Jeremy Buggy, Lead Grocery Buyer

Jeremy Buggy was born in Phoenix, and spent part of his childhood in California. At the age of 12, however, he and his family moved to the town of Palmer in Alaska.

Three years later, he had his first farming experience. “I got a job on a farm called, optimistically, Gold Nugget Farm. It was a vegetable operation and we raised all kinds, including brassicae, which the moose just love. They would walk down a row of cabbages, taking one bite out of each head! Very frustrating, especially when your growing season is only 4 months long.”

At age 17, Jeremy started working in the Three Bears Grocery in Palmer. That’s were he got his start in grocery retail. He continued his career path back in Phoenix where he went to study to become a priest. “The monastery was pretty expensive,” he remembers. “So I got a job at Whole Foods, managing the cashiers. That’s where I met Julia, who worked in the supplement department, and I changed my mind about becoming a priest!”

They were married in 2011 and today are parents of two beautiful daughters, Amara, age 3, and Rayna, age 1-1/2.

The family came to Sequim in 2013. Jeremy got a job at Nash’s Farm Store in the produce department, but he missed the actual farming, so in 2014 he joined the field crew and from June to December he transplanted, weeded, harvested and packed produce. But the Farm Store needed his skills so he returned there last winter. Currently, he is the Lead Buyer and our expert on the POS system (cash register computer program). He also anchors the Capitol Hill Farmers Market for Nash’s farm every Sunday. Julia is an inspiring yoga teacher and teaches at the YMCA, SARC, for the Jamestown Tribe, and locally in Dungeness.

Away from the farm, Jeremy and his family love being in the mountains and by the Dungeness River. Jeremy also loves playing baseball he plays for the Peninsula Baseball League as pitcher and first baseman.

Gabe Mills, Irrigation Crew

You could call Gabe Mills a Sequim native, except that he was born in Bremerton. In 2009, he heard that Nash’s was hiring and came down to check the place out and apply. He has become one of those flexible and versatile people who has acquired experience in several important areas of the farm, like the harvest crew and packing crew, and now he is the lead for the irrigation crew.

“I was raised in town and never had any connection with the farms in the area,” he says. “I never thought about what I was eating, and I figured organic food was something ‘new age’ people did.”

But working at Nash’s gave Mills a different perspective. “You change how you think about food when you see it come out of the ground. Everyone that works here talks about food, how it is produced, and how it affects your body. I think about it more now than I did before.”

Gabe admits that growing food is hard work, but that it has its perks. “The people at the farm are like a family or community,” Mills comments. “This is the first time I’ve encountered that in a work environment.”

In his spare time, Gabe likes to play guitar and any other instrument that comes his way. When he started at Nash’s, he was still the drummer for a progressive rock band in Port Angeles called Govinda, and also wrote songs.

Several years ago, he started going to a retreat center in Santa Fe, NM, to train in meditation. He does work for the center in exchange for the training. “I work in the kitchen, on the grounds, and with the housekeeping staff,” he says. “Santa Fe is very beautiful and a very special place to practice meditation.” Gabe will return there to spend the winter.

But if he really wants to unwind, he’s happy playing video games, or picking up his beloved guitar.

Standard Box

Lemon cucumbers, 2
Red chard, 1 bu
Cilantro, 1 bu
Hard white wheat flour, 4 lbs
Garlic, .5 lb
Walla Walla onion
Curly parsley, 1 bu
Spinach, 1 bu
Zucchini or bulk beets, 2 lbs.
Nectarines, 2 lbs

Small Box

Basil, .25 lb
Lemon cucumbers, 2
Red beets with greens, 1 bu
Carrots, 1 bu
Red chard, 1 bu
Nectarines, 1 lb
Cherry tomatoes, 1 pt

Lemon Cucumbers

Round and yellow, this tennis ball-sized cucumber is a perfect serving for one or two people. Lemon cucumbers do not have a lemon taste, only the color. They have a thin, tender skin with a flavor a little milder than a regular cuke. Try hollowing out the cukes for a cold soup summer appetizer.

Cucumbers are one of the earliest cultivated food crops. They contain over 90% water, which is why they are so refreshing on hot summer days. They are also an effective diuretic.

