Welcome to the 23rd share of the Pitchfork & Crow 2022 Summer CSA! Here’s what’s in the share this week:

• Salad Mix
• Arugula
• Rainbow Chard
• Broccoli Bits
• Hakurei Salad Turnips – These are mild enough to eat raw on salads but we also enjoy roasting them with other root vegetables. Don’t forget to eat the greens!
• German Butterball Potatoes
• Red Onions
• Garlic
• Sweet Peppers
• Shishito Peppers – The shishitos are the roulette peppers we’ve shared in the past where 1 in 10 can be hot. They’re delicious blistered in hot oil and salted as a snack or chopped up and thrown into other dishes. We’ve enjoyed them in breakfast burritos.
• Tomato – It’s true, we found one more ripe tomato out there to share. Green tomatoes coming at you next week.
• Gill’s Golden Pippin Acorn Squash – A tasty little acorn squash that’s just the right size for a single serving.

The season is quickly winding down as Thanksgiving, and the final share of the Summer CSA season, is just three weeks away now. The rain has settled in, the temps have dropped, the days are getting shorter and shorter. Whew! What a roller coaster this growing season has been. We’re looking forward to the break but we’re also already thinking about improvements for next year.

Although the weather forecast had suggested several rainy days last week, we had a bit of a reprieve and were able to make some progress in the digging of potatoes, both sweets and non-sweets alike. We finished getting the sweet potatoes out of the ground and they’re now finishing curing at a balmy 85 degrees in the temperature regulated germination chamber. We also spent time digging more regular potatoes for storage. We have about a third left to dig in the coming weeks. Slowly but surely we’ll get through that project.

We’ve got our first frost warning of the season coming up Wednesday night, though it’s looking less likely as we get closer to Wednesday now. Most sensitive crops are either in greenhouses at this point or done for the season already, so there isn’t much prep to do ahead of a frost. I did spend time Sunday harvesting the last of the peppers though. We had a strange pepper year but it’s nice to have what’s left out of the field and ready to be shared in the next few CSA shares.

In addition to harvesting and more harvesting we managed to plant a bed of lettuce and a bed of bunching onions into a greenhouse for winter eating. We also planted a couple of beds of fava beans for next spring. Favas are one of the last things to go in the ground, and we’re generally ready to be done with planting by the time they roll around. But they sure are nice to have in June! Jeff also managed to sow some cover crop seed in some open areas and do quite a bit of mowing of past crops. It’s crazy how quickly the landscape view can change with a single pass of the flail mower.

In the week ahead we’ll be tackling more potatoes in between rain storms. It looks like a rainy week ahead so we’ll be taking on some indoor projects too. There’s some weeds we’d like to get to in a couple of greenhouse beds. It’s also time to think about our potato order for next year to make sure we’re at the top of the list for seed potato supplies. It’s a never ending potato cycle: harvest, plant, harvest, plant. I guess that’s the nature of farming though.

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:

Potato Salad with Arugula & Dijon Vinaigrette

• ¹/₂ small red onion, peeled and roughly chopped
• 2 pounds new potatoes, scrubbed and cut into bite-sized pieces
• Salt
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped chives
• 3 cups arugula, stems removed, washed and dried and very roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 5 tablespoons good olive oil

Put the onion in a small bowl and cover with cold water (this will remove some of the bite). Put the potatoes in a large pot of generously salted water. Bring to a boil over high heat.

Lower the heat so the water is barely simmering and cook for about 10 minutes, until you can pierce the potatoes with the tip of a sharp knife and it slips out easily. Drain the potatoes well and pour them into a large bowl.

Gently toss the warm potatoes with the rice vinegar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Add the chives, arugula and red onion and stir through.

Whisk together the red wine vinegar, mustard and olive oil in a small bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour over the potato mixture and toss to combine. Serve warm or keep covered at room temperature for up to an hour.

From Food52.com by Merrill Stubbs, https://food52.com/recipes/12198-potato-salad-with-arugula-dijon-vinaigrette

Chard Salad with Breadcrumbs and Parmesan

• 1 bunch Swiss chard
• 1 lemon
• ¹/₂ cup extra virgin olive oil
• Salt
• 1 ¹/₂ cups fresh breadcrumbs
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• ³/₄ cup grated Parmesan

Wash and dry the chard and remove the stems from the leaves. Set aside. Zest and juice the lemon.

