BGF NEWS - June 28, 2022 - VOL. XLVIII, NO. 4

In this week’s box:

Baby Leeks

Celery: Chinese Pink

Choi: Beijing Express

Garlic Scapes

Ginger Mint

Head Lettuce

Kale Mix  (large mixed leaf bundle)

Snap Peas

Snow Peas

 

and perhaps one of the following: (please see **NOTE  after "A Little Detail..." below)

Cauliflower: Song

Cucumber: Marketmore or Suyo Long

Summer Squash: 8 Ball, Golden Glory, Slik Pik, Zephyr or Patty Pan.

For those with the Herb It! option: Genovese basil, bronze fennel, lemon thyme

Featured Recipes:  
Kale with Leeks

Pea and Mint Pesto

Grilled Garlic Scapes and Summer Squash/

What’s up on the farm?

Precipitation in the past week: 1.2"

Rain, sweet rain, was the theme last week! We got just exactly what we needed, just as the crops were really starting to ask for it. Perfect timing though it made for a very soggy Friday harvest!

Since we talked about the crops last week that were about to make an appearance, this week they are doing just that! We harvested the first of the cucumbers, summer squash and cauliflower this week and are sending them out into as many boxes as possible today. There won't be enough for everyone yet, but we promise to keep track and do our best to ensure that everyone gets all the offerings over the course of the season. 

We're pretty excited about some of the other items going out today as well. Beijing Express, is a new choi for us and the seed company recommends its use as a replacement for romaine in Cesar salads, which I though was interesting. 

Another crop that has come along nicely is our Chinese pink celery. It is such a beautiful celery and tasty too! It isn't really the kind of celery that you stuff with peanut butter, as the ribs are so fine, but it is lovely sliced on a salad or sautéed in butter and cooked with eggs or other vegetables. We hope you enjoy these new appearances this week.

Besides harvesting, the main tasks this past week were cultivating, cultivating & cultivating! Trying to stay ahead of the weeds this time of year is a never-ending battle. We also started pruning the tomatoes ahead of trellising them. We got a little over half-way through the nearly 900 plants. We hope to complete that task later this week so we can start trellising early next week.

A little detail on your produce this week:

Broccoli/Cauliflower: Wrap loosely in a plastic bag and keep it in the vegetable bin of your refrigerator for up to a week. Immediately before cooking, soak head down, in cold, salted water (1 teaspoon salt to a 8 cups of water) for 5 minutes. Any [organic] critters will float to the top where you can rescue them or allow them to suffer a salty death. (Note: If soaked in salt water before storing, it will become too rubbery and wilted to enjoy.) Slice the juicy, edible stems and use them wherever florets are called for. Peel particularly thick skin before using.

Celery: Store upright in a glass of water, loosely covered with a plastic bag, in the refrigerator.

Choi (a.k.a. - pac choi, bok choy or pok choy) is a member of the cabbage family and is a traditional Asian stir-fry vegetable.  Both the stems and leaves of choi can be used and are especially tasty in cooked recipes.  If cooking them, separate the leaves and stems, and begin cooking stems first to avoid overcooking the more tender greens. You can also use the leaves like any green-leafy vegetable and the stems like celery.  We tend to use choi leaves as a sandwich wrap, or just roughly chop the whole thing and sauté with garlic and/or onion.  Cook until stems are tender and dress with a little seasoned rice vinegar. Store choi loosely wrapped in a plastic bag in your produce drawer.

Cucumber: Store unwashed cucumbers wrapped in a cotton towel then in a sealed plastic bag in the vegetable crisper bin for about a week. Keep cucumbers tucked far away from tomatoes, apples, and citrus—these give off ethylene gas that accelerates cucumber deterioration. You can do a lot of fancy things to the skin of a cucumber, but when it is young, fresh (and unwaxed), it really only needs to be thoroughly washed. However, if the skin seems tough or bitter you can remove it; if the seeds are bulky, slice the cucumber lengthwise and scoop them out.

