PROUD TO PRIDE!
Hello Chimacum Corner Community!
The opening piano chords of “Come Out Signing” by Lavender Country are infectious, emphatic, and set the tone for what is widely regarded as the first openly gay country music album. The eponymous 1973 debut album would go on to inspire countless “country queer” acts like Orville Peck, Trixie Mattel, and even some tracks from Magnetic Fields, just to name a few contemporaries. June is Pride Month, and this weekend is our own local iteration of Pride Festival, which traces its roots all the way back to one year after Stonewall - June of 1970. Lavender Country emerged from the tense, brittle, early years of mainstream American acknowledgement of “gay public life,” which makes it all the more fascinating. The album has a wry, hip humor that’s couched in the flavors of americana. At Chimacum Corner, we are enthusiastic supporters of all flavors of life. So cut a rug this weekend, and we hope that echoes of Lavender Country, a true Northwest gem, jangle about your noggin’ as you do!
Return of the Berry!
That’s right, Tonnemaker strawberries are back on the board at CCF. The ones with the red caps are called Bentons, and boy are they outta sight. We thought it was a one and done run this year, but we’re stoked to have an even larger haul this time around. As Nancy Sinatra once sang, “You only live twice, or so it seems.” While we wholeheartedly endorse eating the rainbow in Produce, this surprise redux of Tonnemaker red has us a little preoccupied with the beginning of the visible light spectrum. Snag a 6-pint flat before they are gone! When you buy a 6-pint flat you save 4 bucks!
Our Produce Team is Hiring too!
Join a team that is passionate about produce and our local farming community. Help us prep our award-winning produce porch with local organic fruits and veggies, and share our love of produce with the community!
Pack a Pride Picnic
We’ve got all the snack fixin’s a girl needs to stay satiated at an all day event. 8 arms sunflower soda crackers, salty salamis, local cheese from Mystery Bay or Chimacum Valley Dairy, Candysnap grapes, snap peas, and apricots to name a few. Come prepared for a full day of fun and excitement with various light fare. Who knows, maybe your “meat-cute” transpires reaching for the same slice of prosciutto? Stranger things have happened.
Queer Ecology
“In nature, there are no binaries.” So proclaimed our Nursery Manager, Turner, to me aside the new goat pasture one afternoon. Plants have all manner of forms of flowering and reproducing, not to mention the sexual proclivities of fungi. Then, of course, there are those famous sequential hermaphrodites, the clownfish! The level of complexity inherent in the natural world leads us to the realization that fluidity and diversity are the guiding forces on earth. This can be applied to the garden. Everybody has their prize crop or flower, but the best gardens have maxed out the edges and the interplay of as many types of plants as possible. If you have all the lavender you need, plant dahlias. If you are awash in dahlias, plant zinnias. Keep the pollen buffet flowing baby! Speaking of pollen, we’ve gotten our “last call” of tomatoes and eggplants loaded with flowering branches from Midori Farm, and the last run of peppers dropping next week. So if you’ve been waiting til the frosty coast is absolutely clear, now is the time to plant those babies deep!
Rainbow Rolls
While we may not have sushi at the Corner, we do have rolls that are positively rainbow - the Marinated Tofu Spring Roll! Each pack comes with two tofu tubes chock full of veggie “glitter” - shredded cabbage, carrots, cucumber, bell pepper, green onion, mint, and cilantro. A cup of peanut sauce allows for ample dipping. Share with your sweetie for some good clean dietary livin’!
One could round out a fine Pride Picnic with some sweet deals on Mavuno Harvest dried fruits and nuts. Save big on dried banana, papaya, dates, and macadamia nuts. All of their treats are certified organic! Put a little tropical on your platter.
Port Townsend Pride Sponsor
Chimacum Corner is a true rodeo full of many varied wonderful people. It is a logical extension of our working community that we are one of many local businesses that sponsors the Port Townsend Pride programming facilitated by the Production Alliance. Catch some of our very own in the Country Queers Variety Hour, as well as vending at Pride. Also, shoutout to Shannon Kidd of Kidd Krap Riso Studio for illustrating the merch design for Pride this year! It’s a cute one.
Speaking of Pride vendors, we would like to give a shout out to the Uphill Farmers Coffee & Tea Pop-Up, operated by our very own Nursery Clerk Ren, who is one half of Uphill Farmers. When asked about his operation, here is what Ren had to say: “Uphill Farmers is a two-person farm operation specializing in heritage poultry preservation, focusing on humane and resilient livestock breeds for a better agricultural future. We’ll be operating our seasonal espresso pop-up at Port Townsend pride, serving locally roasted Catkin coffee with seasonal, homemade syrups and a selection of teas. Funds from our espresso stand support our farm, and our Pride pop-up will be helping us move the farm from our temporary location on the Glendale Farm to a long-term residence on Marrowstone, where we’ll be practicing ecologically-conscious agroforestry, integrating our livestock and food crops with the natural wooded area, and where we hope to establish long-term infrastructure to support the farm’s future and growth.” To learn more about them, check out their website!
