Basil: Genovese or Lettuce Leaf
Cantaloupe: Minnesota Midget
Carrots: Rainbow Mix
Cucumbers: Assorted varieties
Garlic: Northern White
Head Lettuce: Assorted varieties
Jubilee Snacking Tomato Mix
Peppers-Sweet: Assorted varieties
Summer Squash: Assorted varieties
Tomatoes: Assorted slicers
and perhaps one of the following: (Please see the note after “🥕 Storage & Handling Notes” below.)
Bean Mix
Eggplant: Asian or Listada (striped)
Okra: Bowling Red &/or Candle Fire
Shishito Peppers
🌿Herb It! option: Cardinal Basil, Sage, Lovage
💙 Farmer Favorite: Jubilee Snacking Tomato Mix
🌿 Something New to Try: Eggplant
🎉 First of the Season: fall high tunnel crops sown
🌡️ Notable Event: Onion harvest is done!
Yet again last week we dodged the weather bullet. Areas just to the north and south of us got hammered by rain, some as high as 5”. We scooted by with an acceptable 1.3”. It was enough to make field work impossible so we took the opportunity to catch up on some indoor tasks. The crew dug into cultivating in both high tunnels and also got a round of garlic cleaned, trimmed and ready to go out in boxes and orders.
I spent my rain days getting caught up on all the final transplant seeding for the year. It was perfect timing as the rain translated to cooler temperatures that were perfect for seedlings to germinate. All the flats germinated well and have already moved out to the small tunnel to learn to be big plants. The onions that were in the small tunnel curing got booted out to the big tunnel so now it looks like the assembly line in an onion factory in there.
Speaking of onions, we got the last of those harvested this week and it was mostly a bumper crop. We expanded our onion beds this season and I neglected to think about how that would turn into expanded need for onion curing space. I feel like we have crates of onions curing all over the farm right now. Fingers crossed they all cure well so I can move on to figuring out the challenge of storing all of them.
It looks like we are in for some more rainy days ahead so maybe we’ll get a chance to get some of those onions cleaned up and more garlic ready to go.
Recently we’ve introduced some of the stars of the mid-season crops as they’ve made their way into your boxes and now we get to shine the spotlight on our Sweet Peppers:
Ace- green to red bell, thin walled
Carmen-green to red Italian pepper (long, pointed)
Escamillo-green to yellow Italian pepper (long, pointed)
Quadrato Asti Giallo-big, thick-walled, blocky green to yellow bell
Islander- purple to reddish-orange bell
Red Knight-large, thick walled green to red bell
Snowball-Ivory to red bell
There still progressing slowly towards full ripeness, so not a big harvest yet, but we’ll keep teasing your taste buds with one or two each week.
Last week we threw out the challenge of guessing how many pounds of potatoes we harvested this season. The grand total for this year was 2118 pounds, that’s just over a ton of potatoes! Our friend Tammy F. was the closest guess and we have a little chocolate prize to share with her for her efforts.
It wasn’t a record breaking potato season for sure, but considering that we thought we might lose the whole crop due to the excess rain, we’re not complaining!
Finally, we attended a family reunion this past weekend and I decided to try out a new potluck-friendly dish. I wanted something that featured our produce, but it needed to be fairly quick and easy to assemble as I needed to spend the morning harvesting before we went to the gathering.
I LOVE Caprese salads and they are the perfect feature for the amazing tomatoes we have right now, but I wanted something a little more substantial, so I came up with a Caprese Tortellini Salad with Pesto-Balsamic Vinaigrette. It was SO good! I used pesto (from the recipe below) that I had frozen last year so the dressing was super quick to make.
The dish was a hit at the reunion, but even better, Sean liked it!! So I wanted to share it with you too. You’ll find the link to it in the recipe section below. If you try it, let me know what you think and if you have suggestions to change it up!
As we mentioned in our earlier emails, this year we’re celebrating not only our 20th Bounty Box season, but also the people who made it possible: YOU.
Each week we’re drawing a name from our membership list to receive a surprise from the farm. It might be one of our favorite kitchen tools, a product from the BGF Pantry, a product from one of our favorite local makers, or another fun farm-inspired treat.
This week’s winner is: Sara B.!
Sara’s gift is a bag of our Tapestry Popcorn. I’m a bit of a popcorn snob and this is hands down my favorite.
Congratulations, Sara! We appreciate you!
And good luck to everyone in next week’s drawing. There’s lots more fun to come!
Twenty years ago, during our first Bounty Box season, we grew six varieties of peppers. The only one of those we still grow is the heirloom Wenk’s Yellow Hot pepper. This season we are growing ten varieties of peppers, including the Wenk’s which is now our only hot pepper.
Sweet peppers are finally hitting their stride! While bell peppers may be the most familiar, sweet peppers come in an amazing range of shapes, colors, sizes and flavors—from long, pointed Italian types to blocky bells in shades of green, yellow, purple, ivory and red.
