BGF NEWS - June 18, 2024 - VOL. 52, NO. 3

In this week’s box:

Baby Carrots

Basil Tips

Choi: Prize

Garlic Scapes (the green, curly things)
Green Garlic
Head Lettuce, assorted varieties
Lemon Thyme

Napa

and perhaps one of the following: (see **NOTE below)
Broccoli
Cauliflower: Japanese

Peas- Snow or Sugar Snap

Herb It! option: will start in a couple weeks as the annual herbs mature

Featured Recipes:  

Oven Roasted Carrots with Thyme

Garlic Basil Vinaigrette

BGF Eggroll in a Bowl **see recipe below

What’s up on the farm?
Precipitation in the past week: 0.25"

We're never really ready for the first stretch of 90+ degree days but nature is rarely accommodating enough to wait for us. The heat is on and most of the rain has continued to miss us, so we've been pushing to get the rest of the irrigation system in place and to make a couple of upgrades. We're about 3/4 of the way done.

The heat also means that it takes us longer to get tasks done as we need to take more water and shade breaks. Plus there's the ever popular alpaca "showers" to contend with.

We've also been doing a lot of cultivating this week, trying to take advantage of the dry conditions while we can. After the extended wet season, the soil has baked into a flat adobe-like surface and we've really struggled to break it up. That added to the high temperatures has made for some challenging conditions for the crew.

The higher temps are also bring our cool season crops to an end. This will be the final delivery of choi for a while and we will clear the misome later this week. But never fear, there are good things coming soon! The basil is finally putting on some growth and needed to be pinched back, so we are sending out a little "tease" of basil tips this week. The beans, peppers and eggplants are blooming and we are seeing the first little tomatoes, summer squashes and cucumbers setting on.

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.


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.

Carrots: These baby carrots are sweet and tender, we don't even peel them, just give them a quick scrub and they are ready to go! 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.

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.

Green Garlic: This is freshly harvested garlic that hasn't had time to cure yet. You will notice that the wrappers are soft and the garlic itself is very juicy. You can use it in any recipe calling for garlic. The flavor is so fresh and green that we like to use them in recipes that really highlight the flavor, like pesto or garlic butter. Store in a jar or other glass container in the refrigerator for best keeping quality.

Herbs: Generally, except for basil, set unwashed bunches of fresh herbs (with stems) upright into small jars filled with 1 to 2 inches of water, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for up to two weeks. Rinse fresh herbs right before use. To release their scents and flavors, rub them between your hands before mincing or chopping. If you have no idea what to do with fresh herbs, there is one great default answer "compound butter." Finely mince leaves and knead them into a stick of room temperature butter. Roll the butter into a log in plastic wrap and store in the freezer. Then simply slice off the amount you need to add delicious, ready-to-use flavor to vegetables, bread or meats.

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.

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, photos 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 Egg Roll In A Bowl

Yield: serves 4

• 1 pound ground pork sausage
• 4-6 cups shredded napa cabbage
• ½ - 1 cup grated or matchstick carrots
• 4 cloves garlic or 4-6 garlic scapes, minced
• 1 tablespoon ginger, minced
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/4 cup chopped scallions
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil

 

1. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sausage and cook, stirring often to crumble, until cooked through. Do not drain.
2. Add the cabbage, garlic, ginger, and soy sauce to the skillet with the sausage. Cook for 3-4 minutes or until cabbage has softened a bit.
3. Remove from the heat and top with scallions and drizzle with sesame oil.
4. Serve immediately.

Recipe Source: Blue Gate Farm, adapted from http://www.bunsinmyoven.com

BGF NEWS - June 6, 2023 - VOL. 50, NO. 1

In this week’s box:

Asparagus

Baby Choi

Garlic Scapes (the green, curly things)

Head Lettuce, assorted varieties

Kale Bouquet, assorted varieties

Lemon Thyme

Misome (small, dark green bunched leaves)

Spinruts: Hakurei (baby Japanese salad turnips)

Tapestry Salad Mix

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

Snow Peas

Herb It! option: will start in a few weeks as the annual herbs mature

Jam It! option: Apple Jam & Lime Berry Jam

Spice it Up! option: Nunum Salt

Bread Share: Italian Herb

Featured Recipes:  

Microwave Asparagus and Lemon Risotto

Roasted Sweet Turnips with Thyme

Super Green Stir-fry

BGF Favorite Kale Salad (see recipe below)

What’s up on the farm?

Precipitation in the past week: 0.2"

Welcome to the first delivery of the 2023 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 a few years ago, 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?

Irrigating, cultivating, planting, irrigating, cultivating, sowing, irrigating, cultivating, harvesting, and then irrigating and cultivating again. Repeat until October.

All of the main season crops are now in the ground and most are growing well despite the challenging conditions. The exceptions would be the most recently direct sown crops like winter squash, melons, and 2nd successions of beans and edamame. Those seeds are sitting in the soil waiting for rain. Most have been planted for at least a couple of weeks and we are seeing very little germination despite irrigating them. There is just too much dry soil around them to overcome. I don't anticipate we will see much change until we get a soaking rain (which we haven't seen since the 2nd week of May.)

Speaking of the lack of rain, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration we are now in Moderate Drought conditions, and the 30 day outlook doesn't show anything to improve that. We are starting to see cracks in the ground that we normally don't see until July or August. We are lucky that we can irrigate to keep most crops alive and producing but it's a challenge. The lack of rain almost certainly brought the asparagus season to an early end, so the bunch in your boxes today will be it until next year. The conditions are also causing a few of our spring greens crops to bolt prematurely (trying to flower and set seed which ends their use as edible crops) before we even had a chance to harvest them. That's why you are getting both baby choi and Misome today, those crops are starting to bolt and will be unusable by next week.

