Arugula (in the small bag) Asparagus Braising Greens Mix (Tatsoi, Tokoyo Bekana & Amara) (in large bag) Braising Greens Mix Garlic Scapes (the curly green things) Head Lettuce: assorted red & green Mountain Mint Napa Cabbage Strawberries Swiss "Cheese" Chard: please forgive the extra holes and perhaps one of the following: (please see **NOTE after "A Little Detail...) Snap or Snow Peas For those with the Egg option [full shares]: one dozen free-range eggs (asst. colors) For those with the Herb option: Herb share will begin in a couple of weeks as herbs mature Featured Recipes: Strawberries with Lemon and Mint Simple Garlicky Greens Garlic Scape Pesto Lime Cabbage Salad *see recipe below

BGF NEWS - JUNE 9, 2020 - VOL. XLV, NO. 2

In this week’s box:

Arugula (in the small bag)

Asparagus

Braising Greens Mix (Tatsoi, Tokoyo Bekana & Amara) (in large bag)

Braising Greens Mix

Garlic Scapes (the curly green things)

Head Lettuce: assorted red & green
Mountain Mint

Napa Cabbage
Strawberries
Swiss "Cheese" Chard: please forgive the extra holes

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

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

For those with the Herb option: Herb share will begin in a couple of weeks as herbs mature

Featured Recipes:  

Strawberries with Lemon and Mint

Simple Garlicky Greens
Garlic Scape Pesto
Lime Cabbage Salad *see recipe below

What’s up on the farm?

Precipitation in the past week: 0.45"

As I write this, the first sprinkles from what was Tropical Storm Cristobal have begun. This has been our driving force for much of the past 5 days as a predicted 2-3" rain will keep us out of the fields for several days, at the very least. 

To that end we have been harvesting, cultivating, sowing and transplanting as fast as we could in the heat, all the while running "round robin" with the irrigation, trying to keep everything watered until it rains. 

To give you an idea of how dry we were, the photo on the right is what it looks like when you till & cultivate on a windy,  90° day. This was on the inside of my work pants. I definitely should have hosed down before coming in the house! 

But it was a successful, if hot, week and we were able to cross off many items from the to-do list. We transplanted: melons and okra, plus more cabbage, cauliflower, peppers, lettuce and flowers. We also sowed new beds of edamame, arugula and choi and cultivated much of the gardens and fields. Finally, the last of the irrigation system went in, just in time for the higher temps.

Harvesting garlic scapes

This heat is really pushing some of our earliest crops and will mark the end of a number of crops including asparagus, braising greens and early choi. We've started clearing beds and replacing them with warm-weather crops. The heat isn't all bad though, as long as we can stay ahead with rain or irrigation it really pushes the warm weather crops forward. The summer squash and zucchini plants are all blooming and starting to set fruit and the strawberries...holy berries, Batman! We spent a couple of hours harvesting strawberries yesterday and this was just the first big ripening. So now we have a bit of a problem and are suddenly short on berry containers. In response to that shortage, you will notice that your strawberries are in some nice blue quart containers, please, please return those at next week's delivery. They were intended for use in market display (which will eventually start up again) and are expensive to replace. 

Also, if you have any (clean) quart or pint berry containers, we would love to put those back to work. We really only need the pint and quart sizes, if you have others, please recycle those. A reminder that we will also accept returns of your clean egg cartons. 

Another reminder, there is still time to sign up for any of the options with your CSA share. Egg and Herb Shares from BGF are still available, as are the Partner Shares we are coordinating with our talented friends at other local farms including:

Des Moines-Ebersole Cattle Co (Meat) & Lost Lake Farm LLC (Cheese)

Knoxville- Crooked Gap Farm (Meat) & Farmyard Fancies (Bread)

A little detail on your produce this week:

Asparagus: Keeps best stored upright in a glass with about 1" of water, in the refrigerator. Delicious raw or cooked. 

Garlic Scapes: One of our favorite crops of the year. These curly green "springs" 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 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.

Mountain Mint: not a true member of the mint family, Mountain mint has a softer mint flavor and can be used in any recipe calling for mint. We like it in mint syrup and in fruit salsas or as a refreshing iced tea. Store upright in a glass of water, loosely covered in the refrigerator.

Napa Cabbage: 

Store Napa cabbage whole in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for up to a week. These Napa are fairly immature and wont have a large formed head but are still tasty and can be used in any cabbage recipe.

Peas

are best kept in a plastic bag or glass container in your refrigerator. Use within a week.

Strawberries keep best in your refrigerator in a vented container. Use within 3-4 days.