One thing that’s sometimes surprising: most peppers start out green (or another “unripe” color) and change color as they mature. As they ripen, they generally become sweeter and develop a fuller, fruitier flavor. That’s why the same variety can taste a little different depending on when we harvest it.
All of our sweet peppers can be eaten raw or cooked. Slice them into salads and sandwiches, sauté them with onions, blister them on the grill, roast them until they’re soft and sweet, or just cut them into strips and start snacking.
💡 Pro Tip: Don’t wait for a green pepper to change color on your counter—it won’t continue ripening the way a tomato does. The color you receive is the color it was when we harvested it. If you’re lucky enough to get several colors, taste them side-by-side and see if you notice the difference!
🍽️ Simple Recipe: Sweet Pepper & Basil Scrambled Eggs
Dice 1–2 small sweet peppers and sauté in a little butter or olive oil until just tender. Add your beaten eggs and cook gently, stirring until softly scrambled. Just before they’re finished, fold in a generous handful of torn or chopped fresh basil. Season with salt and pepper and add a little feta, Parmesan or other favorite cheese if you’d like. A few cherry tomatoes are tasty in this as well.
Serve with toast—or tuck everything into a tortilla for an easy breakfast taco.
🍽️ Bonus Recipe: BGF Favorite Pesto (scroll to bottom of page)
🍽️ Bonus Recipe II: Caprese Tortellini Salad with Pesto-Balsamic Vinaigrette
The best thing you can do for your favorite pesto recipe is add a medium-sized tomato. Just purée it right along with everything else and you won’t believe the difference! It increases the yield, deepens the flavor and helps stabilize that beautiful green color.
We’ve been doing this for years and wouldn’t make pesto without it. See our BGF Favorite Pesto recipe above and give it a try!
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.
BASIL: Treat basil like a bouquet of flowers. Trim the stem ends and place them in a glass or jar with an inch or two of water on the counter, out of direct sunlight. Do not refrigerate—basil is very sensitive to cold and the leaves will quickly blacken. Change the water every day or two.
CANTALOUPE: Your Minnesota Midget cantaloupe is ripe when it smells wonderfully fragrant and the stem end has a little give. Store at room temperature if it needs another day or two to ripen; once ripe, refrigerate and enjoy within several days. Once cut, keep covered in the refrigerator.
CARROTS: Store unwashed carrots in a plastic bag or sealed container in the crisper drawer. They'll keep for several weeks. Scrub before using; there's generally no need to peel these fresh carrots.
CHERRY TOMATOES: Store cherry tomatoes at room temperature, out of direct sunlight, until fully ripe for the best flavor and texture. Once ripe, they can be refrigerated if needed to extend their life by a few days, but allow them to come back to room temperature before eating for the fullest flavor. Wash just before using.
CUCUMBERS: Store unwashed cucumbers wrapped in a cotton towel 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: Store eggplant at cool room temperature if you'll use it within a day or two. For longer storage, refrigerate it in the crisper drawer and use within 5–7 days. Wash just before using. Eggplant tastes best when cooked soon after harvest and doesn't need to be peeled unless the skin is unusually tough.
GARLIC: This garlic has now been cured and can be stored at room temperature in a cool, dry, well-ventilated place away from direct sunlight. Avoid storing whole bulbs in a sealed plastic bag or in the refrigerator, where excess moisture can encourage deterioration. Break cloves from the bulb only as you need them.
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. If leaves become limp, retrim the ends and a quick soak in cold water will often restore their crispness.
OKRA: Store unwashed okra dry in a paper towel or cloth-lined plastic bag in the vegetable drawer of your refrigerator. Use within 3–5 days for the best quality. Wash only just before cooking, and avoid sealing damp pods in plastic, as excess moisture will cause them to spoil quickly. Young, tender pods can be sliced whole, while larger pods are often best for stews or gumbo.
SHISHITO PEPPERS: Keep in a loosely closed bag in the crisper drawer and use within a week. To prepare, toss whole peppers in a hot skillet with a little oil until blistered, then sprinkle with salt.
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!
SWEET PEPPERS: Store unwashed peppers in the vegetable drawer of your refrigerator for up to two weeks. They are delicious raw, grilled, roasted, or sautéed, and there's no need to peel them. If you won't use them right away, peppers also freeze beautifully—just slice, remove the seeds, and freeze.
TOMATOES: Store slicing tomatoes at room temperature, out of direct sunlight, until fully ripe. Once ripe, refrigerate only if you need to extend their life, then bring them back to room temperature before eating for the best flavor. Never stack ripe tomatoes deeply in a bowl—they bruise easily.
** 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.
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 20th Delight gift, your garden-inspired dinner, or even your kids (or pets!) 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 so glad you’re here!
Best from the farm,
— Jill and Sean & the whole BGF Crew
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