Welcome to the 5th share of the Pitchfork & Crow 2025 Summer CSA! Here’s what’s in the share this week:

• Romaine & Butterhead Lettuce
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Red Cabbage
• Fennel – A little anise flavor for your dishes this week. The fennel bulb is the star of the show here, but the fronds can be used too. The bulb can be sliced and roasted, braised, pickled, or eaten raw shaved into salads. We especially like making a simplified version of the fennel, onion, and cheese galette.
• A Medley of Potatoes – We’re using up the last of last season’s potato crop. Eat them up! Also, we suggest storing them in the fridge to slow the sprouting.
• Carrots
• Beets
• Shallots
• Bunching Onions – You might call them spring onions, scallions, or green onions. Jeff calls them munching onions. No matter what you call them, they’re a tasty addition to many meals.
• Mixed Snap Beans
• Cucumbers – Mixed green and silver slicers plus a few lemons too.
• Zucchini & Summer Squash

Happy Independence Day this week! If nothing else we hope you’re planning some tasty eats to celebrate the holiday. Salad season continues and this week we’ll be adding coleslaw and potato salad to the mix too. Check out the recipes at the bottom for some salad inspiration that include fennel in the mix too.

I’m not sure how it’s July already, but here we are. I’m looking forward to the heat reprieve in the forecast later this week, though a glance at next week’s high temps doesn’t look great. We keep asking each other “remember when 70 was hot?” We’ve been trying to get going early, drink lots of water, and power through to keep getting things done.

The past week was a typical end of June wrap up week. We transplanted, we irrigated, we propagated, we cultivated and weeded, we trellised tomatoes, we harvested some garlic. It’s a never-ending cycle of all the things at the moment and I’m not sure we fully completed any of these tasks but we did what we could in the moment.

The peppers got weeded by Jeff while I caught up on seed sowing. I trellised the tomatoes while Jeff cultivated with the Farmall Cub tractor. Together we transplanted broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower and some second chance melons in the space prepped and available and we harvested two beds of garlic. That’s all to say that the eggplant did not all get weeded, the seeds did not all get started, the sweet corn and kale did not get transplanted, and there’s still four more beds of garlic to harvest. You can guess what we’ll be up to this week. Have a safe Fourth of July!

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 Sausage with Broccoli and Fennel

12 ounces (about 3 or 4 links) good-quality pork sausage, removed from casings and cut into 3/4-inch pieces
2 small heads of broccoli, cut into small florets
1 medium fennel bulb, trimmed, cored, and cut into thin slices, about 1/4-inch thick
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons whole-grain mustard
Finely grated zest and one 1 teaspoon of juice from 1 small lemon
¹/₂ teaspoon Aleppo pepper, or a lesser amount of red pepper flakes or cayenne (omit if you’re using spicy sausage)

1. Heat oven to 425° F.
2. Combine broccoli florets and sliced fennel in a shallow casserole or baking dish. You want them to fit snugly in a single, even layer. Season with salt and pepper.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, whole-grain mustard, lemon juice and zest, and Aleppo pepper. Add to broccoli and fennel and toss well to coat evenly. Nestle the pieces of sausage among the broccoli and fennel.
4. Roast for about 20 minutes, or until the broccoli and fennel are tender and the sausage is no longer pink. For extra security, you can toss about halfway through the cooking time to ensure even cooking.
5. Optional but highly recommended: Heat broiler, and place the pan under the broiler for a few minutes to crisp the sausage and slightly char the broccoli and fennel in spots.
6. Taste and add more salt, pepper, or lemon juice if needed. Serve warm or at room temperature.

From Food52.com by EmilyC, https://food52.com/recipes/25869-roasted-sausage-with-broccoli-and-fennel

Shaved Cauliflower, Fennel, and Beet Salad with Parmesan Dressing

• Parmesan vinaigrette
• ¹/₄ cup freshly ground (or finely grated) parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Juice of 1 lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
• Pinch kosher salt

• Salad
• ¹/₂ head of cauliflower
• ¹/₂ bulb of fennel (cut lengthwise, stem still attached)
• 2 small beets, preferably red and golden, peeled
• Kosher salt
• Ground or finely grated parmesan, for garnish

Parmesan vinaigrette

1. Combine the parmesan, olive oil, lemon juice, and salt in a jar with a lid. Close and shake, shake, shake until creamy and emulsified. Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed.

Salad

1. Break the cauliflower into big florets. Shave on a mandoline into 1/8”-thick slices—if they’re too thin, they’ll fall apart—directly into a large bowl. Halve the fennel half, lengthwise, leaving the stem attached (this ensures pretty fennel cross-sections). Shave each fennel quarter on the mandoline into paper-thin slices, directly into the bowl. Shave each beet on the mandoline into paper-thin slices, directly into the bowl. Sprinkle with a couple big pinches of salt and toss gingerly with your hands.
2. Dress the salad—you’ll use all of the vinaigrette—and toss again with your hands. Taste and adjust the salt if necessary. (This can keep in the fridge for a couple hours.) Shower with more ground parmesan just before serving.

From Food52.com by Emma Laperruque, https://food52.com/recipes/74830-shaved-cauliflower-fennel-and-beet-salad-with-parmesan-dressing

Roasted Chickpea Salad with Za’atar

1 14-ounce can of chickpeas or garbanzo beans
2 ¹/₂ teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon Himalayan salt
¹/₄ teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons za’atar
1 lemon, juice and zest of
1 shallot, peeled and thinly sliced
¹/₃ cup vegetable or canola oil
¹/₂ fennel bulb, thinly sliced
1 small carrot, thinly sliced
¹/₄ head of red cabbage, thinly sliced
¹/₄ cup mint, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon raisins
2 cloves garlic, minced

1. Preheat the oven to 250° F.
2. In a bowl, mix chickpeas with 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil, then add the salt, za’atar, black pepper, lemon juice, and zest. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes. Set aside.
3. Pour the canola oil into a deep-sided pan and heat it to 350° F. Fry the shallots until red and crunchy, then transfer them to a paper towel to drain.
4. Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a sauté pan over high heat. Add in the garlic, stir, then add the carrot, fennel, and red cabbage. Cook for 5 minutes.
5. Remove pan from the heat and add the roasted chickpeas, mint, raisins, and maple syrup. Mix well. Add feta cheese, if desired. Taste and add more vinegar, lemon, or salt if needed. Garnish with fried shallots.

From Food52.com by Shruti Jain, https://food52.com/recipes/27722-roasted-chickpea-salad-with-za-atar