Welcome to the 15th share of the Pitchfork & Crow 2024 Summer CSA! Here’s what’s in the share this week:

• Mayan Jaguar Romaine Lettuce
• Rainbow Chard
• Broccoli
• Cilantro
• Kohlrabi – Tasty raw, grated in salads, or roasted with other rooty vegetables.
• Beets
• Torpedo Onions – Let’s take a break from the giant overwintered onions and eat some Italian ‘Long of Tropea’ red onions this week.
• Mixed Cucumbers – Green and yellow slicers and a handful of lemons.
• Zucchini – Lots of green zucchini and a handful of yellow summer squash, yellow zucchini, and light green Mexican zucchini too.
• Sweet Corn
• Shishito Peppers – A handful of Shishito peppers this week. They are a Japanese frying pepper that are known as a roulette pepper, 1 in 10 might be hot. They’re great with eggs, or anything else really, but traditionally blistered in hot oil and eaten with a little salt.
• Sweet Peppers – Mixed bell and Italian roasting peppers of varying colors. These varieties ripen to red or yellow.
• Mixed Cherry Tomatoes & Slicer Tomatoes – We’re using a lot of the pint boxes for tomatoes and would appreciate it if you could leave them behind or return them for another go around. Thanks!
• Mixed Melons – Including Tirreno Tuscan cantaloupes, Honey Orange honeydews, and Lambkin piel de sapo melons.
• Bartlett Pears – Most of these will be happy to ripen on your counter until they yellow up some.

When the calendar turns to September we can count on a handful of things happening. First, it’s time to get serious about the Winter CSA plans and memberships. Second, it’s time to begin the big harvests of heavy crops. Third, it must be time for the annual trek to Corvallis to fetch our Salmon CSA-style share. And Fourth, Jeff’s got a birthday to celebrate! This week we’re checking all the September boxes.

That’s right, the Winter CSA is now open to current and past CSA members. We’re giving you a chance to snag a spot first, but we’ll be opening it up to the wait list this coming weekend. You can find Winter CSA details here on our website and a link to the sign-up form in your email inbox. We’re currently 81% full, so raise your hand sooner than later if you want to reserve a spot.

We started the heavy harvest season off with a bang this week. It may be the year of the onion because we’ve just harvested a bumper crop of alliums including yellows, reds, and shallots! After our amazing harvest of giant overwintering onions earlier this summer we’re now adding to the tally with a second amazing harvest. After many, many years of struggling with this crop it sure is nice to see a little success.

After a long week of wrestling row cover, some wrestled out of the field and some just temporarily uncovering crops, followed by plenty of cultivating (for Jeff) and Winter CSA website/spreadsheet/invoicing work (for me), and then two days of dusty onion harvesting, we finished up Sunday with some bonus harvesting to get ahead of the weekly harvest so we could quit early Monday to pick-up our Salmon CSF shares. Whew! It was all worth it to stock our freezer with salmon and cod too this year. I know quite a few of you also purchase fish through Iliamna Fish Co. and hope you feel just as happy when it’s time to resupply.

In the coming week we’ll be attempting some farm clean up work, actually getting the first fall greenhouse seeded, start thinking about potato and winter squash harvests, and maybe manage a trip off the farm to celebrate Jeff. Today is his birthday so give him a high five or a happy birthday or both when you see him 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:

French Peasant Beets

4 Beets with greens (up to 6; I like a mixture of golden and red beets)
1 bunch Swiss chard
3 tablespoons butter
1 shallot
1 pinch Salt, or more to taste
1 pinch Freshly ground pepper, or more to taste
2 tablespoons white wine (Muscadet is my preference)
2 tablespoons water
¹/₂ pound Bucheron Cheese (room temperature)
1 loaf crusty peasant style bread (warmed in oven

1. Scrub and peel the beets. Remove the greens and chop coarsely. Set the greens aside in a large prep bowl. Slice beets into 1/4 inch rounds.
2. Remove the ribs from the swiss chard and coarsely chop and toss into bowl with the beet greens.
3. In a large sautee pan, melt butter. Sautee shallots.
4. Add beet rounds to the shallot butter mixture. Crack some pepper over the beets and a toss on a pinch of salt. Reduce heat and sautee beets, turning over to ensure even cooking.
5. About 15 minutes later when beets are begnning to glaze and become tender, add greens and chard. Sautee for about 5 minutes, then add wine and cover. Cook until greens are wilted, adding water if necessary. Allow liquid to be mostly absorbed into greens, adjust seasonings.
6. Scoop greens and beets into a low shallow bowl. Garnish with a sizeable wedge of bucheron and some crusty bread. Crack a little bit of pepper over the entire dish.

From Food52.com by Amy_N-B, https://food52.com/recipes/3302-french-peasant-beets

Garlicky Salmon with Ginger, Lime & Peanuts

1 small head broccoli, cut into small florets
2 cloves garlic, grated
2 tablespoons sesame or vegetable oil
4 salmon fillets (about 1 3/4 ib)
1 inch piece of ginger, grated
1 fresh red chile, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons fish sauce
¹/₄ cup (60 ml) vegetable oil
Zest and juice of 2 limes
¹/₂ cup (30g) finely chopped fresh cilantro
6 tablespoons (55g) roughly chopped peanuts

1. Preheat the oven to 400° F. Place the broccoli in a large roasting pan or large baking dish, scatter over the grated garlic, drizzle with the sesame oil, and toss well to mix.
2. Place the salmon fillets in the roasting pan, cover the pan tightly with foil, then transfer to the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the salmon is cooked through to your liking.
3. Meanwhile, mix together the scallions, ginger, chile, fish sauce, vegetable oil, lime zest and juice, cilantro and peanuts. Taste and adjust the fish sauce and lime juice as you wish.
4. Remove the roasting pan from the oven and generously coat the salmon with some of the dressing. Drizzle the remaining dressing over the broccoli and serve immediately.

From Food52.com by Food52, https://food52.com/recipes/75603-garlicky-salmon-with-ginger-lime-peanuts

Fresh Pear Chutney

2 medium shallot lobes, peeled and sliced
1 tablespoon neutral oil
Salt
1 garlic clove, minced
Juice of ½ lime
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
Pinch turbinado sugar
Tiny pinch of ground cumin
2 pears, cored and coarsely chopped (peeling is optional)
¾ cup peeled and coarsely chopped cucumber
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
Freshly ground pepper (preferably white)

1. Gently saute the sliced shallots in the vegetable oil with a tiny pinch of salt until the thin edges become light brown. Add the garlic and cook for another thirty seconds or so, stirring all the while.
2. Remove the shallots and garlic from the pan, pressing to release into the pan the oil in which they cooked, and put them in the bowl in which you plan to make the chutney. Add the lime juice and vinegar to the pan with the infused oil, along with the sugar, and whisk to combine.
3. Put the pears and cucumber in the bowl with the shallots and gently toss. Sprinkle the cumin over them, then pour the dressing on.
4. Add the chopped cilantro and gently toss again. Test for salt and correct. Add a few grinds of white pepper.
5. Let it sit for at least 30 minutes before serving. This is best at room temperature, and if you’re serving company, it’s best served no more than 4 or 5 hours after you make it. (The fruit breaks down a bit if held much longer.)
6. Enjoy!! ;o)

From Food52.com by AntoniaJames, https://food52.com/recipes/14399-fresh-pear-chutney