Local Love

Whew... almost done with week one of Summer Block and I am exhausted! It will sure be keeping me busy this summer! 

Week 1 of my Masters in Environmental Education summer school schedule: 

Meet and Greet and a Local Field Trip of the Lower Skagit and a weekend on a boat: the Indigo learning about meaningful watershed education. 

One stop included the one pictured above - Mt. Erie - is a great climbing spot, however, for today it was a place to view and a place to reflect. 

We enjoyed a nice morning drive down Chuckanut Drive and a stop by the Farm to Market Bakery for coffee and sweets! LOVE that there are food breaks included in the schedule! 

I actually ended up getting a sandwich instead since I haven't gone to the grocery store/recieved a CSA box in a while... it was amazing! Artichoke, caramelized onions, roasted red peppers, romaine lettuce, and fresh goat cheese. It was so good that I didn't take a picture before I ate it all. 

We also stopped by Snow Goose Produce (Our Prof - John - certainly knows the way to my heart!) which is famous for its ice cream. I didn't know why until today... 

Homemade waffle cones and the most ridiculously huge portion sizes ever!!!! A classmate got sick from eating the "single" scoop of ice cream... but my "1/2" scoop (hardly) of coffee ice cream was delicious and the homemade waffle cones are to die for! 

I also picked up some local and organic strawberries! Don't they look beautiful?!?!?! They were wonderful. 

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In other news, our CSA with Cedarville Farm butchered their first batch of chickens this past week. Ross and I decided to buy two. "these birds are raised outdoors on pasture with spacious, open air huts to protect them.  They have ample access to the outdoors, lots of space to scratch and peck, abundant fresh air and water, and are fed a 100% organic grain ration.  They will be processed locally by a WSDA certified processor in Lynden.  Birds can be picked up the day of processing at the farm."

When we picked them up at the farm we not only received our fresh poultry but we also saw with our own eyes how these chickens lived. Thank you for transparency Cedarville! Now we know our food is good, clean, and fair. 

Going to be putting it in the crock pot to roast all day tomorrow while I'm on the boat! (Hopefully I'll be able to figure out my sister's old camera before so that I can take pictures on something other than my phone!) 

Try to support at least one local farmer this week! =)