BGF NEWS - August 6, 2024 - VOL. 52, NO. 10

In this week’s box:

Basil: Sweet

Beans: Yellow & Green Mix

Beets: Cylindra

Broccoli: heads or florets with edible leaves

Cabbage: Ruby King

Cherry Tomatoes: Jubilee Mix

Cucumbers: Corinto, Generally, Marketmore or Dragon

Head Lettuce, assorted varieties
Scallions

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

and perhaps one of the following: (see **NOTE below)
Okra: Candle Fire, Bowling Red & Okinawa Pink

Tomatoes: slicers (see 7/30 newsletter for descriptions)

Herb It! option: Purple Basil, Pink Celery, Lemon Verbena

Jam It! option: Tart Cherry Jam & Blackberry Peach Jam

Spice It Up! option: Roselle Salt

Featured Recipes:

Cucumber Scallion Salad

Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage

Cabbage Beet Coleslaw

Roasted Beet Hummus

What’s up on the farm?

Precipitation in the past week: 3.20"

It's hard to believe, but here we are at Week 10 of the CSA season, half way through! It surprises me every year when we hit these milestones. We hope you are enjoying your CSA experience.

This past week was something! I don't remember many years with severe storms coming so many days in a row. We managed to avoid any structural damage but we did have some rough looking crops by the end of the week. I'm happy to report that much of our corn that had been laid down by the winds has stood back up. By the end of the week we received a total of 5.8" of rain. Much less than some areas had, but more than we needed.

It made for some challenging harvesting last week and now we are starting to see some stress response in crops who aren't happy about having soggy roots for nearly a week. So far the biggest issue looks to be in our carrots (and a few of our dahlias) where stretches of plants are rotting in the ground. Hopefully that trend won't continue.

The challenging weather probably hastened the end of our summer squash plants. They were already failing due to insect pressures but being bashed about in the winds and deluged for 3 days didn't help matters. So here is your heads up, summer squash/zucchini season is ending soon, if you haven't yet, make that zucchini bread and try the zucchini quesadilla recipe before it's too late!

But, all is not lost! The tomatoes are finally ripening so everyone should get at least a little sampling of tomatoes this week. The peppers are also getting close and we anticipate starting to harvest them later this week. The fall transplants are filling out nicely and we'll probably start putting them in the ground in a couple of days. And the cover crops we sowed right before the rains are starting to come up! Woohoo! Covered soil is happy soil!

A little detail on your produce this week:

Basil hates the cold and will turn black with exposure. Keep long stemmed basil in a glass/vase of water on your counter top (out of direct sunlight). Stems that are too short (trimmings/tops) should be placed in a glass or plastic container with a dry paper towel. Then put inside of a paper bag (for insulation) and put in the warmest part of your refrigerator (usually the door) or on the top shelf towards the front.

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

Beets: Cut off greens, leaving an inch of stem. Refrigerate the unwashed greens in a closed plastic bag and use with your chard mix as beets and chard are closely related. 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 soaked in salt water before storing, it will become too rubbery and wilted to enjoy.) Slice the juicy, edible stems and use them wherever florets are called for. Peel particularly thick skin before using.

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

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.

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.

Okra: These lovely, dark red, horn-shaped vegetables are a warm weather treat. Extremely cold sensitive, wrap with a dishcloth or paper towel and 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."

Scallions (green onions)- are best kept upright in a glass with about 1" of water in it, more like flowers than vegetables. Loosely cover the tops with plastic and you will be amazed at how long they will keep. We like to throw a handful of chopped scallions into nearly any savory dish, right near the end of the cooking time.

