Welcome to the 6th share of the Pitchfork & Crow 2024/2025 Winter CSA! Here’s what’s in the share this week:

• Spinach
• Arugula Rapini – This greenhouse grown arugula is beginning to bolt and head to flower, but is still tasty.
• Radicchio (aka Chicory) – We’ve got the pink Rosalba, speckled green castelfranco, and red striped Chioggia to choose from this week. 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 or light cooking 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.
• Lacinato Kale Rapini
• Brussels Sprouts – We took these off the stalks and cleaned them up for you this time. We tried to cull any bad sprouts, but keep an eye out for any we may have missed. We usually just cut the sprouts in half, toss with a little oil/salt/pepper, and roast at 400 degrees for ~20 minutes.
• Alpine Daikon Radishes – Not as flashy as the red or purple daikons, these white roots are perhaps the sweetest of the varieties we grow. Great sliced or grated into salads, roasted or sauteed, they’re also the traditional variety used in Korean kimchi recipes.
• Mixed Beets
• Huckleberry Gold Potatoes
• Leeks
• 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.
• Mixed Winter Squash – Choose from a mix of butternut, Tetsukabuto kabocha, and acorn squashes this week. Want to know more about these winter squash varieties? We’ve got a page on our site for that! Check it out for squash details and recipe ideas.
• Dried Apples – These are organic apples we purchased through the produce store down the road, 4 Seasons Farmers Market. We dried them here at the farm.

Winter has been busy wintering over the past couple of weeks. When we last saw you we were on the cusp of our first snowfall of the season. The dusting of snow transitioned to a coating of ice. Thankfully it hadn’t been too wet and the ice wasn’t too bad and melted fairly quickly. After some more cold nights we transitioned to warm and rainy. A lot of rain. The lowest areas of the farm are seeing some minor flooding as happens this time of year. And then yesterday the wind showed up to the party. Again, thankfully no greenhouses were majorly harmed in the steady 25mph winds and 40mph wind gusts we had overnight. Whew, February weather is no joke.

This is the time of year when we revel in the food that’s still available here in the depths of winter. The plants in the field, the crops in storage. It’s the most intrepid time of year to be eating seasonally and locally as the hunger gap feels imminent. And at the same time we have to dig deep to find a spark of hope that we can start again. From the tiny seeds we’re sowing will somehow come thousands of pounds of food in the season ahead.

Speaking of tiny seeds, Jeff sowed the first carrots of the season last week. We had prepped this greenhouse before the tractor went to the shop (where it currently remains) so we were ready to get going once the temps warmed up. The overhead irrigation sprinklers in this house hadn’t been used last season because we’d grown tomatoes on drip here last year, so the first step was climbing up the ladder to each sprinkler to clean out the spider webs. Next was the actual carrot seeding. We use an Earthway push seeder for direct sowing crops. This is pretty low tech, but we don’t direct sow too many things these days so we make it work. Jeff found the correct plate for the seeder that matches the size and spacing for carrots, poured the seed into the seeder, and pushed out row after row of future carrots. If all goes well, these will make an appearance in the first shares of the summer season in June!

In addition to seeding carrots we’ve also started our early tomato transplants and sowed the summer onions. We transplanted spinach and bok choy for April harvests. This week we’ll be starting the first rounds of cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, celery, fennel, kale, and peas! Things are getting growing over here.

Finally, many thanks to everyone who jumped into the Summer CSA during the sign-up period. We appreciate your continued support! We filled up in just two and half weeks, making it easier to focus on getting the growing season underway and not having to rustle up more members. If you missed the Summer CSA sign-up announcements but wanted to join shoot us an email and we’ll see what we can do.

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:

Chicken Drumsticks with Jewel Vegetables & Herbed Yogurt

• For the sheet pan chicken:
• ¹/₂ yellow onion
• 1 pound butternut squash, peeled
• 1 pound mixed baby potatoes
• 3 beets, peeled
• ¹/₂ cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for the chicken
• 1 lemon, sliced into rounds
• 4 to 6 sprigs thyme
• 6 chicken drumsticks
• Black pepper

• For the yogurt sauce:
• 1 cup full-fat Greek yogurt
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• Big pinch kosher salt
• Few grinds black pepper
• 2 tablespoons chopped dill

Preheat the oven to 425° F and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Next, grab a big bowl and cutting board. Chop all the vegetables (onion, butternut squash, potatoes, beets) into 2-inch pieces. Toss the vegetables with the olive oil and salt then evenly layer the mixture across the sheet pan. Top with lemon rounds and thyme sprigs. Place the chicken drumsticks on top of the vegetable mix. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper.

