BGF NEWS - April 2021 - VOL. XLVI, NO. 6

WHAT’S UP ON THE FARM?

Precipitation in the past month: Snow: trace x 2

                                                            Rain: 0.7"

The sunroom,  where all of our transplants are "born"

April greetings from the farm. (I know, I nearly missed getting a newsletter out this month, yikes!) April is such a crazy time on the farm. So much field prep and seed sowing and transplanting and, and, and... Then the cultivating starts almost before there are crops in the ground. Plus we are still harvesting the overwintered crops and the early ones like asparagus. It's all a bit of a whirlwind.

Speaking of asparagus, you know the tune! 

The season is on and the asparagus is growing like crazy. We were so pleased that the below freezing temperatures last week didn't seem to do much damage. Last year we had similar temps after the asparagus was up and it froze the whole field to the ground. Ouch! We still got plenty of asparagus, but it delayed harvesting for about 2 weeks. This year, I think we are going to miss that little farm drama.

The planting season is on full force. We've already seeded field crops for greens, peas, carrots, beets, lettuce, spinach and turnips. Transplanting is underway for onions, shallots, leeks, broccoli, kale, chard, cauliflower and fennel, with many more to come in the next few weeks. 

Planting leeks with lots of help

Planting potatoes

We were delighted with today's 1/4" of rain. We are alarmingly dry for this time of year so the soaking was just right for all those recently planted crops! We will be even more delighted when the farm crew starts returning to their full schedule next week. We've missed them!

Spring brings so many changes on the farm but probably our biggest change this year has been the relocation of our chicken flock to our friends at Ebersole Cattle Co. They will continue to make eggs available for Des Moines VegEmail customers and CSA members which is exciting for all of us! We are also working with our neighbors (and farm crew members) and FarmYard Fancies to provide eggs for our Marion County customers. We are so pleased to share our awesome customer base with these wonderful friends and producers!

Speaking of  VegEmail, we are moving to our summer delivery schedule this week, with weekly deliveries on Saturdays from 10am-noon in DM, Knoxville and on farm. And, with the bit of time opened up by the chicken move, we are refocusing on our fiber business. Introducing:

On the first Saturday of each month, we will have our entire yarn stock available for sale at the  VegEmail delivery in Des Moines! We are so excited to be able to provide for your "high fiber diet"! Marion county and other customers can contact us to make other arrangements to "visit" the yarn.

We are pleased to announce that the CSA is full for the 2021 season. Membership payments are due by April 30, but the vast majority of our members have already paid in full. Thank you so much for that, you can't imagine what a difference it makes for a small farm. We still anticipate the first delivery of the CSA season to be on Tuesday, June 1. We will send out an orientation email to all CSA members in late May. We will also send out information about opportunities to order CSA subscriptions from our partner farms for things like meat, eggs and baked goods. If CSA members have any questions before then, don't hesitate to let us know.

Is a monthly newsletter not enough for you? Do you want to read more about our life on the farm and see more pictures? Follow us on Facebook at Blue Gate Farm or on Instagram at bluegatefarmfresh. CSA members can also connect with other BGF members to share recipes or ask questions on our FB community page at Blue Gate Farm Community.

That's about it for now. If you have any questions or comments, be sure to let us know.

Best from the farm,

Jill & Sean (and the whole BGF crew)

Indigo, Luci & Sky