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, 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 NEWS - July 9, 2024 - VOL. 52, NO. 6

In this week’s box:

Basil: Sweet
Beans: Yellow & Green Mix
Beets: Cylindra
Choi: Black Summer
Cucumbers: Corinto, Marketmore or Dragon

Head Lettuce, assorted varieties
Scallions
Summer Squash: Golden Glory, Patty Pan, Safari, Slik Pik, or Zephyr

and at least one of the following: (see **NOTE below)

Broccoli: heads or florets with edible leaves
Cauliflower: Japanese

Eggplant: Orient Express

Peas: Snow or Sugar Snap

Herb It! option: Thai Basil, Bronze Fennel, Savory

Featured Recipes:

Squash with Basil and Parmesan

Lemon Garlic Bok Choy

BGF Summer Garden Pasta **see recipe below**

What’s up on the farm?
Precipitation in the past week: 1.5"

What a lovely weather week on the farm! The temperatures have been fabulous, the rains have been timely and gentle, the farm crew got a full day off for the 4th AND we made good forward progress in the fields. We'll take it!

This is the time of the season when we start to shift more hours towards harvesting than field maintenance (though the crew would probably argue there are still TOO MANY hours cultivating.) Regardless of our other tasks, crops like summer squash, cucumbers, beans and okra have to be harvested every other day. This keeps the fruits at their peak quality and cues the plants to keep producing. 

Speaking of beans, we were shocked when we harvested Friday and yesterday that there were so few beans to pick. We were expecting a big yield after last week's opening set. But there was almost nothing. After a little head scratching we looked back at the farm calendar and noted that 3 weeks ago we had that stretch of 90°+ degree days. Bean pollen is sterilized at those temperatures so although our plants are nice and healthy, none of the blooms during that time produced any fruits. They are blooming now, but we will have a pause in our bean production while the plants get going again. So enjoy those smaller bags of beans this week, it will be a couple of weeks before we are in full bean production again.

Besides harvesting, our big tasks this week were getting the first couple of lines installed on the tomato trellises (and tucking in all the plants), clearing all the spent early greens and more cultivating.  The recently sown fall transplants have germinated and moved out to the high tunnel to grow up a bit before they are planted in the fields. More fall crops will be sown this week.

Now with the whole farm in production we are seeing lots of visitors arrive to enjoy our progress. Some of them are valued team members, some fun guests and some are just obnoxious party crashers that no one wants to find. I'll let you guess who is who!

A little detail on your produce this week:

Basil hates the cold and will turn black with exposure. Keep long stemmed basil in a glass/vase of water on your counter top (out of direct sunlight). Stems that are too short (trimmings/tops) should be placed in a glass or plastic container with a dry paper towel. Then put inside of a paper bag (for insulation) and put in the warmest part of your refrigerator (usually the door) or on the top shelf towards the front.

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

Broccoli/Cauliflower: Wrap loosely in a plastic bag and keep it in the vegetable bin of your refrigerator for up to a week. Immediately before cooking, soak head down, in cold, salted water (1 teaspoon salt to a 8 cups of water) for 5 minutes. Any [organic] critters will float to the top where you can rescue them or allow them to suffer a salty death. (Note: If soaked in salt water before storing, it will become too rubbery and wilted to enjoy.) Slice the juicy, edible stems and use them wherever florets are called for. Peel particularly thick skin before using.

Beets: Cut off greens, leaving an inch of stem. Refrigerate the unwashed greens in a closed plastic bag and use with your chard mix as beets and chard are closely related. 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.

Choi (a.k.a. - pac choi, bok choy or pok choy) is a member of the cabbage family and is a traditional Asian stir-fry vegetable.  Both the stems and leaves of choi can be used and are especially tasty in cooked recipes.  If cooking them, separate the leaves and stems, and begin cooking stems first to avoid overcooking the more tender greens. You can also use the leaves like any green-leafy vegetable and the stems like celery.  We tend to use choi leaves as a sandwich wrap, or just roughly chop the whole thing and sauté with garlic and/or onion.  Cook until stems are tender and dress with a little seasoned rice vinegar. Store choi loosely wrapped in a plastic bag in your produce drawer.

Cucumber: Store unwashed cucumbers in a sealed plastic bag in the vegetable crisper bin for about a week. Keep cucumbers tucked far away from tomatoes, apples, and citrus—these give off ethylene gas that accelerates cucumber deterioration. You can do a lot of fancy things to the skin of a cucumber, but when it is young, fresh (and unwaxed), it really only needs to be thoroughly washed. However, if the skin seems tough or bitter you can remove it; if the seeds are bulky, slice the cucumber lengthwise and scoop them out.

