BGF NEWS - July 25, 2023 - VOL. 50, NO. 7

IN THIS WEEK’S BOX:

Bean Mix: Empress (green) & Carson (yellow)

Cucumbers: Corinto, Generally, Lemon, Marketmore, Nokya or Sashimi 

Eggplant: Orient Express, Asian Delight and/or Listada

Fennel

Garlic: Northern White

Head Lettuce: asst var.

Kale

Oyster Mushrooms: Golden or Pearl

Shallots: Ambition (tan) and/or Prisma (purple)

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

Turnips: Hakurei

and perhaps one of the following:
Cantaloupe: Minnesota Midget

Jubilee Cherry Tomato Mix or Slicing Tomato

Okra: Bowling Red & Candle Fire

Snow Peas: final offering

Herb It! option: Sweet Basil, Pink Celery, Dill

Bread Share: Tomato Basil

Featured Recipes:

Chinese Eggplant Salad (thanks for the link, Sara T!)

Creamy Fennel and Cucumber Salad

Roasted Zucchini and Green Beans

Orecchiette with Caramelized Turnips and Kale

WHAT’S UP ON THE FARM?

Precipitation in the past week: Trace

Well, this week was better than last, but we certainly are missing the rain again. Cue the irrigation system! 

We spent quite a bit of our crew time continuing to clear spent and hail-damaged crops but hopefully we are getting to the bottom of that task. Yesterday we finally took buckets out to the tomato field and cleared all the damaged fruits we could find. It was more than a little demoralizing, but at least now we don't have to look at them anymore. While we were out there, we did our first tomato "training," introducing the crew to the new varieties and talking through the tomato harvest, and then we harvested tomatoes!! Not a lot, not yet, but we should have enough for everyone to get a "taste" of either cherry tomatoes or a slicer this week. We'll do a "meet the tomatoes" post in next week's newsletter.

We were also pleased to find the first of the cantaloupe ripening...actually the deer told us, as they can smell a ripe melon all the way across the field, and then they paw it off the vine and eat it, even in the high tunnel! Grrrrr! They're like giant, long-legged racoons in their attraction to tasty crops. Ah well, they didn't get them all (yet) so we are sending out the first few "Minnesota Midgets" in your boxes this week. 

And I almost forgot the other big news, due to the rains a couple of weeks ago, the oyster mushrooms have exploded this week! We're excited because it means we found enough for the whole CSA to get some. It's just a small amount, but we love to share them when the opportunity presents itself. We hope you enjoy this little "extra".

As I mentioned earlier, we are back to desperate need of rain and with the forecast of 90's  - 100° it's only getting worse. This kind of heat is really hard on the crew, the animals and the crops and just as we are ready to start planting cool-weather fall crops too. Somehow it seems like that's the way it always goes.

Weather like this makes it hard to get much done as we need to stop for extra shade and water breaks. The alpacas love getting sprayed down with the hose in this weather. I'm thinking of trying it with the crew! 

A little detail on your produce this week:

Beans: Fresh beans are an easy "store." Just leave them in their plastic bag and keep them in the produce drawer. Can last up to 2 weeks.

Cantaloupe: If your cantaloupe seems a bit short of ripe, keep it at room temperature for a few days or until there is a sweet smell coming from the stem end. Once the melon ripens, store it in the refrigerator. It is best not to cut a cantaloupe until you are ready to eat it. If you need to return cut melon to the refrigerator, do not remove the seeds from the remaining sections as they keep the flesh from drying out. Use within 3-5 days.

Cucumber: Store unwashed cucumbers 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.

Eggplant: Eggplant prefers to be kept at about 50° F, which is warmer than most refrigerators and cooler than most kitchen counters. Wrap unwashed eggplant in a towel (not in plastic) to absorb any moisture and keep it in the vegetable bin of your refrigerator. Used within a week, it should still be fresh and mild. Many people like to peel, salt, and drain their eggplant to draw out any bitter flavor; however, bitterness develops only in eggplant that has been stored for a while, so with farm-fresh specimens this is generally not necessary. Many recipes call for salting in order to make the vegetable less watery and more absorbent—much like draining tofu. Salting is not an essential step, but it can greatly enhance the taste and texture of your dish and is well worth the extra effort. The shape of an eggplant determines how it is best prepared. Slice a straight, narrow eggplant into rounds for grilling or broiling, and cut a rounded, bulbous eggplant into cubes for stews and stir-fries.