Garlic Scapes: One of our favorite crops of the year. These curly green things are the emerging flower stalk from a hardneck garlic plant. We remove them to redirect more of the plant's energy into the bulb, but it also provides us with a delightful fresh garlic treat. These keep very well in a plastic bag in your produce drawer and can be used in any recipe calling for garlic. They make a great pesto and can be minced and added to room-temperature butter, which is then stored in log shape, in the freezer for a last minute dollop of goodness for vegetables, breads or meat. We also enjoyed them tossed whole in olive oil and grilled as a side dish.

Herbs: Besides basil, most herbs keep best standing upright in a glass of water in your refrigerator with a loose plastic bag over the top. To use, simply pull a stem between your fingers and the leaves usually shear off. Chop with a sharp knife and add to your favorite recipes.

Leeks: Loosely wrap unwashed leeks in a plastic bag and store them in the vegetable bin of your refrigerator. They will keep for at least a week. Cut the leek about 1 inch above the white part, where the leaves begin changing from dark to light green. (Save the unused greens; they’ll give great flavor to your next vegetable stock.) Fan the leaves under running water to dislodge any dirt collected there, then pat thoroughly dry. You can julienne a leek by cutting it lengthwise, or slice it crosswise.

Peas: We grow snow peas (flat pod with little bumps showing immature peas inside) and sugar snap peas (rounded pods with mature peas inside).  Both have edible pods and can be used interchangeably in recipes.  They are particularly good in stir-fries and salads, though we tend to eat them fresh as a snack.  Peas keep best in their plastic container in the produce drawer of your refrigerator.

Summer Squash/Zucchini: Refrigerate unwashed zucchini and summer squash for up to a week and a half in a perforated plastic bag or in a sealed plastic container lined with a kitchen towel.

A few other details: All of your GREENS will keep best if stored in a plastic bag, with the top folded over and placed in the produce drawer of your refrigerator.  

** NOTE: You will notice over the course of the season that some box contents listed above say "Perhaps one of the following..."  These are items that we can’t harvest in sufficient quantities for the whole CSA to receive at one time.  We do track who gets what and we will do our best to ensure that everyone eventually receives each item.  On some items this may take several weeks, so please be patient.

Is a weekly 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)

Luci & Sky

BGF NEWS - June 21, 2022 - VOL. XLVIII, NO. 3

In this week’s box:

Arugula

Choi: Fun Jen (frilly, bright green leaves)

Garlic Scapes

Head Lettuce: asst.

Misome (round, dark green leaves)

Scallions

Sugar Snap Peas

Snow Peas

Turnips: Hakurei (Japanese salad turnips)

For those with the Herb It! option: Herb share will hopefully begin next week

For those with Bread Share: 7-Grain Hamburger Buns

Featured Recipes:  

White Bean and Kale Ragout with Turnips

What to do with Garlic Scapes

Garlic Scape and Arugula Pesto

Grilled Scallions with Sesame Oil (recipe below)

Sesame Noodles with Mustard Greens (recipe below) *BGF favorite!

What’s up on the farm?

Precipitation in the past week: 0.00"

Happy 1st day of summer! It seems somehow appropriate that the weather is extra "summer-y" today! We missed out on all the rain in the past week, so with the extra heat, the theme for this week is water all the things...the crops, the animals and the crew, as often as possible! 

Amid water and shade breaks, we were able to get a lot of cultivating done thanks to the dry conditions. We also did a bit of transplanting, sowed more beets, beans and edamame and got another round of hilling done on the potatoes. We are starting to see nice blooms on the potatoes which indicates they are starting to set potatoes under those hills. 

Blooming potatoes

Freshly cultivated El Norte plot

At this past week's delivery one of our new members asked me if they were only going to get greens all season. I know it may feel like that right now, but I want to assure everyone that it is simply the nature of eating seasonally and the season is about to change. Early season crops are mainly greens and we try to embrace that with interesting and unique varieties. But there are many weeks to go in the CSA season and many more crops to come. This week we are having an explosion of peas! Given the heat, it will probably be short lived so we are celebrating by sending out both sugar snap and snow peas to everyone this week. It's unusual that we have enough of both at the same time to do so! Pea Party!! 

