Asparagus
Baby Choi
Head Lettuce
Peppermint
Garlic Scapes
Turnips
and perhaps one of the following: (Please see the note after "🥕 Storage & Handling Notes" below.)
Broccoli: Mini Heads
Japanese Cauliflower: Mini Heads
Golden Oyster Mushrooms
Sugar Snap Peas
💙 Farmer Favorite: Asparagus
🥬 Something New to Try: Baby Choi
🎉 Coming Soon: Jam It! and Spice It Up! subscriptions begin next week. Herb It! will follow in a few weeks - as soon as the basil is ready.
📅 Notable Event: Welcome to Year #20 of our Bounty Box Farm Membership program!
Welcome to delivery #1 of the 2026 Bounty Box season!
This is the 20th season of our Bounty Box/CSA/Farm Membership program, and we are so happy you’re here for the adventure. Whether this is your first season or your twentieth, thank you for choosing to be part of the farm.
It’s a crazy and exciting time around here. The crew is fully on for the season and we’ve been working hard to get fields prepped, sown, transplanted, cultivated, watered, and weeded. The spring crops are mostly growing nicely, though a few decided the early heat meant it was time to flower instead of feed people (insert farmer grumbles here).
Most of our summer crops are now planted, including more than 600 tomato plants. From here on out, it’s a race between the crops and the weeds, and we’ll spend much of the next several months trying to stay one step ahead.
The asparagus is wrapping up it’s season a bit earlier than normal, so this is our final harvest of the year. We were able to get just enough for everyone to have “just a taste” in their boxes today.
If you’re new to the Bounty Box, don’t worry if a few vegetables seem unfamiliar at first. That’s part of the fun. Every week we’ll share recipes, storage tips, cooking ideas, and plenty of encouragement. Before long you’ll be reaching for vegetables you never thought you’d enjoy.
You’ll find a vegetable brush tucked into your box this week.
Most produce brushes are too aggressive and end up scraping the skin right off tender vegetables. About twenty years ago we discovered these surgical scrub brushes and immediately adopted them as our farm favorite. They’re sturdy enough for potatoes, gentle enough for fruits, easy to clean, and surprisingly durable.
We love them so much that we wanted every Bounty Box member to have one. Give it a try and let us know what you think. When it gets dirty, simply toss it in the dishwasher.
Twenty years ago, we packed our first CSA boxes with a lot of enthusiasm, a little experience, and absolutely no idea where the journey would lead. Thousands of deliveries later, we’re still humbled that so many families choose to eat with the seasons and support local agriculture.
Thank you for trusting us helping make twenty years possible.
We 💙 being your farmers!
Few vegetables announce the arrival of spring quite like asparagus. Those tender green spears are one of the first perennial crops to emerge each year, pushing through the soil long before most summer vegetables have even been planted. In fact, a healthy asparagus planting can continue producing for 15–20 years or more, making it one of the longest-lived crops on the farm.
Fresh-picked asparagus is a completely different experience from the grocery store version. Sweeter, more tender, and bursting with flavor, it hardly needs any embellishment at all. A quick roast, grill, or sauté is often enough to let it shine.
💡 Pro Tip: Asparagus loses sweetness quickly after harvest, so enjoy it sooner rather than later. Store it upright in a glass with an inch of water (like a bouquet of flowers) or wrap the ends in a damp paper towel and refrigerate.
🍽️ Simple Recipe: Zesty Marinated Asparagus (very popular at our farm tour last week!)
🍽️ Bonus Recipe: Microwave Asparagus and Lemon Risotto
No time to use everything this week?
Many vegetables freeze beautifully. If life gets busy, chop extra choi, herbs, or garlic scapes and freeze them for future soups, stir-fries, and sautés. Future-you will be delighted.
Here’s our downloadable one-page guide to storing all things produce!
This section contains the crop-specific storage information, handling suggestions, and preparation tips for everything in this week’s box.
ASPARAGUS: Keeps best stored upright in a glass with about 1" of water, in the refrigerator. Delicious raw or cooked.
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.
CHOI: Store choi loosely wrapped in a cotton towel, then place in a plastic bag in your produce drawer.
OYSTER MUSHROOMS: We wild harvest these in our timber, so they may be more prone to having a bit more “nature” in them. 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. Please be sure to cook all mushrooms before consuming. We LOVE them simply sautéed in butter and eaten on toast or scrambled with eggs to really celebrate their delicious flavor.
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.
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 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. We also enjoyed them tossed whole in olive oil and grilled as a side dish.
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.
TURNIPS (Spinruts): 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.
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. We find the longest storage is achieved by having a layer of cotton or paper towel between the greens and the plastic.
** 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.
Here are a few upcoming events and milestones to keep on your radar:
June 2 - Bounty Box Delivery #1 and kick-off to our 20th Membership season!
June 28 - Practical Farmer’s of Iowa Field Day at Blue Gate Farm
Need extra produce this week?
Our VegEmail program makes it easy to order additional vegetables, pantry items, flowers, eggs, cheese, baked goods, and more from Blue Gate Farm and our partner producers.
Place your order here by Thursday at noon and pick up Saturday at:
SingleSpeed Brewing (Downtown Des Moines)
Grand Theater (Knoxville)
It’s one more way we’re helping make local food easy.
You’ve seen our photos—now we’d love to see yours.
Share pictures of your Bounty Box haul, your favorite recipe, your garden-inspired dinner, or even your kids helping unpack the box. Email, text, or post them in the Blue Gate Farm Community group.
We’ll feature member photos throughout the season.
Facebook: Blue Gate Farm
Community Group: Blue Gate Farm Community
Instagram: @bluegatefarmfresh
Questions? Just hit reply or click the comment button below
Thank you for being part of the farm this season. We’re glad you’re here!
Best from the farm,
— Jill and Sean & the whole BGF Crew
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