Summer CSA Share #18

Welcome to the 18th share of the Pitchfork & Crow 2025 Summer CSA! Here’s what’s in the share this week:

Mini Romaine Lettuce
Spinach
Rainbow Chard
Mixed Cauliflower
Broccoli
Dill
Carrots
Yellow Onion
Sweet Corn – This appears to be the last of the corn for the season, enjoy!
Mixed Snap Beans – Use as you would other types of snap beans.
Cucumbers – Mixed green and silver slicers and lemons too.
Zucchini & Summer Squash
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.
No-Heat Habanero Peppers – A new-to-us variety of no-heat habanero peppers. These have all the flavor of a habanero without the heat!
Sweet Peppers – Mixed bell and Italian roasting peppers of varying colors. Most this week ripen to red or yellow.
Mixed Tomatoes – Pints of cherries and slicers this week. 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!
Pears – We have a few pear trees of unidentified varieties that ripen later than our other pear trees. Here they are! Let them fully ripen on the counter.
Spaghetti Squash

CSA Members: We hope to see you Saturday here at the farm for the CSA Farm Day! We’ll have pumpkins, apple cider pressing, tours, and a potluck. Check your weekly member email for the details.

^{Another harvest day, this including both rainbow chard and a rainbow at the end of the day.}

And just like that it’s practically October! Four months down and two to go in this year’s Summer CSA season. We’re really feeling the seasonal shift this week. It’s that brief period when the summer and winter squash crops overlap. Fall is happening and we’re here for it.

^{The onions, drying in the prop. house, had to make way for the popcorn!}

This time of year I’ve often got an eye on the weather forecast for threats of rain and soon frost. Last week was no exception and with rain headed our way this week it was time to get the popcorn in to dry down. Of course that meant moving out the dried down onions from the prop house to make room for the popcorn. It was a fiddly couple of days of moving things around but the onions are bagged and stored away and the popcorn is safe and sound in the prop house. Whew!

^{We transplanted lettuce, tatsoi, bok choy, spinach, cilantro, and bunching onions! And we started the winter squash harvest!}

We also managed to get a greenhouse planted to fall/winter greens last week. We don’t do a lot of hand transplanting these days and planting out greenhouses is always a reminder that we sure are thankful for our water wheel transplanter that has saved our backs from all the bending. We then spent Sunday morning starting the winter squash haul-in in an effort to get some squash in storage ahead of the rain. We harvested a medley of varieties but there’s a lot more to get to later this week.

As we look ahead this week we’ll mostly be preparing for Saturday’s CSA Member farm visit. Members: check your email for a link to the details. We’ll be cleaning up the farm edges, readying the self-guided farm tour signs, harvesting some apples for pressing, and pre-clipping the pumpkins. As things dry out again we’ll be harvesting the rest of the winter squash, and then it’s time to get serious about potato harvesting, prep ground for garlic and overwintered onions, sowing cover crop seed, cracking garlic for planting, and harvest the sweet potatoes. Fingers crossed that the rainstorms pass later in the week and we make some progress on these projects.

Enjoy the vegetables and we’ll see you here next week!

Your farmers,
Carri Heisler & Jeff Bramlett

Here are a few recipes to get you inspired:

Roasted Pear and Rainbow Chard Salad

For the vinaigrette:

2 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
4 teaspoon Champagne vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 pinch sea salt
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

For the salad:

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon Champagne vinegar
4 small, firm pears (I went with a mix of Green Anjou and Bosc here)
Sea salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
1 bunch rainbow chard, stems trimmed and roughly chopped
1/2 cup chèvre
4 lemon wedges, for serving

For the vinaigrette:

Step 1 In a small bowl, whisk the lemon juice, vinegar, Dijon, and sea salt to combine. When the mixture is well combined, slowly drizzle in the olive oil, whisking vigorously until vinaigrette is nicely emulsified.

For the salad:

Step 1 Preheat oven to 375° F. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil and Champagne vinegar.

Step 2 Halve pears and carefully cut out the core. Set pears with sliced side facing up on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle olive oil mixture over pears and sprinkle each with sea salt and pepper.

Step 3 Slide the baking sheet into the oven. Roast for 8 minutes, then use tongs to flip the pears, and return them to the oven for 6 to 8 more minutes, or until the edges are golden and the pears are easily pierced with a fork. Set aside to cool.

