BGF NEWS - August 29, 2023 - VOL. 50, NO. 12

IN THIS WEEK’S BOX:

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

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

Edamame: Chiba Green

Garlic: Northern White

Hot Peppers: Wenk's (small bag)

Jubilee Cherry Tomato Mix: see 8/1 newsletter for descriptions

Kale: asst.

Onions: Red

Peppers: Sweet, see 8/15 newsletter for descriptions

Tomatoes: So many tomatoes! see 8/1 for descriptions. 

 

and perhaps one of the following:

Okra: Bowling Red & Candle Fire

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

Herb It! option: Sweet Basil, Roselle, Parsley

Bread Share: Tomato Basil

Featured Recipes:

Edamame Salsa

Fresh Tomato Salsa

Roasted Tomato Salsa

Okra Corn Salsa

Mezair (Cutting Board Salsa) BGF Favorite **see below, 

BGF Balsamic Tomato Salsa, new BGF favorite **see below

WHAT’S UP ON THE FARM?

Precipitation in the past week: 0.08"

Welcome to our annual Salsa Box! Or Sauce Box if you prefer. Every year when the tomato harvest is at it's heaviest, we "stuff" as many of them into the boxes as possible to give folks the opportunity to stock up on some salsa or sauce. We try to include recipes to appeal to lots of difference salsa tastes, but always include our favorite: Mezair (a fresh Kurdish salsa).  As many of you may know, the "FarmHer-in-charge" isn't particularly fond of cilantro so we always substitute parsley/par-cel or mint and sometimes sorrel in our salsa recipes. If you have the same issue, we encourage you to try one of these alternatives. If you do like cilantro, well, that's ok too.

We are very thankful for cooler temperatures this week, last week was a bit rough on the farm with the temps hovering around 100°. 

The farm crew was sent home early most of the week and what time we did have was largely taken up harvesting and trying to keep everything/everyone alive. We did get some spent crops cleared and some of the fall crops cultivated.  The irrigation system ran nearly non-stop.

This week we have gotten most of the remaining field fall crops transplanted and the next series of seeded crops sown. The "to-be-planted" list is getting shorter and shorter!

We weren't the only ones offended by the high temps, as predicted, the heat pretty much finished off the cucumbers and summer squash for the season. They produced admirably throughout a challenging season, so we can't complain too much, but we are sorry to see them go. 

The harbingers of fall are starting to appear around the farm, The trees have lost their vibrant greens and are now looking faded and almost hazy. The fall yellows are blooming throughout the countryside, native sunflowers and goldenrod, often topped with the dance of butterflies and other pollinators. 

But the real standout sign for me was sighted a couple of days ago, the first blooms on the New England Aster. My grandpa always called these "frost flowers" and claimed that the first frost was due 2 weeks after the first frost flower bloomed. I'm hoping this was just a "scout" for the local aster population and that we are still many weeks away from first frost, but you just never know. 

Speaking of fall milestones, I've started getting questions about the end of the CSA season. We are now on week 12 of a 20 week season. We anticipate the final delivery of the season will be Tuesday, Oct 24. Don't worry, we won't leave you trapped at the mercy of grocery stores after that. VegEmail continues throughout the winter to ensure you have access to local foods throughout the year!

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.

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.

Edamame: (vegetable or green soy beans): Store beans on or off the branches in a bag in the crisper drawer and use within 1 week.  To use, separate beans from branches and cook in salted, boiling water in the pods or shelled, depending on how you plan to use them. In case this is a new vegetable for you, the pods of edamame are not edible, so be sure to shell them before eating. The traditional way to enjoy them is to pull the cooked pod through your teeth, popping the beans into your mouth.

Garlic & Onions: Fully cured garlic and onions don't require refrigeration. For longest storage, keep in a dark place with good airflow. Once cut, store in the refrigerator.

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."

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.

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.

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)

Mezair

(Cutting Board Salsa, from Kurdistan)

1 lg clove garlic

2 to 3 jalapeños, seeded (or other hot peppers)

½ c. lightly packed, chopped flat-leaf parlsey

3 to 4 tbs chopped fresh mint

1 pound ripe tomatoes

¼ tsp salt

juice of 1 lemon

On a large cutting board, mince the garlic and the peppers. Add the parsley and mint and chop. Slice and then chop the tomatoes, adding them to the other ingredients. Mix as you continue to chop by turning the salsa with the flat of your knife or cleaver. Mix in the salt. Transfer the salsa to a small serving bowl and blend in the lemon juice, The salsa will be quite runny.