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

Lime Cabbage Salad

1/2 cabbage, finely shredded
2 limes, freshly squeezed
large pinch of sea salt
1/4 tsp cumin seed
1/4 tsp toasted sesame oil

Toss together & serve as a side salad or top with a saucy or spicy meat, like left over BBQ beef.

Recipe Source: Blue Gate Farm friend, Dana Foster

Asparagus Baby Choi: Joi (white stems) and/or Shanghai Green (lt. green stems) Golden Oyster Mushrooms (in plastic clamshell) Green Garlic Head Lettuce: asst varieties Kale Mix (large mixed leaf bundle) Sorrel (bundle of long, dark green leaves with a tart, lemony flavor) and perhaps one of the following: (please see **NOTE after "A Little Detail..." below) Snap or Snow Peas For those with the Egg option [full & half shares]: one dozen free-range eggs (asst. colors) For those with the Herb option: Herb share will begin in a couple of weeks as herbs mature Featured Recipes: BGF Favorite Kale Salad (see recipe below) BGF Sorrel Soup (see recipe below) Bok Choy and Oyster Mushroom Stir Fry

BGF News - June 2, 2020 - Vol. XLV, No. 1

In this week’s box:

Asparagus

Baby Choi: Joi (white stems) and/or Shanghai Green (lt. green stems)

Golden Oyster Mushrooms (in plastic clamshell)

Green Garlic

Head Lettuce: asst varieties
Kale Mix  (large mixed leaf bundle)

Sorrel (bundle of long, dark green leaves with a tart, lemony flavor)

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

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

For those with the Herb option: Herb share will begin in a couple of weeks as herbs mature

Featured Recipes:  
BGF Favorite Kale Salad (see recipe below)
BGF Sorrel Soup (see recipe below)
Bok Choy and Oyster Mushroom Stir Fry

What’s up on the farm?

Precipitation in May: 3.45"

Welcome to the first delivery of the 2020 CSA season and the start of weekly newsletters!  The boxes feel a little light at this time of the season and you will notice the abundance of greens and not quite as much variety as we expect later in the season.  This is part of the joy of eating fresh, seasonal foods.  As the season continues the weight and variety of the contents will increase with the arrival of heavier crops including beans, tomatoes, potatoes and squash.  One thing that does remain somewhat consistent is the presence of some cosmetic damage caused by our local insects.  This is an indication that we are truly a chemical-free farm.  We try to keep the insect population under control, but they are simply a fact of life in a naturally grown system.  We hope you can overlook some minor leaf damage and we will do our best to keep it to a minimum.  Also we do our best to provide you with clean produce, but you may find a little dirt here and there or, yikes, possibly an insect.  We do wash the produce and sort it to the best of our ability, but we are processing a significant volume and it is possible that at some point you will find a little “nature” in your box.  If and when it happens to you, we apologize ahead of time and hope you will forgive the oversight.  Remember, while we do clean the produce, it is always good practice to wash your vegetables before using.

Our new CSA tote drying station

A bit on our efforts be more mindful producers. Over the years we have tried to minimize our use of plastics and single-use products both in our field practices  and in the packing shed/kitchen. We now use long-term reusable totes for your CSA deliveries both for sanitation and low waste. You'll notice they have the name "Grinnell Heritage Farm" stamped on the sides. When our friends from GHF "retired" from farming earlier this year, we purchased their CSA totes. They met a need that we had, filled a need that GHF had and allowed us to not buy new plastic. We use paper-pulp egg cartons not plastic or styrofoam and we have switched over to twist-ties or rubber bands on products that we used to bag like chard, kale and lettuce bouquets. We haven't yet found a good solution for our baby greens like salad mix and arugula but we're always looking. So how can you help us on this journey?

Clean & Return to Us

Paper egg cartons (clean ones only, please)

Plastic pint/quart containers

Plastic or paper berry boxes

Please don't return plastic produce bags or twist ties, we can't reuse those in the packing shed but we encourage you to wash and reuse them in your own home. The less waste we create, the less we have to clean up later.

Do you have questions or suggestions on our use of packaging materials? Please let us know!

A big thank you to our pick-up site hosts: Peace Tree Brewing Co - Des Moines and the Grand Theater in Knoxville.  Over the course of the season please consider supporting these independent, local businesses who offer us a great place to deliver your produce.

