Welcome to the 6th share of the Pitchfork & Crow 2023/2024 Winter CSA! Here’s what’s in the share this week:

• Mixed Radicchio – Great for robust winter salads with punchy dressings and nuts and strong cheese and citrus. Holds up to a little warming too. We’ll eat it under oven baked salmon, rice, and creamy dressing for a quick dinner. Soaking in ice water can help reduce the bitterness if needed. Click here for some tips if you think radicchio and chicories bring too much bitter to the table.
• Arugula Rapini – A peppery green for salads or other dishes. This is the rapini version, as the arugula is bolting and heading to flower. The stems may require a touch longer to soften when cooking. Don’t forget to play the pesto card when you’re looking for a sauce/spread too.
• Lettuce Mix
• Spinach
• Mustards/Mizuna – Mixed bunches of purple mustard greens and red and green mizuna. These greens are great to toss into hot pasta or brothy soups or chop into salads for a little spice.
• Pinto Potatoes – Red and white skins with gold creamy flesh good for frying, roasting, or steaming.
• Mixed Radishes – A mix of purple daikon and watermelon radishes this week. Great sliced raw or roasted. We’ve also been sauteing these with a little chili sauce for our ramen lunches.
• Carrots
• Celeriac – A tasty root that lands somewhere on the vegetable continuum between potato and celery. It’s great in any dish you’d use potatoes and pairs well with them too. They’re difficult to peel, so we usually just square off the edges with a sharp knife for cubing. Note: Over the years we’ve heard from two members who have had allergic reactions to celeriac. The internet suggests that 6% of the general population have a celery/celeriac sensitivity and that cooking it may not trigger the allergy. This is just to say that if you’re new to celeriac you might want to ease into it slowly, and skip it if you have a known celery allergen.
• Bunching Onions – Aka scallions or green onions. No matter what you call them, they’re tasty!
• Yellow & Red Onions
• Garlic – This is the point in the winter that I start to remind you to use up your garlic and onions. It may not feel like it everyday, but we’re headed toward spring and these guys want to sprout. They’re generally still edible if you see a small green sprout but eat ’em up sooner than later.
• Butternut Squash
• Dried Apples

We’re wrapping up February with another round of cold weather. Winter isn’t quite done with us yet. Thankfully the snow that keeps showing up in the extended forecast also keeps disappearing before it shows up for real. We’ve had some really beautiful days this past week, giving us an opportunity to get a jump on some spring cleaning projects. Jeff was able to get through the orchards with the weed whacker and they’re looking much more orderly. Now’s the time to get ahead of these things before planting begins to ramp up.

We’ve made it to that point in the Winter season when we’re generally amazed when we come to the end of the harvest and we’ve rustled up a plentiful and diverse share of vegetables for everyone. We’ve heard this time of year called the hunger gap and the same concept came up in a book I was reading this past week about the Kalapuya tribes who evidently called this the ‘out of provisions’ month. Thanks to walk-in coolers keeping us stocked with potatoes, beets, radishes, and carrots plus apples for drying, and our remaining stores of onions and squash, we won’t be running out of provisions just yet. The crops out in the field are more susceptible to the whims of the weather though, so only time will tell whether or not we’ll continue our lucky streak of diverse winter shares.

Perhaps it’s the lengthening days, perhaps the sunny weather, or maybe it’s just that time of year, but we’ve been keeping busy the past couple of weeks. Between cleaning up greenhouse plantings (things are growing, including the weeds), getting another greenhouse planted to carrots and potatoes, starting the onions and leeks for the season ahead, and the general cleaning-up mentioned previously, we’re pushing forward with the tasks of the season. We ordered up our first 12 tons of organic fertilizer and we’re getting ready to start prepping beds in the field just as soon as things dry out enough.

On a side note, isn’t that forklift on the delivery truck in the photo above the coolest? We can offload pallets with our tractor in a pinch, but that forklift is both faster and safer for that task.

Hoping to not waste the dark winter evenings while we’ve got them, I’ve been spending some time reviewing our website and working on a refresh and upgrades. I designed this site back in 2015 when I upgraded it from just being a blog format and it turns out some things have changed in the realm of website design in the last decade.

Jeff’s evenings have been spent working on his stockpile of baskets before spring growth and time constraints bring an end to basket making season. He’s doubled down on smaller baskets in the last couple of weeks. He’s calling them Easter baskets, a good size for egg collection, but also the size we use to store onions in our kitchen. If you’re in the market for a small to medium sized basket, he’ll have some at the pick-ups this week for $20 each.