We are also seeing the first of the summer squashes set on. They tend to be the harbingers of the mid-season crops and I predict we will send those out in some boxes next week. Root crops like beets and carrots are still at least a couple of weeks away and we are probably at least a month away from tomatoes since they were planted so late due to the cool spring. Other new additions in the coming weeks will be basil, celery, beans, cabbage, broccoli and onions. I hope that gives everyone (especially new members) some hope that there is more variety to come, much, much more!

A little detail on your produce this week:

Choi (a.k.a. - pac choi, bok choy or pok choy) is a member of the cabbage family and is a traditional Asian stir-fry vegetable.  Both the stems and leaves of choi can be used and are especially tasty in cooked recipes.  If cooking them, separate the leaves and stems, and begin cooking stems first to avoid overcooking the more tender greens. You can also use the leaves like any green-leafy vegetable and the stems like celery.  We tend to use choi leaves as a sandwich wrap, or just roughly chop the whole thing and sauté with garlic and/or onion.  Cook until stems are tender and dress with a little seasoned rice vinegar. Store choi loosely wrapped in a plastic bag in your produce drawer.

Garlic Scapes: One of our favorite crops of the year. These curly green things are the emerging flower stalk from a hardneck garlic plant. We remove them to redirect more of the plant's energy into the bulb, but it also provides us with a delightful fresh garlic treat. These keep very well in a plastic bag in your produce drawer and can be used in any recipe calling for garlic. They make a great pesto and can be minced and added to room-temperature butter, which is then stored in log shape, in the freezer for a last minute dollop of goodness for vegetables, breads or meat. We also enjoyed them tossed whole in olive oil and grilled as a side dish.

Peas: 

We grow snow peas (flat pod with little bumps showing immature peas inside) and sugar snap peas (rounded pods with mature peas inside).  Both have edible pods and can be used interchangeably in recipes.  They are particularly good in stir-fries and salads, though we tend to eat them fresh as a snack.  Peas keep best in their plastic container in the produce drawer of your refrigerator.

Scallions (green onions)- are best kept upright in a glass with about 1" of water in it, more like flowers than vegetables. Loosely cover the tops with plastic and you will be amazed at how long they will keep. We like to throw a handful of chopped scallions into nearly any savory dish, right near the end of the cooking time.

Turnips: keep best if separated from their greens.  Greens are stored in a plastic bag and can be cooked like mustard or collard greens (you can add them in with your Braising Greens Mix).  Trimmed roots can go into a lidded container or zip-close bag. These aren't your grandma's turnips. These are a sweet, Japanese salad variety that is particularly tasty for fresh eating. They will still work great in cooked dishes, but we love to eat them raw, often right out of hand, like an apple. One of the farm crew's favorite mid-field snacks.

A few other details: All of your GREENS will keep best if stored in a plastic bag, with the top folded over and placed in the produce drawer of your refrigerator.  

** NOTE: You will notice over the course of the season that some box contents listed above say "Perhaps one of the following..."  These are items that we can’t harvest in sufficient quantities for the whole CSA to receive at one time.  We do track who gets what and we will do our best to ensure that everyone eventually receives each item.  On some items this may take several weeks, so please be patient.

Is a weekly 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)

Luci & Sky

Grilled Scallions with Sesame Oil

Serves 2

8 scallions, greens trimmed to 5 inches, cut in half lengthwise

toasted sesame oil

salt

freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the broiler or lightly oiled grill to medium-high heat. Arrange the scallions on a shallow baking sheet or aluminum foil.

Use a pastry brush to coat the scallions with a thin layer of sesame oil. Season with salt and pepper. Broil or grill until golden

brown on all sides, 3 to 5 minutes.

