Hello from Pitchfork & Crow~

We’re spending the day in the field, harvesting for the Salem Saturday Market tomorrow! Here’s what we plan to bring to market:

• Basil
• Beans (Green, Purple, Yellow!)
• Beets
• Broccoli
• Bunching Onions
• Cabbage
• Carrots
• Chard
• Collards
• Cooking Greens Mix (Kale, Chard, Collards, Parsley)
• Cucumbers (pickling & slicing & lemon!)
• Dill
• Kale (Red Russian & Lacinato)
• Lettuce (Romaine, Butter, & Crispleaf)
• Onions (sweet & purple torpedoes)
• Parsley
• Peppers (green peppers & yellow banana)
• Salad Mix (a mix of lettuces)
• Summer Squash (yellow straightneck, zucchini, & pattypan)
• Tomatillos
• Tomatoes (the earlies and cherries mostly)

This last week’s heatwave supplied a much needed boost to the vegetables in the field. We have red tomatoes and the summer squash is plentiful. It’s especially fantastic to see ripening fruits on the ragged eggplants. We’ve also got our beans back on and we’re bringing our first succession of purple and yellow wax beans in addition to the green beans we’ve had for a few weeks. We were sad to not have beans for market last week and we’re looking forward to harvesting them tomorrow once again. You might have noticed that we’ll also be bringing some sweet onions and purple torpedo onions for the first time. We planted them way back in the earlyish spring and we’re excited to be able to share them with you. Although we’re on the second and third successions of broccoli and cabbage, we only plant onions once and hope for the best. We’ve been watching them bulb up nicely and we’re glad to add some allium diversity to the market booth.

The hot days and cool nights this week felt a bit like a fever breaking after the sun went down each evening. Cooler fall weather seems to be moving in, though I’m not sure we’re ready to say goodbye to summer just yet. Our pumpkins are already mostly orange due to our early planting push in May and the rest of the winter squash is not too far behind. We’ll be rolling in acorn, butternut, and delicata squash before too long. We’ve planted some fall sowings of radishes, daikons, spinach, arugula, and turnips this week too. We’re hoping for a bountiful and diverse fall harvest. For now we’re enjoying the late summer, sun-ripened fruits of our labor though. We hope you’re enjoying them too!

Come on down to the Saturday Market between 9am and 3pm. The Salem Saturday Market is located at the intersection of Summer and Marion streets NE in downtown Salem.

Thanks!
Carri Heisler and Jeff Bramlett