Straw mulch vs ground cover cloth

It has been a busy spring on the farm with decent cycles of wet and dry weather that has put us far ahead of where we were at this time last year. The heat forecast for the coming week has us a bit concerned about our spring crops which don't appreciate 90° weather and tend to bolt, which ends their use as food crops, though the chickens love it. This past week we got the rest of the field tomatoes planted (and mulched) as well as basil and more zucchini. We also sowed more choi and arugula and re-sowed a failed edamame crop. 

The Purple Prom Dress pounds posts

We were lucky to miss the 4" rain last week so were able to get a lot of cultivating done, in all it's forms, hand weeding, hoeing, wheel hoeing, walking tractor and traditional tractor. Things are really starting to look like summer out there. Today we installed the trellises for the cucumbers to share with the peas. Many more crops to transplant and sow in the coming days, but the sunroom (which is our plant nursery) is now empty, with all of the plants moved out to the tunnel to get hardened off or already planted in the field.

Golden Oyster Mushroom

Another bright spot to our recent moisture...a huge flush of golden oyster mushrooms in our timber! This is the 2nd year we have been able to offer mushrooms as part of the CSA and we hope you are as excited about them as we are. 

 We hope you enjoy this first delivery and are looking forward to this season as much as we are.

We hope you also enjoy the weekly online newsletter. One of the goals for this format is so you can go to the blog/newsletter at any time and search for specific vegetables, that should allow you to see any archived recipes for that item. It also allows us to include photos and links to more recipes and information. As we mentioned in the recent newsletter, in addition to the regular BGF Facebook page, we also have a Facebook page for CSA members. You can find it here: Blue Gate Farm Community. If you have a Facebook account we encourage you to post recipes, photos and questions about your weekly produce box adventures. If you don't have an account, don't worry, you can still see/read anything on the page, but you won't be able to post anything. We will keep an eye on the page and try to answer questions in a timely manner, but really this is to encourage the "Community" aspect of CSA and to provide you all a venue to share and connect with each other.

A little detail on your produce this week:

Asparagus: Keeps best stored upright in a glass with about 1" of water, in the refrigerator. Delicious raw or cooked. 

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.

Green Garlic: is immature or "teenage" garlic and should be stored in the refrigerator, where it will keep for 5-7 days. Wrap the green garlic in a damp paper towel and place it in a plastic bag; or for a non-plastic alternative, stick the green garlic in a tall glass with some water in the bottom. You can use all of the tender white and light green parts in recipes calling for fresh garlic. Dark green leaves can be frozen and saved for stock, or used to add flavor to a soup (pop them in whole, like a bay leaf).

Oyster Mushrooms: To maximize the shelf life of raw mushrooms, refrigerate them in a paper bag; do not wrap in plastic or store in airtight container, as this will speed spoilage.  Properly stored, raw whole mushrooms will usually keep well for 4 to 7 days in the fridge. To use, trim off the stems as they are tough and either discard them or save to make a vegetable stock.

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)

BGF's Favorite Kale Salad  

Yield: Makes 6 to 8 servings

2 tablespoons dried cranberries
5 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, divided
3 tablespoon seasoned rice vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 bunches kale (about 1 pound), center ribs and stems removed, leaves thinly sliced crosswise
2 tablespoons sunflower seeds, (if using salted, cut down on the 1tsp salt above)
Parmesan cheese shavings

Place cranberries in small bowl; add balsamic vinegar, seasoned rice vinegar, honey oil and salt and allow to soak several hours (overnight is even better).

Place kale in a large bowl, add cranberry mixture and toss to coat. Let marinate 20 minutes at room temperature, tossing occasionally. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with cheese shavings and sunflower seeds just before serving.

Recipe Source:  adapted from an epicurious recipe by Dan Barber 

Sorrel Soup

2 C. Chopped Sorrel Leaves

3 Tbs. Butter

1 Med. Onion-chopped

1 Qt. Chicken Stock

½ lb Potatoes-peeled and cubed

1 Tsp. Salt

1 C. Milk

2 Tbs. Flour

1 Egg Yolk

1/8 Tsp. Nutmeg

In a medium saucepan, heat butter over medium heat. Add onion and cook for 4-5 minutes or until softened. Add chicken stock and sorrel and cook, stirring for 10 min.  Add potatoes and salt. Bring to a boil.  Cover and simmer for 30 min. Combine egg yolk and flour, then add to milk and mix well. Add egg mixture and nutmeg to soup, stirring to combine. Heat through, do not boil.  Delicious served with French bread.

Indigo, Luci & Sky

BGF News - MAY 2020 - Vol. XLIII, No. 6

All of the farm crew are working hard!

What's up on the farm?

