Welcome to the 7th share of the Pitchfork & Crow 2025 Summer CSA! Here’s what’s in the share this week:

• Iceberg Lettuce
• Lettuce Mix – A mix of two types of lettuce.
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Lacinato Kale
• Dill – Quick pickles anyone?
• Mixed Potatoes – I hear there’s a choice between Pinto and French Fingerlings this week. Note: 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.
• Beets
• Onions – These are onions grown over the past winter.
• Green Garlic – Small heads of fresh garlic headed your way this week.
• Cucumbers – Mixed green and silver slicers plus a few lemons too.
• Zucchini & Summer Squash
• Mixed Tomatoes – We’ve got tomatoes! Pints of cherries plus lots of big slicers this week.

We’re showing up with heavy hearts this week as we just learned that we’ve lost a longtime CSA member to a fatal bicycle accident last Thursday. Jeremy was a loving and encouraging father and husband, an intrepid high school science teacher, and an all around good guy. Our thoughts are with the Wanak family as they cope with this shocking loss.

For what it’ worth, we’ve been busy farming in the heat this past week. July isn’t messing around and summer is summering. It was a big week for fall/winter seed sowing and I got the overwintering cauliflower, purple sprouting broccoli, and various radicchio varieties started. The prop house is full again. While I caught up on propagation Jeff weed whacked and whacked weeds for a couple of days. It was time for a farm haircut and things are looking fresher and cleaner. Saturday we managed a little transplanting including lettuces and snap beans and we also wrangled the cherry tomatoes back into order with extended trellising (they’re getting tall!). Sunday was a little harvesting and then we worked together to finish up a couple of hand weeding projects including cleaning up the sweet potatoes and second round of cucumbers.

We’re definitely still in the wishing we had another day or two in the week mode, though cooler temps would be nice too. I forgot to mention last week, or was it the week before, that Jeff changed out the starter on our McCormick tractor and managed to fix the ignition issue so he no longer has to hot wire it every time he needs to use it. Progress! In the week ahead we’ll be cursing the extended heat as we continue the July farming push. There will be a little seed sowing, more transplanting, all the irrigating, lots of mowing, and so much cultivating. Onward!

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:

Beet-Chickpea Cakes with Tzatziki

• Beet & Chickpea Cakes
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing
• 3 ¹/₄ cups cooked chickpeas (or two 15-ounce cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed well)
• 2 medium red onions, finely diced

• 8 garlic cloves, finely chopped

• 2 teaspoons sea salt, plus more to taste
• 2 medium red beets (12 ounces), 
grated on the largest holes of a box grater (4 cups grated)
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

• ³/₄ cup chopped fresh dill

• Freshly ground black pepper
• Tzatziki, to serve (recipe follows)

• Tzatziki
• 1 large (8-ounce) Middle Eastern cucumber (or an English or garden cucumber), peeled and seeded
• 1 ¹/₂ cups whole-milk Greek yogurt or labneh
• ¹/₄ cup chopped fresh dill
• ¹/₂ garlic clove, pressed or grated on a Microplane, plus more to taste
• ³/₄ teaspoon sea salt, plus more to taste
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• Freshly ground black pepper

Beet & Chickpea Cakes

1. Heat the oven to 350°F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper, lightly brush with olive oil, and set aside.
2. Place the chickpeas in a bowl and crush with a potato masher; set aside. (Don’t mash the chickpeas completely, the mixture should be somewhat chunky.)
3. Warm the 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a wide skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and sauté for 5 minutes or until starting to brown. Add the garlic and salt and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the grated beets and continue cooking for another 6 to 8 minutes, or until the beets are cooked. Add the balsamic vinegar and remove from heat. Add the onion-beet mixture to the mashed chickpeas along with the chopped dill and mix well to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. Use an oiled ⅓-cup measure to shape the mixture into cakes. Place on the prepared sheet pan and brush the top and sides of each cake with olive oil. Bake for 15 minutes, rotate the tray, and continue baking for another 10 to 15 minutes, or until brown on the bottom. Remove from the oven; allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving.
5. To serve, slide a thin spatula under each cake and flip onto a plate so the bottom side is up. Top with tzatziki or serve it on the side.

Tzatziki

1. Grate the cucumber on the largest holes of a box grater, place in a strainer, and squeeze out juice with your hands. Drink or discard the juice.
2. Add the grated cucumber to a medium bowl along with the yogurt, dill, garlic, salt, olive oil, and a pinch of black pepper. Stir to combine, season with more salt and pepper to taste, and serve drizzled with olive oil. Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Makes about 2 cups.

From Food52.com by Amy Chaplin, https://food52.com/recipes/85868-beet-chickpea-cakes-with-tzatziki

Thai Summer Yellow Squash Curry

2 tablespoons red thai curry paste
2 cups low sodium vegetable stock, divided
1 yellow onion, diced
1 ³/₄ pounds summer squash, diced (I use zucchini and scallop squash)
¹/₂ pound grape tomatoes, halved (I used Zima tomatoes)
1 cup full-fat coconut milk (from a can)
¹/₂ cup uncooked red lentils
one 15-ounce can chickpeas, thoroughly drained and rinsed
4 leaves of kale, stems removed, leaves finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. In a large Dutch oven or heavy pot, heat red Thai curry paste and 1/4 cup vegetable stock over medium-high heat until just simmering. Add the diced onion and sauté, stirring frequently, until soft and slightly golden (about 4 to 5 minutes). Stir in squash and another 1/4 cup vegetable stock and continue to sauté for an additional 5 minutes.
2. Stir in the remaining 1 1/2 cups vegetable stock, sliced tomatoes, coconut milk, and lentils and bring pot to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the lentils are tender. Remove cover and gently stir in chickpeas and chopped kale until kale is just wilted. Remove from heat, season, serve, and enjoy!

From Food52.com by Alexandra Tallulah, https://food52.com/recipes/37779-thai-summer-squash-curry

Crunchy-Shell Cauliflower Tacos

1 head cauliflower
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 ¹/₂ teaspoons chili powder
³/₄ teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
8 hard-shell tacos
1 cup shredded iceberg lettuce
1 cup grated pepper jack cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 450° F. Line two rimmed sheet pans with silicone mats or parchment.
2. Remove the very bottom of the cauliflower stem, as well as the green leaves. Roughly chop. Add about half to a food processor and pulse until it’s almost riced. Some chunks here and there are good—this is supposed to look like ground beef. Dump onto one lined sheet pan. Process the remaining cauliflower florets and add to the sheet pan. (Psst: Don’t try to process in one batch! It’s too much volume and will chop unevenly.) Add the olive oil, chili powder, and salt to the cauliflower. Toss. Divide this mixture between the two sheet trays. (Spreading the cauliflower out this much helps it brown, not steam.) Roast for about 20 minutes—rotating the pans top to bottom and front to back halfway through.
3. When the cauliflower is done, remove from the oven and add the hard-shell tacos—either directly on the oven rack or onto another sheet pan—to toast for a couple minutes, until warm.
4. Assemble the tacos in the following order: shell, cauliflower, lettuce, cheese.

From Food52.com by Emma Laperruque, https://food52.com/recipes/76795-crunchy-shell-cauliflower-tacos