Combine the lemon juice (you should have about 2 1/2 tablespoons), 1 teaspoon of the lemon zest and a few generous pinches of salt in a small bowl. Slowly whisk in 1/4 cup of the olive oil. Set aside.

Warm the remaining 1/4 cup olive oil in a small, heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the breadcrumbs and cook, stirring frequently, until they are crisp and golden brown (about 5 minutes). Be careful not to burn them! Stir in the garlic and let them toast for another minute, then remove from the heat.

Separate the chard leaves from their stems. Finely chop the stems. Stack a few of the leaves on top of each other, roll them like a cigar and cut the cigar into thin (1/8-inch) ribbons. Repeat until all the leaves are shredded. Put the chard stems and leaves into a large bowl and toss gently with the Parmesan and about 2/3 of the lemon dressing. Taste and add more dressing if you like. Toss in the toasted breadcrumbs and serve immediately.

From Food52.com by Merrill Stubbs, https://food52.com/recipes/24925-chard-salad-with-garlic-breadcrumbs-and-parmesan

Weeknight Lasagna with Any-Greens Pesto and White Beans

• For assembling lasagna:
• 12 lasagna noodles (about 8 ounces), either regular or no-boil
• 3 cups (roughly) marinara sauce, either homemade or store-bought (from a 24-ounce jar, such as Rao’s)
• 2 cups (or 16 ounces) full-fat ricotta cheese
• 1 large egg
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 ³/₄ cups cooked white beans (from one 15.5-ounce can), drained and rinsed
• 2 cups (or 8 ounces) shredded mozzarella

• For any-greens pesto:
• 8 ounces greens (one or more of: kale, spinach, Swiss chard, arugula, basil, and parsley)
• ¹/₄ cup toasted pine nuts
• 1 garlic clove
• ¹/₃ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• Finely grated lemon zest + 2 teaspoons juice, from 1 lemon
• ¹/₂ cup finely grated Parmesan
• 1 pinch kosher salt, plus more to taste
• ¹/₄ teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste

Preheat the oven to 425°F.

If using regular lasagna noodles: In a large pan or bowl, cover the noodles in very hot tap water (or cold water warmed in a kettle until about 120°F) seasoned with salt; let the noodles soak for about 10 to 15 minutes while preparing the rest of your ingredients. (Note: a longer soak time may cause the noodles to stick together, so drain and separate them after about 15 minutes). If using no-boil noodles, you can skip this step.

Lightly oil an 8 by 12-inch baking pan for a thicker lasagna (my preference!), or a 9- by 13-inch pan for a thinner version.

To make the pesto: In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the greens until finely chopped (adding the greens in batches for them to all fit), then add the pine nuts and garlic. Pulse again until integrated. Stream in the olive oil. Add Parmesan, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Taste, and season to taste with kosher salt. Alternately, make the pesto by hand chopping the greens with a knife. Note: This is a less oily pesto than traditional versions given the volume of greens.

Transfer pesto to a medium bowl. Stir in ricotta. Taste again and add more salt, if needed, and several grinds of black pepper. (Take the time to get the seasoning right!). Add the egg, and stir until smooth.

Spread 1 cup pasta sauce in the prepared dish. Arrange 4 slightly overlapping noodles atop the sauce. (Gently tap noodles against the bowl to shake off any water.) Top with roughly one-third of the white beans, then spread roughly one-third of the ricotta-pesto mixture over in an even layer.

Layer the second row of 4 lasagna noodles, 1 cup sauce, half the remaining white beans, and half the remaining ricotta-pesto mixture.

Repeat with one more layer of 4 lasagna noodles, 1 cup sauce, and the remaining white beans and ricotta-pesto mixture. Evenly sprinkle the mozzarella over the top.

Cover lasagna with foil. Bake for 20 minutes. (If using an 8 by 12-inch dish, bake over a sheet pan in case any of the sauce bubbles over.) Uncover, then continue baking until the mozzarella is melted and browned, about 15 to 18 minutes longer. Let stand at least 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

From Food52.com by EmilyC, https://food52.com/recipes/84985-quick-lasagna-recipe-with-pesto-white-beans