Precipitation in the past month: Rain: 3.75"

                                                            Snow: 6.0"
                                                          + asst. sleet and small hail

It's a little hard to believe that as I sat here writing April's newsletter just a month ago, we were getting our last snow of the season and it was about to get REALLY cold! Today, the windows are open to invite in the 81° breeze and it looks like more storms are on their way. At least it's rain this time.

It's been an interesting growing season so far this spring. Early April was mild and we got lots of things done, then it got cold, really cold. It froze off our first flush of asparagus, so that even though we saw our first spears on April 1st, we didn't harvest our first asparagus until April 24th, about 3 weeks later than we anticipated and a full week later than average. It was a long, slow "dawning of the age of asparagus" this year, but now we are cruising along at about normal harvests. That cold snap was also challenging for our fruit trees. Many were in full bloom or at least full bud. It looks like the peaches, apples and pears skirted the damage point, but we lost nearly all of the tree cherry crop. 

Luckily the strawberries were still protected and given the blooms on them right now, it just might be a bumper strawberry season (fingers crossed!).

At this point, we are just about on schedule with were we expect to be in the fields. The earliest spring crops are producing nicely in the big high tunnel and in the field the are just getting to harvest stage. The small tunnel has been cleared of winter crops and replanted to tomatoes, peppers, basil and eggplant.  

Potatoes!

The potatoes are up as are the first beans and the cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce and onion transplants are all growing along nicely. Even the popcorn has just started germinating enough that we were able to get in and cultivate it just ahead of this weekend's rains. Amid all of the transplanting, sowing, cultivating and harvesting, this is also the traditional time for shearing. While the alpacas heartily protest the event in it's entirety, everyone celebrates a successful shearing day!

"After"

"Before"

Now back to our "regular program." Every year we try to participate in a formal field trial with Practical Farmers of Iowa (PFI). It gives us the impetus and structure to collect hard data from which we can make more educated decisions.
This year we are trialing reusuable groundcover fabric in place of our straw mulch in the tomato plot. The hope is that it will increase plant health and greatly decrease the labor in weeding some of our long season crops while being reusuable for many seasons to come, so we aren't adding any more plastic to the landfill than we can help. That's a pretty tall order, but we are giving it a shot. So this year we are doing half straw mulch and half fabric so we can compare them. Should be interesting!

Probably our biggest change this month has been the postponement of the Downtown Des Moines Farmers Market. It seems a bit surreal to not be there every Saturday morning, as we have been for the past 15 years. In its place we have extended our winter custom VegEmail sales into the new "VegEmail Market" with our friends from Ebersole Cattle Co., Lost Lake Farm LLC and Peace Tree Brewing Co. The weekly Saturday orders with "drive thru" service have been surprisingly popular and we've been blown away by the gracious support of our customers. Our plan is to continue to do this until we can safely return to the farmers market. 

Our "VegEmail Market" at Peace Tree-DM

So here we are, nearly done with May and ready to say hello to June, and for us, that means CSA season! 

The CSA is on schedule to begin deliveries on Tuesday, June 2nd in Des Moines, Knoxville and on the farm. CSA members should have received an email from us last week detailing the pick-up process and side options available for each location. Just a reminder to our members that now is the time to sign up for our "Partner Farms" options, including Ebersole Cattle Co. (beef) and Lost Lake Farm LLC (cheese) for Des Moines members and Crooked Gap Farm (meat) and Farmyard Fancies (bread) for Knoxville and on-farm members. We are so excited to be working with these quality producers to bring you more opportunities for great local foods. Want to sign up for the Partner Farms options, but haven't yet? Here's your chance!

Des Moines delivery:

Ebersole Cattle Company: ebersolecattleco@yahoo.com

Lost Lake Farm LLC: http://eepurl.com/gX3zL9.  

Knoxville delivery:

Crooked Gap Farm: Ethan@Crookedgapfarm.com

Farmyard Fancies: farmyardfancies@gmail.com

CSA members, watch for another "Orientation email" later this week.

And finally, if you don't follow us on Facebook or Instagram, you might have missed our new photo project we are calling:  "The Farm Mis-Adventures of the Purple Prom Dress" or the working title, "Farm Prom".

Why, you might ask, does a farm have or need a purple prom dress? Good question! Because this is such a mixed-up, crazy year for everyone, we decided we needed a little diversion. Something we do, simply for the silly joy of the thing. And so "Farm Prom" it is! Here's a little sample of some of our recent adventures. Follow us on FB or Instagram for more to come!

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

That's about it for now. If you have any questions or comments, be sure to let us know.

