Welcome to the 7th share of the Pitchfork & Crow 2023/2024 Winter CSA! Here’s what’s in the share this week:

• Lacinato Kale Rapini – The kale is going to flower, which means rapini season! Treat these shoots and leaves like kale or broccoli.
• Lettuce Mix
• Spinach
• Green Savoy Cabbage
• Yukon Gem Potatoes
• Mixed Radishes/Salad Turnips – Mixed pints of purple daikon, Hakurei salad turnips, and a handful of watermelon radishes this week. Great sliced raw or roasted. We’ve also been sauteing these with a little chili sauce for our ramen lunches.
• Parsnips – Great roasted or mashed with other roots but our favorite winter parsnip treat has got to be parsnip cake.
• Beets
• Rutabaga – Known as swedes in other countries, these are good roasted with other roots, mashed, or in soups and stews.
• Purple Bunching Onions – Aka scallions or green onions. No matter what you call them, they’re tasty!
• Mixed 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.
• Mixed Kabocha Squash – Some dark green Sweet Mamas and some light blue Winter Sweets. We enjoyed our last kabocha roasted until scoop-able and then split between a Thai curry base and a loaf of Healthy Pumpkin Bread with walnuts and dried cranberries.

If it wasn’t for the cold nip in the air this past week, I’d say spring has arrived. It seems we’re still in that in between time, a little wintery, a little springy. The ten day forecast looks promising though. If it comes true I think we may get some sunny weather and the warmer temps to go with it. Fingers crossed we’ll even dry out enough to get the tractor into the field to start prepping ground.

Despite the manic weather we’re happy to be bringing you another round of tasty vegetables. Rapini season is beginning outside of the greenhouses and we’re here for it. The shoots of brassica plants headed to flower are a special seasonal treat. This week we’ve got lacinato kale rapini and in future weeks we should have collard rapini too, which is maybe our favorite.

Unfortunately the January ice storm did a doozy on our purple sprouting broccoli and overwintering cauliflower plants. I’d hoped they might make a comeback, but it’s become obvious that the majority of the plants didn’t make it through. It’s sad not to be harvesting these crops we look forward to all winter. Luckily there are other green things out there to share!

The weather outside may be unpredictable but things have been hopping inside the propagation house. Over the past couple of weeks I sowed the leeks, onions, peas and first rounds of kale, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and fennel. The eggplants and peppers are currently in the toasty warm germination chamber until they begin to germinate. Once I see signs of life they’ll join the tomatoes in the prop house on the heat tables.

In the photos above you can see the prop house beginning to fill up. The photo on the right shows the row cover used to cover flats at night. We cover the heat tables with both row cover and greenhouse plastic overnight to keep the heat in. The photo on the bottom right shows the flats of peas sprouting, covered with empty trays and rocks to keep mice out while they get established. It’s the spring dance of moving flats from the germ chamber to the premium space on the heat tables and then eventually to other tables in the prop house. At least it’s pleasant working conditions.

While I’ve been busy in the prop house getting things growing Jeff has been busy doing everything else. That’s meant a lot of weed whacking and invasive blackberry wrangling of late. He also made the annual trip to St. Paul for propagation supplies and row cover, orchestrated compost delivery, spread 10 yards of said compost in this season’s tomato tunnel, finished planting the rest of our early summer potatoes in a greenhouse, prepped a greenhouse for pea planting, and supervised the annual static level water test of our well for our water rights. And, at the last possible moment at the end of this past week’s dry weather he was able to cultivate the garlic and overwintering onions. Whew, he’s been keeping busy.

When we last met I mentioned Jeff was making Easter baskets. A number of you took him up on them and he sold them all. Many thanks for that! He’s been busy every night in his basket studio replenishing the supply. He’ll have them again at this week’s CSA pick-ups for $20 each.

In the coming weeks we’ll be getting more seeds started, more spring mowing and weed whacking, and we’ll be reviewing that list of winter projects. Now’s the time to get them finished up before it’s too late.

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:

Creamed Spinach and Parsnips

3 parsnips
3 tablespoons butter, divided
2 tablespoons honey
1 large bunch (or 2 medium bunches) of spinach
1 small onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup half and half or cream
1 pinch nutmeg
Salt and pepper

