On a busy corner, across the street from Fred Meyer, sits a tiny wooden house surrounded by vines, plants and flowers. The surrounding greenery makes it appear to be straight out of a fairytale.

Through the doors in an open kitchen,  manager Marika Clymer brews some delicious-smelling chai tea for a customer. Down a few stairs, owner Michael Minor fixes up a seating area on the covered patio. Out back, Garrett Babcock works on trimming back the persistent foliage.

This is Ellensburg’s newest café and juice bar, The Community Jug, with the purpose of serving local, sustainable food to customers and the community.

Planting its roots

The Community Jug sits in the former location of the hookah bar, The House of Haze. The relaxing atmosphere is intended to invite customers in to enjoy food and wi-fi in a laidback environment.

“As soon as I came to town, this was the only place that I saw that actually had any kind of character to it. I mean, it’s alive,” Minor said.

As far as why he chose Ellensburg for the location of his business, Minor said he saw its potential.

“Ellensburg is a town that I believe is primed for an economic boom and expansion,” Minor said. “It’s designed by its nature to be efficient and that’s what it’s all about. By just being alive it’s about being efficient.”

Minor began by investing in planting produce at what became Robinson Canyon Farm, located a few miles outside Ellensburg, back in January 2015.

He decided to create The Community Jug after finding difficulties dealing with federal regulations, vendors and farmers when trying to sell his food.

“I figured I’d just go ahead and sell my own product,” Minor said.

This summer, Babcock and Clymer began working with Robinson Canyon Farm, and then began assisting Minor in creating The Community Jug.

“This is my life and doing all this—creating this whole place—has been a co-creative process between Michael, myself and Garrett,” Clymer said.

The three of them speak knowledgeably and passionately about their goal of creating a sustainable and thriving place within the community.

“I started working for them [Robinson Canyon Farm] in June. I kind of knew about what they were doing before that, but I was too busy in school,” Babcock said.

Babcock studies cultural anthropology at Central.

Babcock has assisted in both farming and landscaping, and explained that the two can be very different and difficult to adapt to.

“Landscaping is very [un]sustainable, whereas permaculture is all about using everything you can to make a living system where you’re not burning a lot of fossil fuels or using a big carbon footprint,” Babcock said.

Not only does he regularly work at The Community Jug, Babcock is also in a band, which comes with its own set of obligations. Therefore, he decided to take a quarter off of school to devote his time to these two passions.

“Part of what I’m studying in school is like right in line with what we’re doing: having locally produced food and serving that in a fresh local setting,” Babcock said.

Clymer also found herself involved with the farm back in June. She moved to Ellensburg in 2011 from Everett. She began helping Minor this fall at local farmers’ markets in Ellensburg and Roslyn.

“As far as designing the menu, receiving fresh sheets from farmers and deciding what’s going to be on the menu [for] the week—that’s all been my part so far,” Clymer said. “Also just being here every day, doing transactions and working with customers, even on Saturdays and Sundays.”

Passionate about healthy, sustainable food and her work with The Community Jug, Clymer sees this as something she could do for the rest of her life.

“I do this every day; from morning the moment I wake up until the moment I go to bed at night.” Clymer said.

Continuing to grow

Though The Community Jug only recently opened on Oct. 16, Minor already has big plans for the shop’s future.

“Right now we have soups, paninis, sandwiches and juices,” Minor said. “We will be doing smoothies in the future. We have Kombucha that is brewing right now.”

They get their produce locally, some from Robinson Canyon Farm and some from other local places, such as Plum Crazy.

Minor hopes to continue to delve deeper into the techniques of growing and maintaining healthy, organic food.

Though they primarily cater to vegans and vegetarians, Minor explains that he wouldn’t have a problem with cooking meat at some point, should he ever could find a clean, ethical and organic way to do it.

“I’d like to move into doing folk styles of preserving food and meat here. So we’re doing our sauerkraut and garlic and pickled ginger. In the south they did a lot of things like sugar and salt as far as curing meats,” Minor said.

Since he doesn’t have an oven, only crockpots and a fire stove, Minor has unique cooking methods to prepare his food.

“I have a buddy from New Jersey. He and I are getting together and we have interesting ideas we’d like to use,” Minor said, “We’re working with very limited amounts of resources and spaces.”

Minor hopes to create a stage outside to host music performances and other events. They hope to serve cocktails and other drinks during the evening starting in the spring.  

“By next spring and summer, this will be a living and thriving entity and an extension and expression of the community and people that are within it, including Michael, Myself and Garrett,” Clymer said. “A place for farmers, a place for musicians, a place for consumers—people who want to have good food that is grown well.”

Additionally, The Community Jug offers deliveries Monday through Friday. More information can be located at https://www.facebook.com/thecommunityjug and http://www.thecommunityjug.com.