Best from the farm,

Jill & Sean (and the whole BGF crew)

Indigo, Luci & Sky

BGF News - April 2020 - Vol. XLIII, No. 5

What's up on the farm?

Precipitation in the past month: Rain: 3.25"

                                                            Snow: 5.0"

                                                            Sleet & Ice: that too!

What a month this has been! 
Amid a world turned cattywampus with changes in nearly everyone's routines and priorities, Spring has wandered in from the south and started to make herself at home. That said, as I write this looking out at the rolling green pastures outside my office window, the first snowflakes of our next snowstorm are starting to drift down from the sky, with forecasts of 6-10". Sigh, April in Iowa.

This is the time of year when we really start to get our scurry on. Everything revolves around the weather right now. We need it to warm up enough to defrost the compost pile, then dry out enough to spread the compost and then to till and seed. Then we'd like it to rain enough to settle the seed and encourage it to germinate, but not so much as to wash it away or cause it to rot. Then we'd like some gently warming temperatures to allow us to transplant, and then again some rain. 

Just in case you are curious, this NEVER happens in an orderly or organized fashion. We try to be ready with each successive step for when the weather and soil conditions allow us to proceed but best laid plans and all that. We often find ourselves diving into tasks when the conditions are almost right, but not quite, and then doing them as fast as we can before the weather turns again. 

Tilling alongside the garlic planting

Freshly tilled El Norte plot

Seeding snow peas

In the past month we have done all of these things, and are mostly caught up to where we want to be at this time of year.  The compost is spread, the primary tilling is done and the first round of direct seeded early crops are in the ground, including: salad mix, spinach, beets, carrots, greens mix, choi turnips and peas. 



Thanks to my dad, we also got one round of oat cover crop seeding in before the 3" of snow a couple of days ago. 



The early high tunnel crops are mostly in and growing nicely, with just a couple more seedings of salad mix and arugula to add in. We also transplanted kale and chard into the big high tunnel, but the earliest field transplanting hasn't begun yet, hopefully very soon. 

Transplants waiting for warmer weather

The small tunnel is still the "staging ground" for all of the flats of spring transplants that aren't quite ready to move outside yet. These include cabbage, broccoli, head lettuce, cauliflower, herbs, and edible flowers. The sunroom is full to bursting with the warm-weather transplants including tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, fennel, ornamental flowers, basil, celery and further sowings of cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower. Next up are cucumbers, summer squash and okra. 

Back on April 1st we saw our first asparagus spear peeking out of the soil. That's earlier than average and we thought we might have an early asparagus season. Nope. The recent 20° nighttime temperatures froze off anything above the soil and set the soil temperatures back quite a bit. So the "Age of Asparagus" has been delayed a bit, but we still look forward to a season of bountiful spears in the coming weeks.

VegEmail orders ready for pick up

Our bi-weekly VegEmail program has been going like gangbusters with record sales for the past several rounds. Thanks to all our awesome customers who have placed orders so far this season. Armed with our new health safety measures and drive-up convenience, we plan to continue these deliveries until the DM farmers market reopens sometime later this summer. We  are so pleased to be sharing these deliveries with our friends from Ebersole Cattle Co., Lost Lake Farm LLC and Peace Tree Brewing Company. You can now order and pick up your eggs, veg, meat, cheese and beer all in one stop, and you don't even have to get out of your car! If you aren't already receiving our VegEmail announcements, you can sign up for them here: VegEmail

The 2020 CSA season is just about six weeks away and we are full! If you were hoping to join us this season, but haven't filled out the form yet we are happy to put you on the waiting list. Invoices for CSA balance payments will be going out in the next couple of days. A bounty of farm-fresh thanks to those of you who have already sent in payments!!  

**Now the big news for our CSA members!!**
This year we are partnering with several area farms to offer new options for our CSA members. 

Des Moines members will now be able to sign up for a Meat Share with Ebersole Cattle Co., and a Cheese Share with Lost Lake Farm LLC. If you choose these options, they will be picked up at the same time as your regular produce share.

Knoxville members can sign up for a Meat Share from Crooked Gap Farm and a Bread Share from our neighbors (and farm crew members) at Farmyard Fancies, also to be picked up along with your produce share.

We are so excited to work with these amazing producers to bring you more quality local products. More details to follow in an informational email to our CSA members, but we just couldn't wait to let you in on this new opportunity.

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

That's about it for now. If you have any questions or comments, be sure to let us know.

Best from the farm,

Jill & Sean (and the whole BGF crew)

Indigo, Luci & Sky