BGF NEWS - February 2024 - VOL. 51, NO. 4

What’s up on the farm?

PRECIPITATION IN THE PAST MONTH: RAIN: trace
                                                                  SNOW: 1.00"

Percy sporting 1" of snow

Happy February! 

After what felt like a 90 day long January, in which we had our "2 weeks of winter", it feels like we've sprung into spring! The temperatures are up, the ice is off the ponds, the frost is out of the ground and bird song has changed to territory and mating calls! It sure feels early for all of this. 

While the warm weather and sunshine feels good on our faces (and improves our moods), my farmer's heart is concerned. This kind of weather is hard on our trees and perennial crops. It also makes for an easy winter for crop pests and diseases that are slowed down by deep freezes. The lack of moisture predictions in the extended forecast is also a point of real concern as we have seen only a little improvement in our drought conditions. Despite all of that, as with most farmers, we are optimistic about the season to come!

And regardless of what the weather is doing, the calendar and our nursery shelves say that the seed sowing season has begun.

So far we've sown all of our alliums crops (onions, leeks, scallions and shallots) early flowers and greens to be transplanted into the high tunnels. 

We've also expanded our microgreen experiments this month. We only have a short window to play around with them, as our seedlings will soon take over all our grow space, but it's been fun to have fresh grown crops to tend, eat and to share with our VegEmail customers.

The extra warm weather has pushed many of our high tunnel crops to "bolt" or mature to set flowers earlier than usual, so this week we started clearing those spent crops and preparing the beds for spring greens. This is a much slower process now than it will be later in the season when the farm crew is here. They can turn over both high tunnels to new crops in a day. For now it's just the farmHer and her hoe so it will take me the better part of a week to clear crops, amend the soil and replant. I can't tell you how much I miss the crew at these times!

It's National CSA Week! 

We use the term a lot, so what is CSA? At it's most basic, Community Supported Agriculture is a farm membership program where members purchase a “share” of vegetables, directly supporting a small, local farm. The membership fee is paid up front and members receive a box full of healthy, vibrant, fresh, chemical-free produce for 20 weeks (June-Oct.) 

Sign up is now open to the general public for the CSA season. We have filled about half of our memberships already, so now is the time to secure your spot and lock in a full season of fresh produce for your family! You can read more about the CSA and sign up here: 2024 CSA Info and Sign Up

We are  partnering with our friends from Farmyard Fancies for a CSA Bread Share option again this year and in Des Moines, Ebersole Cattle Co hopes to offer a monthly Egg Share in conjunction with the CSA if there is enough demand. If you are a Des Moines CSA member and are interested in getting eggs with your produce share, please email: shanen@ebersolecattleco.com

VegEmail deliveries continue on the winter schedule of every other Tuesday in Des Moines at Peace Tree-Des Moines Branch and in Knoxville at the Grand Theater. The next order form goes out Wed 2/21 for pick up 2/27, so keep your eye on your inbox. We will continue to do these sales every two weeks until the first of May as long as the weather allows. In May, we will change to our summer schedule of weekly Saturday deliveries. If you aren't receiving the VegEmail order form and you would like to, just fill out the form here: VegEmail Sign Up

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)