BGF NEWS - December 2023 - VOL. 51, NO. 2

What’s up on the farm?

Precipitation in the past month: Rain: 0.5"
                                                                  Snow: 0.00"

Happy holidays from all of us at BGF! What a year it has been and how very thankful we are for our amazing family, crew, members, customers and friends! We wish you a season filled with joy, good food and those you love. 

In the meantime, this is the season of seed and supply inventories, of planning and mapping (and scheming)! What changes will we make for next season? What are we keeping, adding, expanding or dropping? So much planning to do! 

The stack of seed catalogs has been perused and the seed order lists begun. That task should be mostly completed before the end of the month. Then we move into conference and farmer meeting season and before we know it, seed starting season will begin (in about 6 weeks).

This is also the time of year that we get the chance to focus on the fiber side of the farm. Much spinning and dyeing of yarn is on the schedule as well as furthering our recent adventures in eco-printing.  If you are interested in any of these products we do "U-Pick Yarn" sales at the first delivery of each month at Peace Tree-DM Branch. We are happy to arrange local "viewings" for our Marion County customers as well as ship items for non-locals. Just shoot us a message if you're interested.

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. We will continue to do these sales every two weeks until the first of May as long as the weather allows. Our next delivery is Tuesday, 1/2 and the order form will go out on 12/27 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 2024: 

Signup season has begun!  Current CSA members from the 2023 season should have received an email earlier this month with the new sign up information (if you didn't get yours, be sure to let us know).  Those members have until the end of January to register for the upcoming season. Any remaining spots will be offered to our waiting list in early February. If you aren't a CSA member but are interested, shoot us an email and we'll get you on the waiting list! Remember, the sooner you sign up, the easier it is for us to plan for the season.

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)

BGF NEWS - November 2023 - VOL. 51, NO. 1

What’s up on the farm?

Precipitation in the past month: Rain: 1.35"

                                                                  Snow: 3.50"

Welcome to our November newsletter. We'll 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 farm calendar. So grab a hot beverage, sit back and join us for a little tour of the farm this month.

We hope your Thanksgiving was filled with a bounty of delicious foods and time with your favorite people.  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 starts to ease. The rush of the main planting and growing season is done, many of the crops are out of the fields and the farm crew is on limited hours.

VegEmail orders continue to be harvested, packed and delivered every 2 weeks, so it's not like the farming season is done for us but besides that, what have we been doing for the past month?

Installing and maintaining row cover (giant pieces of fabric) to protect the producing crops in the field and high tunnels from 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. 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.  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 end of season field work, the high tunnel crops were sown or transplanted, cultivated and tucked into their own row covers for harvesting throughout the winter.

This fall we harvested and shelled nearly 900 pounds of popcorn, a big record harvest compared to the previous record of 360 lbs! 

This year we chose to greatly expand our dahlia selection for our bouquet making. It was such a delight to stroll through the amazing variety of blooms all season. It's a good thing we enjoyed them so much because the beast that is dahlia digging and processing in the fall is no joke! Each clump is dug, washed, dried, divided, labeled and stored. We had pretty decent tuber production so if all goes well over the winter we hope to have some tubers available for sale in the spring. 

This is also the time of year when I start focusing more on our fiber products. There's lots of fiber and yarn to dye and much spinning to be done, not to mention our new passion in eco-printing silk scarves and other fabrics!  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, 12/5 and the order form will go out on 11/29 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

T-Shirts are here! If you preordered a "Rooting for you!" t-shirt, they are available for pick up at either of the December deliveries.

CSA 2024: 

We have already started getting questions about next year's CSA season. "Current" CSA members from the 2023 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! 

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)

BGF NEWS - October 24, 2023 - VOL. 50, NO. 20

IN THIS WEEK’S BOX:

Arugula

Carrots: Rainbow Mix

Daikon Radish

Garlic: Music

Head Lettuce: assorted varieties

Kale: asst.

Onions: Cipollini

Popcorn on the Cob: Asst.

Potatoes: Kennebec

Sweet Peppers: asst.

Herb It! option: Ginger Mint, Sage & Sorrel

Bread Share: Asian Milk Bread or Bitter Brew Bread

Featured Recipes:

Pickled Carrots and Daikon Radish **BGF Favorite!

Crispy Quinoa Roasted Vegetable Kale Salad

Roasted Potatoes, Carrots and Onions

WHAT’S UP ON THE FARM?
Precipitation in the past week: 0.00"

Well, we knew it was coming, but it still always sneaks up on me. Welcome to the final delivery of the 2023 CSA season! Twenty weeks have come and gone and a LOT of produce has passed between us during that time. Thank you for joining us on this veggie adventure, we couldn't do it without you! And remember, this isn't farewell for the year, we hope to see you at the bi-weekly VegEmail deliveries throughout the winter and spring.

