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Useless Bay Coffee – March Food Drive

Mar 022011

March 2, 2011 Posted by Mark Clawson No Responses »

The March Food Drive for the Good Cheer Food Bank is being sponsored by Des Rock and his Useless Bay Coffee Company. Think coffee and think Good Cheer! ”We are proud to be a part of such a rich and creative community” says Dez of South Whidbey Island.

The Useless Bay Coffee Company is at the heart of the community. People old and new meet and enjoy their fresh roasted coffee and tasty food. The aromatic mix of roasting coffee beans and their La Marzocco and Paninni grills makes the setting even more impressive.

Des checking orders next to one of his baristas.

Very Art-Deco and very much in tune with the artist community that we live in.

The coffeehouse has recently expanded and the courtyard is a wonderful place to listen to local musicians play. Fund raising has been and will continue to be a part of who Useless Bay Coffee is. The Langley Middle School Jazz band benefit dinner, Orphan Ride benefit dinner, Sudanese Refugee benefit dinner, Coffee beans for Haiti, Whidbey Island Nourishes Annual Auction, Langley Chef Benefit Dinner Nights, have all been great successes.

Donations to the South Whidbey Family Resource Center, Whidbey Island Children’s Theater, Whidbey Island Center for the Arts, and others are a symbol of what your purchases are doing for others. Just think Good Cheer this month and bring a can of food when you drop by.

At the core of Useless Bay Coffee is their imported European 1950’s Probat UG15 drum roaster. Visitors can sit and sip while observing artisan roasting. Their small batch philosophy gives each batch a personal touch. Their owner and roaster, Des Rock, is always happy to speak with those who wish to learn more about the processes of roasting. You can read a post by Sue Krause, Behind the Scenes with Des Rock and the Coffee Beans, by clicking on the photo below.

Is there more to know about the Useless Bay Coffee Company? You can check out their Facebook page or visit their website where you can even purchase their coffee.

Many thanks to Des and his crew.

Almost forgot, here is a fun slideshow.

Good Cheer!

The Garden at Good Cheer

Mar 082010

March 8, 2010 Posted by Kathy McLaughlin 1 Response »

I’m sure that most of you are aware of the Good Cheer Food Garden. The point that strikes me is the depth of what is being done and the variety of the volunteers that we find working at the garden site. This last month we saw the first harvest of the year and the planting of some of the first seeds for later harvesting.

The starts were donated by Molly Peterson and they were planted in the greenhouse in mid-February; they’ve been growing and should be moved outside under protection around mid-March.

Here is a photo of our volunteers harvesting the kale and collards. You can read more about the harvesting and the planting of starts by clicking here.

Molly Zeiger, as you may know, is our Americorp volunteer. She began her tour with Good Cheer and the garden last September and we are lucky to have her around through this July.

“While I am here, I hope to help implement a sustainable and efficient system to turn healthy harvest from the garden into appreciated meals on the table. So far it has been a humbling learning experience.” Molly is a great role model for our younger volunteers and adds an energy that is certainly welcome at Good Cheer.

Last year local chefs Kristian Bentsen, V Smiley and Damien Cortez shared some delicious and easy recipes for garden veggies in their summer series of cooking classes in the Good Cheer Garden. They used produce from the Good Cheer Garden to create tasty and nutritious meals that are simple to prepare. Hopefully, we can do this again!

Last year we had the help of a number of youth organizations from our communities here on Whidbey Island. You can read more be clicking on this link to the garden blog.

This is what the site looked like in January of 2009. There are so many people to thank and so many organizations who have been involved. Their time and efforts are very much appreciated.

The Langley Middle School garden came into being in 2007 and in their first harvest year they donated over 250 pounds of produce to the Good Cheer Food Bank. This is a wonderful story and a way of building a great tradition at the school. Each year they have new classes, new kids, and new crops to go along with all of the shared memories that they have created.

You can see what they are doing at the LMS Community Garden by clicking here.