What’s up on the farm?
Precipitation in the past month: Rain: 3.3" Snow: TraceVegEmail recipes: Roasted Carrots with Rosemary & Fennel
BGF's Favorite Kale Salad (see recipe below)
Welcome to our November newsletter. We will publish these on a monthly basis until the start of the CSA season in June. Our goal is to give our members, customers and friends a window into our world on the "back-side" of the seasonal calendar. So grab a hot beverage, sit back and join us for a little tour of the farm this month.
We are thankful for a time to slow down a bit. Not that a farm ever really rests, but November is usually the time that the pace on the farm really starts to ease. The rush of the main planting and growing season is done, the farm crew is on limited hours and the spent crops are largely out. Somehow, even though these things are mostly true right now, it doesn't feel as "slow" as years past. While we have had a few nights dip below freezing, getting as low as 26°, most of our fall field crops are still doing fairly well. We did lose some things due to cold, but that is always the case at some point during the fall and we are pleased that we are still harvesting from the field in mid November. It is particularly appreciated since our VegEmail sales have been very popular again this year. We are SO very thankful to all our amazing customers who place orders throughout the year. We never could have imagined that it would be possible for us to leave our 15+ years of farmers markets and not only survive but thrive! It is only because we have the most AMAZING customers and we are so very thankful for you!
So, besides harvesting and packing a crazy number of VegEmail orders, what have we been doing? Well, even though we have had an exceptionally warm fall, as the temperatures started to cool, it was time to get the row covers on our late crops. Due to the dry conditions, our fall crops were slow growing and many of them hadn't yet been harvested by the end of October. 
So row covers to the rescue, these big pieces of fabric on wire hoops buy us (and the crops) some extra time. They aren't a fail-safe, but they do help insulate cold-tolerant crops and hopefully allow us to continue to harvest from the fields later in the season. They are "a bit" of a pain, requiring a fair amount of hardware that all has to be installed and maintained and it is always a battle on windy days.
Every time we harvest, the covers have to be taken off and put back on, so everything is more labor intensive but mostly the effort is worth it. This year, it has definitely been a boon to have them in place for those handful of below freezing nights.
So far, we haven't had to start harvesting from the high tunnels yet, which means those crops will be more plentiful once we do have to move inside.
Some of our crops don't get covers, especially root crops. We just let them grow to the size we want and them harvest them all at one time. We can do this because these crops store well for an extended time in the cooler. This includes carrots, beets, turnips, radishes and daikon. This makes for some very long harvest days as they all have to be washed and topped (greens removed) before going into the cooler. But once that work is done, it is such a delight to have them all ready to be bagged up for orders. Happily, as of last week, these crops are all tucked into the walk-in cooler for the season.
Clearing the beds of spent crops is always a big job in the fall. All the plant matter goes to one of our composting piles. Then all the trellises, support posts and fabric mulch have to be cleared and stored. Irrigation system parts are all rolled up, labeled and stored as well. These tend to be messy and sometimes wet tasks and we were very pleased that this year, those all happened on fairly warm days, as often that isn't the case.
Usually the final really big fall task is planting the garlic crop for next year. All of the heads are broken into cloves and each clove is hand planted. Our farm crew has gotten really efficient at this task but it is still a big project. This year we planted a bit under 200 pounds of garlic, which translates to about 3600 cloves. 
Then once the cloves are set, they are all covered with soil and the whole plot is mulched with straw. It is a huge project and one that we celebrate once completed!
As I mentioned, we still have most of the fall crops producing, so much of the cleaning up is yet to come, not to mention clearing all that row cover fabric and hardware. So there is still plenty to do outside and we just hope the weather will continue to be cooperative.
This is also the time of year when I start focusing more on our yarn and fiber inventories. There's lots of fiber and yarn to dye and much spinning to be done.