Too big for boxes!

We've been delighted with the lovely daytime temperatures this past week and have been digging into lots of season-end tasks. We finally cleared the last of the summer crops (flowers) from the small high tunnel and got the final sowing of salad mix in it's place. 

The first round of daikon radishes was harvested and we're sending some of the "smaller" ones out in boxes this week. 

Last week we started installing the row cover hardware for fall crops in the field. If you aren't familiar, row cover is BIG pieces of fabric that we use to protect our fall field crops as the temperatures start to drop to damaging levels. There is talk of 20's in next week's forecast, so yesterday we pushed ahead and started installing the fabric itself. If you didn't notice, it was a bit breezy on Monday and trying to wrangle 5' x 100' pieces of fabric in it was a bit ridiculous, but with rain in the forecast the rest of the week, we couldn't wait. It took us most of the day, but we got everything installed except one broccoli bed. That one will just have to be patient until we can get back to it.

Installing end hoops

Installing row cover fabric

Also in the past week we finally got the last of the shallots and garlic cleaned. The garlic has been sorted and the seed garlic is ready to be "cloved out" for planting. Garlic prep, planting and mulching is one of the biggest tasks on the fall schedule and will happen in the next few weeks. 

And...after testing the popcorn weekly for the past month, its finally ready for it's next stage. While we do test with a digital moisture meter, as the popcorn gets closer to the target percentage of moisture, we start pop testing it as well. The crew are good sports and don't complain too much about the arduous responsibility of taste testing the popcorn. We shelled our first batch last week with our spiffy little red sheller we've named' "Shelldon" and it's looking (and tasting) great! The timing for "ready to pop" couldn't be more perfect so we are sending out a fun little bonus in today's delivery. And yes, you can pop it right on the cob!

I was asked recently if we do an end of the season survey of the CSA membership. We don't. After doing them in the past we found that equal amounts of people would respond that they got "too many (insert any veg here)" while another group would say they "wanted more (insert same veg here)" so we gave up. We hope that we have a good enough relationship with our members that if anyone feels strongly about an aspect of the CSA or wants to share their experience with us, that they will. We're always happy to hear from you!

Last chance to order our new T-Shirts!

Since most of our members aren't currently ordering through VegEmail, we wanted to let you know that we've recently kicked off a little fundraiser to help offset the budget-busting irrigation costs we've experienced this season. We have a brand new T-shirt design that is available through the VegEmail order form. It's a pre-order item, and we will be accepting orders for them through the end of October and plan to have them available for pick up at the late November VegEmail delivery. If you'd like to order one this week, here's the link to the current order form: VegEmail order form

Upcoming Dates to Note:

Tues, Oct. 24: Final CSA delivery

Sat, Oct. 28: Final Saturday VegEmail delivery 

Sat, Oct. 28, Peace Tree-DM, Makers, Bakers and Boos

Tues, Nov. 7: Fall VegEmail schedule begins, delivery every 2 weeks.

A LITTLE DETAIL ON YOUR PRODUCE THIS WEEK:

Carrots: These "mid-season" carrots are a little different than the candy-sweet gems of cool weather carrots. They are a little more strongly flavored, a little earthy. This makes them perfect for cooking and more complicated recipes, as some might not love them for fresh eating. 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.

Daikon: a large member of the radish family, popular in many Asian cuisines. Store like you would smaller radishes wrapped in plastic in your produce drawer. Daikon can store for several weeks, but is best used in a week or two. Delicious sliced or grated and added to salads, soups or just enjoyed as a low calorie, high fiber snack with hummus or other dips. 

Garlic & Onions: Keep at room temperature with good air circulation if you're using in a week or two. For long term storage keep cool (not cold) and dark with good air circulation.

Peppers:  Place whole, unwashed peppers in a plastic bag, seal, and refrigerate for a week or more. Rinse peppers just before use. For sweet peppers, cut around the stem with a small knife and lift out the core. Slice down the side to open it up and then cut out the inner membranes. Store unused portions in a sealed bag or container in the refrigerator.

Popcorn (on the cob): This popcorn is ready to pop, you just have to choose your method. You can hand-shell it by twisting or rubbing it between your hands over a dishpan or large bowl (the kernels tend to shoot out quite a distance, so be ready). Then just use your preferred method of cooking (microwave, stove-top or air popper. Our go-to method is on the stove, with olive oil and just a touch of ghee in the pan. Then lightly salted to eat.  You can also pop it on the cob in a microwave. Just slide the whole cob into a small paper bag and fold over the top twice to close. Then start the microwave for 2 minutes (times vary) so don't walk away. Turn the microwave off when there is no popping for 3 seconds. Be aware, the cob will be hot. If all the kernels don't pop, DO NOT put the cob back in the microwave. Just rub the un-popped kernels off into another bag and run them through again. The cob will burn if microwaved twice.

