Southeast McKenzie Avenue was full of local vendors, outdoor sale frequenters and local residents shopping throughout the morning and early afternoon hours as the annual Yelm Farmers Market returned on Saturday, May 4.
Two Yelm-based vendors, Glacier Roots Farm and Yelm Country Carvers, made their debuts at the annual outdoor sale’s opening day in Yelm. Each business features and sells a special product with a local twist.
Chris Lascik, with Glacier Roots Farm and head chef at Gather Gastropub, said this is the farm’s first year in operation and that it’s local to Yelm.
“We’re just getting started,” Lascik said. “We have a bunch of heirloom tomato varieties that will be coming in a couple of weeks, and that’s what I mainly focus on, along with some other vegetables.”
He added that all his products are heirloom varieties, grown from heirloom organic seeds and that he mixes his own soil. On Saturday, Glacier Roots Farm featured pole beans, snap peas, cucumbers, zucchini, sunflowers and will soon feature 20 varieties of tomatoes.
In the near future, Lascik said Glacier Roots Farm will open up a 30-by-40 foot greenhouse at its Yelm location to increase produce and grow the business.
“I’ve been a chef for 20 years. I love it, and over the years I’ve dealt with a lot of local farms to get produce into the kitchen. Time after time, I thought about how it was such a cool thing, and I love it. I built this relationship with local farmers, and I’ve always loved farming my entire life. I thought what better way to go from being a chef buying this stuff, to growing and selling this stuff,” Lascik said. “My dream is to go to small restaurants and sell to them as well. At farmers markets, I want to have a lot of produce available. I use all organic practices. I’ve been cooking for so long, and I still love it, but farming has been my dream, and it’s something I can bring my family into.”
Though Glacier Roots Farm is in its first year of operation, Lascik said he has been expanding the farm for the last six years.
“We’ve owned the property for (seven) years, so, since then I’ve been slowly, year after year, building up and getting it bigger and bigger,” Lascik said. “Hopefully, by this next year, I’ll be where I wanted to be the last five years.”
With Glacier Roots Farm, Lascik hopes to continue growing over the next several years, and he sees potential to expand his customer base throughout Thurston County as the business grows.
“I hope that the Olympia area, Yelm, and Thurston County in general, see more local restaurants pop up. That’s where I want to start going into, driving around and dropping fresh (ingredients) off,” Lascik said. “Right now, the farmers market is kind of where I’m at. Hopefully by next year I can get to the point of advertising online. Another goal of mine would be getting a website built.”
Glacier Roots Farm has pages on Facebook and Instagram for customers to access and set up drop-off locations for purchased items.
“Come back in late May, and we’ll have all different varieties of heirloom tomatoes that you can’t find anywhere else,” Lascik said. “I have seeds from local farmers that I’ve dealt with in the last decade, so I’ve built a nice seed bank of all different kinds of varieties that are special.”
Tracy Cughan, with Yelm Country Carvers, said her business began four to five years ago, but this is the first time she’s attended the Yelm Farmers Market. She found her skill set for carving after her husband brought home a log, which led Cughan to decide she’d cut it into a giant snowman.
“(My husband) took me down and we bought a chainsaw. From there, I just started carving,” Cughan said. “I took some classes, watched a lot of YouTube videos, and really just kept carving.”
Yelm Country Carvers features a wide inventory of carvings, and Cughan said the top sellers are bears and sasquatches. She also frequently sells turtles, owls and snails.
“Honestly, I was just looking at (the farmers market) more as a chance to advertise. We show up, come out to advertise people and enjoy the sun, which I was hoping we’d have today. We get out and meet people, advertise and network,” Cughan said. “I love it. I think it’s fun, and I love hearing what people have to say — good and bad. Sometimes I’ve had people make suggestions, which is great. My biggest thing about coming to the market is hearing what people have to say.”
After she began carving, Cughan didn’t think about selling her items until she had a yard sale and sold nearly 40 statues. From then on, Yelm Country Carvers has been in business.
“It feels great that people like what I make. I’ve seen carvers that do what I think are way better [carvings], but everybody’s different, every carver is different,” Cughan said. “One of my favorite things is when people take these home, they put it where they want them, and they take a picture to send to me. I put those photos on my website. I really like that. I think it’s pretty cool.”
Wood at Yelm Country Carvers is sourced from “all over the place,” Cughan said. Sometimes, she’ll purchase the wood, but she often receives phone calls from residents who have cut down a cedar tree and want to get rid of the wood.
“I also have lots of friends and family that will call me up and say they have logs that they want to get rid of. It’s a lot of networking and support from family and friends,” she added.
The business is located at 19438 Cook Road SE, near the Stewart’s Horse Arena in Yelm.
