The Open Gate Farm On Camano Island, Washington

Dear Friends:

Well that was fun!  By golly another New Year’s Eve was survived and we’re still on speaking terms with the chickens and ducks.  When you are out late carousing, it’s hard to drag yourself down to the pen to close the door and gate and lock them in safely for the night.  But we did and they relaxed.

Note:  The bakery is still available, if you are yearning for any breads or…gasp…cinnamon rolls!  One family took some of those rolls for breakfast to welcome in the new year.  Great idea!  Fight sugar with sugar, we say.  Order here and email it back…

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Dear Friends,

If you are planning to get a copy of our book, “Dear Friends”, to give for Christmas, this would be a good week to do so.  Plenty of copies are on hand and we will be home or can leave it up at the stand for you.

The reports back are that folks are really enjoying revisiting a wonderful year here at the farm, chuckling with the chickens, laughing with the ducks, digging with the dog, and watching with the cat as we worked our way from January to December last year.

So here is the report on what is available at The Open Gate Farm for this weekend…if you see anything you want, email us back either here or at jon@theopengatefarm.com and we’ll have it ready Saturday morning by 10:00 for you! (more…)

Dear Friends of the Farm:

Boxes are popular around here!  Especially those in the produce stand on Saturday mornings around 10:00 a.m. with your names on them!  Thank you all for your great response to this new program.  We’re having fun with it and hope you are too.

But for one week we are going to hit the pause button.  Not because we’re sold out, but because we’re going out.  Your friendly farmer is going to run up to Seward, Alaska to visit a dear buddy and Mrs. Farmer has some visiting to do closer to home.  We’ll be back next week though, and if the weather continues like this, we’ll have beets and kale on the list again along with the large heads of lettuce you love!  So nurse the goodies you got last week for a bit longer and we’ll be ready for orders again next week.  We thank you for your patience.

When you have ducks, you do have to be careful what you say.  They have their own way of putting what they hear into practice.  Take the kale for instance.

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Dear Friends of the Farm:

This is the last weekend of our 2010 season coming up!  One last chance for you to fill your crisper with crisp produce and your freezer with breads and cinnamon rolls!  We’ll re-open the stand and nursery next May again for the Mother’s Day Weekend Art Tour here on the island when 26 or so artists open their studios for the public.  A grand time that will be!  And a grand winter lies ahead.

But here’s your shopping list for this weekend!

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Dear Friends of the Farm:

The storm has passed.

The floods of folks with eager eyes and quick questions have left and we’re back to being our regular small farm again.  But thanks to each of you who did come by and celebrate Harvest Jubilee last weekend.  At times we felt like a swarm of friendly, laughing locusts had descended on the stand and we were being cleaned out!

But a careful survey of the fields has shown we still have plenty for sale.  Here’s what we found!

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Dear Friends of the Farm:

Harvest Jubilee is hard upon us!  This local festival of farms is this Saturday, September 25^th and will give all you families a chance to show your kids where their food comes from.  They will be surprised.  Lettuce does not come from the grocery store.  Really!  It comes out of the ground and has roots and everything!  We can show them!

There will be 18 Harvest Jubilee farms around us open for tours and great times.  We’ll have plenty of maps to point you to your next stop.

And while you get a map here, you can see all of this too…

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Dear Friends of the Farm:

“How long will you be open?” asked the wistful lady with a handful of lettuce while eyeing the cinnamon rolls.

“Don’t know for sure” said the farmer hedging his bets.  “Depends on the weather and the traffic.  When either goes bad, it will be time to let it go for another season.  But we know our fields of produce don’t disappear when the rains start and our radishes and beets don’t get swallowed by the ground just because folks choose to shop in a warm store instead of a fresh air stand.”

Last year we were open until Halloween.  Looks like it will be so again this year.  But definitely through Harvest Jubilee on September 25^th!  That’s when area farms are open for tours and fun to give folks a chance to meet their farmers and discover that our area really can feed itself.  We’re handing out maps to the farms at the stand so come get yours!

And while you get a map, you can see all of this too…

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Dear Friends of the Farm:

A crop doesn’t get ripe all at once.  There will always be a first one or two of something well before the main part of the crop is ready for presenting at the stand.  It is kind of a bell curve thing.

One advantage to being a regular and early shopper at the stand is you may discover the unannounced basket of tomatoes we’ve just found in the vines, or the first, tender patty pan squash, or perhaps those odd radishes.  Not enough to mention here, but enough to put out on the stand for some lucky person.  So while we have the list here, be ready to spot a surprise when you come by!  Especially if it is early in the day.  If you miss it, don’t despair.  In a couple weeks when the main crop hits, we’ll announce it here and then you can be ready with your shopping bags!

So here’s what we know will be on the stand this weekend…

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Dear Friends of the Farm:

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!

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Dear Friends of the Farm:

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.!

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