Expanding Galaxy

A new partnership between Sultan’s Galaxy Chocolates and Monroe’s Scottish Thistle Farm will take the popular farm-to-table concept to a new level, merging key elements of each business and dousing them in chocolate.

Starting this month, Galaxy owner Kathryne Paz and Jody and Tiffany Kerr, owners of Scottish Thistle Farm, will be co-locating their businesses inside Galaxy Chocolates on Main Street in downtown Sultan. Galaxy Chocolates offers coffee and a variety of baked goods, including custom cakes, pies, cheesecake, fudge, cookies and cinnamon rolls. Paz’s selection of handmade chocolate confections includes numerous flavored caramels, custom delicacies and chocolate truffles, featuring flavor profiles both daring and traditional. 

The farm produces fresh honey, beeswax candles handmade by the Kerrs and eggs, although their supply is currently low. It is a source for locally raised pork, and will produce fruits and vegetables beginning in the spring. The collaboration will enhance Paz’s ability to use locally produced food in her baked creations, as she will have ready access to fresh eggs, herbs and knotweed honey from Scottish Thistle Farm as she works.

“Then there’s the cool, fun stuff,” Jody Kerr said. “Like when we get fresh strawberries, we’ll have Kathryne cover them with chocolate.”

The Kerrs founded Scottish Thistle Farm in 2014 after purchasing 60 acres of property alongside U.S. 2, between Monroe and Sultan. The land was formerly home to the Monroe Water Gardens & Nursery, but had been left abandoned and in poor condition. The Kerrs, who moved to Sultan from Arizona to pursue their dream of operating a farm, have been working for nearly three years to restore the land and transform it into a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) facility.

They knew they needed a storefront, Kerr said, because turning off and on U.S. 2 in the farm’s vicinity is particularly dangerous. The partnership with Paz evolved quite organically, Kerr said, as their relationship goes back to when the Kerrs still lived in Arizona. Every summer, they would drive through Sultan on their way to Index to visit Kerr’s family, and as they did so, Tiffany became increasingly intrigued by the Galaxy Chocolate signs she would see on U.S. 2.

One day they were compelled to stop, and the relationship was born.

“We hit it off from the very beginning,” Paz said.

It was how they discovered they enjoyed the city of Sultan, Kerr said.  

“That’s why we picked Sultan to live,” Kerr said. “So we’ve been coming in here on a regular basis since before we moved here.”

Since fresh produce won’t be ready until early next year, Kerr plans on collaborating with local crafters and other farms to create a farmer’s market environment inside Galaxy Chocolates. Until the first batch of produce is ready to go, they’ll fill the space with handmade soaps, candles, décor, woodworking, stuffed animals and other items, Kerr said. 

The Kerrs participated in the Gold Bar Farmers Market over the summer, and were amazed by the diversity of the locally made crafts, Kerr said. He is excited to feature a variety of items handmade in the Sky Valley and is looking forward to working with other local farms. 

“We’re going to feature local crafters and local farms, so that people not only find out who we are and what we’re producing, but also what everyone else is doing. Because it’s really a community market,” Kerr said. “What we found just in doing the Gold Bar market this summer, is the more integrated we can be the better off we all are, because we end up providing services to each other.”

In addition to locally sourced foods and items from local farms and crafters, Kerr wants to take full advantage of Galaxy’s kitchen accommodations by eventually holding food preservation classes, canning classes and classes to teach people the tastiest ways to prepare fresh vegetables.

It’s one of the challenges of CSA agriculture, Kerr said. Families end up going home with a box full of vegetables, but most people have no idea what to do once they’ve got them.

Paz’s expertise will add cake-decorating and chocolate classes into the mix.

As dissimilar as farm products and candy appear to be at first blush, the concept is coming together exceptionally well, Kerr said. And if anybody in the Sky Valley knows how to successfully incorporate bacon or nontraditional ingredients like spicy peppers into chocolate creations, it’s Paz. From her bacon-topped sea salt caramels to her spicy selections featuring ingredients such as cayenne pepper and sriracha, Paz’s customers believe she has mastered the technique of melding interesting flavors.  

Another element of the partnership will be freshly made sandwiches, which will incorporate vegetables from the farm as they become available, adding a savory element to the venture.

Kerr’s target date for adding a display of locally made crafts and other products is roughly Dec. 15. Other enhancements resulting from the partnership will occur as things progress. For more information about the partnership, contact Kerr at jodyfkerr@gmail.com.