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:

Butternut Squash and Celery Root Gratin

Butter or pan spray, for pan
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 butternut squash, approx. 1-1/2 pounds, peeled, cut in half lengthwise, and seeded
1 celery root, 3/4 to 1 pound, peeled and cut into quarters
Leaves pulled from several branches of thyme
¹/₂ large red onion, peeled and cut into thin slices
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
³/₄ cup cream
2 slices firm white bread, slightly stale, processed into coarse crumbs
3 tablespoons finely chopped walnuts
¹/₄ cup grated pecorino, asiago, or parmigiano-reggiano cheese
Handful of flat-leaf parsley leaves, coarsely chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 450ºF. Butter or spray a 1-1/2 quart gratin dish.
2. Cut the flesh from the neck of the butternut squash into 1/8-inch-thick half-moons. Cut the seeded “bowls” into 1/8-inch-thick slices and set aside separately from the half-moons.
3. Cut the celery root quarters into 1/8-inch-thick slices.
4. Layer the vegetables in the prepared pan, sprinkling each layer lightly with salt and pepper, as follows: Make a single layer of squash half-moons in the bottom of the pan. Add a layer of celeriac, using about half of it. Scatter about 2/3 of the onion slices and about half of the thyme over the celeriac. Make another layer using the odd-shaped squash pieces and the remaining celeriac. Make a final, neater layer of overlapping squash half moons, then scatter the remaining onions and thyme over the top. Dot the butter over the top and pour the cream evenly over everything.
5. Cover the dish with foil and bake until the vegetables are quite tender but not mushy when pierced with a sharp knife, about 45 minutes.
6. Remove the foil and sprinkle the walnuts over the top, then the bread crumbs, and finally the cheese. Return the dish to the oven, uncovered, until the top is golden and most of liquid has evaporated, about 15 minutes longer.
7. To further brown the top, if desired, place the dish under the broiler for a few moments, taking care not to burn the gratin. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly, about 15 minutes. Sprinkle the parsley over the top of the gratin just before serving, or sprinkle parsley over individual servings.

From Food52.com by JSCOOKS, https://food52.com/recipes/7395-butternut-squash-and-celery-root-gratin

Green Leaf Lettuce with Radishes and Spring Onions

• For the vinaigrette:
• 1 tablespoon minced spring onion
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, plus more to taste
• ¹/₂ teaspoon medium-grain German mustard
• ¹/₄ teaspoon sea salt
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

• For the salad:
• 1 bunch radishes, leaves trimmed to 1/4 inch and quartered
• sea salt
• 1 bunch green leaf lettuce, torn, any thick stems removed
• 3 spring onions, minced (if there are flowers, halve them and reserve for garnish)
• ground black pepper

1. In a small bowl, whisk the spring onion, lemon juice, mustard, and sea salt. Whisking, gradually add in the olive oil until it is emulsified into the dressing.
2. Toss the radishes with a pinch of sea salt and set aside.
3. Set half of the lettuce leaves in a large bowl and toss with 1 to 2 tablespoons of the prepared vinaigrette. Add the remaining leaves and toss with another 1 to 2 tablespoons vinaigrette.
4. Toss the radishes with the remaining vinaigrette. Transfer the lettuce to a bowl or serving platter and scatter it with the radishes and spring onions just before serving. Finish with a pinch of sea salt, ground black pepper, and any reserved onion flowers.

From Food52.com by Elizabeth Stark, https://food52.com/recipes/35107-green-leaf-lettuce-with-radishes-and-spring-onions

Welsh Rarebit with Spinach

4 slices of good, sturdy bread (i used a very nice gluten free flax seed bread by glutino – any will do, but please, no wonderbread!)
1 cup grated cheddar cheese (I used Denhay English cheddar)
¹/₂ teaspoon Colman’s mustard powder (or 1 teaspoon of a milder mustard)
¹/₂ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 pinch ground black pepper
1 dash milk (probably about a teaspoon)
2 cups fresh spinach or 1/2 cup frozen

1. If you’re using fresh spinach, heat in a pan until wilted then leave to cool. When cooled, squeeze out the excess liquid and chop roughly. If using frozen, simply defrost and squeeze out excess liquid.
2. Place the slices of bread under the grill (or broiler) until lightly browned on one side.
3. Meanwhile mix together the cheese, mustard, worcestershire sauce, pepper and milk. Next, stir in the chopped spinach. Turn the slices of bread over and top with the cheese mixture, so it’s evenly distributed over each slice. Place under the hot grill for 2 – 3 minutes until the cheese is melted and golden.

From Food52.com by CooklynVeg, https://food52.com/recipes/4506-welsh-rarebit-with-spinach