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

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.

Scallions (green onions)- are best kept upright in a glass with about 1" of water in it, more like flowers than vegetables. Loosely cover the tops with plastic and you will be amazed at how long they will keep. We like to throw a handful of chopped scallions into nearly any savory dish, right near the end of the cooking time.

Summer Squash/Zucchini: Refrigerate unwashed zucchini and summer squash for up to a week and a half in a perforated plastic bag or in a sealed plastic container lined with a kitchen towel. These do not need to be peeled to use, just slice them up and go!

A few other details: All of your GREENS will keep best if stored in a plastic bag, with the top folded over and placed in the produce drawer of your refrigerator.

** NOTE: You will notice over the course of the season that some box contents listed above say "Perhaps one of the following..." These are items that we can’t harvest in sufficient quantities for the whole CSA to receive at one time. We do track who gets what and we will do our best to ensure that everyone eventually receives each item. On some items this may take several weeks, so please be patient.

Is a weekly newsletter not enough for you? Do you want to read more about our life on the farm and see more pictures? Follow us on Facebook at Blue Gate Farm or on Instagram at bluegatefarmfresh. CSA members can also connect with other BGF members to share recipes, 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 Summer Garden Pasta

Small bunch young beets, assorted colors with greens

1 tbs Olive Oil

1 tsp garlic, minced or garlic scapes, chopped

1 cup fresh beans or peas, stemmed and snapped into bite-sized pieces

2 tbs Dried Tomatoes, chopped or 2-4 Small fresh tomatoes, chopped

Feta Cheese. crumbled

1 tbs Balsamic vinegar

1 tbs fresh basil, cut into a chiffonade

Penne pasta

Prepare pasta according to directions.

While pasta is cooking, separate beets from greens (discard stems), cut beets into quarters or eighths and cut beet greens into a chiffonade.

Place dried tomatoes into a small heat-proof dish. When pasta is about half done, take 2 tbs of pasta water and pour over dried tomatoes to re-hydrate.

Place olive oil, garlic, beets and beans into a sauté pan over medium heat for 3-4 minutes, stirring often. Remove dried tomatoes from liquid (reserving liquid) and add tomatoes to sauté pan along with beet greens. Cook until greens are wilted and bright green.  Remove from heat.

Place pasta in a serving bowl, add sauted vegetables, fresh tomatoes and feta cheese. Sprinkle with reserved water from dried tomatoes, balsamic vinegar and basil, toss gently.

Tasty served warm or at room temp.

This recipe serves two as a main dish, but is easy to multiply to feed any number.

Recipe source: Blue Gate Farm

BGF NEWS - August 22, 2023 - VOL. 50, NO. 11

IN THIS WEEK’S BOX:

Basil: Sweet

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

Carrots: Rainbow Mix

Chard: Rainbow

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

Eggplant: Orient Express, Asian Delight and/or Listada

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

Peppers: Sweet, see 8/15 newsletter for descriptions

Scallions

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

Tomatoes: see 8/1 newsletter for descriptions

 

and perhaps one of the following:
Cantaloupe: Hannah's Choice

Okra: Bowling Red & Candle Fire

Watermelon: Sugar Baby (red) or Early Moonbeam (yellow)

Herb It! option: Purple basil, garlic chives, lovage

Bread Share: 7-Grain

Featured Recipes:

Simple Garlic Basil Carrots

Ginger Soy Glazed Beans and Peppers

Easy Panzanella Salad

Roasted Ratatouille Pasta

WHAT’S UP ON THE FARM?

Precipitation in the past week: 0.00"

You probably won't be surprised to hear that it's HOT on the farm this week...and all over the Midwest. Our recent temperatures coming into this week have been so pleasant that it rather ruined us for 90°-100° weather. Ah well, it is late August and as of the end of this month, the average temperatures do start to drop, so there's hope! The fall crops that we've been working so hard to get planted would really appreciate some cooler temps, as would the other crops, crew,  animals, farmers and everyone else, I'm sure. We are back to our irrigation rotation for sure and just trying to keep everyone alive out here.

