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

• Lacinato Kale or Broccoli Side Shoots
  
• Dill
  
• Potatoes – Last of the storage potatoes, for reals.
  
• Spring Onion – choose red or yellow
  
• Salad Mix
• Fresh Uncured Rosewood Garlic
  
• Summer Squash – Up first we’ve got traditional zucchinis, yellow straightneck, white pattypan, and an Italian round zucchini known as Tondo di Piacenza.
• Cucumbers – A plethora of choices including various varieties of picklers and slicers!
  
• Carrots
• Tomatoes – Choose from mixed pints of cherries and slicers, the first of the season!
  
• Yellow Transparent Apples – Apples in July?  It’s true, our earliest apples begin ripening now.  We’re getting to these Yellow Transparents before they get too ripe and begin to bruise when handled.  A good cooking apple, makes great applesauce!
  

Welcome to July!  The sun is shining, the plants are growing, and the farming is going gangbusters.  This week we got some chunks of weeding done in our outdoor tomatoes and peppers.  It’s such a rewarding thing to save a crop from total disaster.  Of course there’s more weeding to tackle, but now there’s a little less.

We also transplanted successions of salad mix, head lettuce, beets, chard, collards, cabbage, summer squash, cucumbers, melons and the tomatillos went in the ground.  4600 plants in the field that were not there a week ago.  The soil was near perfect and with the help of the transplanter we averaged 12 minutes for planting 400 starts at 6 inch spacing and 5 minutes for 100 starts at 2 foot spacing.  When things fall into line and the systems are all in sync, it can sure be fun to get through a day’s work.

Yesterday was Independence Day and we spent the day harvesting.  Jeff brought the flag out to make things a little more celebratory.  During breaks I watched NASA updates on the Juno mission to Jupiter, which after traveling 1.7 billion miles over five years was finally reaching the giant planet.  I admit it kind of blew my mind.  The fact that people can think up and execute such a thing as launching a spacecraft into the unknown and successfully get it to do precisely what they intended, what was previously only theoretical, is truly amazing.  There’s really nothing like space travel to put a weedy farm field into perspective.

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

Your farmers,
Jeff Bramlett and Carri Heisler

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Here are a few recipes to get you inspired:

Greek-Style Cucumber and Yogurt Dip with Dill

• 2 cups plain yogurt
• 1 English hothouse cucumber, unpeeled, halved lengthwise, seeded, grated
• 1 tablespoon coarse salt
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh dill
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 6 pita breads, cut horizontally in half, then cut into wedges
• Olive oil

Line sieve with cheesecloth and place over medium bowl. Place yogurt in sieve. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to drain in refrigerator overnight.

Mix cucumber and 1 tablespoon salt in small bowl; cover and chill 3 hours.

Transfer drained yogurt to another bowl. Mix in sour cream, lemon juice, dill and garlic. Squeeze out as much excess liquid as possible from cucumber. Stir cucumber into yogurt. Season with pepper. Cover; chill at least 2 hours. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep refrigerated.)

Preheat oven to 400°F. Place pita wedges on baking sheets. Brush with olive oil. Bake until crisp, about 10 minutes. Cool. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Store pita airtight at room temperature.) Serve cucumber dip with baked pita wedges.

From Epicurious via Bon Appétit, http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/greek-style-cucumber-and-yogurt-dip-with-dill-103752

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Grilled Lemon Chicken Salad with Dill Cream Dressing

• 3/4 cup chopped fresh dill
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 large shallot, finely chopped
• 3 teaspoons grated lemon peel
• 4 large skinless boneless chicken breast halves
• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 3 tablespoons sour cream
• 1 pound red-skinned potatoes, unpeeled, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 pound medium zucchini, cut on diagonal into 1/4-inch-thick slices
• 3 celery stalks, thinly sliced
• 1 cup coarsely chopped pitted large green Sicilian olives or other brine-cured green olives

Combine 1/2 cup dill, 1/2 cup olive oil, 3 tablespoons lemon juice, shallot, and 2 teaspoons lemon peel in large bowl; whisk to blend. Season with salt and pepper. Add chicken and stir to coat. Marinate at room temperature 1 hour or chill up to 8 hours, turning chicken occasionally.

Combine mayonnaise, sour cream, 1/4 cup dill, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and 1 teaspoon peel in small bowl; whisk to blend. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and chill until ready to use.

Steam potatoes until just tender, about 12 minutes. Transfer to large bowl; sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Combine zucchini slices and 2 tablespoons olive oil in medium bowl. Sprinkle with salt; toss to coat. Heat grill pan or large ridged cast-iron skillet over high heat until very hot, about 4 minutes. Working in batches, grill zucchini slices until just crisp-tender, about 1 minute per side; transfer to plate. Grill chicken until brown and cooked through, about 6 minutes per side. Transfer to work surface; cool 15 minutes. Cut chicken into 1/2-inch cubes; add to potatoes in bowl. Mix in celery, olives, and dressing; season with salt and pepper.

Overlap zucchini slices around edge of platter. Mound chicken salad in center.

From Epicurious via Bon Appétit, www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/grilled-lemon-chicken-salad-with-dill-cream-dressing-106942

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Dilled Tuna-Cucumber Salad

• 1 6 1/8-ounce can water-packed white tuna, drained
• 1/2 cucumber, peeled, seeded, diced
• 2 small green onions, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
• 2 tablespoons nonfat yogurt
• 2 tablespoons reduced-calorie mayonnaise
• 1/2 tablespoon Dijon mustard

Combine all ingredients in small bowl. Mix well. Season generously with pepper. Serve salad chilled.

From Epicurious via Bon Appétit, http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/dilled-tuna-cucumber-salad-109

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