Fennel: Cut off the stalks where they emerge from the bulb. To use the feathery foliage as an herb, place the dry stalks upright in a glass filled with two inches of water, cover the glass loosely with a plastic bag, and store in the refrigerator for up to five days. The unwashed bulb will keep in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for at least a week. To use, remove any damaged spots or layers. Cut the bulb in half lengthwise and check the inner core. If it’s tough, remove it with a paring knife. Fennel should be washed carefully, because dirt can lodge between the layers of the bulb. Chop or mince the leaves.

Garlic: The garlic is now mostly cured and can be stored on the counter for short term use or in a dark area with good air circulation (like a basement) for longer storage.

Okra: These lovely, dark red, horn-shaped vegetables are a warm weather treat. Extremely cold sensitive, store in their plastic bag in the warmest part of your fridge, or place the plastic bag in a small paper sack and store in the crisper drawer and use within the week. Traditional southerners will cut into rounds, bread in cornmeal and fry, but our favorite version is our dear friend Annie's method, "All I do is rinse off the pods and lay them in a saucepan with a little water in the bottom. Ten to fifteen minutes is all it takes...twenty if the pods are really big and "woody" feeling. I put salt on them and eat as finger food. It reminds me of young sweet corn."

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.

Shallots: A "high-brow" member of the onion family, shallots have a smooth, rich onion-y flavor that is perfect with egg, vegetable and salad dressing recipes. Cured shallots are stored like a cured onion or garlic (at room temp) for many months. If your shallots have green tops, please hang and store at room temperature until the greens have dried, then trim and store like onions. Once you cut into a shallot bulb, store the remainder in a sealed container in the fridge.

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. These do not need to be peeled to use, just slice them up and go!

Tomatoes: always store whole tomatoes at room temperature, out of direct sunlight. Once cut, store in a sealed container in the 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. 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)

BGF NEWS - July 18, 2023 - VOL. 50, NO. 6

IN THIS WEEK’S BOX:

Basil: Genovese, Prospero Large or Lettuce Leaf

Bean Mix: Empress (green) & Carson (yellow)

Broccoli: Covina or Imperial

Cabbage: Wakefield Beauty

Carrots: Rainbow Mix

Cucumbers: Corinto, Generally, Lemon, Marketmore, Nokya or Sashimi 

Eggplant: Orient Express, Asian Delight and/or Listada

Ugly Head Lettuce: asst var.

Onions: Cipollini

Snow Peas-probably the last time

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

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

Okra: Bowling Red & Candle Fire

Herb It! option: Lemon basil, pineapple mint, par-cel

Bread Share: Italian Herb

Featured Recipes:

Lemon Basil Broccoli

Broccoli Pesto

Moroccan Carrots

Grilled Zucchini Ribbons with Pesto and White Beans

WHAT’S UP ON THE FARM?

Precipitation in the past week: 2.60"

What a week! At the delivery last week I had a similar conversation with quite a few CSA members saying that even with the severe drought, our crops were really looking very good, possibly the best we've ever had. Approximately six hours later at 2:30 am we were woken by a hailstorm. It felt like it went on forever but it probably wasn't more than five minutes. The hail was nickel to quarter-sized and while it could have been much worse, it did a lot of damage. The heavy rains that came along for the ride should have been welcomed given our drought struggles, but it was too much, too fast. Crops that were damaged by the hail, then sucked up all that rain and many burst.

Then Monday morning, we had a replay while we were harvesting. More hail (though a bit smaller this time), more rain. We've now had a second afternoon cutting and disposing of hundreds of exploded cabbages, stressed out and damaged broccoli, fractured peppers, shredded greens and topped tomato plants. It's incredibly frustrating. All isn't lost, I think many crops will grow out of the damage and put on new fruits and some crops didn't seem all that offended by the weather events. But it will certainly delay some and at the least, shorten their seasons, so enjoy that summer squash while it's here, I'm afraid it will be gone sooner than we'd like. Also, you will likely notice more cosmetic damage on your produce than in the past. We hope you will accept that it's the best we have right now. It shouldn't make any difference in how you use your produce, but be aware that you may find some items won't store as long as they normally do, so please don't delay in using them.

The recent air quality from the Canadian wildfires has just added to our challenges this week. At least a couple of us on the farm crew are running short of breath more than we'd like. So more mandatory breaks are on the schedule and hopes for a resolution for our friends to the north who are undoubtedly feeling the strain of the fires and smoke more than we are.

Enough grumbling. We have been doing some things other than storm remediation in the past week. Retiring crops have been cleared, new fall crops are going in and the weeds are relishing all the new soil moisture. The cucumbers are also starting to ramp up and many of them seem to have been protected from the hail by their trellis (and the pea vines) or by the high tunnels. We are growing a number of new varieties this year towards the goal of improving our cucumber offerings. So it's time to make some introductions. We're really hoping to pare it down to maybe four varieties for next year, so feel free to share any feedback as they appear in your boxes.