Recipe Source: “The Real Dirt on Farmer John Cookbook”

Sesame Noodles with Mustard Greens

2 lbs Chinese noodles, such as vermicelli or soba noodles
1 bunch mustard greens (or other cooking greens), trimmed and sliced into ribbons
3 carrots, sliced thinly on the bias
1/2 yellow onion, sliced
6 green onions, sliced thinly on the bias
1 cooked chicken breast, sliced into small pieces (about 1-1/2 cups)
5 Tbsp grapeseed or vegetable oil
1 Tbsp sesame oil
2 Tbsp seasoned rice vinegar
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp Sambal Olek (chili paste)
1 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp peanut butter
1/4 cup sesame seeds, toasted

………………………………………………..

Mix together the dressing ingredients (grapeseed oil through peanut butter) and set aside.

Put on a large pot of water to boil.

In the meantime, heat a skillet over high heat. Saute the yellow onion and carrot together just until it begins to soften. Add the mustard greens and season with salt. Cook until the greens are wilted and cooked through. Add most of the green onions, reserving a few for garnish. Turn off the heat and let cool.

When the water boils, add the noodles and cook for just a few minutes until the noodles are done. Remove, drain and rinse with cold water. Toss noodles with vegetables, sliced chicken, sesame seeds and sauce. Top with the remaining green onions. Serve warm or cold.

Recipe Source: http://www.undercovercaterer.com

BGF NEWS - June 14, 2022 - VOL. XLVIII, NO. 2

In this week’s box:

Choi: Prize (bundled greens with white stems)

Garlic Scapes (green, curly bundle)

Head Lettuce

Lemon Balm (small, green, lemon-scented bunch)

Napa Cabbage

Strawberries

Tapestry Salad Mix

Vivid Choi: green bundle with pink & purple stems

 and perhaps one of the following: (please see **NOTE  after "A Little Detail..." below)

Asparagus (last of the season)

Snow Peas

For those with the Herb It! option: Herb share will begin in a couple of weeks as herbs mature

Featured Recipes:  
Lemon Balm Simple Syrup (delicious on strawberries!)

Garlic Scape Pesto

Strawberry Vinaigrette

Sausage Egg Roll in a Bowl (tasty without the sausage too)

BGF Summer Herb Spritzer (see recipe below)

What’s up on the farm?

Precipitation in the past week: 1.10"

It appears that while last week's theme was rain, this week's is the HEAT! No one is excited about this one, not the farmers, the crew, the animals nor least of all the early crops! This is going to bring a quick end to many of our early greens, so we are packing your boxes with as many as we can as it will be the last or only chance for you to try them, at least until fall. This includes the salad mix, Prize choi and Napa cabbage. 

Bolting greens, at least they're pretty

We were hoping to get at least another week's growth on them, but they are already starting to bolt (or flower) which will end their use as a food crop.

Hilled potatoes starting to bloom!

This past week we have been clearing the last of the early crops from the big high tunnel and all of our warm-weather crops are now tucked in and growing, including the last of the basil and sweet peppers. 

Cultivating kittens

Much of last week was focused on cultivating crops whenever it was dry enough to do so. As well as getting the potatoes hilled for the first time. We were pleased with the rain for the crops' sake, but the weeds sure do take advantage of it. 

This week everything is growing like crazy, including our monster head lettuces! My secret use of them is to snack on them like potato chips, I just pull off whole leaves and dip into a nice dish of homemade vinaigrette (see recipe above).   The big surprise last week was the sudden ripening of the strawberries, and while we do love strawberries, they take a lot of time to harvest so we are spending quite a bit of time trying to stay ahead of those. Luckily (and sadly) the season is short so be sure to enjoy them while they are here!

A little detail on your produce this week:

Asparagus: Keeps best stored upright in a glass with about 1" of water, in the refrigerator. Delicious raw or cooked. 

Choi (a.k.a. - pac choi, bok choy or pok choy) is a member of the cabbage family and is a traditional Asian stir-fry vegetable.  Both the stems and leaves of choi can be used and are especially tasty in cooked recipes.  If cooking them, separate the leaves and stems, and begin cooking stems first to avoid overcooking the more tender greens. You can also use the leaves like any green-leafy vegetable and the stems like celery.  We tend to use choi leaves as a sandwich wrap, or just roughly chop the whole thing and sauté with garlic and/or onion.  Cook until stems are tender and dress with a little seasoned rice vinegar. Store choi loosely wrapped in a plastic bag in your produce drawer.