Makes approximately 2 cups salsa.

Recipe source: Flatbreads and Flavors by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid

BGF Balsamic Tomato Salsa

3-4 tomatoes
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 medium clove garlic, minced

1 small shallot, minced

1 Wenk's Yellow Hot pepper, seeded and minced
1 tsp finely chopped fresh oregano
2tbs finely chopped fresh basil
Salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Stir it all together for a chunky salsa, but I really love it pureed right in the mixing bowl with my immersion blender. You can use a blender or food processor as well. I think this version really melds the flavors beautifully. 

Recipe source: BGF, based on the Balsamic Tomato Salad recipe from Smitten Kitchen 

BGF NEWS - September 6, 2022 - VOL. XLVIII, NO. 14

In this week’s box:

Beans: Provider (green) & Carson (yellow) Mix

Beets: Cylindra
Beijing Express

Cherry Tomatoes: Jubilee Mix (see description on 8/2)
Garlic: Northern White or Music

Head Lettuce: asst
Hot Peppers: Wenk's Yellow Hots (bagged)

Onions: Red Carpet 

Sweet Peppers: asst.
Tomatoes-Slicers: asst. (see description on 8/2)

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

Broccoli Florets

Cauliflower: Snow Crown or Song
Eggplant: Orient Express, Asian Delight or Listada de Gandia
Okra: Candle Fire and Burgundy

Herb It! option: sweet basil, ginger mint, par-cel
Jam It! option: Blueberry Lemonade & Peach Fire Jam

Spice It Up! option: Ramp Salt

Bread Share: Loaded Blueberry Muffins

Featured Recipes:  

Beet Salsa

Roasted Tomato Salsa

Okra Salsa

Bell Pepper Salsa

Mezair (Cutting Board Salsa), a BGF favorite! see recipe below

Watermelon Salsa another BGF favorite, see recipe below

What’s up on the farm?

Precipitation in the past week: 0.00" Nada, zip, zilch.

Welcome to our annual Salsa Box! Or Sauce Box if you prefer. Every year when the tomato harvest is at it's heaviest, we "stuff" as many of them into the boxes as possible to give folks the opportunity to stock up on some salsa or sauce. We try to include recipes to appeal to lots of difference salsa tastes, but always include our two favorites: Mezair (a fresh Kurdish salsa) and watermelon salsa, plus our go-to pesto recipe with the secret ingredient (a tomato). As many of you may know, the "FarmHer-in-charge" isn't particularly fond of cilantro so we always substitute parsley/par-cel or mint and sometimes sorrel in our salsa recipes. If you have the same issue, we encourage you to try one of these alternatives. If you do like cilantro, well, that's ok too.

On the farm front, not too much new to tell this week. Here's the Readers Digest Version: It didn't rain. We cleared spent beds and planted new ones. We harvested and cultivated. Some crops are slowing down and others are ramping up. 

There was one notable event in the past week. We sucked it up and went out and harvested the winter squash plot. It hadn't been looking good in a while and I was afraid we wouldn't find enough to send out, but it was a bit better than we feared. This led to our annual "Squash the Boss" game. Where the crew tosses  the usable squash at to me and I load it into the trailer for hauling to the barn.

There's always a bit of laughing during the task and the occasional "Uufftt" sound and this year was no different. After we loaded the usable squash, we went back and made piles of the bad ones to send to the neighbors pigs. It's good, productive entertainment every year!

Oh, and in addition to the "normal" activities of the farm, this past week we (well, mostly my dad) broke ground on the new porch roof on the back of the packing barn. This will cover our outside wash sink and really help out with both rain and sun protection. A huge thanks to my dad all for his time and expertise!

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.

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.

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 you soak broccoli or cauliflower in salt water before storing, it will become too rubbery and wilted to enjoy.)

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.

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."

Onions: Fully cured onions don't require refrigeration. For longest storage, keep in a dark place with good airflow. Once cut, store in the refrigerator.

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.

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.