1. Clean, peel, and slice your parsnips into 1-inch batons.
2. Preheat the oven to 400° F. Par-cook the parsnips until almost cooked through in either a pot of simmering salted water for approximately 20 to 30 mins, or with a few inches of water in a slow cooker set to high heat (I cooked mine this way and it took about 3 hours).
3. When the parsnips are done, lay them in a single layer on a baking sheet and drizzle with a 2 tablespoons each of melted butter and honey.
4. Roast the parsnips in the preheated oven for 20 to 30 minutes until they start to get crispy and brown.
5. While the parsnips are roasting, clean the leaves from a large bunch of spinach and remove the tough stems. Roughly chop the spinach, blanch it in salted boiling water until bright green (less than 15 seconds), and then run it under cold water to set the color. Squeeze out the liquid and set aside.
6. Chop a small onion, and sautée it in some olive oil and butter (1 tablespoon each) on medium heat. When the onion is becoming translucent, add a tablespoon of flour and cook for another minute.
7. While the flour is cooking down, heat a cup of half and half in the microwave or on the stovetop for a minute, and then stir it slowly into the onions, whisking frequently to make sure there are no flour lumps.
8. Cook the half and half down for a few minutes until it’s starting to thicken, then add a pinch of nutmeg, salt and pepper, and taste for seasoning.
9. Add your parsnips and spinach, heat through, and serve.

From Food52.com by Feed Me Dearly, https://food52.com/recipes/31332-creamed-spinach-and-parsnips

Roasted Vegetable Salad with Chimichurri Sauce

• Roasted Vegetables
• 6 large carrots (about 1 1/2 pounds)
• ³/₄ pound purple potatoes
• 2 medium rutabagas
• 3-4 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
• ¹/₂ teaspoon salt (plus more, to taste)
• ¹/₂ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (plus additional to taste)

• Chimichurri Sauce
• ¹/₂ cup flat leaf parsley leaves, packed in fairly tightly
• 2 medium cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
• ¹/₄ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons minced red onion
• ¹/₂ teaspoon table salt
• ¹/₄ teaspoon aleppo pepper

Roasted Vegetables

• Preheat oven to 400°F with rack near center of oven. Line large baking sheet with foil.
• Peel carrots, and cut into bite-sized chunks. Transfer to medium bowl. Scrub potatoes, and cut into bite-sized chunks. Add to bowl. Peel rutabagas and cut into bite-sized chunks. Add to bowl.
• Add salt, pepper, and oil to bowl. Toss to coat vegetables thoroughly. Pour vegetables in a single layer onto baking sheet. Roast for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring once, or until the potatoes can be easily pierced with a fork.
• Transfer vegetables back to medium bowl. (I like to use the foil as a sling to do this.) Toss with about 3/4 of the chimichurri. Taste and add salt and pepper if needed. Allow mixture to cool for 5 to 10 minutes, then transfer to serving bowl. Drizzle with remaining chimichurri. Serve warm.

Chimichurri Sauce

• Combine parsley leaves and garlic cloves in bowl of food processor. Pulse to combine, until no large pieces of garlic remain. This will take about 15 to 20 pulses, and you will need to scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice.
• Transfer parsley and garlic to small bowl. Whisk in remaining ingredients. Allow to rest at room temperature at least 20 minutes to let flavors meld.

From Food52.com by HardLikeArmour, https://food52.com/recipes/9753-roasted-vegetable-salad-with-chimichurri-sauce

Okonomiyaki (Savory Japanese Cabbage Pancake)

• For pancake:
• ¹/₃ teaspoon dashi stock powder
• ²/₃ cup water
• ¹/₂ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons tenkasu (tempura bits)
• 2 cups cabbage, chopped into thin strips
• ¹/₃ cup chopped green onions
• 3 to 4 strips bacon, chopped into 2 to 3 inch-long pieces

• For serving:
• Kewpie mayo (regular works fine too!)
• Okonomi sauce (or a homemade version: 3 tablespoons ketchup plus 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce plus 1 teaspoon soy sauce plus 1/2 teaspoon honey)
• Aonori (seaweed flakes)
• Sesame seeds

1. In a large bowl, mix the dashi stock powder into the water until it dissolves. Whisk in the flour, egg, and tenkasu to make a batter.
2. Add in the cabbage and most of the green onion (reserving a pinch). Fold into the batter until combined.
3. Heat a large greased pan over medium-high. Dump the cabbage batter into the pan; using a small spatula, flatten batter top and edges into a round pancake about 1/2- to 3/4-inch thick. I’ve found that the less craggy the edges of the pancake, the easier it is to flip.
4. Cover the top of the pancake with the bacon pieces in a single layer. Cook pancake this way for 3 to 4 minutes, then flip—using a big-old flat spatula—so the bacon-side is down. Cook until bacon has crisped, about 5 minutes, and then flip again to cook for an additional 3 to 4 minutes, bacon side up.
5. Slide pancake onto a large plate. If your mayonnaise and okonomi sauce aren’t in squeeze bottles, scoop a spoonful of each into a bottom corner of separate plastic bags. Snip the corner with scissors to allow for precision-squirting. Zig-zag the okonomi sauce over the top in one direction, and the Kewpie (or regular) mayo in the other. Sprinkle remaining green onions, aonori, and sesame seeds over the sauces.

From Food52.com by Kendra Vaculin, https://food52.com/recipes/37975-okonomiyaki-savory-japanese-cabbage-pancake