Garlic Scapes: One of our favorite crops of the year. These curly green things are the emerging flower stalk from a hardneck garlic plant. We remove them to redirect more of the plant's energy into the bulb, but it also provides us with a delightful fresh garlic treat. These keep very well in a plastic bag in your produce drawer and can be used in any recipe calling for garlic. They make a great pesto and can be minced and added to room-temperature butter, which is then stored in log shape, in the freezer for a last minute dollop of goodness for vegetables, breads or meat. We also enjoyed them tossed whole in olive oil and grilled as a side dish.

Herbs:

 Besides basil, most herbs keep best standing upright in a glass of water in your refrigerator with a loose plastic bag over the top. To use, simply pull a stem between your fingers and the leaves usually shear off. Chop with a sharp knife and add to your favorite recipes.

Napa Cabbage: 

Store Napa whole wrapped in a cotton or linen towel then in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for up to a week. These Napa are fairly immature and wont have a large formed head but are still tasty and can be used in any cabbage recipe.

Peas: We grow snow peas (flat pod with little bumps showing immature peas inside) and sugar snap peas (rounded pods with mature peas inside).  Both have edible pods and can be used interchangeably in recipes.  They are particularly good in stir-fries and salads, though we tend to eat them fresh as a snack.  Peas keep best in their plastic container in the produce drawer of your refrigerator.

Strawberries keep best in your refrigerator in a vented container. Use within 3-4 days.

A few other details: All of your GREENS will keep best if stored in a plastic bag, with the top folded over and placed in the produce drawer of your refrigerator.  

** NOTE: You will notice over the course of the season that some box contents listed above say "Perhaps one of the following..."  These are items that we can’t harvest in sufficient quantities for the whole CSA to receive at one time.  We do track who gets what and we will do our best to ensure that everyone eventually receives each item.  On some items this may take several weeks, so please be patient.

Is a weekly 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)

Luci & Sky

BGF Summer Herb Spritzer

Besides pesto, this is one of our favorite ways to use herbs during warm weather. It is deceptively simple and delightfully refreshing! All you need is:

1 sprig of your favorite herb. Our favorites for this are lemon balm, lemon basil, lemon thyme, mint and anise hyssop.

ice cubes

plain seltzer water

Glass jar with leak-proof lid (or a martini shaker)

Place washed herb in the jar, add ice enough to fill 1/3 of jar. Secure lid and shake it, shake it, baby! A few vigorous shakes will do it, you are just trying to bruise the leaves and release the aromatic oils, not pulverize them.

Remove lid and top with seltzer. Enjoy! You could add a bit of your favorite sweetener, but I've never found it necessary.

BGF NEWS - June 7, 2022 - VOL. XLVIII, NO. 1

In this week’s box:

Asparagus

Basil Tips (asst. varieties)

Golden Oyster Mushrooms

Green Garlic

Head Lettuce, assorted varieties

Kale Mix  (large mixed leaf bundle)

Komatsuna (bundle of uniform green leaves)

Spinruts: Hakurei (baby Japanese salad turnips)

Tapestry Salad Mix

 and perhaps one of the following: (please see **NOTE  after "A Little Detail..." below)

Snow Peas

For those with the Herb It! option: Herb share will begin in a couple of weeks as herbs mature

For those with the Jam It! option: Lime Berry Jam & Blackberry Peach Jam

For those with the Spice It Up! option: Roselle Sugar

Featured Recipes:  
Bok Choy and Oyster Mushroom Stir Fry

Roasted Sweet Turnips with Thyme

BGF Favorite Kale Salad (see recipe below)

What’s up on the farm?

Precipitation in the past week: 0.8"

Welcome to the first delivery of the 2022 CSA season and the start of weekly newsletters!