Roast the sheet pan dinner for 45 minutes. If you’d like, turn the broiler on for the last few minutes to brown the chicken skin. While the chicken cooks, mix all the yogurt sauce ingredients together. Serve the drumsticks with a bowl of yogurt sauce for dipping.

From Food52.com by Sarah Waldman, https://food52.com/recipes/63049-chicken-drumsticks-with-jewel-vegetables-herbed-yogurt

Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad with Red Onion, Lemon, and Pecorino

¹/₂ small red onion
1 lemon, juiced
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon whole grain mustard
1 pinch salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cups Brussels sprouts (use larger sprouts if possible)
¹/₂ cup finely grated pecorino romano

1. Soak the onion slices in a small bowl of cold water for 15 to 20 minutes while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, honey, mustard and a pinch of salt and pepper. Whisk in the olive oil until the dressing is emulsified. Set aside.
3. Trim all of the Brussels sprouts, cutting off any bruised outer leaves and slicing off a good portion of the hard root end. Using a mandoline, shave the sprouts one at a time. When you’re done, use your fingers to gently separate the leaves so that the shredded sprouts resemble a very fine slaw.
4. Put the sprouts in a serving bowl and toss gently with the onions (which you’ve now drained) and the dressing. Fold in the pecorino, taste and adjust seasonings if necessary. Serve immediately, before it starts to wilt!

From Food52.com by Merrill Stubbs, https://food52.com/recipes/7650-shaved-brussels-sprout-salad-with-red-onion-lemon-and-pecorino

Potato Leek Au Gratin

2 Leeks (medium size)
1 Garlic Clove
1 splash Vermouth (or dry white wine)
2 to 2 ¹/₂ pounds Boiling Potatoes (approx 6-7medium size potatoes such as Yukon Gold)
1 to 1 ¹/₄ cups Grated Gruyere
1 ¹/₄ cups Heavy Cream
2-3 tablespoons Unsalted Butter
Kosher or Sea Salt (to taste)
Pepper (to taste)
1 small saute pan
1 10 inch long / 2 inch deep baking dish.
4-5 Shavings of Gruyere

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Remove roots and green leaves from leeks. Wash and dry the white part of the leek.
3. Split leeks in half lengthwise. Then chop crosswise into thin to medium size half moon crescents. Dice garlic
4. Sauté leeks slowly in approximately one tablespoon of the butter on medium low heat in a nonstick pan until soft but not brown (about 6-8 minutes). Add garlic and sauté for a minute more. Add a dash of vermouth (or white wine) and sauté a minute more until most of the vermouth (white wine) has evaporated. The leeks should be damp, but not swimming in vermouth (white wine). Remove leeks from heat, cover and let sit.
5. Peel and slice potatoes evenly into approximatly 1/8 inch slices. Dump slices in cold water as you slice so that the potatoes don’t turn brown. (note: I peel and slice each potato individually rather than peeling them all first so that the peeled potatoes spend less time sitting around possibly turning brown.)
6. Grate a block of gruyere so that you have 1 cup of grated gruyere.
7. Lightly butter the baking dish. Drain potatoes taking care not to break them.
8. Lay down one layer of potato in the dish. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Then sprinkle with sautéed leek mixture. Then sprinkle with some of the gruyere. Finally dot with one or two bits of butter (optional). Repeat sequence until all potatoes are used. The last layer should be just a layer of potatoes.
9. Slowly pour cream all over potatoes in dish. Finish with a few shavings of gruyere which will give a nice color and a little bit of crust. Bake for approximately 1 ¼ to 1 1/2 hours. Cream should simmer and may even gently bubble, but it should never boil (boiling will cause the cream to separate and curdle). It’s done when it has a nice golden brown / orange color; the potatoes are tender but still hold their shape; and the cream has thickened and reduced slightly. Let cool for 15-20 min before serving.

From Food52.com by Alexisc, https://food52.com/recipes/677-potato-leek-au-gratin