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)

Sky, Wallace & Gromit

Mezair
(Cutting Board Salsa, from Kurdistan)

1 lg clove garlic
2 to 3 jalapeños, seeded (or other hot peppers)
½ c. lightly packed, chopped flat-leaf parlsey
3 to 4 tbs chopped fresh mint
1 pound ripe tomatoes
¼ tsp salt
juice of 1 lemon

On a large cutting board, mince the garlic and the peppers. Add the parsley and mint and chop. Slice and then chop the tomatoes, adding them to the other ingredients. Mix as you continue to chop by turning the salsa with the flat of your knife or cleaver. Mix in the salt. Transfer the salsa to a small serving bowl and blend in the lemon juice, The salsa will be quite runny.

Makes approximately 2 cups salsa.
Recipe source: Flatbreads and Flavors by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid

Larissa's Watermelon Salsa

3c watermelon, seeded & diced
1/2 c. sweet pepper, seeded & diced
2 TBS lime juice
1 TBS cilantro or parsley, chopped
1 TBS green onion, chopped
1-2 TBS hot pepper, seeded & diced
1/2 tsp garlic, finely minced
salt, to taste

Combine all ingredients & refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.

Recipe Source: BGF friend, Larissa C.

BGF NEWS - AUGUST 25 , 2020 - VOL. XLV, NO. 13

In this week’s box:

Beans: Empress, Fortex and Golden Goal
Garlic: Northern White

Hot Peppers: Wenk's Yellow Hots (in paper bag)

Jubilee Cherry Tomato Mix (see 7/21 newsletter for details)

Mouse Apples: see "What's up on the farm" below for details

Onion: Red Carpet

Peppers: asst. (see 8/11 newsletter for details)

Roselle: reddish-green, star shaped leaves with tart flavor

Tomato: Slicers (see 7/28 newsletter for details)

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

Broccoli: Gypsy

Cantaloupe: Minnesota Midget

Cauliflower: Goodman

Cucumbers: Suyo Long, Lemon, Marketmore or Striped Armenian

Eggplant: Orient Express

Mini Bell Peppers: bite-sized, sweet red, yellow & orange peppers
Okra: Bowling Red & Candle Fire

Summer Squash: see descriptions in "A little detail"

For those with the Egg option [Full & Half Shares]: one dozen free-range eggs

For those with the Herb option: sweet basil, parsley, sorrel

Featured Recipes:  

Fresh Tomato Salsa

Mezair: Cutting Board Salsa
Roasted Tomato Salsa
Roasted Eggplant Salsa
Okra Salsa

What’s up on the farm?

Precipitation in the past week: 0.00"

Welcome to our annual Salsa Box! Or Sauce Box if you prefer. Every year when the tomato harvest is at it's heaviest, we "stuff" as many of them into the boxes as possible to give folks the opportunity to stock up on some salsa or sauce. 

Roselle

We  try to include recipes to appeal to lots of difference salsa tastes, but always include our favorite: Mezair (a fresh Kurdish salsa). As many of you may know, the "FarmHer-in-charge" isn't particularly fond of cilantro so we always substitute parsley/par-cel or mint and sometimes sorrel or roselle in our salsa recipes. If you have the same issue, we encourage you to try one of these alternatives. If you do like cilantro, well, that's ok too.

Even the produce is grumpy!

So the weather is the big story again this week and no one is very happy about it. We are dust-dry and like all of you, we are HOT (which translates to crabby when you work outside). We are doing the bulk of our physical work in the mornings when it is cooler and taking LOTS of shade and water breaks. Then we spend the heat of the day doing tasks like cleaning garlic & onions and washing totes and containers. 

Drip tape on germinating turnips

Over the past week we finally got caught up on all our seeding and transplanting chores so now we are pretty much running laps from one irrigation controller to another throughout the daylight hours trying to get all our newly seeded crops to germinate and to keep all our new transplants alive. It's not an easy task and we've pulled out all our irrigation equipment to try and keep up. 

It is rewarding to turn on the mini sprayers on the newly sown greens crops and see all the birds and butterflies flock to the area. We even have a cadre of toads that pop out of the ground when we turn on the sprayers. It feels a bit like a Disney movie in the evenings with the low sun angle lighting up the water spray and the small wildlife flitting around it.

