Welcome to the 25th week of the Pitchfork & Crow Summer CSA! Here’s what’s in the share:

• Fall Salad Mix – a mix of frisee, mizuna, arugula, tatsoi, escarole, and spinach
  
• Parsnips
  
• Brussels Sprouts
• Hakurei Turnips
• Broccoli or Cauliflower or Romanesco
  
• Green Tomatoes
• Red Potatoes
  
• Mixed Sweet Peppers
  
• Garlic
• Meadowlark Green Curly Kale
• Delicata Winter Squash
  
• Calico Popcorn – You can knock the kernels off the cob and into a paper bag and pop this in the microwave.  We’ve had fun watching them pop on the cob too!  Most often we’ll use these directions and pop it on the stovetop.
  

We’re coming down to the final few weeks of the CSA, which means it’s member survey time!  Please take a few minutes to tell us how the CSA season has gone for you and how we might improve the experience.  Click here to head to the survey.

There are just two more weeks left in the Summer/Fall CSA season!  So hard to believe we’ve been at this weekly pick-up routine for five and a half months straight.  We’re still waiting on the really cold weather we usually expect this time of year, but the recent sunny days have been welcome for field work.  However, a few frosts help to sweeten up vegetables like Brussels sprouts and parsnips.  Because we’re coming down to the final few weeks of the CSA season we decided it’s better to send these tasty, if less sweet than we’d prefer, fall veggies your way rather than wait and miss out while we continue to wait for the first frost to hit.

As we begin winding down the CSA season we especially appreciate all the members who have taken some time to fill out our end-of-season survey.  Thanks for sharing your thoughts on your side of this thing.  We’ve received some great feedback already and are looking forward to diving into the survey responses fully.  I’ll be sure to include an overview in the last newsletter of the season.

This past week we endeavored to get some carrots and beets into the cooler ahead of the winter weather.  Although we have successfully overwintered root vegetables in the field in the past, the harvest conditions in the winter and spring are less than ideal.  We decided to hedge our bets against the weather and get those roots cleaned and stored away for Winter CSA shares.  I’m pretty sure our future selves are already thanking us. We also made some progress on the shop space in the barn.  We now have walls and doors!  The space is really coming together and working on the construction has been a fun project.  It’s got us thinking a lot about the house building we have in our future!

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

Your farmers,
Carri Heisler and Jeff Bramlett

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Here are a few recipes to get you inspired:

Kale and Almond Brussels Sprouts Salad

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Green Ajvar (Green Tomato Relish)

• 1 pound green tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons horseradish (I prefer freshly ground but prepared will do too; just be sure to drain it )
• 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1. Grind vegetables using a hand meat grinder or coarsely chop and then put into food processor, pulsing 4 to 5 times.
2. Put the tomatoes in a fine mesh strainer set inside a large bowl, pressing on them to get as much juice out of the tomatoes as possible.
3. In another bowl, mix horseradish, Dijon mustard, sea salt, and extra-virgin olive oil. Stir in the tomatoes.
4. The ajvar will hold in the fridge for long time.
5. Serve as a condiment at barbecue. It is delicious with roasted meats or as a topping on your sandwich.

From Food52 by Anka, https://food52.com/recipes/34662-green-ajvar-green-tomato-relish

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Garlic Mashed Parsnips and Potatoes