Bounty Brief-8/19/25

• Basil

• Carrots: Rainbow Mix

• Cucumbers (asst. varieties)

• Head Lettuce (asst. varieties)

• Jubilee Cherry Tomato Mix

• Peppers: Sweet (see descriptions in 8/5 newsletter)

• Scallions

• Summer Squash (asst. varieties)

• Tomatoes: slicers (see descriptions in 8/5 newsletter)

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

• Bean Mix: Fortex, Provider and Gold Rush

• Eggplant: Shinkasen (Asian, dark purple) or Listada De Gandia (striped)

• Okra (Red): Burgundy & Candle Fire

🌿Herb It! option: Thai Basil, Lemon Thyme, Curly Parsley

Summer’s showstopper has arrived! Whether you slice them thick for a BLT, chop them into a salad, or snack on them straight over the sink, good tomatoes bring that perfect balance of sweet, rich, tangy, and juicy. Packed with vitamin C, potassium, and the antioxidant lycopene, they’re as good for you as they are delicious. For peak flavor, keep them out of the fridge—cold temperatures dull their sweetness and texture. Let them bask on your counter until you’re ready to eat, then enjoy them in all their sun-ripened glory.

🍽️ Simple Recipe: Best Ever Tomato Tart
🍽️ Bonus Recipe: Balsamic Tomato Salad (BGF Favorite!)
🍽️ Bonus Recipe II: Lemon Basil Butter Pasta

• Any time you are buried in tomatoes, just halve and roast them with garlic and onion until they break down. It will concentrate the flavors and reduce the volume you need to store. Freeze for later use as sauce, salsa or as a soup starter.

• Have “homeless” okra hanging out in your fridge? Toss it in oil and grill it! (You can do the same for scallions!)

• Here’s our downloadable one-page guide to storing all things produce!

Store it Fresh Guide

The best pesto I ever made was after learning to add a small to medium tomato to the recipe. It ramps up the flavor, increases the yield and helps prevent the pesto from darkening so much.

We finally dried out enough last week to get some field work done. What a relief! We could almost hear the weeds growing!

I’m embarrassed to admit that this past week our biggest push was rescue weeding. This happens when we lose control of the weed situation in a bed(s) and have to resort to fairly drastic measures, which sometimes includes the lawnmower or weedwacker.

Rescue weeding isn’t fun, it means for one reason or another, we weren’t effective in our management and now it’s an emergency either to try and save a crop or to make a bed useable for a new crop. Because the soil was still so wet, much of our effort had to be done with hand-weeding, our least efficient method of attack. But attack we did and most of our beds are again functional.

Once the beds were back in shape we were able to make good progress on our fall crops. We transplanted flats of fall brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, ect) and greens. We also set up and planted our Romaine lettuce trial to test which variety performs best in the late summer heat. We’re always interested to discover varieties that improve our offerings. Unfortunately, the deer are also interested in those discoveries and while they haven’t bothered the lettuce trial, they did find our newly transplanted choi and clear the entire bed. (insert angry farmHer here😠 ) Now we’ll have to direct seed that bed and redouble our deer evasion efforts.

Many of you will notice a lack of beans in this week’s delivery. Our second planting has taken a break due to the recent heat and the third planting isn’t ready yet. So beans have moved to the “perhaps” list for a handful of boxes for the next couple of weeks. We anticipate seeing them return after that.

This week is probably the last week for everyone to receive summer squash. More than 75% of the plants have succumbed to the annual insect pressures and the rest are soon to follow. I’ve been warning that they were slowing down, but we’ve now reached critical loss, so enjoy them while you can! The cucumbers have fared a bit better, especially in the high tunnels, but they are starting to show their age and will probably finish up in the next couple of weeks.

Never fear, there are more crops to come! The peppers and okra really reached their stride this week so we’ll be sending out more of those and the tomato ripening has kicked into high gear. This is when those crops really start to shine!

Got big plans this week? Whether you’re feeding a crowd, craving a mountain of Garlicky Beans, or planning to put up a batch of pickles for the pantry, we’ve got you covered.

Our VegEmail program is your go-to source for ordering extra farm-fresh produce beyond your Bounty Box. Use it to stock up on your favorites or snag more of what you loved this week.

👉 Click here to place your VegEmail order (by Thursday at noon)
Pick-up is Saturday from 10am–noon at Singlespeed Brewing in Des Moines, the Grand Theater in Knoxville or on the farm.

It’s one more way we’re making it easier for you to eat seasonally, locally, and deliciously—on your schedule.

You’ve seen our photos, we’d love to see yours! Share photos of your Bounty Box haul or how you’re using your weekly produce. We’d LOVE to see them! You can email or text them to us or post them on the BGF Community Page. Every week we’ll feature photos from the membership on our social media outlets.

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.

CUCUMBER: Store unwashed cucumbers wrapped in a cloth or paper towel then sealed in a 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 or halves for grilling or broiling, and cut a rounded, bulbous eggplant into cubes for stews and stir-fries.

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. If there is extra moisture in the bag, just tuck in a cotton or paper towel.

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, 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 fridge door 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 in the fridge, 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.

** 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.

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What would make this newsletter more useful or enjoyable for you? Anything we can do to make your Bounty Box experience even better?

Just hit reply or click the comment button below and let us know — we really appreciate your input!

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