Hello Chimacum Corner Community!

The Corner is thrilled to welcome back the Chimacum Farmers Market to our “North Lawn” for another chapter of fun and nourishment on Sunday May 3rd! The CFM is doing some serious “adulting,” as it is now in its 18th year! With 30 local vendors and six new vendors, it is sure to be quite the scene this season. The CFM is also going to be “kidding around,” as there will be an opportunity to meet baby goats from Kodama Farm! Be sure and arrive early (10am) to witness the twine-cutting ceremony and get first dibs on all the amazing local produce and products on hand. We at the Corner are especially fond of the CFM as it was basically the emergent reason for starting the enterprise of the Corner in the first place. In fact, JCFM launched the Chimacum Farmers Market at its current home in May of 2010, six months before the Corner had even opened! As it turned out, the farmers wanted to be able to sell in Chimacum on days other than Sunday, and the original idea was for the store to be community-managed by participating farmers as a kind of aggregate farmstand. Fast forward one Thanksgiving snowstorm and nearly 16 years, and we have become a rather unwieldy annex to the Chimacum Farmers Market! As you walk and shop the farmers market this weekend, we hope you can take in the beautiful symbiosis and rich lore that accompanies our shared space, here at the crossroads.

Nursery Neighbors to the South

Once you’ve supported all your favorite vendors directly at CFM, be sure and say “Howdy neighbor!” to our very own Nursery, which is giddy to be the nearest neighbor to Chimacum Farmers Market. The Nursery started as a few racks of locally grown vegetable transplants just out front of the main entry of the store, and my how it has grown! The core of the Nursery continues to be farm-raised vegetable and flower transplants from Midori and Red Dog Farms. The hot crops are here y’all: tomatoes, pepper, squash, and more! There is also an abundance of beautiful bedding plants to add color throughout your landscape. And don’t forget a continuous kaleidoscope of regionally appropriate perennials and ornamentals! There’s so much to see in and around the Greenhouse, and you haven’t even made it in the store yet!

Peer Into the Produce Porch

Your first step past our notorious swingin’ doors lands you in our crown jewel: the Produce Porch. The Porch has stayed true to the store’s initial mission of being a year-round weeklong venue for the best of what all local farms can offer. Plus bananas and avocados, of course. Right now, the emphasis is on local greens and bunched spring roots of all kinds, as well as the much awaited spring combo of strawberries and rhubarb. We even have rhubarb from Water Moon Farm, home of Turner, our Nursery Manager! Vendors who will be at CFM Opening Day who also sell on the Produce Porch include: Red Dog Farm, Kodama Farm, and Strait Up Shrooms! For those of you who don’t know Kyle, he is a true fungi wizard, and has been stocking beautiful Blue Oyster and Shiitake mushrooms here all season long. The Produce Porch is also home to our fresh local flower displays, where we feature the fine work of Forest Elf Farm, Moonsnail Botanicals, Creaky Knees, Red Dog Farm, and more! As enticing as the Produce Porch is, it is only the first layer of our grocery cake.

Get to the Grocery

A stride past Register 1 and you have officially entered the hallowed halls of the Grocery Department. Grocery is a true jack of all trades, featuring from the smallest and most intentional of local businesses all the way up to true giants of industry. The grocery buying team does an impeccable job of researching and incorporating the best available products into their line-ups. Our membership within INFRA (Independent Natural Food Retailers Association) is key to accessing more affordable rates on popular staples throughout the Grocery floor. We have many CFM vendors on display in the Grocery Department as well, including Kodama Farm, Pane D’Amore, Gray Fox Farm, Goodness Tea Farm, and Sasquatch Botanicals. If you haven’t had a Goodness Tea Seltzer or the Chili Oil from Sasquatch Botanicals, it’s time to get after it!

Daily Deli Case

A small but mighty “corner of the Corner” is the Deli Fridge, which is captained by the Chimacum Corner Kitchen team. Mike and company get up in the wee hours of dawn on the daily to make sure our community has fresh and healthy food to grab on the fly. The deli program of the Kitchen incorporates local produce as often as possible which translates into even more investment in the farming community. And while the entire program the Corner Kitchen has been developed is produced across the street in the Finnriver Kitchen (to whom we are very grateful), we are excited to be breaking ground on the renovations for turning the former Farm’s Reach location into our very own stand-alone Corner Kitchen!

Goats From Here!

Last but not least, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention our newest crew, the Back Lot Goat Brigade! Steered by Blossom, the chief chèvre to the other 8 goats, all members of the personal herd of our General Manager, Nicole. Thanks to corner co-owner Phil, for dreaming big and having the relentless goal of remediating the ever expafnding invasives to bring back PNW Native plants to our back field. Combined with Nicole’s love of rotational grazing and collection of munching ruminants, now means the corner is now home to this sweet herd. We also had a host of other community members that played a role in prepping for our new furry tenants. Including ground work by Derek Franson, roofing from Sara Johani, post pounding by Chuck Boggs, boards from the Jefferson Timber Cooperative, electrical by Frederickson Electric, waterline by Bayview Pumps, and expert fence stretching and securing by John Foss, one of the first employees of the Corner way back when. These lovely four-legged grazers are a mix of Nubian, Alpine, and Boer genetics, and were brought in to manage the scotchbroom that was threatening to overtake the entire property, as well as just being plain fun to have around. Be sure to wave at them the next time you see them on their “Goat Podium” fronting Rhody Drive! Fun fact: did you know that Nicole used to work at Mystery Bay Farm and assisted with milking and cheese production? Her love for goats runs deep. We are thrilled to have the herd on site this year, and we hope the Chimacum Farmers Market is equally enthusiastic about their newest neighbors! Happy Chimacum Farmers Market Opening Day! We hope all of the vendors have great sales days and that the community leaves with full bellies and full grocery bags!