The heat will probably be the death knell for some of the crops that were already slowing down like cucumbers and summer squash. While we're sad to see them go, they have stuck around longer this season than they do many years, so we appreciate that. The current crop of lettuce is definitely offended by the weather and has been added to the "clear it" list of crops along with the early turnips. The early bean crop is done and was cleared last week, but the later successions are going strong for now. 

We made an early morning push to get all the carrots and beets harvested over the past few days to be sure they would be tucked happily in the cooler for the hottest weather.

The new crop of cantaloupe is sadly failing fast. There are just too many stresses on it right now, but the watermelon is going crazy! 

All the sudden they are ALL ripening at the same time! We'll do what we can to get them out to you as soon as possible, but it is a bit of a logistical challenge moving nearly 50 watermelons to our pick-ups along with the CSA boxes. Time to roll out the cargo van again!

The one thing that is LOVING this heat is the popcorn! Most of the ears were done filling, so it's growing season is done and now we move to drying time and this is the weather for it! I swear you can almost see the husks turning brown. Looks like it will be an early popcorn harvest this year.

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, 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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

Watermelon: Handle watermelons carefully. When harvested at their peak ripeness, they can crack or split easily if bumped or roughly handled. Refrigerate watermelons right away. (Watermelons do not ripen off the vine and do not emanate a ripe smell.) Cut melon should be covered in plastic wrap, chunks or slices should be kept in an airtight container, and both should be refrigerated. Eat all melons within a week.

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 - June 13, 2023 - VOL. 50, NO. 2

In this week’s box:

Beijing Express
Chard

Collards

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

Lemon Balm

Scallions

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

the first few broccoli and baby summer squashes might also make an appearance in a couple of boxes this week.

Herb It! option: will start in a few weeks as the annual herbs mature
Bread Share: 7-Grain Bread

Featured Recipes:
Garlic Scape and Mess-o-Greens Pesto

Garlic Scape & Lemon Balm Pesto

Pickled Garlic Scapes

Chard Wrapped Grilled Mozzarella (a BGF favorite!)
Grilled Scallions *see recipe below (a BGF favorite!)


What’s up on the farm?

Precipitation in the past week: 0.15"

While Kermit the Frog would tell you that it's not easy being green, your farmer will tell you that at this time of the season it's very easy, in fact almost everything we are harvesting right now is green. Leafy greens, green onions, green peas, green garlic, green...green...green!

That's just the way it goes eating seasonally in the spring. I personally LOVE greens but not everyone is my household does so we try to find easy ways to use lots of them. Salads are a cinch, but what about greens that are better cooked? My go-to response is "saute them in garlic and olive oil. We also add lots of them to eggs and pasta, or use them in place of lettuce on a sandwich, sliced finely and added to chicken or egg salad. They are tasty on tacos or in burritos and we always use them as the base when we serve beans and rice! And there is always pesto! 

The Beijing Express we are sending out today is a favorite new green (both with us and the bugs!). Technically a choi it makes a great replacement for romaine lettuce in salads. A big, beautiful, deep green, upright variety with sweet, tender choi flavor. Delicious raw in salads, added to smoothies or cooked in any of your favorite greens recipes. Check out a couple of the linked recipes for some detailed inspiration there. And I promise, there are lots of great things to come, in addition to the greens.

Cauliflower is making it's first appearance this week in some of the boxes. This earliest variety is our favorite and it's a little different than your typical grocery store version. "Song" cauliflower is from Japan and it's a little sweeter and more tender than others. It's form is more open and it's much easier to cut apart into florets. And don't automatically compost the stem, many times it's tender enough to enjoy sliced along with the "curds." We're pretty excited about our Japanese scallion variety too. It was a discovery last year and we think they are amazing!

