Welcome to the 18th week of the Pitchfork & Crow CSA!

Here’s what’s in the share:

• Sweet Onions
  
• Eggplant or Cherry Tomatoes
  
• Carrots
• Broccoli
• Kohlrabi
• Shishito Peppers – try this recipe
• Basil
• Paste & Slicer Tomatoes – a mix of early red slicers and paste tomatoes this week. We suggest turning them into a quick sauce for pasta, pizza, or soup!
  
• Cauliflower or Chard
  
• Butter Lettuce
  
• Italian Prune Plums – Our favorite plums to to dry and eat like candy!
  

We grow a lot of potatoes.  They’re a staple crop for us and we like to have a steady supply available for the CSA throughout the fall, winter, and spring.  If you added up the bed lengths from all the beds of potatoes we grew this year, you’d get over a mile worth of spuds.

We’ve been focused on getting the potatoes out of the ground and into storage this week.  We’d done a few beds with CSA members already, but the majority remained to be dug.  Usually we use our cultivating tractor, the Farmall Cub, to help dig them but recent clutch issues mean it’s currently sidelined.  Luckily our neighbor offered to let us use a potato digger he designed that attaches to our big tractor.  That’s a photo of it up above and another of it in action unearthing potatoes.

The new system has worked well, even though it does still include crawling through the beds and picking up each potato.  We’ve got just two beds left and we already have 3900 pounds of potatoes harvested!  We’re planning on exceeding a harvest total of two tons!  Cooler space is at a premium now that we have the full year’s supply of potatoes in storage.

Harvesting the potatoes is just another sign that fall has arrived, if not officially then in spirit.  Field work has been pleasant during these recent cooler days though we appreciate the sun showing itself in the afternoons.  We’ve got an eye on the winter squash harvest soon and before long we’ll be getting the garlic planted.  Also this was the first week we harvested out of the field full of overwintering crops where the fall broccoli resides.  The season is marching on and we’re trying to squeeze the summer out of it before it’s too late.

Enjoy the vegetables!

Your farmers,
Jeff Bramlett and Carri Heisler
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Here are a few recipes to get you inspired:

Here’s a cauliflower recipe suggested by fellow CSA member Lillian!  It’s been taste tested and is highly recommended.  Thanks Lillian!

Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Whipped Goat Cheese

Roasted cauliflower:

• 2 1/2 cups dry white wine
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup kosher salt
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 head of cauliflower, leaves removed

Whipped goat cheese and assembly:

• 4 ounces fresh goat cheese
• 3 ounces cream cheese
• 3 ounces feta
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons olive oil plus more for serving
• Coarse sea salt (for serving)