Welcome to the 24th share of the Pitchfork & Crow 2025 Summer CSA! Here’s what’s in the share this week:

• Green Leaf & Small Romaine Heads
• Tatsoi – Mild Asian greens related to bok choy, good in salads, tossed in soups and pasta to wilt, or lightly sauteed.
• Cauliflower
• Broccoli
• Rosemary
• Fennel – 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.
• Mini Purple Daikon Radishes – These are tasty sliced or grated raw in salads, pickled, or sauteed, but also delicious roasted with other root veggies.
• Carrots
• Yellow Onion
• Bunching Onions
• Jalapeno Peppers
• Poblano Peppers – The classic stuffing pepper, also good for flavoring any dish that is asking for a mild chile kick. Don’t forget you can easily freeze peppers for future use if you’re feeling like you’ve got too many at the moment.
• Sweet Peppers – Mixed bell and Italian roasting peppers of varying colors. Most this week ripen to red.
• Candystick Dessert Delicata Squash – A Honeyboat type of delicata with tan edible skin that’s similar to but more flavorful than acorn squash. 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.

After last week’s big rains during the CSA pick-ups we were happy to have an extended reprieve from the wet stuff. The dwindling amount of daylight means we’ve got to squeeze as much out of each day as possible and dodging rainstorms doesn’t help. Thankfully the cold temps of winter haven’t settled in just yet and we were able to chip away at our lengthy To Do list last week. We’re working hard to wrap up this growing season and prepare for the upcoming Winter season. Just two harvests left after this week!

We’re big fans of the fall over here. The drop in temperatures, the rain, the fog, the changing colors of the leaves. It doesn’t get much better than all that. And then there’s the fall vegetables. More greens, more roots, and winter squash for days. We welcome back roasted vegetable curries and pumpkin bread and squash covered cheesy pasta with sauteed vegetables. What’s not to love about the fall? Well, maybe the ever shortening day lengths as I mentioned but there’s not much to be done about that.

We tried to use this past week’s dry spell as well as possible but there’s always something that gets us off track. This week it was truck issues. After a clunky trip in the box truck to last week’s Salem pick-up we realized it was time to find a muffler shop able to work on it. Amazingly we found that an exhaust guy we’d used in the past in Corvallis had moved to Albany and he was able to get to it right away. We took it in on Thursday afternoon and by Friday afternoon we were driving home with a newly welded on muffler and catalytic converters. It was perhaps the fastest and least painful auto shop experience we’ve been through and we’re looking forward to a smoother trip up the freeway this week.

We did finally get a couple of greenhouses planted to winter greens and we dug a couple of beds of potatoes and Jeff repaired a portion of greenhouse wood that had rotted out. We also spoke with a local gravel guy about gravel for the barn build we’re planning for the winter (the rock will likely wait until next summer) and we got some gravel for an upgrade to the propagation house area, also a winter project. I caught up on accounting and did some budgeting (it’s health insurance sign-up time after all). And Sunday night Jeff managed to do a little tractor cultivating by headlight to get after weeds in the garlic, overwintering onions, and fava beans after things finally dried out a bit. Those short days make progress feel slow but it’s progress nonetheless.

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 ounce (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 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 teaspoon 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)

Step 1 Heat oven to 425° F.

Step 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.

Step 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.

Step 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.

Step 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.

Step 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

Crispy Delicata Rings with Currant, Fennel, & Apple Relish

Crispy Delicata Rings

• 2 Delicata squash
• salt
• olive oil
• 1 lime

Currant, Fennel and Apple Relish

• 1/2 cup dried currants
• 1/2 crisp apple, peeled, seeded, very small dice (I used Pink Lady)
• 1 fennel bulb, outer layer removed, very small dice
• 1 cup apple cider
• 1 tablespoon Calvados

Crispy Delicata Rings

Step 1 Slice the ends off of the squash. Slice into 1/2″ rings and remove the seeds with a spoon. Reserve the seeds for another use or roast them with some cayenne pepper, salt, and cumin and sprinkle over the finished dish.

Step 2 Lightly salt the squash and let sit for 30 minutes. Completely dry off with paper towels, removing the salt. Heat enough oil to coat a saute pan over medium high heat. Lightly salt the squash rings with fresh salt and add them to the pan. They should sizzle the moment they hit the pan. Don’t crowd them or they’ll steam more than they’ll brown. Sauté until lightly browned (about 2 minutes per side).

Step 3 Remove to a plate and grate lime peel over them and squeeze lime juice on them. I used the juice and zest from 1/2 lime for each Delicata.

Step 4 Top with the Currant, Fennel and Apple Relish and serve warm. Optional: top with spiced roasted squash seeds.

Currant, Fennel and Apple Relish

Step 1 Combine all ingredients in a small pot and simmer over medium low heat until the cider is reduced by half. Strain and sprinkle over the Crispy Delicata Rings.

From Food52.com by TheWimpyVegetarian, https://food52.com/recipes/7840-crispy-delicata-rings-with-currant-fennel-apple-relish

Caramelized Pork Bánh Mì

Caramelized Pork and Bánh mì Assembly

• 1 pound pork tenderloin (up to 1 1/2 pounds)
• 3 tablespoon Fish sauce
• 2 tablespoon Maple Syrup
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 slice ginger, minced
• 1 green onion, sliced thinly
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 loaf sweet French baguette (thin) or french bread sandwich rolls. Try to get the kind of French bread with a crisp crust and tender light center.
• 3 piece red leaf lettuce
• 1 handful pickled carrot and radishes (see below)
• 2 piece sliced jalapeno chili peppers
• 5 sprig cilantro
• 1 tablespoon Pâté (optional, but recommended)
• 1 tablespoon mayonnaise

Pickled Carrots and Radishes

• 1/4 pound carrots, peeled
• 1 bunch red radishes, preferably breakfast radishes (daikon are more traditional. I just think red radishes are beautiful.)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 tablespoon sugar

Caramelized Pork and Bánh mì Assembly

Step 1 Cut tenderloin across the grain of the meat into ½ inch pieces. Flatten each piece to an even ¼ inch between two pieces of saran wrap using a meat pounder, rolling pin, or large bottle.

Step 2 Mix ingredients from fish sauce to black pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning – it should be sweet and savory so add more soy, salt, or sesame oil as you like. Add marinade to the meat and use your hands or large spoon to make sure all pieces of meat are coated in marinade. Marinate for 10-30 minutes.

Step 3 You can cook the pork on the grill outdoors (best) or indoors using a grill pan or cast iron pan, something that you can get very hot. Heat grill or grill pan to high and turn on that vent fan! Add vegetable oil to meat and stir to coat. Sear first side of meat until very dark brown on one side, then flip and sear on the second side. Be careful not to overcook it. The meat is thin so it cooks quickly, one or two minutes on each side.

Step 4 To assemble sandwiches, slice baguette and spread mayonnaise on one side, pâté on the other. Add lettuce, meat, pickled vegetables, cilantro and peppers. Dig in!

Pickled Carrots and Radishes

Step 1 Slice carrots and radishes into quarters (or sixths for thicker guys) lengthwise. Mix all ingredients together. Taste for seasoning. Let stand as little as an hour or up to overnight. They keep for several days.

From Food52.com by monkeymom, https://food52.com/recipes/4817-caramelized-pork-banh-mi