We were SO hopeful about last week's rain chances, and it did indeed rain on the farm, but it didn't last long and didn't add up to much. May and June are supposed to be the rainiest months, but it just isn't happening for us. We are trying to till as little as possible right now to conserve as much soil moisture as we can. The conditions are perfect for cultivating so our weed pressure is probably the lowest it's ever been. Hooray!! The irrigation system is the only thing keeping many crops alive right now. We don't typically irrigate our winter squash but the seed has been in the ground for nearly a month and there has been little germination due to the lack of moisture, so we may have to add some drip lines if we don't get rain by the end of the week.

Besides cultivating, we started clearing some spent spring crops this week. It was frustrating to pull out crops that hadn't been fully harvested (or harvested at all) but they had sped from "not yet ready" to past "harvestable" before we had a chance to use them. Sometimes, when conditions are challenging, that's just the way it goes. So, see you in the fall, Arugula and Vivid Choi!

But again, not all is gloom and doom! The main pea plantings are going gangbusters which is exciting because we love peas and they are also adding nitrogen to the soil for us. The cabbages are starting to head and look really good and the summer squashes and early cucumbers are setting fruits. There are SO many good things to come!

Finally, Farmyard Fancies still has openings for Bread Share! Cost is $120 (if paid with cash or check) or $125 (if paid with PayPal. Please email Angie at (farmyardfancies@gmail.com) to sign up . If you need one more temptation, Angie will be sampling bread in DM at today's delivery.

A little detail on your produce this week:

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.

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.

Scallions (green onions)- are best kept upright in a glass with about 1" of water in it, more like flowers than vegetables. Loosely cover the tops with plastic and you will be amazed at how long they will keep. We like to throw a handful of chopped scallions into nearly any savory dish, right near the end of the cooking time.

Summer Squash/Zucchini: Refrigerate unwashed zucchini and summer squash for up to a week and a half in a perforated plastic bag or in a sealed plastic container lined with a kitchen towel. These do not need to be peeled to use, just slice them up and go!

A few other details: All of your GREENS will keep best if stored in a plastic bag, with the top folded over and placed in the produce drawer of your refrigerator.

** NOTE: You will notice over the course of the season that some box contents listed above say "Perhaps one of the following..." These are items that we can’t harvest in sufficient quantities for the whole CSA to receive at one time. We do track who gets what and we will do our best to ensure that everyone eventually receives each item. On some items this may take several weeks, so please be patient.

Is a weekly newsletter not enough for you? Do you want to read more about our life on the farm and see more pictures? Follow us on Facebook at Blue Gate Farm or on Instagram at bluegatefarmfresh. CSA members can also connect with other BGF members to share recipes or ask questions on our FB community page at Blue Gate Farm Community.
That's about it for now.
If you have any questions or comments, be sure to let us know.
Best from the farm,
Jill & Sean (and the whole BGF crew)

Grilled Scallions with Sesame Oil

Serves 2

8 scallions, greens trimmed to 5 inches, cut in half lengthwise

toasted sesame oil

salt

freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the broiler or lightly oiled grill to medium-high heat. Arrange the scallions on a shallow baking sheet or aluminum foil.

Use a pastry brush to coat the scallions with a thin layer of sesame oil. Season with salt and pepper. Broil or grill until golden

brown on all sides, 3 to 5 minutes.

Recipe Source: “The Real Dirt on Farmer John Cookbook”

BGF NEWS - September 20, 2022 - VOL. XLVIII, NO. 16

In this week’s box:

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

Cherry Tomatoes: Jubilee Mix (see description on 8/2)
Head Lettuce: asst
Kale Bouquet: asst varieties

Scallions

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

Turnips: Hakurei

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

Broccoli Florets (with edible leaves)
Eggplant: Orient Express, Asian Delight or Listada (last time)
Okra: Candle Fire and Burgundy (last time)

Herb It! option: sweet basil, sorrel, anise hyssop
Bread Share: Rosemary Raisin Bites

Featured Recipes:  

Turnip, Apple & Butternut Squash Soup

Braised Kale and Turnips

BGF Squash and Sausage Bake **BGF favorite!** see below

What’s up on the farm?

Precipitation in the past week: 1.5" (farmer & crop happy dance!)