Potatoes: Keep unwashed potatoes in a cool, dark, dry place, such as a loosely closed paper bag in a cupboard. They will keep for weeks at room temperature, longer if you can provide their ideal temperature of 40 to 50 degrees. Beware: the low temperature of your refrigerator will convert the starch to sugars. So refrigerated potatoes should be brought to room temperature for at least 24 hours before using. Moisture causes potatoes to spoil, light turns them green, and proximity to onions causes them to sprout. (You can still use a potato that has sprouted, however; simply cut off the “eyes” before use.) Scrub potatoes well and cut off any sprouts or green skin.  Peeling is a matter of preference. Cut potatoes according to your recipe. If baking a whole potato, be sure to prick the skin in at least a few places to allow steam to escape.

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 - October 17, 2023 - VOL. 50, NO. 19

IN THIS WEEK’S BOX:

Beets: Cylindra

Celery: Tango

Choi: Beijing Express (can use like choi or romaine)

Head Lettuce: assorted varieties

Leeks

Sweet Peppers: asst.

Turnips:Hakurei

Herb It! option: Sweet Basil, Fennel & Rosemary

Bread Share: Asian Milk Bread or Bitter Brew Bread

Featured Recipes:

Beet Pasta with Caramelized Leeks

Sauteed Bok Choy and Hakurei Turnips

Creamy Turnip Soup

WHAT’S UP ON THE FARM?
Precipitation in the past week: 0.10"

We did experience a light frost last week and it looks like we might have the same on Tuesday morning, but so far, the only things that are really offended by the weather are the basil and some of the more tender flowers we grow. 

Farewell, basil!

Even the high tunnel basil was burned a bit with last week's cold dip, so today was the end of the line for it. We were able to find just enough for our herb share members to get one last "taste of summer" before we tore it all out, cleaned up the bed and planted winter greens. We did the same with the basil in the big high tunnel last week and the salad mix and arugula sown in that bed are already germinating.

It's a real luxury on mornings when the temperature is below 40° to be able to start our day working in the high tunnels. You can see by the clothing in the pic above, it isn't very warm in there, but it is out of the wind and it's warmer than it is outside! We took advantage of the conditions while we were there and did a little cultivating and cleanup of the new kale crop. The crew noticed they were being supervised by one of our pest management team, (a praying mantis) and later found an egg case nearby. 

We love finding both of these anywhere on the farm, but especially in the high tunnels where pest control is even more of a challenge. The praying mantis herself was carefully worked around but the egg case was relocated to a safe spot just outside the high tunnel so that the artificially warm daytime conditions inside don't trigger an early hatch during the winter when the new mantises wouldn't survive.

Besides working in the high tunnels, in the past week we've cultivated the fall crops, harvested lots of produce and a bounty of botanicals for our fall bouquets, cleaned garlic and picked up bushels of rotten tomatoes as we get ready to pull the fabric mulch from our tomato plot. Talk about no one's favorite job! Blech! 

We had drained the irrigation system last week ahead of the low temps but this week we reconnected it all back up and started running it again. Much of the state got some needed rain last week but sadly we missed most of it so we are back to our irrigation rotation for the fall crops.

Just 2 weeks left to order our new T-Shirts!

Since most of our members aren't currently ordering through VegEmail, we wanted to let you know that we've recently kicked off a little fundraiser to help offset the budget-busting irrigation costs we've experienced this season. We have a brand new T-shirt design that is available through the VegEmail order form. It's a pre-order item, and we will be accepting orders for them through the end of October and plan to have them available for pick up at the late November VegEmail delivery. If you'd like to order one this week, here's the link to the current order form: VegEmail order form

Upcoming Dates to Note:

Tues, Oct. 24: Final CSA delivery

Sat, Oct. 28: Final Saturday VegEmail delivery 

Tues, Nov. 7: Fall VegEmail schedule begins, delivery every 2 weeks.

A LITTLE DETAIL ON YOUR PRODUCE THIS WEEK:

Beets- Store the beet roots, unwashed, with the rootlets (or “tails”) attached, in a plastic bag in the crisper bin of your refrigerator. They will keep for several weeks, but their sweetness diminishes with time. Just before cooking, scrub beets well and remove any scraggly leaves and rootlets. If your recipe calls for raw beets, peel them with a knife or vegetable peeler, then grate or cut according to your needs baby/young beets usually don't need to be peeled.