Not everything is gloom and doom though, most of the crops are growing ok thanks to the irrigation. Many of the transplanted warm-weather crops are starting to bloom and some of the summer squashes are even starting to fruit. The first little heads of broccoli are visible and the cabbage plants are starting to head. Carrots and beets are mostly surviving their popularity with the deer and rabbits and the potatoes are starting to bloom, which means they are starting to form potatoes underground. There are so many tasty things to come!

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.

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.

Herbs: Generally, except for basil, set unwashed bunches of fresh herbs (with stems) upright into small jars filled with 1 to 2 inches of water, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for up to two weeks. Rinse fresh herbs right before use. To release their scents and flavors, rub them between your hands before mincing or chopping. If you have no idea what to do with fresh herbs, there is one great default answer "compound butter." Finely mince leaves and knead them into a stick of room temperature butter. Roll the butter into a log in plastic wrap and store in the freezer. Then simply slice off the amount you need to add delicious, ready-to-use flavor to vegetables, bread or meats.

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. 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'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

BGF NEWS - June 15, 2021 - VOL. XLVII, NO. 3

In this week’s box:

Arugula

Garlic Scapes, curly green bundle

Head Lettuce, assorted varieties

Lemon Thyme

Napa Cabbage

Spinruts (baby Hakurei turnips)

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

Broccoli:(Gypsy) small, early heads

Snow Peas

Sugar Snap Peas

For those with the Herb option: Herb share will begin in a couple of weeks (waiting for basil)

Featured Recipes:  
Stir-fried Napa Cabbage Spicy Garlic Dressing (use scapes for garlic)

Roasted Sweet Turnips with Thyme

Garlic Scape and Arugula Pesto

What’s up on the farm?

Precipitation in the past week: 0.00"

The theme for this week (again) was Hot and Dry! We were really hopeful that we would catch some of the rain in the state this past Friday, but all we got was wind and a bit of a temperature drop (which was appreciated). Our early season crops are really struggling to survive the conditions and we are starting to lose some of them. We thought about trying to market pre-cooked greens for this week's VegEmail sales but decided snarky farmer humor might be lost on some. The CSA boxes today are really greens-heavy. We would have liked to give the arugula and napa cabbage in this week's delivery another week or so to grow a bit more, but they were starting to protest the weather so it was a "now or never" harvest decision. We probably won't have these crops available again until fall, so now is the time to enjoy them!

The weather conditions have pushed us to do something we've never had to do before, we ran irrigation lines on our popcorn and winter squash, just to try and get the seeds to germinate. The squash is responding better than the popcorn at this point. Here's hoping it's successful. One positive thing about the dry conditions is that we have ample opportunity to cultivate and try to stay ahead of the weeds.

While most of the past week was focused on irrigation and cultivating, we did get some new crops in the ground because farmers, by nature, are optimists (we just hide it well)! We transplanted okra, basil and several varieties of flowers into the field and high tunnel, as well as replacing holes in some earlier crops, including the tomatoes that we lost a few weeks ago to some bold, furry pest. 

So what's looking good in the field? Lots of things! We are harvesting peas and garlic scapes several times a week. The early broccoli is heading up nicely and are seeing blooms on squashes, cucumbers and tomatoes and fruit set on peppers and zucchini. Heavier CSA boxes are on the way!

Finally, we always want to make it perfectly clear that it takes many hands to bring your produce to you every week. We are SO very lucky to have an incredible team of hardworking young women on the farm five days a week.

Today's lettuce harvest

They are fierce weed warriors, gentle care-takers of all things living and occasionally, clever practical jokers. I can't imagine the farm without them. I'd like to introduce you to them so we're starting a new section of the newsletter so you can get to know them a bit.

Crew Corner: Danielle, Crew Chief

To all of our veteran CSA members: thank you for joining us for yet another growing season. To those of you who have just started this journey, I bid you a warm WELCOME!

In the six years I have worked at BGF, there have been many improvements and updates in the tools we use and our harvest processes.   That is one of the things I love most about this job, Jill is always learning what is best for the land and the vegetables we grow and we are constantly trying new methods or tweaking our old ones.  In fact, each year before the growing season begins, we discuss what new efficiencies we can employ and what new varieties of plants we should grow for all of you. As this job is very demanding physically, it can be very disconcerting to see plants and produce lost to drought or little furry eaters after all of the effort we put forth to bring you vegetables that are nutritious and chemical-free. Last year was the beginning of our flower trials, which went quite well, and I am thrilled to say we have expanded this year!  One of my favorite things to do is harvest an array of flowers each week and use my creativity to build bouquets for our customers who place their orders through Veg-Email.

A little detail on your produce this week:

Broccoli: Wrap broccoli loosely in a plastic bag and keep it in the vegetable bin of your refrigerator for up to a week. Immediately before cooking, soak broccoli, 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 you soak broccoli 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.

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.

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 cabbage whole in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. To prepare the entire head at once, cut it in half lengthwise, remove the core, and chop as desired. Or, separate and wash individual leaves as needed.  

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.

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. Large leaf greens can benefit by being wrapped in a linen or cotton towel inside the bag if excess moisture is a concern.

** 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)

Indigo, Luci & Sky