You have found The Open Gate Farm on Camano Island, Washington!
We are a small, 2 acre sustainable farm providing healthy food for happy families! Come by often as you will see lots of changes in the pages ahead!
Check out our newsletters! We send out new ones weekly and if you would like to receive them in your email, let us know and we will add you to our list of subscribers. Hundreds of folks are already enjoying this weekly touch from the farm.
And if you want to ask a question, write us at jon@theopengatefarm.com and as soon as we get back inside and cleaned up, we’ll answer you.
Fall is in the air. It’s only September 1st, but we found some Fall in our lettuce this week. We know Autumn is just around the corner when we find the first fir needles in a head of lettuce. We’ll check them closely but don’t be shocked if one turns up in your salad at home. That’s the beauty of buying local you know. You can tell it’s from close to home because it is a fir needle. If it were a pine needle you would know the lettuce was from California.
It’s been a quiet week at the farm, but one filled with good news. Our intern from last summer will be here Friday for lunch! She plans to spend the day so those of you who have missed Katherine, do come by and hear her stories! She’s got lots of new ones to share and has been asking after you as well. We’ll have the awning up and chairs in the shade.
A lot of you folks voted this last weekend. And we thank you for your vote! You voted for us with your feet and voted the straight local ticket. Lines formed at our stand and we moved more lettuce and beets and radishes and leeks over the counter than ever before. Not to mention all the tasty breads and cookies! Thank you all for your votes of confidence! We will do our best to exceed your expectations again this weekend.
And here is what you can expect this weekend! Look especially for that gorgeous Mareveille des Quatre Saison (Marvel of the Four Seasons) lettuce. It is a red tipped buttercrisp with glowing yellow tinged interiors. It was introduced from France back in 1880 and has long been a favorite! A new bread…cheese / olive boats look like Italian gondolas floating down the canals of Venice. And more!
That big purple petunia hanging basket is available. The young fellow who asked us to hold it for him as his sweetie liked that color has not come to claim it, so it can now be yours! First come, first served!
And don’t forget to check out the English Thyme and Lemon Balm! Wonderful scents to add to your cooking. Summer may be winding down a bit, but the nursery sure isn’t! And neither is the garden, even though the carrots are all gone for now. There are more of those hot radishes and for this weekend, Icicle Radishes! And the Cherry Belle and French Breakfast ones are big enough to roast with the potatoes. But this weekend, get ahead by getting a head…of our purple cabbage…
Life should have spice in it they say. So if your life is a little flat lately, come try one of these Chinese Rose Radishes. It will clean out your tongue clear to your tonsils. We probably should sell them with warning labels on them, but now you’ve been told. When you are able to talk again, let us know how they were!
And the lettuce drought is over! We have more of the magic Merlot, the ruffled Bergam’s Green, and now…Red Flame. Flame is a leaf lettuce with green and rose and red and gentle colors from stem to tip. And don’t forget, the buttercrunch lettuces are high in Vitamin K, essential for health!
So circle your salad fixings below and come on by this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.!
One of the hardest things as a truck farmer is to know how much of what to plant when. We can know from experience within a couple weeks how long it takes for something to grow, though lettuce planted in February takes a month longer to reach maturity than lettuce planted in July. How much to plant is always a question because we never know how a change in our signs or our marketing will impact the flow of carrots over the counter. And what you folks are looking for is always a wonder too. Last year we couldn’t give away the lovely green leafed Bergam’s lettuce. This year we can’t keep up with your appetite for it. Last year the speckled lettuces sold like hot cakes at a church fund raiser. This year they sit looking for a home. All of this is to say we may be short on a few things while the next crop puts on weight until the scales tip it toward the stand. But they will once again! All it takes is patience.
So click “more” to see what we’ll have for you this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.!
Opening as we do this year at 9 a.m. has taken a lot of pressure off. Or it did until the sun came out. On these brilliant blue days filled with blazing sunshine, we hustle out to the gardens as early as we can sneak away from rising breads and cinnamon rolls. We run to madly harvest produce for the stand and prepare plants for the nursery while they are cool and not melting in the heat. We work feverishly, nervously waiting for the tomato timer in our pocket to ring to tell us it’s time to get back in and pay attention to the oven. It’s a rush. We’re getting the hang of it, so here’s what 9 in the morning should have for you this weekend. If not 9, then 10 for certain! What’s new is in blue.
Careful marketing studies here (a.k.a. chatting with a couple customers) have confirmed we try a change in the format of these newsletters. We are going to put a simple shopping list at the beginning, noting what is new on the stand for the weekend, and then share the goings on toward the end of the newsletter. Turns out the farmers are the only ones who actually know all the great products available at the farm stand, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 9 to 6! And who knows, between now and then, something else may show up, ready for your shopping pleasure!
Available at The Open Gate Farm Stand this weekend… (more…)
When the Black Plague swept across Europe from 1348 to 1350 A.D. killing between 30 to 60% of the people, one group escaped unscathed. It was the workers in the lavender fields. And in the two world wars of the last century, when soldiers in Europe needed a disinfectant but had none, wounds were packed with lavender and healing happened. Lavender is amazing stuff! It smells good too!
And it is on our stand now! We have a student in our Honorable Farmer Class who has 400 of these life giving plants down island and has brought a tub of these miracle flowers to us. She has a full line of sachets, soaps and lip balm which are in a charming basket and ready to go home with you to improve your lives too! And this is the culinary lavender, so it does double or triple duty. It keeps you healthy, makes a great gift, and can be put into cookies.
Then the beets are ready to go too! Well, their greens are, and many of those greens have baby beets hanging off the end. Don’t know what the healing power of beets is, but they taste so good they must be healthy! Steam these, drizzle with good vinegar, and watch them disappear from your families plates. (more…)
The ducks and chickens are nervous. From their perspective of about a foot off the ground, the 4th of July took their relationship with the bald eagles to a whole new level. And not a good one.
It happened early in the evening. Our grandchildren and their cousins were in the back yard making loud noises and enjoying the smell of sulfur under the expert guidance of an uncle who is fearless when it comes to exploding projectiles.
One of the favorite daylight noisemakers shot a ball into the air and it fell slowly to earth while the falling ball burst into flames beneath the paper parachute. The little folks ran around and tried to catch the parachuter before it hit the ground but after the flames were out. And then their kind uncle brought out the big one. The Big One. It had six parachuters in one pack, ready to go off to war, one after another. (more…)
