Welcome to the 2nd share of the Pitchfork & Crow 2021/2022 Winter CSA! Here’s what’s in the share this week:

• Brussels Sprouts
• Rainbow Chard
• Rosalba Radicchio – A blush pink winter salad treat that stands up to all the creamy dressings, citrus dressings, and hearty toppings you can find.
• Lettuce Mix
• Fava Leaves – These are leaves from the fava plants that would eventually produce fava beans. The leaves taste a little green-beany and are tasty in salads, sauteed, or made into pesto.
• Rainbowish Carrots – Mostly orange, but you’ll find a few purple and yellow roots mixed too.
• Strawberry Paw Red-Skinned Potatoes
• Rutabaga – Less pungent than most turnips, but similar, we like rutabagas mashed with potatoes or oven roasted with their rooty friends.
• Celeriac – A celery flavored root! Eat it roasted, mashed, in soups or stews, or in savory pies.
• Purple Daikon Radishes
• Bunching Onions – Call them scallions, green onions, or whatever, just eat them!
• Garlic
• Yellow Onion
• Butternut Squash
• Starry Night Acorn Squash – A new-to-us acorn squash said to be sweet and smooth.
• Wolverine’s Orca Dry Beans – Our favorite dry bean, and the only one we grow these days, these orca beans are more substantial than some dry beans and hold up well in stews or chili. Named for a Secwepemc elder Wolverine William Ignace, who you can read more about over on Adaptive Seeds website.
• Dried Farm Apples!

Many thanks to everyone who responded to our winter weather watch email.  It was really helpful to know our message about a possible CSA pick-up delay had gotten through to most members.  We think the weather has cleared enough for us to go ahead with the pick-ups as previously planned. 

Notes about this week’s pick-up:

• Come to the Salem or Farm pick-up as early as 2pm this week for more daylight driving. We’ll stay until everyone picks-up or 6pm, whichever comes first.
• Shoot us an email at farmers@pitchforkandcrow.com if you can’t safely make it to your pick-up and we’ll make alternative arrangements for Saturday.

We’re really bringing the winter to the Winter CSA this week! We’ve been keeping an eye on the forecast since the last pick-up, hoping for clear days to make progress on our newest high tunnel building project. Instead we got 3.5 inches of rain in 48 hours last week and now 5 inches of snow! As the cold temperatures and snow called for in the ten day forecast solidified and appeared to be the real deal we made plans to get extra storage crops out of the field. Carrots, rutabaga, kohlrabi, and celeriac all found space in the very full walk-in coolers.

As the week progressed it became apparent that we needed to harvest early for the CSA too. We harvested the hearty roots earlier in the week followed by the more tender greens this weekend just ahead of this lovely blanket of snow. That’s how we ended up harvesting on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day for the first time in nine seasons of Winter CSAing. Thanks to this early planning and work we’re bring you a full share of the winter bounty!

Over the years we’ve generally lucked out with winter weather. There have been a couple of big snowstorms and a couple of very low temperature events in memory, but overall the valley is a pretty okay place to be undertaking this winter farming adventure. Our luck has held again this time around and we were gifted with just 5 inches of powdery light snow on Sunday that required a single round of sweeping the greenhouses. We’d invested in a couple of handy roof rakes several years back and it took just an hour and a half to clear the six houses that required clearing.

We’re looking forward to getting this share in the books and hope we can get everyone through the pick-ups safely. As the snow melts and the farmscape returns to normal, we plan on making more progress on the high tunnel building project, finishing up our seed inventory and 2022 crop plan, and maybe even getting off the farm for a belated holiday celebration.

Enjoy the vegetables and we’ll see you here again in two weeks!

Your farmers,
Carri Heisler & Jeff Bramlett

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Here are a few recipes to get you inspired:

Celery Root and Carrot Soup

• 1/2 large celery root (celeriac), peeled, chopped
• 1/2 pound carrots, peeled, chopped
• 1/4 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon finely grated peeled ginger
• Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
• Celery leaves and chopped Granny Smith apple (for serving)

Place celery root and carrots in a large pot; add 6 cups water. Bring to a simmer over medium heat; cook until tender, 30–35 minutes. Let cool slightly. Purée in a blender with yogurt, honey, coriander, and ginger until smooth; season with salt and pepper.

Serve soup topped with celery leaves and apple.

From Epicurious.com, https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/celery-root-and-carrot-soup

Roasted Autumn Vegetables

• Nonstick vegetable oil spray
• 1 1/2 pounds butternut squash, peeled, cut into 3×1/2-inch wedges
• 1 1/2 pounds rutabagas, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch-thick wedges
• 1 1/4 pounds red-skinned sweet potatoes (yams), cut into 2×3/4-inch wedges
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray large rimmed baking sheet with nonstick spray. Combine squash, rutabagas, and sweet potatoes in large bowl. Add oil and cayenne and toss to coat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread vegetable mixture on prepared baking sheet. Roast until vegetables are tender, stirring and turning occasionally, about 1 hour. (Vegetables can be prepared 4 hours ahead. Let stand on baking sheet at room temperature. Rewarm in 350°F oven until heated through, about 15 minutes.)

Transfer vegetable mixture to bowl. Add red onion, chives, and vinegar; toss to blend. Season with salt and pepper.

From Epicurious.com, https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/roasted-autumn-vegetables-231105

Shredded Brussels Sprouts and Scallions

• a 10-ounce container Brussels sprouts (about 26), trimmed
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 scallions, sliced thin diagonally
• 1 teaspoon fresh lime juice, or to taste

Cut sprouts in half and slice thin lengthwise. In a heavy skillet melt butter over moderately high heat until foam subsides and sauté sprouts and scallions, stirring, until tender and lightly browned, about 8 minutes. In a bowl toss vegetables with lime juice and salt and pepper to taste.

From Epicurious.com, https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/shredded-brussels-sprouts-and-scallions-11807

Chicory, Bacon, and Poached Egg Salad

• 4 oz. Parmesan
• 1 medium shallot, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar
• 1 Tbsp. honey
• 7 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
• 8 oz. slab or thick-cut bacon, cut into 1/2″ pieces
• 2 (8″-long) sprigs rosemary
• 1 lb. mixed wild mushrooms (such as shiitake, maitake, and/or oyster), woody stems removed
• 1 lb. chicory (such as radicchio, escarole, and/or frisée), leaves torn into 3″ pieces
• 4 large eggs

Finely grate half of the Parmesan into a large bowl. Add shallot, vinegar, honey, and 5 Tbsp. oil and whisk well; season dressing with salt and pepper.

Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until brown and beginning to crisp, about 5 minutes. Add rosemary and cook, turning once, until crisp, about 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer bacon and rosemary to paper towels.

Add remaining 2 Tbsp. oil to skillet and heat over medium-high. Arrange mushrooms in pan in a single layer and cook, undisturbed, until golden brown underneath, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, toss, and continue to cook, tossing often, until golden brown all over, about 5 minutes. Transfer to bowl with dressing, but don’t toss. Strip rosemary leaves off stems into bowl and add chicory.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Reduce heat so water is at a bare simmer. Crack an egg into a small bowl; gently slide egg into water. Quickly repeat with remaining eggs. Poach, rotating eggs gently with a large slotted spoon, until whites are set but yolks are still runny, about 3 minutes. Using spoon, transfer eggs to paper towels. Season with salt and pepper.

Toss salad to coat leaves; season with salt and divide among plates. Shave remaining Parmesan over and top with bacon and poached eggs.

From Epicurious.com, https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/chicory-bacon-and-poached-egg-salad