We were super excited to release our new line of hand-dyed sock yarn earlier this month and look forward to continuing our dyeing experiments there. Just a reminder that we offer our UPick Yarn sales on the first VegEmail delivery each month in Des Moines. So locals and stop in a peruse our full fiber inventory. Folks who have yarn interested but aren't in DM can contact us directly for other options and we are happy to ship any of our fiber products.
VegEmail deliveries have now switched over from our weekly summer schedule to every other Tuesday in Des Moines at Peace Tree-Des Moines Branch and in Knoxville at the Grand Theater. We will continue to do these sales every two weeks until the first of May. Our next delivery is Tuesday, 11/23 and the order form will go out on 11/17 at 5pm. If you aren't receiving the VegEmail order form and you would like to, just fill out the form here:
VegEmail Sign Up
CSA 2022: We have already started getting questions about next year's CSA season. Given the strong interest that we had last spring, we are planning to open our sign up period early again this year. So "current" CSA members from the 2021 season can start signing up in early December. Then we will open any available spots to our waiting list in January. So keep your eyes open for more CSA details to come next month.
All the activities and craziness aside, we are thankful for the privilege of living here on this beautiful farm, raising tasty, healthful produce alongside our fabulous farm crew. We couldn't do it without our amazing family, customers, members and community supporters. So we are thankful for you! We hope your Thanksgiving is filled with a bounty of delicious foods and time with your favorite people. Be safe out there!
We are thankful for a time to slow down a bit. Not that a farm ever really rests, but November is usually the time that the pace on the farm really starts to ease. The rush of the main planting and growing season is done, the farm crew is on limited hours and the spent crops are largely out. Somehow, even though these things are mostly true right now, it doesn't feel as "slow" as years past. While we have had a few nights dip below freezing, getting as low as 26°, most of our fall field crops are still doing fairly well. We did lose some things due to cold, but that is always the case at some point during the fall and we are pleased that we are still harvesting from the field in mid November. It is particularly appreciated since our VegEmail sales have been very popular again this year. We are SO very thankful to all our amazing customers who place orders throughout the year. We never could have imagined that it would be possible for us to leave our 15+ years of farmers markets and not only survive but thrive! It is only because we have the most AMAZING customers and we are so very thankful for you!
VegEmail deliveries have now switched over from our weekly summer schedule to every other Tuesday in Des Moines at Peace Tree-Des Moines Branch and in Knoxville at the Grand Theater. We will continue to do these sales every two weeks until the first of May. Our next delivery is Tuesday, 11/23 and the order form will go out on 11/17 at 5pm. If you aren't receiving the VegEmail order form and you would like to, just fill out the form here:
VegEmail Sign Up
CSA 2022: We have already started getting questions about next year's CSA season. Given the strong interest that we had last spring, we are planning to open our sign up period early again this year. So "current" CSA members from the 2021 season can start signing up in early December. Then we will open any available spots to our waiting list in January. So keep your eyes open for more CSA details to come next month.
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 |
BGF's Favorite Kale Salad
Yield: Makes 6 to 8 servings
2 tablespoons dried cranberries or cherries
5 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, divided
3 tablespoon seasoned rice vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 bunches kale (about 1 pound), center ribs and stems removed, leaves thinly sliced crosswise
2 tablespoons sunflower seeds, (if using salted, cut down on the 1tsp salt above)
Parmesan cheese shavings
5 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, divided
3 tablespoon seasoned rice vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 bunches kale (about 1 pound), center ribs and stems removed, leaves thinly sliced crosswise
2 tablespoons sunflower seeds, (if using salted, cut down on the 1tsp salt above)
Parmesan cheese shavings
Place cranberries in small bowl; add balsamic vinegar, seasoned rice vinegar, honey oil and salt and allow to soak several hours (overnight is even better).
Place kale in a large bowl, add cranberry mixture and toss to coat. Let marinate 20 minutes at room temperature, tossing occasionally. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with cheese shavings and sunflower seeds just before serving.
Also very tasty topped with cooked chicken, tuna or salmon for a one-dish meal!
Recipe Source: adapted from an epicurious recipe by Dan Barber
