Welcome to the 3rd share of the Pitchfork & Crow 2023 Summer CSA! Here’s what’s in the share this week:

• Romaine Lettuce Heads – One large green romaine and one smaller red romaine this week.
• Bok Choy
• Spinach
• Basil
• Uncured Garlic – Immature garlic bulbs that tend to be milder than mature, cured garlic. Use it raw, sliced into salads, or cooked as you would mature garlic cloves. Click here for a good rundown on green garlic if you’d like more details.
• Snap Peas
• Kohlrabi – The classic CSA vegetable, kohlrabi is often new to folks who are new to CSAs. Why else would you come home with such a strange looking vegetable? We like them chopped up and raw, like a carrot stick, but they can be roasted, or added to mashed potatoes, or shaved super thin into salads. I’ve heard kohlrabi and peanut butter can be a pretty great snack too.
• Carrots
• Radishes – These are bringing the spice this week. Use them raw, pickled, or roasted.
• Zucchini

We’ve made it to week 3 of the summer CSA season! The crop plan we set in motion back in December is in full swing and we’re at the height of the farming workload. Vegetables are growing in the field, while more are transplanted each week, and more are started from seed to be transplanted in the coming weeks. Irrigation is happening around the clock. And the weeds, while mostly under control at the moment, are on the cusp of winning in some areas.

Our plans got thrown off a bit this past week when we realized it was time to deal with our poor potato sprouting situation. We had pushed our potato planting back a bit this year and it happened to coincide with the heatwave back in May, which wasn’t great for getting potatoes in the ground. So. instead of splitting up Thursday to tackle cultivation and trellising and weeding, we spent the first half of the day working together filling in gaps in the potato patch where the potato seed hadn’t sprouted. We used the Stand ‘n Plant planter we’d purchased some years back to plug the new potato seed in the ground. Now we wait to see if the effort to save the potato patch worked.

We attempted to get the work schedule back on track after operation save the potatoes. We managed some of the cultivation, some of the trellising, some of the weeding. Then the sweet potato slips arrived in the mail. Once again it was time to shift focus and prepare the beds for sweet potato planting. While Jeff hilled the beds and laid out the landscape fabric we use for weed control in sweet potatoes, I got through the week’s propagation duties of filling flats and sowing the next round of sweet corn seed. Then I tagged in and stuck the sweet potato plants in the ground while Jeff moved on to finishing prepping beds for winter squash, another crop we’d moved the timing on this season.

Saturday afternoon, after finishing with the sweet potato planting it was time to get the half acre of winter squash plants in the ground. We managed to get through half of the plants before it was time to get them covered with row cover to keep cucumber beetles at bay and set-up the irrigation lines. Sunday morning we were back at it, finishing up around lunchtime. Then it was time for me to pick peas while Jeff set-up the drip irrigation for the sweet potatoes before also helping to pick peas.

It was one of those weeks that felt busy but we never quite got all the things accomplished that needed to happen. We’re hoping to wrangle things back into some order this week.

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:

Radish, Snap Pea, and Burrata Salad

• 1 small bunch radishes
• 2 cups (160 grams) sugar snap peas
• ³/₄ cup (45 grams) minced chives
• 1 ball burrata
• Juice and zest of 1 very small lemon
• Olive oil
• Flaky sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Prep the vegetables: Scrub the radishes well, and then trim off the greens and whiskery end bits. Slice the radishes thinly, on a mandoline or by hand, or simply quarter them. Wash the snap peas, trim each end, and pull away the connective strings. Slice the snap peas on a bias. Mince the chives.

Set out a large plate and break the burrata into pieces. (You can dice the burrata, but it’s just as easy to tear it into pieces and hand-scatter across the plate.) Now spread the radishes over the burrata, and then the snap peas, and then the chives. Juice and zest the lemon over the plate, and drizzle a generous measure of olive oil over everything. Finish with sea salt (I used about 1/8 teaspoon), and several cracks of black pepper. Serve with bread for mopping.

From Food52.com by Cristina Sciarra, https://food52.com/recipes/34465-radish-snap-pea-and-burrata-salad-with-chives-and-lemon

Shredded Kohlrabi Quick Pickle

• 2 pounds kohlrabi
• 2 cups red wine vinegar
• 2 cups water
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons pickling salt
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
• 1 garlic clove, grated
• 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 1/4 teaspoon red chile flakes

1. Wash and dry two quart-size canning jars. Set aside.
2. Clean and trim kohlrabi bulbs. Using a mandoline slicer or a food processor, slice kohlrabi into thin matchsticks.
3. Divide the shreds evenly between the two canning jars.
4. Combine vinegar, water, honey, pickling salt, ginger, garlic, black peppercorns and red chili flakes in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil.
5. Once brine is boiling vigorously, remove it from the heat and carefully pour the brine over the kohlrabi.
6. Place lids on the jars and let them sit until cool.
7. Once jars are cool to the touch, refrigerate the pickles and eat with salads, sandwiches or meat dishes.

From Serious Eats by Marisa McClellan, https://www.seriouseats.com/shredded-kohlrabi-quick-pickle-recipe

Melissa Clark’s Crispy Salt & Pepper Pork

• 1 pound boneless pork shoulder (butt), cut into 1-inch cubes
• ¹/₂ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
• 2 teaspoons Sichuan peppercorns (or more black pepper if you can’t find them—it just won’t be as tongue-tingling)
• Pinch of red chile flakes
• 1 tablespoon peanut oil (make sure it’s refined for high heat), or grapeseed or safflower oil
• 1 teaspoon flaky sea salt, like Maldon
• ¹/₂ cup soft herbs, such as cilantro, mint, chives, and/or basil
• 1 small jalapeño or other chile, seeded and sliced or chopped
• Crisp lettuce leaves, torn and/or sliced cucumbers, for serving
• Lime wedges, for serving

In a large bowl, toss the pork cubes with the fine sea salt. Using a spice mill or a mortar and pestle, coarsely grind together the black peppercorns, Sichuan peppercorns, and the red chile flakes. If you’ve gone electric, be careful not to overdo it; you want some texture here. Add the spices to the pork, tossing well. Let it rest for 20 minutes at room temperature.

Heat a large, heavy skillet (preferably cast iron or stainless steel, not nonstick) over high heat until it is very hot. Add the oil and let it heat until it is shimmering. Then add the pork and sprinkle it with the flaky sea salt. Stir-fry until the pork cubes are golden brown all over, 5 to 7 minutes. Do this in a couple batches if needed to be sure not to crowd the meat in the pan, or it will steam, rather than brown. (To get a good sear on the meat and avoid sticking, it helps to leave it alone in the pan for a minute or two before stirring, then leave it alone again, repeat. It should be nice and brown on the bottom each time you do this.)

Transfer the pork to a platter and top it with the herbs and chile. Serve with the lettuce and/or cucumbers, with lime wedges on the side.

From Food52.com by Genius Recipes, https://food52.com/recipes/68932-melissa-clark-s-crispy-salt-pepper-pork