temperature grains, nuts, seeds, and flours, which ensures that Bluebird Grain Farms products are as tasty and fresh as possible.”

With nine departments (grocery, refrigerated, frozen, bulk, mercantile, body care, supplements, produce, beer/wine/spirits), two locations, and 100 employees, MMD has come a long way since its original 1000 sq.ft. storefront in Federal Way. It now hosts classes featuring naturopaths, nutritionists, chefs, authors and other leaders in the natural healing community. MMD offers recipes, catering, a deli, and a bakery that uses organic flours and unrefined sweeteners to create treats like vegan chocolate cake, black bottom cupcakes, lemon sour cream pie, and zucchini bread. And if you seek vegetarian, vegan, wheat-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, and/or raw dishes, you’ll find a delicious variety at MMD; they even bake gluten-free bread to order.

Ultimately, what Marlene’s Market & Deli has supported for two generations is a healthy lifestyle through products that promote positive and beneficial choices for the things we put into and onto our bodies. What began around Marlene’s kitchen table as a sustainable approach to living has blossomed into a community resource that is the foundation of a healthy way of life for thousands of individuals and families in southern Puget Sound.

by Ashley Lodato, Bluebird Grain Farms staff writer

Arriving at Kirkland’s Cafe Juanita feels a little bit like arriving at the home of a friend. A friend who is an exceptional cook and fantastic hostess, with a fabulous house and enviable yard. Although the mid-century modern house has served as a restaurant for more than 30 years, it was, indeed, once a family home, and it still retains the intimate ambiance of a welcoming, familiar space. Remodels in recent years have opened up several previously private or unused areas within the home, and now, still within its original footprint, the restaurant boasts a patio alongside Juanita Creek, a main level dining area with adjacent private dining room, a revitalized entrance, and enhanced lighting for the entire property. “The house,” says owner and chef Holly Smith, “is a full-fledged member of the team. [It’s] a great space with lovely energy.”

Smith herself seems possessed of lovely energy as well. Since opening Cafe Juanita in 2000, a whirlwind of glowing restaurant reviews, awards, stars, and magazine features thrust Smith into the culinary spotlight, which still illuminates her with great regularity. But Smith has never lost sight of her main focus: the guests’ experience. “Everything matters and everyone is important in helping achieve a happy guest. No one are is more important [than the others].” says Smith. Staff meet and discuss guest hospitality frequently, which “really frees us up to work independently at times to the same end,” Smith says. “Servers don’t need to ask permission to do the right thing, spoil a guest, or fix a problem. Same as for a cook, who knows they use only the best and freshest items and that each plate matters. [It’s more important for it to be as delicious as possible [than for it merely to] ‘get done.'”

Smith’s holistic approach has served Cafe Juanita well, and it’s one that she cultivated during an externship in Ireland after culinary school. “Chef [Peter Timmins] was a master chef so everything was based on Escoffier,” says Smith, referring to George-Auguste Escoffier, a 19th century French culinary artist who was revolutionary in upgrading the culinary arts and fine dining experience, from recipes to service to kitchen environments to sanitation. “Proper technique and history were combined,” says Smith of Chef Timmins’ teaching. “It was great to work with such amazing raw ingredients–the best butter, wild game.” She continues, “The art of hospitality was also important. In Ireland, culinary schools teach front of the house proper service, so it isn’t just the chef’s perspective, but a guest-centric hospitality.”

A career in culinary arts was not always on Smith’s life plan, but with a degree in Political Science and a background in working in restaurants, Smith began to realize the creative outlet cooking provided for her. “I have always been interested in politics and governing,” she says. “To have a business and creative combined was a great thing for my personality.” Smith “governs” Cafe Juanita, but it’s a compassionate rule. The family feel of the home the restaurant occupies is echoed in the familiarity of the staff. Indeed, Smith refers to her team as “family,” calling herself “fortunate to be surrounded by talented and passionate professionals, who strive to create an authentic dinner experience.”

Critical to this authentic dinner experience are “the finest ingredients from local and Italian artisans,” says Smith. A trip to Northern Italy when Smith was in her late teens was “eye-opening,” and provided her with “a foundation of food experiences to draw from” when she first began as a creative professional cook. Smith honed Cafe Juanita’s menu over years of studying regional Italian cooking and traveling to Italy. And of Italian food as Cafe Juanita’s focal point Smith asks rhetorically, “Who doesn’t love Italian food?!”

Good point. If any more people in the western Washington area loved Italian food, you’d never be able to get a table at Cafe Juanita. As it is, business is brisk, and growing. In fact, August 2019 was Cafe Juanita’s busiest month in the 19+ years it has been in operation, due in part to word of mouth recommendations and in part to a continued presence on culinary award lists. But Smith responds to the media attention and public demand differently than she did in the early days, when critical acclaim came at an almost overwhelming speed. In the first few years, Smith says, “It was not very enjoyable for me. As much as I was grateful and happy to be doing well and be appreciated, I found it all a bit too much. The constant feedback on sites like Yelp took me a long while to navigate.”

Smith says she learned to “consume the feedback in a healthier way.” She and her team have focused on the restaurant culture and prioritized improvement on existing things: the space, the menu, the service. “There are plenty of ways to improve and grow in our one spot and I think that has helped sustain growth and maintain quality,” she says. “I want and expect us to be all trying to be better today than we were last week.”

Quality and sustainability are top priorities for Smith when sourcing ingredients. She looks for local and regional organic products that showcase the Pacific Northwest’s bounty, as well as sourcing Italian food and wine. In Cafe Juanita’s kitchen, Bluebird Grain Farms‘ organic emmer farro is featured in a vegetarian/vegan entree with local veggies, house-fermented shio koji, and, seasonally, locally foraged mushrooms, as well as accompanying roast game birds and soups: elements sourced from international flavors, traditional appetites, and adventuresome palates. And these eclectic and harmonious pairings seem so fitting–because this pedigreed grain that originated in the Middle East’s “Fertile Crescent” and is today considered Italy’s premiere rustic staple has been brought to the dinner table of an Italian-inspired Pacific Northwest restaurant by a North Cascades grain farm.