Here's to better weeks ahead!

A little detail on your produce this week:

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 glass or plastic container 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.

Beans: Fresh beans are an easy "store." Just leave them in their plastic bag and keep them in the produce drawer. Can last up to 2 weeks.

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.

Cabbage: Store dry, unwashed cabbage in the refrigerator, preferably in the vegetable bin. The outer leaves may eventually get floppy or yellowish, but you can remove and discard them to reveal fresh inner leaves. Cabbage can keep for more than a month. Once it’s cut, seal it in a plastic bag and continue to refrigerate for several weeks. Rinse the cabbage under cold running water just before use. Peel away a few of the outer leaves, then cut the cabbage according to your needs with a big, sharp knife, and then chop, sliver, or grate.

Carrots: Remove the leafy green tops, leaving about an inch of stems. Refrigerate dry, unwashed carrots in a plastic bag for two weeks or longer. Peel carrots or scrub carrots well with a stiff brush just before using. Trim off any green spots, which can taste bitter. When slicing or chopping carrots for cooking, be sure to make all the pieces relatively the same size; this will ensure an evenly cooked dish. Greens can be added to soup stock for flavor.

Cucumber: Store unwashed cucumbers 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.

Eggplant: Eggplant prefers to be kept at about 50° F, which is warmer than most refrigerators and cooler than most kitchen counters. Wrap unwashed eggplant in a towel (not in plastic) to absorb any moisture and keep it in the vegetable bin of your refrigerator. Used within a week, it should still be fresh and mild. Many people like to peel, salt, and drain their eggplant to draw out any bitter flavor; however, bitterness develops only in eggplant that has been stored for a while, so with farm-fresh specimens this is generally not necessary. Many recipes call for salting in order to make the vegetable less watery and more absorbent—much like draining tofu. Salting is not an essential step, but it can greatly enhance the taste and texture of your dish and is well worth the extra effort. The shape of an eggplant determines how it is best prepared. Slice a straight, narrow eggplant into rounds for grilling or broiling, and cut a rounded, bulbous eggplant into cubes for stews and stir-fries.

Okra: These lovely, dark red, horn-shaped vegetables are a warm weather treat. Extremely cold sensitive, store in their plastic bag in the warmest part of your fridge, or place the plastic bag in a small paper sack and store in the crisper drawer and use within the week. Traditional southerners will cut into rounds, bread in cornmeal and fry, but our favorite version is our dear friend Annie's method, "All I do is rinse off the pods and lay them in a saucepan with a little water in the bottom. Ten to fifteen minutes is all it takes...twenty if the pods are really big and "woody" feeling. I put salt on them and eat as finger food. It reminds me of young sweet corn."

Green-top onions: As you might note from their name, these are young, freshly pulled, uncured onions. They can be used as you would any onion, the difference is in the storage. Since they don't have a layer of dried skin to protect them, please store in a sealed bag or container in your refrigerator and plan to use within 2 weeks. As long as the greens are still fresh, you can use those like scallions.

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. These do not need to be peeled to use, just slice them up and go!

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)

BGF NEWS - July 11, 2023 - VOL. 50, NO. 5

IN THIS WEEK’S BOX:

Bean Mix: Empress (green) & Carson (yellow)

Beets: Cylindra

Broccoli: Gypsy or Imperial

Cauliflower: Song (Japanese cauliflower) or Snow (purple-tint)

Garlic Scapes
Head Lettuce: asst var.

Snow Peas

Summer Squash: 8 Ball, Golden Glory, Slik Pik, Zephyr

Sweet Onions: Candy

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

Cucumbers: Corinto, Generally or Lemon

Eggplant: Orient Express &/or Asian Delight

Okra: Bowling Red & Candle Fire

Herb It! option: Sweet basil, dill, lovage

Jam It! option: Currant Jam & Peach Jam

Spice it Up! option: Purple Basil Salt

Bread Share: Rosemary Raisin Bites

Featured Recipes:

Spicy Roasted Cauliflower

Green Bean Salad with Basil, Balsamic and Parmesan

Smitten Kitchen's Zucchini Butter Pasta

Roberta's Roasted Green Onion Tops **see below

WHAT’S UP ON THE FARM?

Precipitation in the past 2 weeks: 3.55" WOOHOO!!!

What a difference a week makes (and 3 1/2"  of rain!) There has been a distinct attitude improvement on the farm with the recent rains both for the crops and the farmHer! We aren't out of the woods yet, we're still under a severe drought designation, but at least we seem to be heading in the right direction now. 

