BGF NEWS - November 2022 - VOL. XLIX, NO. 1

What’s up on the farm?

Precipitation in the past month: Rain: 3.35"
Snow: 2.50"

Welcome to our November newsletter. We will publish these once a month until the start of the CSA season in early June. Our goal is to give our members, customers and friends a quick peek 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 when the pace on the farm really starts to ease. The rush of the main planting and growing season is done, many of the crops are out and the farm crew is on limited hours.

So, besides harvesting and packing VegEmail orders, what have we been doing for the past month?

Installing row cover (giant pieces of fabric) to protect the producing crops from early cold. It means harvesting takes longer, as the covers have to be removed and then replaced, but it does extend the lives of many of our fall crops.

Due to the unseasonably cold temperatures, a couple weeks ago, the row covers couldn't provide enough protection and the crops were damaged beyond use. Once the snow and ice melted, the row covers and all the hardware were cleared and stored for next year.

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, we were able to get this done before the bitter cold temps hit so these crops are all tucked into the walk-in cooler for the winter VegEmail 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 pleasant days, as often that isn't the case.

Usually the final 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. This year we were helped along by Skeehan family members here at the farm for a reunion weekend. They cloved out over 100 lbs of seed garlic so the farm crew was only responsible for the planting, hilling and mulching. 

Our crew has gotten really efficient at this task but it's still a significant undertaking. This year we planted a bit under 200 pounds of seed 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!

Amid all the field work, the high tunnel crops were sown or transplanted, cultivated and tucked into their own row covers for harvesting throughout the winter.

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.

Just a reminder that we offer our U-Pick Yarn sales on the first VegEmail delivery each month in Des Moines. So locals can stop in a peruse our full fiber inventory. Folks who have yarn interests 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 to our winter schedule of 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, 12/6 and the order form will go out on 11/30 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 2023: We have already started getting questions about next year's CSA season. "Current" CSA members from the 2022 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 was filled with a bounty of delicious foods and time with your favorite people

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)

And welcome to Lily and Xander, our newest additions to the BGF family!