The big news of the past week was the glorious rain on Saturday. Luckily we missed the hail that hit both north and south of us. The fall crops are already looking better and the recently sown oat cover crop is starting to germinate.

While the fall crops are stepping into the spotlight, many of the summer crops are calling it quits. This is the last week for both okra and eggplant. They have stopped putting on new fruits and the cooler weather later this week will likely finish them off. The field basil will likely be offended by the mid 40° temps that are forecast, so it will probably be farewell for it too, but we hope to pull the high tunnel basil through for another couple of weeks.

The ground cherries are done, the bed cleared and will shortly be in oats. The tomatoes are still producing, but they have slowed down quite a bit and probably only have a couple of weeks left. It is a time of change around the farm for sure! If you aren't doing enough you're likely to get "recycled"!

We are sending out Butternut squash this week and we're feeling a bit embarrassed about it. It was a rough season in our squash patch and the majority of them failed. Winter squash is such an iconic fall vegetable and we wanted folks to get to enjoy them but these are not squash we are proud of, merely the survivors. While they are edible, nearly all our butternuts had imperfections, so please use your squash in the next week or so as we don't think they will keep very long.

In the past couple of weeks, folks have started asking about the end of the season, so I guess it's time to talk about it and a couple of other dates of interest. The final CSA delivery is Tuesday, Oct 18th, so we still have 4 deliveries after today. After that date,we would be more than happy to continue to supply you with produce (and our other products) through our custom-order VegEmail program. Currently VegEmail is delivered weekly on Saturdays to the same location you pick up your CSA box. In November we will switch to our winter VegEmail schedule, which delivers every 2 weeks on Tuesday evenings, still to the same locations. 

I hope this answers your questions about the season transition. If you have any other questions about the CSA or about VegEmail, don't hesitate to ask.

Important Dates Ahead:

Tuesday, Oct 18, Final 2022 CSA delivery

Saturday, Oct 29, final Saturday weekly VegEmail delivery

Tuesday, Nov 8, first bi-weekly winter VegEmail delivery

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.

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."

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.

Scallions (green onions): are best kept upright in a glass with about 1" of water in it, more like flowers than vegetables. Loosely cover the tops with plastic and you will be amazed at how long they will keep. We like to throw a handful of chopped scallions into nearly any savory dish, right near the end of the cooking time.


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


Turnips: keep best if separated from their greens. Greens are stored in a plastic bag and can be cooked like mustard or collard greens. Trimmed roots can go into a lidded container or zip-close bag. These aren't your grandma's turnips. These are a sweet, Japanese salad variety that is particularly tasty for fresh eating. They will still work great in cooked dishes, but we love to eat them raw, often right out of hand, like an apple. One of the farm crew's favorite mid-field snacks.

Winter Squash: Store winter squash in a cool, dry, dark place with good ventilation for up to a month, depending on the variety. Once squash has been cut, you can wrap the pieces in plastic and refrigerate them for five to seven days. To make it easier to prep winter squash for your recipe, try the prebaking method: pierce the squash to allow heat to escape while it is in the oven, then bake the squash whole at 350° F until it is just barely tender to the poke of the finger, 20 to 30 minutes. This softens the shell and makes cutting and peeling much easier.

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

BGF Squash & Sausage Bake

2 1/2 pounds butternut squash or other winter squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
3/4 cup canned coconut milk

3 sage leaves (can sub rosemary or thyme)

2/3 cup finely grated parmigiano-reggiano

2 links Italian sausage, precooked, cut into rounds (this recipe is also tasty without the sausage)

Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle.

Toss squash with coconut milk, sage, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a 2-quart shallow baking dish. Bake, covered, 30 minutes.

Stir in half of cheese and sausage. Sprinkle remainder of cheese on top. Roast, uncovered, until squash is tender and beginning to brown, about 20 minutes. Let stand about 5 minutes before serving (cream will thicken).

Cooks’ notes: •Butternut squash can be cut 1 day ahead and chilled in sealable bags.


Recipe Source: Blue Gate Farm, adapted from www.epicurious.com