Celery: Separate leaves and stems for best storage. Leaves (with thin stems) can be stored like herbs in a glass of water in your refrigerator or in a zip-top plastic bag. Main stems keep best wrapped in aluminum foil and placed in your crisper drawer.

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.

Peppers:  Place whole, unwashed peppers in a plastic bag, seal, and refrigerate for a week or more. Rinse peppers just before use. For sweet peppers, cut around the stem with a small knife and lift out the core. Slice down the side to open it up and then cut out the inner membranes. Store unused portions in a sealed bag or 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 (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.

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 - October 10, 2023 - VOL. 50, NO. 18

IN THIS WEEK’S BOX:

Baby Choi

Cabbage: assorted large or baby cabbages

Cherry Tomato Mix: the final hurrah!

Garlic: Music

Green Peppers

Head Lettuce: assorted varieties

Onions: Candy

Potatoes: Kennebec

Herb It! option: Sweet basil (final), lovage & garlic chives

Bread Share: Tavern Fare

Featured Recipes:

Bok Choy with Peppers

Ethiopian Cabbage Dish

Creamy Potato Cabbage Soup

WHAT’S UP ON THE FARM?
Precipitation in the past week: 0.05"

What a change a week makes! This time last week we were in short sleeved shirts and sweating then on Friday, we were harvesting while wearing our insulated Carhartts. Now we are likely waking up to our first frost.

It happens every year about this time (Oct 10 is our first average frost date). We get our first Frost Advisory and I spend the next several days obsessing over the weather websites, just hoping that they will nudge that low temp forecast up a little higher. If hoping could make it so, we would be frost free until the end of October. I can hope...but I'm not holding my breath.

So this is the time that we rush around the farm harvesting everything that we might lose to the frost. Peppers, basil, flowers, bouquet fillers ect. It's generally the only time we harvest green peppers as I maintain that, even though some people like them, they just aren't ripe yet!  But harvest them we did! So for a little change of pepper pace, we are sending them out to you today. The cabbages were also part of a field clearing, so they aren't our typical cabbages, but we're still on that theme of use it or lose it!

Another task we accomplished before the frost, last week, actually was clearing the tomato plot. It is a BIG task that no one really enjoys, but it is MUCH more pleasant to do it before the vines all freeze, which makes for a slimy mess. It's still a messy job, but it's better done earlier and even better when it's done! So the plants are out, the hundreds of steel posts put away and the thousands of feet of trellis twine wound up. We still have to clear the fabric mulch and pull all the roots, but we'll get to those next. We did have to take a short break before pulling the plants for everyone to do a little "grazing" through the cherry tomato plants. Then they all bade farewell to their favorite varieties (and ate them).

Finally, new T-Shirts are coming!

Since most of our members aren't currently ordering through VegEmail, we wanted to let you know that we've recently kicked off a little fundraiser to help offset the budget-busting irrigation costs we've experienced this season. We have a brand new T-shirt design that is available through the VegEmail order form. It's a pre-order item, and we will be accepting orders for them through the end of October and plan to have them available for pick up at the late November VegEmail delivery. If you'd like to order one this week, here's the link to the current order form: VegEmail order form

Upcoming Dates to Note:

Tues, Oct. 24: Final CSA delivery

Sat, Oct. 28: Final Saturday VegEmail delivery 

Tues, Nov. 7: Fall VegEmail schedule begins, delivery every 2 weeks.

A LITTLE DETAIL ON YOUR PRODUCE THIS WEEK:

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.

Garlic & Onions: Keep at room temperature with good air circulation if you're using in a week or two. For long term storage keep cool (not cold) and dark with good air circulation.

Peppers:  Place whole, unwashed peppers in a plastic bag, seal, and refrigerate for a week or more. Rinse peppers just before use. For sweet peppers, cut around the stem with a small knife and lift out the core. Slice down the side to open it up and then cut out the inner membranes. Store unused portions in a sealed bag or container in the refrigerator.

Potatoes: Keep unwashed potatoes in a cool, dark, dry place, such as a loosely closed paper bag in a cupboard. They will keep for weeks at room temperature, longer if you can provide their ideal temperature of 40 to 50 degrees. Beware: the low temperature of your refrigerator will convert the starch to sugars. So refrigerated potatoes should be brought to room temperature for at least 24 hours before using. Moisture causes potatoes to spoil, light turns them green, and proximity to onions causes them to sprout. (You can still use a potato that has sprouted, however; simply cut off the “eyes” before use.) Scrub potatoes well and cut off any sprouts or green skin.  Peeling is a matter of preference. Cut potatoes according to your recipe. If baking a whole potato, be sure to prick the skin in at least a few places to allow steam to escape.

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