Summer CSA Share – #17

Welcome to the 17th share of the Pitchfork & Crow 2021 Summer CSA!  Here’s what’s in the share this week:

  • Lettuce Mix
  • Mayan Jaguar Romaine Lettuce
  • Mixed Cauliflower – Mostly white cauli, with some purple heads mixed in, plus a few bonus fractal romanescos too!
  • Broccoli
  • Dill
  • Green Romano Beans
  • Cucumbers – We’ve got lots of green and yellow slicer cucumbers for you to choose from.
  • Zucchini – All the zucchinis plus some yellow pattypans this week.
  • Sweet Corn – This week’s corn is called ‘Montauk’.
  • Mixed Onions
  • Aji Marchant Hot Peppers – These peppers have an intriguing history that you can read about here. Though not too spicy when yellow and under-ripe they get hotter as they mature to red.
  • Mixed Sweet Peppers
  • Cherry Tomatoes
  • Slicer Tomatoes
  • Pears
The first rain of the season!

What a lovely weekend of rain storms! After a long dry summer we were ready for some precipitation and this past weather system didn’t disappoint. The farm weather station recorded 2.43″ of rain between Friday night and Sunday afternoon when the last of the rain showers hit. It was really coming down. Seemingly right on time, we’re welcoming the official start of fall with the autumnal equinox tomorrow!

Beans! (left) and a bumblebee in the tomato house (right).

The end of September signals the big seasonal shift towards fall and eventually winter. We’re eeking out the summer crops as we watch the powdery mildew take down the summer squash and leaf mold take hold in the tomato house. We’ve still got some summery treats in store thanks to later plantings of green beans and corn. Fingers crossed this week won’t be last of either of them.

Flint corn drying down in the propagation house (left) and this year’s ketchup crop (right).

Before the rain arrived we successfully harvested our Cascade Ruby Gold flint corn and our Wolverine’s Orca dry beans. These are two fun season-long crops we’ve been growing and saving seed on for years now. It’s always rewarding to gather in these dry storage crops at the end of the summer, knowing we’ll have them for the leaner times in winter months.

I took the rainy days as a chance to preserve some extra tomatoes that had been patiently waiting in the walk-in cooler. While I managed the cooking and canning of the tomatoes inside Jeff headed out into the rain to clean up our melon patch. Now we’ve got enough ketchup to see us through the next year and a clean slate where the melons had been growing since May. A win-win!

In the week ahead we’ll be bringing in the winter squash and more potatoes, getting after a flush of weeds in the fall/winter greens in the high tunnels, and transplanting some lettuce and spinach into another high tunnel. As the fields dry out more I’m sure there will be some cultivation happening there too. We may be heading into fall, but the weeds are still growing!

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

Your farmers,
Carri Heisler & Jeff Bramlett

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Here are a few recipes to get you inspired:

Pasta Salad with Tomatoes and Corn

  • 5 tablespoons olive oil
  • 5 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
  • 2 large garlic cloves, chopped
  • 1 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels (cut from 3 ears) or frozen, thawed
  • 1 1/4 pounds plum tomatoes, chopped
  • 8 ounces penne pasta, freshly cooked
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Whisk 4 tablespoons oil, vinegar, basil and garlic in large bowl to blend. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add corn; sauté 3 minutes. Add corn to dressing in bowl. Add tomatoes, pasta and cheese to bowl and toss to blend. Season salad with salt and pepper.

From Epicurious.com by Katie Morford, https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/pasta-salad-with-tomatoes-and-corn-103246

Roasted Broccoli with Garlic and Red Pepper

  • 1 1/4 pounds broccoli crowns, cut into florets (about 8 cups)
  • 3 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • Large pinch of dried crushed red pepper

Preheat oven to 450°F. Toss broccoli and 3 tablespoons oil in large bowl to coat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Transfer to rimmed baking sheet. Roast 15 minutes. Stir remaining 1/2 tablespoon oil, garlic, and red pepper in small bowl. Drizzle garlic mixture over broccoli; toss to coat. Roast until broccoli is beginning to brown, about 8 minutes longer. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

From Epicurious.com, https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/roasted-broccoli-with-garlic-and-red-pepper-351031

Zucchini with Sour Cream and Dill

  • 3/4 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 cup thinly sliced sweet onion
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill leaves
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 pound zucchini (about 2 large)

In a bowl stir together all ingredients except zucchini until combined well. Cut zucchini crosswise into 1/8-inch-thick rounds and toss with sour cream mixture and salt to taste until combined well. Chill zucchini mixture, covered, at least 1 hour and up to 8.

From Epicurious.com, https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/zucchini-with-sour-cream-and-dill-100769