Welcome to the 8th share of the Pitchfork & Crow 2023/2024 Winter CSA! Here’s what’s in the share this week:

• Collard & Kale Rapini – The brassicas are going to flower, which means rapini season! Treat these shoots and leaves like kale or broccoli.
• Red Ursa Kale
• Tatsoi – Timing spring planted crops for winter shares is tricky given the variations in weather and the bi-weekly harvest schedule. This tatsoi is already bolting some thanks to the recent warm weather, but it’s still good eating. We’ll usually saute a bit or throw it directly into ramen to wilt.
• Spinach – This is not baby spinach. The recent warm weather means we get to enjoy adult spinach in all it’s tasty goodness.
• Purple Sprouting Broccoli – Whoa! We managed to pull off enough PSB for everyone to get a taste. The ice storm knocked out most of the plants but enough pulled through that all is not lost. Cook it like regular broccoli, but enjoy the stems and crowns.
• Yukon Gem Potatoes – As with many other plants this time of year, we noticed a little sprouting on some of the potatoes this week. Please make room for them in your fridge to maximize their storage length.
• French Breakfast Radishes
• Carrots
• Leeks
• Onion
• 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 or Butternut Squash – We’re coming to the end of winter squash season. Use ’em up sooner than later.
• Dried Apples

Hello spring! With the longer days and that stretch of warm sunny days last week we’ve been getting the work of the growing season underway. It’s pretty amazing how a little sun can change things up here on the farm. Over the course of a week of warm weather the soggy fields started to get dried out, the early flowering pear trees burst into bloom, and the overwintering crops shot up. Everything from the remaining purple sprouting broccoli (hit hard by the January ice storm) to the greenhouse spinach (now on it’s third harvest) put on noticeable growth. We’ve made it through another winter and it’s time to get to work, weather allowing.

I’ve been busy filling up the propagation house with the first successions of transplants. Sowing seeds and watching them develop into plant-able starts is such a miracle every single time. Somehow the first round of broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and kale is ready to head to the field in the next dry spell. The tomatoes are ready, a couple of weeks early, to head out to their greenhouse home for the season. There’s been good germination on the peppers and eggplant. The fennel and beets and lettuce and spinach and kohlrabi and leeks and onions are all coming along nicely too. Things are off to a good start for the starts!

While we waited for things to dry out we used the sunny days to cultivate and weed the garlic and overwintering onions, get a start on weeding the greenhouse carrots and potatoes, and finish up the winter orchard work. We filled a greenhouse with transplanted snap peas. Jeff did winter tractor maintenance. I kept up on propagation. We had our annual organic inspection. It was a busy couple of weeks.

And there will be more of the same in the coming weeks. We’ll be prepping beds and getting the first transplants into the field. We’ll plant tomatoes. I’ll be starting the next round of broccoli and cauliflower. Seed potatoes will be arriving in the mail. Those greenhouse carrots will get weeded. Things are getting real around here.

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:

Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe and Sausage

¹/₂ cup olive oil (the better the quality, the better the taste), divided
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped, divided
1 pound Italian sausage, not in casings
1 bunch of broccoli rabe, trimmed and rinsed
1 tablespoon butter
¹/₄ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 packet (16 ounces) orecchiette, cooked as instructed and set aside warm
Parmigiano-Reggiano, to taste

1. Divide the olive oil and the garlic between two separate deep, large frying skillets, one of which is stainless steel and the other of which has an accompanying cover or lid. In the stainless steel skillet, warm the olive oil and garlic on low gradually, then increase to medium heat.
2. Add the sausage and cook according to your personal preference (I like mine really crispy).
3. When the sausage is about 10 minutes away from where you want it to be, begin to heat the other pan with the garlic and olive oil to medium. After five minutes, add the broccoli rabe and cover for five minutes. Then add the butter, lemon juice, salt, and pepper and stir and cover for about another minute. You want to make sure you don’t overcook it. It needs to retain that bright green color, yet be tender enough to eat. One of the biggest mistakes novice (and sometimes even experienced) home chefs make is to overcook vegetables. Food is art, and overcooked green veggies are not appealing! So, if you’re unsure, set a timer for five minutes. At medium heat and in a covered pan, 5 to 7 minutes should get it right where you want it to be.
4. When the broccoli rabe is done, add the sausage to the pan, then stir. Then add in the orecchiette and stir everything together, still on medium heat, for 3 to 5 minutes.
5. Serve with freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano to taste.
6. Please post below if you have questions or comments.

