Welcome to the 2nd share of the Pitchfork & Crow 2025/2026 Winter CSA! Here’s what’s in the share this week:

• Radicchio Head – 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 more tips if you think radicchio and chicories bring too much bitter to the table.
• Tatsoi
• Mustard Greens – A spicy green that can add some pep to any dish. Wilt it in hot soup or saute and eat as a side dish.
• Lacinato Kale
• Brussels Sprouts – Pop the sprouts off the stalk and enjoy them in your favorite recipes. We usually just cut the sprouts in half, toss with a little oil/salt/pepper, and roast at 400 degrees for ~20 minutes. Don’t forget to check out the recipe index here on our website if you’re looking for suggestions.
• Huckleberry Gold Potatoes
• Sweet Potatoes – In an effort to prolong their storage life we’re giving these out unwashed. You may want to give them a soak pre-scrubbing. Also, we don’t suggest refrigerating sweet potatoes as their ideal storage temp is between 55 & 60 degrees F.
• Beets – It’s roasted root season and roasted beets are delicious. But quick pickled beets have also been making their way onto our weekly homemade pizzas and it’s been colorful and tasty addition.
• Kohlrabi – Don’t be afraid of the winter kohlrabi. It’s delicious and wants to be eaten up raw, or fermented, or roasted, or in a savory pudding or kohlrabi pancakes.
• Celery
• Yellow & Red Onions
• Garlic
• 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.
• Wolverine’s Orca Dry Beans – A lovely, creamy bean with a past. Use as you would other dry beans.
• Dried Apples – We grew them, we harvested them, we dried them.

Happy New Year! We hope you’re all having a wonderful holiday season. With the passing of the Winter Solstice back on December 21st the days are once again slowly growing longer. We’re welcoming the idea of the return of the light but still appreciating the restful schedule that winter’s short days provide.

Reminder: We may be counting down to the New Year but the show goes on. We’ll see Salem pick-up members Tuesday and Farm pick-up members Wednesday as regularly scheduled.

We hunkered down for a couple of days after the last CSA pick-up to work on our annual crop planning process. We reviewed the past season crop by crop together and made adjustments for the season ahead. Thankfully I had finished up our seed inventory a couple of weeks back, so once finished with crop planning I could jump into confirming seed varieties and nailing down seed quantities needed for the upcoming year. It’s always a long stint of spreadsheeting but we’ve got a plan and the seed orders are mostly finished!

After this many years we’ve dialed in many of the varieties that work well for us. We did decide to make a few cropping adjustments for the upcoming season including adding some edamame (a first for us) and trying for a round of fall snow peas, trialing a few new cherry and slicer tomato varieties, and doubling down on the possibility of having a good watermelon year. Just a few tweaks to keep things interesting.

We also managed a little field work in between rain and wind storms. Kohlrabi, rutabaga, and celeriac all made it into storage for future winter shares. And some field house spinach got weeded. And Jeff put a new engine on our old BCS walk behind tiller for any spring rototiller needs. I’m sure there was more but that’s what I recall. I guess it’s been a slow couple of weeks while we focused on planning and resting.

Speaking of resting, we managed a couple of days off for Christmas last week. We’re really leaning into the slow season this year. Jeff and Nugget have been canoeing and swimming a lot and we all took a Christmas Eve walk down along the exposed shore of Foster Lake. The farm’s To Do list is calling but we’ll continue to take things slowly as we look ahead to the 2026 growing season.

Also, we’ll be hashing out the 2026 Summer CSA details in the coming weeks. We’ll be in touch in late-January when we’re ready to launch the season and open the memberships. Keep an eye out for the email if you’d like to join us again next summer.

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:

Vegan Lentil Soup With Sweet Potatoes & Kale

• 1 1/2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion, peeled and finely diced
• 1 large carrot, peeled and diced
• 2 cup grape tomatoes, halved
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cup vegetable broth
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• 2 teaspoon dried basil
• 2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 dried bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 1/2 cup brown lentils
• 1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 4 cup chopped kale

Step 1 Add the olive oil to a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onion, carrot, tomatoes, and garlic and sauté for 1 to 2 minutes, until fragrant and slightly tender.

Step 2 Add the vegetable broth, 3 cups of water, the nutritional yeast, basil, oregano, turmeric, bay leaf, black pepper, pepper flakes, salt, lemon juice, and cumin. Stir in the lentils and sweet potatoes until well combined. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, until the lentils and vegetables are tender.

