Welcome to the 7th week of the Pitchfork & Crow Summer CSA! Here’s what’s in the share:

• Salad Mix
  
• Head Lettuce
  
• Fava Beans – This is the last of the fava beans this season.  It’s been a good year for favas and we hope you enjoyed them!
  
• Yellow Onions
  
• New Potatoes – The last potatoes you got from us were from storage but these are freshly dug this week.  Can you taste the difference?
  
• Cucumbers – picklers and slicers and lemons for everyone!  It’s a cucumber extravaganza!
  
• Carrots
• Summer Squash
• Tomatoes – Choose one big slicer or a pint of cherries or mixed small slicers this week.
  
• Strawberries – This might be the week you want to make ice cream or smoothies.  The heat from this past week means these aren’t the sweetest but they are still tasty for July strawberries.
• Blueberries –  In an effort to diversify our fruit offerings, and because blueberries are amazing, we u-picked these for you at Springbank Farm, a local farm here in Lebanon.   Please note that they are not certified organic but are transitional and haven’t been sprayed. 
  

Can we start by agreeing that it’s been awfully hot this past week?  We’ve slogged through the heat as best we could, but I’m sure glad the forecast suggests we’re at the end of this heat wave.  After so many days with high temps above 90 degrees, a week in the 80s will seem like a dream.

In the heat of summer it can sometimes be hard to want to fire up the oven for roasted roots or baked anything.  As I mentioned last week we’ve been digging late night salads and tortillas stuffed with lettuce and eggs or tuna salad.  Simple, light, summer food.  We often listen to podcasts on the farm and last night while we were harvesting cucumbers I listened to an episode of Burnt Toast, the new Food52 podcast, about “How to Cook a Little Smarter Every Week”.  They covered some good topics like what to do with extra herbs and what staples they suggest keeping around for quick and diverse last minute meals.

I’d be curious to hear from CSA members about go-to meals, kitchen staples, and even how you tackle meal planning.  How does your commitment to the CSA effect how you approach those topics?  Share your thoughts with other folks over in the P&C CSA Member Facebook group.

On Sunday evening we headed across town to Springbank Farm to u-pick blueberries for this week’s CSA shares.  While we know we’re lucky to have established apple, pear, and plum trees on the farm, we hope to invest in some fruit expansion efforts soon and blueberries are at the top of the list.  Until then we’re happy to take advantage of the amazing u-pick operations in the area.

In the past we’ve headed up to Salem to pick blueberries in the Minto Island Growers blueberry u-pick fields.  It’s always been a good excuse to see our MIG friends, something that doesn’t happen all too often in the summer months.  However, the heatwave had us wanting to stay closer to our walk-in cooler so we could rush the berries into the cold space as quickly as possible.  Luckily the berries were prolific and the folks at Springbank Farm were great.  We would definitely suggest local folks to head out there to stock your freezers full of berries.  Plus, for a big enough order they’ll deliver throughout the valley!

As I’ve mentioned in recent newsletters, it feels much later into summer here on the farm.  The summer crops are soaking up the recent heat and things continue to ripen ahead of schedule.  This week we noticed watermelons beginning to size up, corn tasseling and forming ears, plums coloring from green to pink to purple, and those ever-early Yellow Transparent apples seem like they might begin falling off the tree any day.  We wait all year for the fruits of summer, and this year they aren’t disappointing us.

Enjoy the vegetables and we’ll see you next week!

Your farmers,
Jeff Bramlett and Carri Heisler

.

Here are a few recipes to get you inspired:

Chopped Salad

• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 small shallot, minced
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 medium head romaine lettuce, chopped (4 to 6 cups)
• 1 seedless cucumber, diced (3 1/2 cups)
• 1 pint grape tomatoes, halved (1 3/4 cups)
• 1 red bell pepper, diced (1 1/2 cups)
• 2 celery stalks, halved lengthwise and finely chopped (1 cup)
• 3 carrots, finely chopped (1 3/4 cups)
• 1 small red onion, finely chopped
• 1 cup pitted black olives, halved (suit yourself whether you prefer the medium California black olives—a 6-ounce can—or Kalamata olives)

Whisk together vinegar, sugar, shallot, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl, then add oil in a stream, whisking until combined well.

Toss remaining ingredients with dressing.

Season salad with salt and pepper.

From Epicurious via Gourmet by Gina Marie Miraglia Eriquez, http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/chopped-salad-388791

.

Fresh Ricotta and Fava Bean Bruschetta

• 1 1/2 cups shelled fresh fava beans (from about 1 1/2 pounds) or 1 1/2 cups frozen baby lima beans

• 8 4x3x1/2-inch slices country-style bread, cut in half crosswise
• 8 garlic cloves, cut in half crosswise
• 15 ounces fresh ricotta cheese or whole-milk ricotta cheese
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/3 cup thinly sliced fresh basil

Cook fava beans or lima beans in medium saucepan of boiling salted water until just tender, about 1 1/2 minutes for fava beans or about 4 minutes for lima beans. Drain. Rinse under cold water; drain well. Peel fava beans if using; set aside. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

Preheat oven to 375°F. Arrange bread pieces on baking sheet; toast in oven until light golden, about 12 minutes. Rub 1 side of each bread piece with cut side of 1 garlic half, pressing firmly to release juices into bread. Top each bread piece with 1 heaping tablespoon ricotta cheese, then fava beans, dividing equally. Place 2 bread pieces on each of 8 plates. Drizzle lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Garnish with sliced basil and serve.

From Epicurious via Bon Appétit, http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/fresh-ricotta-and-fava-bean-bruschetta-104925

.

Turkey Roll-Up with Blueberry Salsa

• 1/2 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise
• 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1 pint blueberries
• 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 Kiwifruit, peeled and diced
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1/4 red onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 butter lettuce leaves
• 4 slices deli turkey

Combine mayonnaise and curry powder in a bowl. Place blueberries, jalapeño, kiwifruit, lime juice, red onion and salt in bowl; stir to combine. Top each of lettuce leaves with 1 tablespoon mayo mixture, 1/2 slice deli turkey and 1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoon blueberry salsa. Roll up to serve.

From Epicurious via SELF by Jennifer Iserloh, http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/turkey-roll-ups-with-blueberry-salsa-354770

.

.