Welcome to the 24th share of the Pitchfork & Crow 2024 Summer CSA! Here’s what’s in the share this week:

• Spinach – This variety is called ‘Giant Winter’ and it’s living up to its name. Well, at least the giant part of its name.
• Lacinato Kale
• Savoy Cabbage
• Cauliflower
• Parsley
• Beets
• Strawberry Paw Potatoes – Red on the outside, white on the inside, good for boiling, baking, and roasting.
• Yellow Onions
• Garlic
• Shishito Peppers – 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.
• Poblano Mild Chile Peppers – Jeff says these are like sitting by a warm fire, but in your mouth. Spicy enough to know you ate some hot pepper, but not in an emergency sort of way. Hotter towards the stem and seeds.
• Sweet Peppers – Mixed bell and Italian roasting peppers of varying colors. These varieties ripen to red or yellow.
• Candystick Dessert Delicata Squash – A Honeyboat type of delicata with tan edible skin that’s similar to but more flavorful than acorn squash.

Did you sign-up for the Winter CSA? Don’t forget your first payment was due by Oct. 31st. You can get all the details on how to pay over on the CSA Payments page.

We’ve made it to mid-November and the end of season push continues. The dwindling amount of daylight means we’ve got to squeeze as much out of each day as possible. We’ve got plenty of work to get done in these short days as we dodge sporadic rainstorms. Thankfully the cold temps of winter haven’t settled in just yet. Frost warnings did spur us to harvest the last of the peppers from the field though. We’ll be sharing them in these final few weeks of the Summer CSA. Just two harvests left after this week!

Part of the past week was focused on digging potatoes for storage. We made it through six beds and the potato cooler is already starting to fill up. Thankfully we can use our tractor to dig the long rows of spuds using a potato digger our neighbor welded from an old bulldozer blade. It’s been a game changer in our potato digging game since he sold it to us many years ago. The potatoes are left on the surface of the bed and we then put them into 50# bags, pick up the bags, label the bags, and transfer them to the cooler for future CSA shares. We’ve got eleven more beds to dig before we’re done digging for the season!

We had been planning on taking last Thursday off to see Jeff’s visiting aunt and uncle. Unfortunately they decided to cancel their trip at the last minute but we decided to stick with the day off plan anyhow. We woke up to a foggy morning here in the valley and took off toward the coast. On our way through the coast range we drove up to the top of Marys Peak. From that height we could see the fog we’d started in as well as the tops of the snowy peaks in the cascade range. What a different perspective!

We continued westward and spent the day stopping at our favorite spots along the river and beach for stick throwing and dog swimming. It was all blue skies and lovely weather. What a treat for November. All in all it was a good day off the farm.

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:

Roasted Delicata Squash with Crunchy Kale & Feta

1 (about 5 to 6 ounces) delicata squash, ends trimmed, seeds removed and sliced into 1/2-inch-thick half moons
1 bunch lacinato or curly kale, leaves removed from the stems and torn into 1-inch pieces
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1 tablespoon ground cumin
¹/₄ teaspoon to 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, plus more to taste
1 teaspoon plus 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
¹/₄ cup tahini
¹/₄ cup water
4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (from 2 lemons)
¹/₄ cup crumbled feta
¹/₂ teaspoon ground sumac, plus more for sprinkling on top
1 pinch cracked black pepper
¹/₄ cup packed flat-leaf parsley leaves and tender stems, roughly torn (optional)

1. Heat the oven to 400°F with a rack positioned in the lower third of the oven.
2. On a sheet pan, coat the squash and kale with the olive oil, then season with the cumin, red pepper flakes, and salt, until everything has a glossy sheen to it. Be sure to squeeze the kale leaves with your hands as you mix. Arrange the vegetables on the sheet pan, ensuring the squash pieces have contact with the pan and arranging the kale in empty spaces. The pan will be a little crowded, but the kale leaves will quickly shrink.
3. Roast in the oven until the squash is easily pierced with a fork and the kale crispy, 25 to 30 minutes, turning the squash over and mixing around the kale halfway into the roasting time.
4. Meanwhile, in a small serving bowl, whisk the tahini with the 1/4 cup water until it becomes a smooth, spreadable hummus-like consistency. Whisk in the juice of 1 lemon (about 2 tablespoons), sumac, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Loosen with more lemon or water if needed, or add more tahini to thicken. Sprinkle some sumac on top, if desired.
5. Remove the vegetables from the oven. Pour the remaining lemon juice on top, drizzle with olive oil, and top with the crumbled feta, pepper, and parsley, if using. Serve with the sumac-tahini sauce

From Food52.com by YasminFahr, https://food52.com/recipes/84347-roasted-delicata-squash-recipe-with-crunchy-kale-feta-tahini

Creamy and Cabbage Salad

• Salad
• 1 bunch Tuscan kale (preferably organic), stems removed and sliced into 1-inch ribbons
• ¹/₂ Savoy cabbage, shredded
• 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
• ¹/₂ cup sun-dried tomatoes, sliced 1/4-inch thick
• 1 tablespoon shelled hemp seeds
• 2 tablespoons raw shelled sunflower seeds
• Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

• Tahini-Dijon Dressing
• 3 tablespoons organic raw tahini
• 1 ¹/₂ teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons raw apple cider vinegar (such as Bragg)
• 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 6 tablespoons water
• Sea salt, to taste

1. First, prepare the dressing by whisking all of the ingredients together. Season with salt to taste, but note that the nutritional yeast alone can make the dressing quite salty.
2. At this point, dress the shredded kale, cabbage, and bell pepper and let the salad sit for about 30 minutes.
3. In the meantime, prepare the cherry tomatoes and the sun-dried tomatoes and measure your other ingredients.
4. Stir the tomatoes and sun-dried tomatoes into the salad and toss.
5. Season to taste with sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper.
6. Top with sunflower seeds and hemp seeds. Serve immediately, or cover and store in the fridge for later use.

From Food52.com by Maja Lukic – Veggies & Gin, https://food52.com/recipes/23150-creamy-kale-and-cabbage-salad

Beets in Lime Cream: 1987

1 bunch beets, about 4 medium, with their greens, about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds (how about spinach in place of the beet greens?)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion, minced, about 1 cup
Zest of 1 large lime, finely shredded, about 1 tablespoon
1 cup heavy cream
Lime juice
Salt to taste
1 lime, cut into wedges, for garnish

1. Peel beets with a vegetable peeler, and cut them into large strips the size of French fries. There should be about 3 cups. Coarsely chop the greens and reserve.
2. Melt butter in a medium skillet, and saute onion over medium-high heat for about 15 minutes, or until it turns golden and browns around the edges. Lower heat to medium, stir in the lime zest and cook, stirring, for about 2 minutes more, just until the zest toasts. (The pan will be very dry at this point but don’t worry, the beets will add moisture.)
3. Add beets, and cook, stirring occasionally, until they turn translucent, about 10 minutes. Stir in cream, lower heat slightly, and cook 15 to 20 minutes more, or until beets are tender and cream has gently bubbled away to a thick sauce. Stir only often enough to prevent sticking and scorching. Do not overcook.
4. While beets cook, steam greens for about 15 minutes, or until tender. (Plan to have them ready when beets are.)
5. As soon as beets are tender, add lime juice in teaspoons and salt in pinches until seasoned to taste.
6. Heat a serving platter. To serve, arrange greens on platter, and using the back of a spoon form 6 little nests. Remove beets from sauce with a slotted spoon, and put into nests. Garnish the platter with lime wedges, and pass the sauce separately.

From Food52.com by Amanda Hesser, https://food52.com/recipes/8184-beets-in-lime-cream-1987