Although cukes cannot boast tons of vitamin and mineral content, they do offer us benefits through the form of phytonutrients such as cucurbitacins, lignans, and flavonoids, which provide anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer benefits. They also have a unique combination of lignans that offer anti-cancer properties as well as cardiovascular protection.

Lastly, cucumbers are a superior source of the mineral silicon, often lacking in our diets, but an integral component of calcium absorption. It may also play a role in bone and collagen formation.

Creamy Cucumber Salad

1/2 cup plain yogurt
Juice of 1 lemon, about 2 Tbsp.
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh dill, plus more for garnish (optional)
1–2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt to taste
4–6 cucumbers, lemon or standard (about 1 lb.), halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise

In a medium bowl, combine yogurt, lemon juice, dill, and garlic. Season with salt , and whisk well with fork to combine. Add cucumbers, and toss to coat. Garnish with more dill, if desired. Serve immediately or refrigerate. Best eaten within a few hours.

Chard Frittata

Saute 1 small chopped onion and stems from 1 bunch chard in olive oil in a skillet with 1/2 tsp. dried basil and salt and pepper to taste until tender. Cover and stir occasionally. Add chopped chard leaves. Pack it in and replace lid. When shrunk, add 6 whisked eggs, stir quickly and press evenly in pan. Cover and turn heat down very low. Top with cheese and sprinkle with pepper. Cut with pie server when egg is cooked, and top with sauce:

1 cup yogurt
6 garlic cloves, minced
¼ cup parsley
¼ cream (optional)

Mix together and serve generously on chard frittata with fresh tomato. We thank Teri Crockett for this recipe.

Hard White Wheat

There are a myriad of types of wheat in the world, and sometimes their names can get quite confusing. In general,: hard red wheat is for bread and soft white wheat for pastries. But thanks for Tom Hunton, owner and operator of Camas Country Mill in the Willamette Valley in Oregon, we acquired a small quantity of an organic hard white wheat, and flour made from that wheat can be found in the Standard boxes this week.

Both hard varieties have hard starch granules (the endosperm where the gluten is found) that are larger and jagged-shaped so that they fit tightly together making the kernel strong and hard to crack or break. The soft starch granules of soft white wheat are small and round and break apart easily. Soft white also usually has a lower protein content than hard white or red.

Hard white wheat can be used for the same baked products as hard red wheat, but for some customers, color can be important, such as Asian restaurants looking for a bright white color for Asian noodles. Bakers the world over like hard white because it also has a naturally sweet flavor so they can use fewer sweeteners. Hard white wheat is an excellent ingredient for all yeast breads, artisan breads, Asian noodles, tortillas, pizza crusts, breadsticks, flatbreads, and quick breads.

In contrast, soft white is used mainly for bakery products other than bread, such as pastries, cakes, cookies, cereals, flat breads and crackers.

Rachel Covault, Packing Shed

Rachel Covault was born and raised in Waukesha, WI, and attended the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Since February 2013 she has been the packing shed assistant at Nash’s Organic Produce. She keeps the packing shed organized and running smoothly. This means making sure the correct produce gets to the people who ordered it, i.e., Nash’s Farm Store, the farmers markets, other grocery stores, restaurants, and wholesalers. She also makes sure the marketeers have what they need for their farmers markets, maintains the cleanliness of the packing shed, organizes the cooler, and does lots of special projects, like managing the Recipe Blog on the Farm’s website or jumping in on the harvest crew for big orders.

“I sort of think of myself as the traffic cop in the packing shed,” Rachel laughs. “Someone has to make sure the orders go to the correct places, and that the shed is organized so that there is a definite flow.” A good example of that is the shed cooler. “There’s a very limited amount of space in there,” she explains. “Sometimes we joke that on Fridays, when all the markets and special orders have to be ready and in the cooler in a specific order, it’s our own game of Cooler Tetrus!”

Rachel is also helping the farm to mill flour and has become pretty adept operating the new grain mill that the farm purchased from the now-closed Bell Street Bakery. When needed, she joins the harvest crew, and twice a month she helps at farmers markets. “I like markets because they are the best place to find out how our customers are feeling, what they want, and how best to market to their needs.”

In her spare time, Rachel likes to hike and is a member and volunteer with the Washington Trails Association to help maintain our local hiking trails in the Olympics. If she’s not at a farmers market, you can find her high up in the Olympic Mountains, taking beautiful photos!