Though as much as the irrigation systems are keeping things alive right now, many of the crops are not amused by our current weather and lack of "natural" rain. The tomatoes, peppers and okra could kind of care less, though we will see a break in tomato production in about 2 weeks as tomato pollen sterilizes above 95°. But the summer squash, beans and lettuce are seriously unhappy. We're hoping if we can get them to this weekend and get some real rain, they might feel better about things, but they may not be up to the challenge. The cantaloupe are also failing fast. We had a good harvest of them this week, so we're hoping to be able to get them out to everyone at least once before the vines succumb. 

Asian Pears, aka "Mouse Apples"

But all is not gloom and doom. Two bright spots on the crop front today! One is that the edamame is FINALLY filling pods, which means we hope to be able to send it out in boxes next week! And our silly thing for the week, you might have noticed "Mouse Apples" on the list for this week. No, that name really isn't a thing, we just made it up. What they are is tiny Asian pears. One of our trees was just loaded with fruit, way too much for the tree to bear. So we did some aggressive fruit thinning and ended up with half a crate full of these tasty little Asian pears. What in the heck am I going to do with hundreds of little tiny "Mouse Apples"? You are my answer! I know they aren't much to look at, but they are fun, and very tasty, so we hope you can enjoy them and at the very least, get a laugh out of them.

 Meet the Crew: Rebekah

This week you meet Rebekah-the youngest, yet tallest of the sisters. I am also the one that keeps the others on their toes by bringing levity~dare I say jocularity~ to the farm.

Contrary to popular belief, I actually enjoy pulling weeds in the warm sunshine with the dog crew sweating along with us. Conversely, I would be much happier if I didn't have to spend another single second of time with a wheel-hoe EVER AGAIN!

My FAVORITE part of working at Blue Gate Farm is the dreamy, stimulating sodas created by our loving Mistress of BGF. They do indeed strengthen the soul and I firmly believe they make me taller!

Gathering majestic purple Islander peppers as they transform into a glowing sunset orange always makes me smile. I also enjoy my time harvesting the many sweet and savory herbs that Jill grows. May it be known from this point forward that creepy, little ticks have most definitely been cast off my "favorite" list, but as they are a part of the "nature" of the farm, I tolerate them in order to bring a plethora of nutritious vegetables variety to our faithful CSA members!

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 plastic bag or clamshell, 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 you soak broccoli/cauliflower in salt water before storing, it will become too rubbery and too wilted to enjoy.) Slice the juicy, edible stems and use them wherever florets are called for. Peel particularly thick skin before using.

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.  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."

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.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! Our varieties: 8 Ball (green,round), Golden Glory (bright yellow zucchini),  Patty Pan(scalloped white, green or yellow), Slik Pik (thin, yellow) or Zephyr (green & yellow)

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 and you want to read more about our daily adventures or see pictures of the farm?  Follow us on Facebook at Blue Gate Farm and/or share your recipes, experiences and questions with other BGF members at Blue Gate Farm Community.

That’s about it this week, if you have any questions or comments be sure to let us know. 

Best from the farm,

Jill & Sean (and Luci, Indigo & Sky)

Indigo, Luci & Sky

BGF News - September 17, 2019-Vol. XLII, No.16

BGF News - September 17, 2019-Vol. XLII, No.16

Harvesting lettuce bouquets

In this week’s box:

Baby lettuce bouquets

Beans: Carson (yellow) and/or Provider (green)

Buttercup Squash

Cherry Tomato Mix  

Garlic: Farmer's Folly
Habanero Peppers: Helios (orange habanero in the clamshell box)
Onions: Red Carpet

Sweet Peppers: Assorted

Summer Squash: 8 Ball (green,round), Golden Glory (bright yellow zucchini),  Patty

      Pan (scalloped white, green or yellow), Slik Pik (thin, yellow) or Zephyr (green & yellow)

Tomatoes: see descriptions in 7/30 newsletter post
Turnips: Hakurei

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

Broccoli: Imperial or Belstar

Eggplant: Orient Express (dk purple) & or Orient Charm (lavender)
Okra: Bowling Red and/or Candle Fire

For those with the Egg option [Full shares]: one dozen free-range eggs (asst. colors)

For those with the Herb option: Sweet basil, ginger mint & sorrel

Featured Recipes:  ** indicates a BGF favorite 

Fresh Tomato Salsa
Roasted Tomato Salsa
Roasted Eggplant Salsa
Okra Salsa
Buttercup Squash Recipes

What’s up on the farm?