From Food52.com by Jenifer Mangione, https://food52.com/recipes/17671-orecchiette-with-broccoli-rabe-and-sausage

Roasted Radish and Potato Salad with Black Mustard and Cumin Seed

1 large Yukon gold potato, cut into bite sized pieces
8-10 radishes, can be a variety of sizes and types (I had small – large Easter egg radishes and French breakfast radishes), ends trimmed
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
¹/₂ teaspoon black mustard seeds
¹/₂ teaspoon whole cumin seeds
2 tablespoons whole milk yogurt
2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onions
2 tablespoons lemon juice mixed with ½ t salt and ½ t sugar in a small bowl, until salt and sugar are dissolved

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium sized bowl, combine potato pieces with a glug or two of olive oil, a good sprinkling of sea salt, and a few grinds of black pepper, tossing evenly to coat. Roast potatoes in a single layer on a foil lined baking sheet for 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, halve and slice any large radishes into wedges, leaving smaller ones whole. Using the same bowl that you tossed the potatoes in, combine radishes with olive oil, sea salt and black pepper; mix well to evenly coat.
3. Once the potatoes have roasted for 10 minutes, using a wooden spatula or spoon, gently push potatoes around, being careful to keep skin intact (as best as possible). Push potatoes to one side of pan, adding radishes in a single layer to the other side. Continue to roast for another 10-12 minutes or until potatoes and radishes are tender, shaking pan midway through (at 10 minutes start checking to make sure radishes do not overcook).
4. Meanwhile, in a small skillet, heat 1 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil over medium heat. When hot, add black mustard seeds and whole cumin seeds and gently mix. Cook for about a minute, until fragrant, being mindful that black mustard seeds will start to pop. I used my wooden spoon to shield the seeds from popping all over the place. Remove pan from heat and set aside.
5. Remove pan from oven and allow vegetables to completely cool (making it easy to remove from pan without sticking – especially the potatoes). Halve small radishes. Transfer roasted radishes and potatoes to a bowl. Add yogurt, black mustard/cumin seed mixture and green onions, folding with a spatula to combine. Add lemon juice mixture by the teaspoonful until you reach desired taste. I added one and a half teaspoons of lemon juice-salt-sugar mixture. Fold to combine. Cover mixture with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour to allow flavors to develop. Bring salad to room temperature before enjoying.

From Food52.com by Gingerroot, https://food52.com/recipes/6642-roasted-radish-and-potato-salad-with-black-mustard-and-cumin-seed

3-Ingredient Potato Leek Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil or butter
4 leeks
1 ¹/₄ pounds potatoes (I prefer Yukon gold)
6 cups water
salt, to taste

1. Clean the leeks carefully, then slice them into thin half-moons. Scrub and dice the potatoes into small cubes.
2. In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the sliced leeks and season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the leeks soften.
3. Add the potatoes and the water. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for 15-30 minutes: The soup is ready when the potatoes can be easily poked with a fork. The timing will vary depending on the type of potatoes you use.
4. Using an immersion blender, puree the soup until smooth. (If you don’t have one, transfer the soup to a blender and blend until smooth. Be very careful with the hot liquid!) Taste the soup and season with more salt if needed.

From Food52.com by Posie (Harwood) Brien, https://food52.com/recipes/74363-3-ingredient-potato-leek-soup