Welcome to the 4th share of the Pitchfork & Crow 2020 Summer CSA!  Here’s what’s in the share this week:

• Salad Mix – A mix of spinach and lettuce this week.
• Mayan Jaguar Romaine Lettuce
• Mixed Kale – We’re experimenting with a new kale mix called Kalebration. It’s definitely a kale party! Also, it’s growing in a greenhouse and is super tender.
• Sugar Snap Peas
• Fava Beans – For the true fava experience you’ll want to shell the beans, blanch them, then remove the outer skin and eat the green inner bean. We often skip that last step and eat the shelled beans directly. Also, grilling the entire pods make them quicker to shell and the beans get steamed inside, so they don’t need to be blanched.
• Fresh Garlic – Our earliest maturing garlic varieties took a hit when we weren’t able to get them out of the field on time due to the persistent rain. We’re sending you the worst of it and hope you use it up sooner than later as it won’t want to store long without good wrapper paper.
• Fresh Sweet Onions
• Kohlrabi
• Mixed Potatoes – It’s the very last of the 2019 storage potatoes. Onward to 2020 potatoes soon!
• Zucchini
• Mostly Seascape Strawberries – Most of our berries are Seascape, but some are from last year’s planting of Sweet Ann.

Somehow we’ve passed the Summer Solstice and are quickly headed for July! Today’s weather hollers mid-summer, and I’m sure we’ll soon be wilting just like the delicate western Oregon dwellers that we are. Thankfully the 90 degree temperature won’t be sticking around long, and we’ll be back in the 70s soon.

We hope you’ve all been enjoying the first few weeks of the CSA. We’ve been glad to have lettuce in the fridge again and have happily returned to our summer routine of lettuce, topped with warm rice, topped with salmon and some Caesar dressing. It’s fast and filling and just what we need after a long day on the farm.

Recently we were inspired by posts in the CSA member Facebook group and went the fried rice route with many of the vegetables we had lingering in the produce drawer. The fennel, carrot, snap pea, fava bean, zucchini, and onion medley was delicious. And last night, inspired by a conversation with a CSA member last week, Jeff whipped up some sort of rice and fava bean fritter that was maybe falafel adjacent but definitely tasty.

Thanks for sharing so many great ideas in the FB group. It’s great to see where these vegetables end up and obviously we can use a little inspiration now and again too.

Not sure what to do with a vegetable? Looking for more recipe suggestions? 

• Check out the archive of recipes on our Recipe page that’s sorted by vegetable.
• Join in the conversation in the P&C CSA Member Facebook group to query fellow members or suggest great recipes of your own.
• Even more recipes plus updated storage information and loads of tips over on the P&C CSA Member App/Website.  You can find all the details on the CSA Member App page.

This past week dried out just enough that we were finally able to tackle the annual garlic and overwintered onion harvest. Planted back October these allium plants hang out all winter, developing their roots and slowly growing larger, until they take off in the late spring. The leaves get bigger and they eventually bulb up, then as they begin to dry down it’s time to harvest.

We’ve been dialing in our garlic growing efforts over the years and have found that giving them a little more space than normal and selecting for earlier maturing varieties helps us tackle the rust problem we experience in wet years. Allium rust is a fungus that appears a rust colored spots on the garlic leaves and can fairly quickly end the plant’s growth. Evidently it’s spread as infected soil is splashed up onto plants when we irrigate or when it rains. Although the rust definitely made an appearance this year, our garlic crop seems less affected than in some years, so maybe we figuring it out just a little. If only the extended rains hadn’t taken such a toll on the earliest maturing varieties. I guess you win some and you lose some. Of course there’s never enough garlic in this world so we hope you enjoy it for the precious item that it is.

With the garlic harvest out of the way we’ll be turning our attention to the weeds in earnest this week. Jeff managed some tractor cultivation last Sunday while I harvested onions, but there’s plenty more to do. I’m looking at you pigweed in the winter squash.

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

Your farmers,
Carri Heisler & Jeff Bramlett

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Here are a few recipes to get you inspired:

Gorgonzola, Fava Bean, and Potato Canapes

• 1/3 cup walnuts
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3/4 cup shelled fresh fava beans* or lima beans (about 3/4 pound in pods)
• 10 small purple potatoes* or small red potatoes (each about 2 inches in diameter; about 1 1/2 pounds)
• 6 ounces Gorgonzola cheese, softened
• 6 ounces cream cheese (about 3/4 cup), softened

Finely chop walnuts. In a small heavy skillet cook walnuts in oil over moderate heat, stirring, until golden and transfer with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain.

Have ready a bowl of ice and cold water. In a kettle of boiling salted water blanch beans 1 minute and immediately transfer with slotted spoon to ice water to stop cooking. Drain beans and gently peel away outer skins.

Return kettle of water to a boil and cut potatoes into 1/4-inch-thick rounds. Cook potatoes 8 minutes, or until just tender, and transfer with slotted spoon to ice water to stop cooking. Drain potatoes in a colander and pat dry with paper towels.

In a small bowl stir together Gorgonzola and cream cheese until combined well. (Canapé ingredients may be prepared up to this point 2 days ahead. Keep toasted walnuts in an airtight container at room temperature. Chill beans and potatoes separately in sealable plastic bags and chill Gorgonzola cream covered with plastic wrap.)

From Epicurious.com via Gourmet, https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/gorgonzola-fava-bean-and-purple-potato-canapes-100688

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Kohlrabi Pickles with Chile Oil

• 1 pound small kohlrabies, peeled, halved lengthwise, thinly sliced crosswise
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 garlic clove, finely grated
• 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped cilantro
• 1 tablespoon unseasoned rice vinegar
• 2 teaspoons chile oil
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lime zest
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon black sesame seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon fish sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

Toss kohlrabies and salt in a large bowl to coat; chill, tossing occasionally, 30 minutes. Drain, then toss in a clean large bowl with garlic, cilantro, vinegar, chile oil, lime zest, lime juice, sesame seeds, fish sauce, sugar, and sesame oil to combine.

From Epicurious.com via Bon Appétit by Andy Baraghani, https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/kohlrabi-pickles-with-chile-oil

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Penne with Smoked Trout and Sugar Snap Peas

• 1 lb penne rigate
• 3/4 lb sugar snap peas, trimmed and halved diagonally
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 1 (1/2-lb) whole smoked trout, head, skin, bones, and tail discarded and flesh coarsely flaked
• 1 tablespoon finely grated fresh lemon zest
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Cook pasta in a large pot of 2 minutes less than package instructions indicate, then add sugar snaps and cook until sugar snaps are tender, about 2 minutes more. Reserve 1/4 cup cooking water, then drain pasta and sugar snaps in a colander and return to pot.

Boil cream in a 1- to 1 1/2-quart heavy saucepan, uncovered, 2 minutes, then add to pasta along with trout, zest, reserved cooking water, dill, salt, and pepper and toss until combined.

From Epicurious.com via Gourmet, https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/penne-with-smoked-trout-and-sugar-snap-peas-109638

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