Precipitation in the past week: 0.2"

Welcome to our annual Salsa Box! Or Sauce Box if you prefer. Every year when the tomato harvest is at it's heaviest, we "stuff" as many of them into the boxes as possible to give folks the opportunity to stock up on some salsa or sauce. We  try to include recipes to appeal to lots of difference salsa tastes, but always include our favorite: Mezair (a fresh Kurdish salsa). As many of you may know, the "FarmHer-in-charge" isn't particularly fond of cilantro so we always substitute parsley/par-cel or mint and sometimes sorrel in our salsa recipes. If you have the same issue, we encourage you to try one of these alternatives. If you do like cilantro, well, that's ok too. Speaking of salsa ingredients, a heads up on the hot peppers. Our Wenk's Yellow Hot peppers are just poking along, but we are getting buried in beautiful habanero peppers right now, so that is what we are sending out. Be aware that they are fairly hot, so proceed slowly when adding them to salsa or other dishes. We've packed them in clamshell boxes so no one accidentally mistakes them for a sweet pepper and takes a bite unwittingly. 

Speaking of heat, this brief (we hope) return to summer isn't our favorite weather trend. Although we spent the whole summer working in warmer temperatures, our cooler August really killed all of our heat tolerance so we are a bit grumpy in the fields right now. The crops and animals definitely feel the same and everyone would like a nice rain. While the warm weather crops like peppers and eggplant are enjoying the return to midsummer, our mid season lettuces are bolting and the 2nd succession of beans just gave up the fight. The storm-damaged basil never recovered so we've cleared that and beans #2. We do still have basil in the high tunnels that might keep going a bit longer and beans #3 that we just started harvesting so those will continue to appear in the boxes for a while yet. This will likely be the final summer squash delivery as those plants are also just about spent. They've certainly given us a bounteous season and now we start to focus on winter squash. We harvested the buttercup squash yesterday and are really pleased with it. I roasted up a damaged one last night with a handful of onions, fennel and sausage and it was delicious! I hope you enjoy yours as much as I did!

Buttercup Squash

New toys for the FarmHers!

While we would really like a good rain shower, this past weekend we were hit with a "shower" of new-to-us equipment. Thanks to my parents who were able to attend a sale and and auction while I was at market, we have added a "new" tractor tiller, waterwheel transplanter, mulch layer, cultivator and bulk storage bins. These items may be big game changers for us in the future when it comes to weed control and crop production. 

Speaking of the future, we've started getting questions about the end of the season, so here's the current plan:

October 15-  Final CSA delivery

October 26- Final Farmer Market

November 5-  First VegEmail Sale

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.

Buttercup Squash:

One of the most popular winter squash varieties, buttercup squash has a sweet and creamy orange flesh.  Containing more than 200% of the recommended daily amount of vitamin A, it is also high in vitamins C and B.  An added benefit is that buttercup squash is an excellent source of dietary fiber.
To prepare, wash the outside thoroughly.  Cut in half and remove the seeds and stringy pulp.  Place cut side down in a baking dish, add 1/2 cup of water and cover with aluminum foil.  Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until tender.  Buttercup squash can also be easily micro-waved.  Follow the above instructions, cover with wax paper, and micro-wave on High at 5-minute intervals until tender.  Serve with butter , salt and pepper or brown sugar.  Try a little parmesan cheese for variety.

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.

Hot Peppers: To maximize the shelf life of raw habanero peppers, store in a paper bag in the vegetable crisper of refrigerator. For long term storage, wash & dry peppers, then place whole in a ziplock bag & freeze. To use, just run individual peppers under hot water to thaw a bit, chop & use as desired. These are quite hot, be sure to wear gloves to handle and wash well before touching your eyes or any other sensitive skin...really! You can decrease the heat of all hot peppers by removing the seeds & membranes before using.

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.

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. A light "squeeze" is the best test for ripeness. 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 and you want to read more about our daily adventures or see pictures of the farm?  Follow us on Facebook at Blue Gate Farm and/or share your recipes, experiences and questions with other BGF members at Blue Gate Farm Community.

That’s about it this week, if you have any questions or comments be sure to let us know. 

Best from the farm,

Jill & Sean (and Luci, Indigo & Sky)