Step 3 Remove and discard the bay leaf. Using an immersion blender, slightly blend everything until the soup begins to thicken but there are chunks of veggies still left. If you don’t have a hand blender, carefully add 1 to 2 cups of the cooked veggies, along with 1 cup of the liquid from the pot, to a high-powered blender; blend until smooth and creamy, then return this puree to the pot. (Add more water to the soup if needed to reach the desired consistency.)

Step 4 Stir in the kale and simmer for another 10 minutes or so. Serve with additional nutritional yeast if you’d like.

From Food52.com by Shanika Graham-White, https://food52.com/recipes/84898-best-vegan-lentil-soup-recipe

Roasted Delicata Squash with Crunchy Kale & Feta

• 1 (about 5 to 6 ounces) delicata squash, ends trimmed, seeds removed and sliced into 1/2-inch-thick half moons
• 1 bunch lacinato or curly kale, leaves removed from the stems and torn into 1-inch pieces
• 3 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon to 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, plus more to taste
• 1 teaspoon plus 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 1/4 cup water
• 4 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice (from 2 lemons)
• 1/4 cup crumbled feta
• 1/2 teaspoon ground sumac, plus more for sprinkling on top
• 1 pinch cracked black pepper
• 1/4 cup packed flat-leaf parsley leaves and tender stems, roughly torn (optional)

Step 1 Heat the oven to 400°F with a rack positioned in the lower third of the oven.

Step 2 On a sheet pan, coat the squash and kale with the olive oil, then season with the cumin, red pepper flakes, and salt, until everything has a glossy sheen to it. Be sure to squeeze the kale leaves with your hands as you mix. Arrange the vegetables on the sheet pan, ensuring the squash pieces have contact with the pan and arranging the kale in empty spaces. The pan will be a little crowded, but the kale leaves will quickly shrink.

Step 3 Roast in the oven until the squash is easily pierced with a fork and the kale crispy, 25 to 30 minutes, turning the squash over and mixing around the kale halfway into the roasting time.

Step 4 Meanwhile, in a small serving bowl, whisk the tahini with the 1/4 cup water until it becomes a smooth, spreadable hummus-like consistency. Whisk in the juice of 1 lemon (about 2 tablespoons), sumac, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Loosen with more lemon or water if needed, or add more tahini to thicken. Sprinkle some sumac on top, if desired.

Step 5 Remove the vegetables from the oven. Pour the remaining lemon juice on top, drizzle with olive oil, and top with the crumbled feta, pepper, and parsley, if using. Serve with the sumac-tahini sauce

From Food52.com by Yasminfahr, https://food52.com/recipes/84347-roasted-delicata-squash-recipe-with-crunchy-kale-feta-tahini

Baked Radicchio & Brussels Sprouts with Tonnato

For the baked salad:

• 2 heads radicchio, cored and leaves separated
• 1 cup Brussels sprouts, trimmed and thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper, plus more to taste
• 1/4 cup honey-clustered cereal (like Honey Bunches of Oats), crushed, for garnish

For the tonnato:

• 5 ounce tuna packed in water
• 3 tablespoon mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 garlic clove, peeled and minced
• 4 oil-packed anchovies
• 1/4 teaspoon ground smoked paprika
• Kosher salt, to taste
• Freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

Step 1 Bake the salad: Heat the oven to 425°F. On a large sheet pan (or two small sheet pans), arrange the radicchio leaves and Brussels sprouts in an even layer, keeping them spread out. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Transfer sheet pan(s) to the oven and roast for 14 to 16 minutes, or until the Brussels sprouts are tender and the radicchio is wilted.

Step 2 Make the tonnato: Meanwhile, combine the tuna, mayonnaise, lemon juice, garlic, anchovies, and paprika in a small food processor or Vitamix. Blend on medium until smooth. (The consistency should be slightly thin and easily spreadable.) Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Step 3 Spoon the tonnato onto a serving plate and use the back of the spoon to create a swoosh. Top with the baked radicchio and Brussels sprouts. Garnish with the crushed cereal.

From Food52.com by Emily Ziemski, https://food52.com/recipes/89172-baked-radicchio-brussels-sprouts-with-tonnato