  The boxes feel a little light at this time of the season and you will notice the abundance of greens and not quite as much variety as we expect later in the season.  This is part of the joy of eating fresh, seasonal foods.  As the season continues the weight and variety of the contents will increase with the arrival of heavier crops including beans, tomatoes, potatoes and squash.  One thing that does remain somewhat consistent is the presence of some cosmetic damage caused by our local insects.  This is an indication that we are truly a chemical-free farm.  We try to keep the insect population under control, but they are simply a fact of life in a naturally grown system.  We hope you can overlook some minor leaf damage and we will do our best to keep it to a minimum.  Also we do our best to provide you with clean produce, but you may find a little dirt here and there or, yikes, possibly an insect.  We do wash the produce and sort it to the best of our ability, but we are processing a significant volume and it is possible that at some point you will find a little “nature” in your box.  If and when it happens to you, we apologize ahead of time and hope you will forgive the oversight.  Remember, while we do clean the produce, it is always good practice to wash your vegetables before using.

A bit on our efforts be more mindful producers. Over the years we have tried to minimize our use of plastics and single-use products both in our field practices  and in the packing shed/kitchen. We use long-term reusable totes for your CSA deliveries both for sanitation and low waste. You'll notice they have the name "Grinnell Heritage Farm" stamped on the sides. When our friends from GHF "retired" from farming last year, we purchased their CSA totes. They met a need that we had, filled a need that GHF had and allowed us to not buy new plastic. We are continually looking to reduce our plastic bag use  and we've switched over to twist-ties or rubber bands on products that we used to bag like chard, kale, herbs and lettuce bouquets. We haven't yet found a good solution for our baby greens like salad mix and arugula or things like green beans but we're always looking. So how can you help us on this journey?

Clean & Return to Us

Plastic pint/quart containers

Plastic or paper berry boxes

Half pint, pint and quart glass canning jars

Please don't return plastic produce bags or twist ties, we can't reuse those in the packing shed but we encourage you to wash and reuse them in your own home. The less waste we create, the less we have to clean up later. Do you have questions or suggestions on our use of packaging materials (or anything else)? Please let us know!

A big thank you to our pick-up site hosts: Peace Tree Brewing Co - Des Moines and the Grand Theater in Knoxville.  Over the course of the season please consider supporting these independent, local businesses who offer us a great place to deliver your produce.

So what have we been up to this week in addition to preparing for CSA delivery #1? 

All the major transplanting is done, with the tomatoes going in late last week. We will continue to do succession plantings of head lettuce, but other than the final planting of Minnesota Midget cantaloupe, we are done with transplanting for a few weeks. With the late start to spring, we are a bit behind in our direct seeding, with the 2nd sowings of both beans and edamame to go in the field as soon as the soil dries out enough to do so. 

The crazy spring weather also threw a huge wrench in the asparagus crop. It started 2 weeks later than normal and is ending 2 weeks earlier. So please enjoy your asparagus this week as there won't be more until next year.

Cultivating is the main activity right now. We've been working hard at keeping the weeds at bay with all of the tools we have available, depending on the crop and the conditions. 

Everything from fingers to Yankee Weeders, stirrup hoes and walking tractors are put to hard labor.

This past weekend we even got the first round of hilling done on the potatoes.

A bright spot to our recent moisture has been a huge flush of golden oyster mushrooms in our timber! 

This is the 5th year we have been able to offer wild-harvested mushrooms as part of the CSA and we hope you are as excited about them as we are. 

Finally, we want to introduce our other bright spots and recent additions to our farm family. We've had serious issues in the past couple of seasons with rabbits, ground squirrels and other small critters eating huge numbers of our young crops. Meet the solution, Wallace & Gromit. They may have to practice a bit but we're all sure having fun!

 We hope you enjoy this first delivery and are looking forward to this season as much as we are.

Thank you for making it all the way to the end of a very long newsletter! We hope you also enjoy the weekly online format. One of the goals for it is so you can go to the blog/newsletter at any time and search for specific vegetables, that should allow you to see any archived recipes for that item. It also allows us to include photos and links to more recipes and information. 