The cole crops (broccoli, cabbage & cauliflower) LOVED all the rain and are growing nearly as fast as the weeds. 

We are sending out both broccoli and cauliflower to everyone this week, which we usually wouldn't do, but we've been harvesting them every two days and they are big and beautiful (and taking up LOTS of space in the walk in cooler) so cole crops for everyone!! I would have loved to send out cabbages too, but I didn't think we could get all of them in your boxes! As it is, I'm a little worried about the Veggie Tetris that is going to have to happen to get everything in. We're also sending out what is likely the last of the snow peas this week. It's been a great run, but they are mostly done for the season.

It's been a busy two weeks since we saw you last. We took advantage of the time we would have normally been harvesting for the CSA delivery and harvested the garlic crop instead. This is a huge job with about 4,500 heads of garlic being pulled, bundled, moved to the packing barn and hung to dry. It was a HOT, dirty, exhausting day and we just kept reminding each other that "at least we only do this chore once a year!" Given the lack of rain, I'd been worried about the crop as we don't irrigate the garlic, but it did pretty well considering. It isn't the biggest garlic we've ever grown, but I was relieved with it's quality as we harvested.

The only down side to the recent rains is that it put all the weeds into overdrive! We had been so well cultivated until those rains and almost overnight the weeds germinated everywhere! So we have been spending some quality time with our cultivating tools, trying to keep from being overrun.

We also continued sowing fall crops over the past week including starting the transplants for Napa cabbage, chard, kale, more head lettuce and some additional broccoli. We  cleared some spent early crops to sow fall carrots, beets, daikon and watermelon radishes.

The midseason crops are mostly coming along nicely, we harvested the first of the eggplants and okra this week and are sending them out in some of the boxes. The cucumbers continue to put on nice growth and a few of those are also going out. We're starting to see color on the earliest of the tomatoes and the peppers are starting to size up but both of those crops are still a few weeks away from harvest. Unfortunately we are starting to see rapid plant death in our summer squashes, due to a disease that is carried by the cucumber beetles. There's still plenty of squash to come, but be aware that the end will come sooner than later. 

A little detail on your produce this week:

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 glass or plastic container 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.

Beans: Fresh beans are an easy "store." Just leave them in their plastic bag and keep them in the produce drawer. Can last up to 2 weeks.

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.

Cucumber: Store unwashed cucumbers 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.

Eggplant: Eggplant prefers to be kept at about 50° F, which is warmer than most refrigerators and cooler than most kitchen counters. Wrap unwashed eggplant in a towel (not in plastic) to absorb any moisture and keep it in the vegetable bin of your refrigerator. Used within a week, it should still be fresh and mild.
Many people like to peel, salt, and drain their eggplant to draw out any bitter flavor; however, bitterness develops only in eggplant that has been stored for a while, so with farm-fresh specimens this is generally not necessary. Many recipes call for salting in order to make the vegetable less watery and more absorbent—much like draining tofu. Salting is not an essential step, but it can greatly enhance the taste and texture of your dish and is well worth the extra effort. The shape of an eggplant determines how it is best prepared. Slice a straight, narrow eggplant into rounds for grilling or broiling, and cut a rounded, bulbous eggplant into cubes for stews and stir-fries.

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 would be perfect in last week's garlic salt recipe, 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.

Okra: These lovely, dark red, horn-shaped vegetables are a warm weather treat. Extremely cold sensitive, store in their plastic bag in the warmest part of your fridge, or place the plastic bag in a small paper sack and store in the crisper drawer and use within the week. Traditional southerners will cut into rounds, bread in cornmeal and fry, but our favorite version is our dear friend Annie's method, "All I do is rinse off the pods and lay them in a saucepan with a little water in the bottom. Ten to fifteen minutes is all it takes...twenty if the pods are really big and "woody" feeling. I put salt on them and eat as finger food. It reminds me of young sweet corn."

Green-top onions: As you might note from their name, these are young, freshly pulled, uncured onions. They can be used as you would any onion, the difference is in the storage. Since they don't have a layer of dried skin to protect them, please store in a sealed bag or container in your refrigerator and plan to use within 2 weeks. As long as the greens are still fresh, you can use them like scallions, or try out the baked onion top recipe below!

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. These do not need to be peeled to use, just slice them up and go!

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)

Roberta's Roasted Green Onion Tops

Use scissors to slice the tops uniformly so they cook evenly. Then coat the tops with olive oil. Add salt and pepper. Cook at 350 degrees for 10 - 20 minutes depending on the size and how crispy you want them. 

We eat them as appetizers with cheese or use as an ingredient in eggs etc

Recipe Source: CSA member Roberta P.