Welcome to the 8th share of the Pitchfork & Crow 2022 Summer CSA! Here’s what’s in the share this week:

• Green Leaf Lettuce
• Red Butter/Romaine Lettuce
• Rainbow Chard
• Lacinato Kale
• Celery
• Cilantro
• Flowering Dill
• French Breakfast Radishes – We don’t typically attempt radishes in July, but a month ago things we’re looking a little bleak so we sowed some in an empty high tunnel bed. They’re now ready to spice up your salads and vegetable sautes!
• Strawberry Paw Red Skinned Potatoes
• Yellow Onions
• Fresh Garlic – We’re sharing the bulbs that have exposed cloves and won’t store very long. It’s also not as dry as fully cured garlic will be as it’s straight out of the field. Not for storage, use it up.
• Zucchini & Summer Squash – Including green & yellow zucchini and yellow summer squash.
• Mixed Cucumbers – Including green cukes, ‘Silver Slicer’ yellow cukes, and some lemon cukes.

Another week in the books, and we’re suddenly two months into this Summer CSA season. The rough spring planting conditions continue to have an effect on crops in the field, but it’s a little less each week as we progress further into the season. Soon enough we’ll be through the worst of those spring planted crops and the high summer crops will hopefully have caught up too. I’m talking tomatoes and peppers and corn! As with everything this season, they’re a little delayed but hopefully they’re worth the wait.

July is a transition month as we work to maintain the crops in the field and continue the planting push, now made up of fall and winter crops. Last week’s big propagation week included sowing next spring’s purple sprouting broccoli and overwintering cauliflower as well as fall broccoli and cauliflower and storage beets. We also sowed our final round of carrots for the season and transplanted fall crops like rutabaga and kohlrabi. Just about the time we get the hang of this summer season it’s time to shift focus to winter again.

As with each week that passes, we have high hopes of doing some catch-up in the week ahead. Everywhere we turn there are projects that could use some time and energy to tackle. I see carrot weeding and tomato trellising in our future. And there’s more seeds to sow and transplanting to get in the ground. And mowing, still more mowing. Plus it’s time to get serious about a fall/winter greenhouse plan as we transition spring crops out of the houses. It’s mid-July and there’s plenty to be doing around here.

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:

Jane Grigson’s Celery Soup

• ¹/₂ pound celery, chopped (outside stalks or celeriac — about 2 cups)
• ¹/₂ cup chopped onion
• ¹/₂ cup diced potato
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 4 cups turkey or chicken stock
• ¹/₂ cup milk (optional, up to 1 cup)
• 1 teaspoon dill weed (2 teaspoons for fresh dill)
• 2 ¹/₂ tablespoons cream

Stew celery, onion, and potato gently in the butter in a covered pan for 10 minutes. Don’t let the vegetables brown. Add stock or water and 1/2 teaspoon of dill weed. Simmer for 20 minutes if you have a blender, 40 minutes if you use a food mill.

Blend or purée the soup. Pour through a strainer into a clean pan (to remove the last few threads of celery), adding a little milk if too thick. Bring slowly to just under the boil, seasoning with salt, pepper and more dill weed if required.

Put the cream into the soup dish, and pour the soup in on top. Swirl round with the ladle before serving, to mix in the cream.

From Food52.com by Genius Recipes, https://food52.com/recipes/26523-jane-grigson-s-celery-soup

Marinated Zucchini, Kalamata Olive, and Mozzarella Salad

• 4 medium yellow or green zucchini
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pinch salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 balls buffalo mozzarella
• 16 kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
• 1 handful fresh basil and oregano leaves (cilantro and mint work well, too), finely chopped

Cut the zucchini into ribbons with a mandoline or a vegetable peeler. Put them in a bowl and add the lemon juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir well. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Cut the mozzarella into small pieces and add them, the olives, and the chopped herbs to the chilled zucchini. Stir well and serve!

From Food52.com, https://food52.com/recipes/37137-marinated-zucchini-kalamata-olive-mozzarella-salad

Potato-Kale Hash with Chickpeas

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup onions, diced
• 2-3 medium baked and cold potatoes, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ³/₄ cup cooked chick peas (or canned)
• 2-3 cups shredded tuscan kale
• salt to taste
• nanami togarashi (Japanese pepper blend) to taste

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the onions until translucent, about 3-5 minutes. Add the potatoes and let them cook on one side for a couple minutes. Turn the potatoes to allow the other sides to color. Give each side 2-3 minutes, the idea is to add a little color and crisp, not to char the potatoes. If they are getting dark, lower the heat. If the pan is dry, add additional oil, a few drops at a time or give it a spritz with spray oil.

When the potatoes are almost completely browned, add the garlic, chickpeas and kale and continue to saute, turning the mixture as you go, until the kale is wilted and the chickpeas have gained a little color.

Season with salt, sprinkle the nanami togarashi over the top as a garnish and serve immediately.

From Food52.com by JaneOfManyTrade, https://food52.com/recipes/33741-potato-kale-hash-with-chickpeas