As we mentioned in the recent newsletter, in addition to the regular BGF Facebook page, we also have a Facebook page for CSA members. You can find it here: Blue Gate Farm Community. If you have a Facebook account we encourage you to post recipes, photos and questions about your weekly produce box adventures. If you don't have an account, don't worry, you can still see/read anything on the page, but you won't be able to post anything. We will keep an eye on the page and try to answer questions in a timely manner, but really this is to encourage the "Community" aspect of CSA and to provide you all a venue to share and connect with each other.

A little detail on your produce this week:

Asparagus: Keeps best stored upright in a glass with about 1" of water, in the refrigerator. Delicious raw or cooked. 

Basil: The basil is growing nicely and needed to be pinched back to encourage future stems, so you are getting a wee taste of them today to whet your pallet for more. FYI, basil hates the cold and will turn black with exposure. Keep long stemmed basil in a glass/vase of water on your counter top (out of direct sunlight). Stems that are too short (trimmings/tops) should be placed in a plastic bag, with a dry paper towel. Then put inside of a paper bag (for insulation) and put in the warmest part of your refrigerator (usually the door) or on the top shelf towards the front.

Choi (a.k.a. - pac choi, bok choy or pok choy) is a member of the cabbage family and is a traditional Asian stir-fry vegetable.  Both the stems and leaves of choi can be used and are especially tasty in cooked recipes.  If cooking them, separate the leaves and stems, and begin cooking stems first to avoid overcooking the more tender greens. You can also use the leaves like any green-leafy vegetable and the stems like celery.  We tend to use choi leaves as a sandwich wrap, or just roughly chop the whole thing and sauté with garlic and/or onion.  Cook until stems are tender and dress with a little seasoned rice vinegar. Store choi loosely wrapped in a plastic bag in your produce drawer.

Green Garlic: is immature or "teenage" garlic and should be stored in the refrigerator, where it will keep for 5-7 days. Wrap the green garlic in a damp paper towel and place it in a plastic bag; or for a non-plastic alternative, stick the green garlic in a tall glass with some water in the bottom. You can use all of the tender white and light green parts in recipes calling for fresh garlic. Dark green leaves can be frozen and saved for stock, or used to add flavor to a soup (pop them in whole, like a bay leaf).

Oyster Mushrooms: 

To maximize the shelf life of raw mushrooms, refrigerate them in a paper bag; do not wrap in plastic or store in airtight container, as this will speed spoilage.  Properly stored, raw whole mushrooms will usually keep well for 4 to 7 days in the fridge. To use, trim off the stems as they are tough and either discard them or save to make a vegetable stock. They also dry very nicely for future use.

Peas: 

We grow snow peas (flat pod with little bumps showing immature peas inside) and sugar snap peas (rounded pods with mature peas inside).  Both have edible pods and can be used interchangeably in recipes.  They are particularly good in stir-fries and salads, though we tend to eat them fresh as a snack.  Peas keep best in their plastic container in the produce drawer of your refrigerator.

Turnips: keep best if separated from their greens.  Greens are stored in a plastic bag and can be cooked like mustard or collard greens (you can add them in with your Braising Greens Mix).  Trimmed roots can go into a lidded container or zip-close bag. These aren't your grandma's turnips. These are a sweet, Japanese salad variety that is particularly tasty for fresh eating. They will still work great in cooked dishes, but we love to eat them raw, often right out of hand, like an apple. One of the farm crew's favorite mid-field snacks.

A few other details: All of your large GREENS will keep best if wrapped in a cotton or linen towel and then stored in a plastic bag, with the top folded over and placed in the produce drawer of your refrigerator.  

** NOTE: You will notice over the course of the season that some box contents listed above say "Perhaps one of the following..."  These are items that we can’t harvest in sufficient quantities for the whole CSA to receive at one time.  We do track who gets what and we will do our best to ensure that everyone eventually receives each item.  On some items this may take several weeks, so please be patient.

Is a weekly 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)

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
a big bunch of kale (about 1 pound), center ribs and stems removed, leaves thinly sliced crosswise
2 tablespoons sunflower  or pumpkin seeds, (if using salted, cut down on the 1tsp salt above)
Parmesan cheese shavings

Place fruit 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.

Recipe Source:  adapted from an epicurious recipe by Dan Barber