Step 4 In a large bowl, toss the greens with half of the vinaigrette. Crumble in chèvre and toss gently. Divide greens between four plates, add 2 pear halves to each, and drizzle with the remaining dressing. Finish salads with a pinch of sea salt and a liberal sprinkle of black pepper, and garnish with a lemon wedge.

From Food52.com by Elizabeth Stark, https://food52.com/recipes/31613-roasted-pear-and-rainbow-chard-salad

Spanakopita Scones

3 cup all-purpose flour (384 grams)
1/4 cup sugar (50 grams)
2 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 garlic clove, minced or Microplaned
1 teaspoon lemon zest (about 1 small lemon)
3/4 cup unsalted butter (170 grams), cubed, cold
2 1/2 cup baby spinach (90 grams)
1 cup crumbled feta (156 grams)
4 scallions, finely chopped (heaping 1/2 cup, 50 grams)
1/2 cup chopped dill (9 grams)
1 pinch freshly ground black pepper, plus more for topping
1 pinch red pepper flakes
3/4 cup buttermilk, plus more as needed
1 large egg, beaten with a fork
2 pinch flaky salt

Step 1 Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, garlic, and lemon zest in a food processor. Pulse a few times to combine. Sprinkle the butter evenly on top, then pulse until the butter is the size of big blueberries. Err on the side of under- versus over-processing—if there are any stray, oversized butter pieces, just break up with your fingers. (You could also do this step with a pastry cutter, fork, or by hand! Just be wary of the butter getting too warm.)

Step 2 Dump this mixture into a big bowl and stick in the freezer or fridge while you prep and assemble the rest of your ingredients. When they’re at the ready, add the spinach, feta, scallions, dill, pepper, and pepper flakes to the flour-butter mixture. Fold with a rubber spatula until combined. Add 3/4 cup buttermilk and fold again until a dough starts to form (I like to switch from spatula to hand after a couple folds). Stick back in the fridge or freezer and let rest for a few minutes—the flour will start to drink up the liquid—while you preheat the oven to 400° F and line a baking sheet with parchment, foil, or a silicone baking mat.

Step 3 Give the dough another couple folds by hand and see if it wants more buttermilk. Add tablespoon by tablespoon—I added 2 more—until the dough just holds together.

Step 4 Dump onto a clean work surface or cutting board. Use your hands to bring it together and pat into a circle—9-inch diameter, 1-inch height. (The dough being perfectly cohesive or the circle being perfectly sized is less important than the dough being overworked!) Cut into 8 triangles.

Step 5 Place the scones on the prepared baking sheet. Brush each with the egg—covering the tops and sides—then plenty of black pepper and a bit of flaky salt.

Step 6 Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate the tray and lower the oven to 350° F. Bake for another 16 or so minutes until the scones are very colorful. Cool before eating—at least until warm to the touch. I like them best at room temperature.

From Food52.com by Emma Laperruque, https://food52.com/recipes/76615-spanakopita-scones

Rainbow Swiss Chard, Spinach, & Cannellini Bean Bake

16 ounce Rainbow Swiss Chard & Baby Spinach (half & half)
1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 small white onion
1 bunch spring onions
1/2 bunch fresh dill
3 cup cannellini beans, cooked
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 medium lemon

Step 1 Preheat the oven to 350F. Wash well and trim your Rainbow Chard and Spinach. Chop the greens in 1″ pieces and set aside.

Step 2 Chop the white onion and the spring onions and place them in a 13″ x 9″ glass Pyrex or ceramic baking dish. Drizzle with 1/4 cup of olive oil and place in the preheated oven. Cook for about 10 minutes or until the onions become golden brown.

Step 3 Carefully remove the dish from the oven and add the prepared greens, along with 1 cup of hot water. Stir well to coat and bake for 20 minutes or until the greens are wilted. Remove from the oven and mix in the cooked beans (canned, rinsed and drained are ok as a substitute) and the minced dill. Season with salt and pepper drizzle with the rest of the olive oil and return to the oven.

Step 4 Cook for another half an hour or so, making sure that there is enough liquid in the dish (i.e., so that the greens are not dried out). During this time, every now and then press down with the back of a spoon the greens so they are almost immersed in the cooking liquid. When done, there should be only a little liquid (about half a cup) left in the baking dish. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Remove from the oven and drizzle with the lemon juice. Allow to cool down before serving. You can serve this as a side, with some simple grilled fish or meat, or on its own as a vegetarian dish entree.

From Food52.com by Marilena | marilenaskitchen, https://food52.com/recipes/26302-rainbow-swiss-chard-spinach-cannellini-bean-bake