Welcome to the 9th week of the Pitchfork & Crow Summer CSA! Here’s what’s in the share:

• Haricot Vert Green Beans! – Our favorite slender green bean variety.  Time to get snapping!
  
• Basil
  
• Red New Potatoes
  
• Salad Mix
• Sweet Corn
  
• Sweet Onion
  
• Cauliflower or Rainbow Chard
• Lacinato Kale
• Cucumbers – Mediterranean slicers and lemon cukes this week!
• Tomatoes – Pints of cherries and slicers both!
  
• Sweet Peppers – These yellow and purple peppers are equivalent to green bell peppers
  
• Red Delicious & Gravenstein Apples
  

First things  first – many thanks to the folks that made it out to the farm visit this past Saturday.  We always appreciate sharing the farm with CSA members and Saturday was a good day for it.  Although we forgot to follow through on our screenprinting promises, we hope you had a good time looking around the farm and meeting up with other CSA members.  If you want to visit the farm but missed out this time around, never fear.  There’s another chance in October!

Leading up to farm events we’re often scurrying around, attempting to add a little order to the chaos here on the farm.  This week we chose instead to focus on our continued work catch-up.   Thanks to the help of our two new very part-time employees we saved two beds of carrots and four beds of winter squash from weeds on Thursday and Friday morning.  There are plenty more weedy beds to tackle, but it’s so great to see progress on that front.

We also managed to get the next successions of broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, corn, basil, parsley, and lettuce transplanted and direct sowed successions of beets, bush beans, cilantro, arugula, radishes, and carrots.  The crops just keep coming!  We’re deep into sowing  overwintering crops now.  Each passing week puts us closer to fall and the end of the growing season.  We need fall crops to fully mature and overwintering crops to size up just enough to make it through the winter months.  Each planting finds me counting days to maturity, and wondering when we might begin seeing our first fall frosts.  Can we get another round of beans in the ground?  Will the final corn succession have time to mature?  Warm fall months the past couple of years made for an extended season and plants that wouldn’t quit.  We’ve learned we can only plan and plant, and wait and see.

The week ahead will be much the same.  We will weed more winter squash, and hopefully the parsnips and leeks too.  We will transplant corn, and maybe kale and cabbage.  We will harvest, wash, pack, and distribute vegetables.  We will move pipe and irrigate crops and mow and till fields.  We will cultivate and fertilize crops.  We will sow more seeds.  It’s the height of the growing season and the work is continuous to prepare for next week, next month, and next year.

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:

Kale Pesto with Toasted Walnuts

• 2 cups packed torn kale leaves, stems removed
• 1 cup packed fresh basil leaves
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup toasted walnuts
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

In a food processor, combine the kale leaves, basil leaves, and salt. Pulse 10 to 12 times, until the kale leaves are finely chopped. With the motor running, drizzle in the olive oil. Scrape down the sides of the processor. Add the walnuts and garlic and process again, then add the cheese and pulse to combine. Toss with your favorite pasta and serve immediately.

From Epicurious via Fifty Shades of Kale by Drew Ramsey, M.D., & Jennifer Iserloh, http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/kale-pesto-with-toasted-walnuts-51207810

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Cold Cucumber and Yellow Pepper Soup with Crab Meat and Chives

• 2 medium cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and chopped (about 3 cups)
• 2 medium yellow bell peppers, chopped (about 1 cup)
• 2 cups 1-inch cubes honeydew melon
• 1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped shallot (about 1 large)
• 1 fresh jalapeño chili, or to taste, seeded and chopped (wear rubber gloves)
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon or lime juice, or to taste
• 1/2 pound lump crab meat, picked over
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons white-wine vinegar, or to taste
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives, or to taste
• Garnish: finely diced yellow bell pepper and 2-inch pieces fresh chives

Make Soup: In a blender purée soup ingredients with salt and pepper to taste until smooth. Force soup through a fine sieve into a bowl and chill, covered, 4 hours, or until very cold. Soup may be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered.

Just before serving, in a small bowl toss crab with oil, vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste.

Divide crab mixture among 6 soup bowls, mounding it in center, and ladle soup around it. Sprinkle each serving with finely chopped chives and garnish with diced yellow pepper and chive pieces.

From Epicurious via Gourmet, http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/cold-cucumber-and-yellow-pepper-soup-with-crab-meat-and-chives-12419

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Potato, Green Bean, and Corn Salad

• 4 pounds small white boiling potatoes (about 2 inches in diameter)
• 5 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 3 tablespoons coarse-grained mustard
• cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil, or to taste
• 1 pound haricots verts (thin French green beans) or regular green beans
• 6 ears corn

In a kettle cover potatoes with salted cold water by 2 inches and simmer until just tender, about 25 minutes. Drain potatoes in a colander. When potatoes are just cool enough to handle, halve larger ones and in a large bowl toss potatoes with 2 tablespoons vinegar.

In a small bowl whisk together mustard, remaining 3 tablespoons vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste. Add oil in a slow stream, whisking until emulsified. Dressing may be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. Bring dressing to room temperature before using.

Trim beans and, working over a bowl, cut corn kernels from cobs. Have ready a bowl of ice and cold water. In a large saucepan of boiling salted water cook beans until crisp-tender, about 1 minute for haricots verts or about 5 minutes for regular green beans, and transfer with a slotted spoon to ice water to stop cooking. Drain beans well and add to potatoes. Return water in pan to a boil and blanch corn 30 seconds, or until crisp-tender. Drain corn in a sieve and rinse under cold water to stop cooking. Drain corn well and add to salad. Salad may be prepared up to this point 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. Bring salad to room temperature before proceeding. Gently toss salad with dressing and salt and pepper to taste until combined well.

From Epicurious via Gourmet, http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/potato-green-bean-and-corn-salad-15282

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