Welcome to the 5th share of the Pitchfork & Crow 2026 Summer CSA! Here’s what’s in the share this week:

• Lettuce Mix – A mix of four lettuce varieties.
• Dill
• Broccoli
• Mixed Cauliflower
• Pointy Green Cabbage
• 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.
• Beets w/ Greens – Too many beets? Maybe it’s time to get on the quick beet pickle train.
• 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.
• Fresh Garlic
• Overwintered Onions – Overwintered yellow onions this week. These were planted last October and withstood the winter weather to mature earlier than our spring planted main onion crop.
• Cucumbers
• Summer Squash
• Tomatoes – The very first of the ripe tomatoes!

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 can add 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.

We’ve just wrapped up a whirlwind of a week that included harvesting the last of the garlic and overwintered onions ahead of the rain, cultivating all the potatoes and winter squash ahead of the rain, getting through a big propagation push that included our fifth and final round of sweet corn plus lots of other late summer and fall vegetables, lots of rainy day weed whacking, and flameweeding the parsnips, all capped off by a quick visit by my sister and her family out here from South Carolina. Whew!

While this past week felt packed the number of things we didn’t get to have stacked up. We’ve got quite the transplanting and weeding backlog that we’re looking forward to tackling in the coming days. We’ll work to remove the morning glory from the peppers, get the grass out of the sweet potatoes, and tractor cultivate as many other crops as possible. We’ll also transplant as much as we can get through and of course there’s more propagation on the schedule. It’s time to start the overwintering brassicas as well as chicories for winter salad. We may be happy to be seeing the first ripe tomatoes of the season but we’re always looking ahead and winter vegetables are on the horizon.

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:

Greek Salad with Fennel

• 1/2 small red onion
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• Juice of 1 small lemon
• 1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 pound Greek feta
• 1/2 large fennel bulb, with fronds
• 6 cup roughly chopped Romaine (2/3 small head) (Or how about lettuce mix?)
• 1/4 cup roughly chopped roasted red pepper
• 1/4 cup green olives, sliced
• 1/4 cup Kalamata olives, whole

Thinly slice the onion and put the slices in a small bowl of cold water. Set aside while you prepare the rest of the salad.

In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, lemon juice and salt. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil, whisking constantly. Taste and add more salt if you like, as well as a few grinds of pepper. Chop up about 1/4 of the feta and whisk into the dressing. Set aside.

Use a mandolin or a sharp knife to slice the fennel as thinly as possible, setting aside any nice fronds first. You should have about 1 1/2 cups of fennel when you’re through.

Add the lettuce, fennel, red pepper, olives and red onion (squeezed dry) to a large bowl. Drizzle about half the dressing over the salad and toss gently to combine. Taste and add more dressing if needed. Crumble the rest of the feta over the top of the salad and toss just a couple of times to combine. Garnish the salad with the fennel fronds and serve immediately.

From Food52.com by Merrill Stubbs, https://food52.com/recipes/14896-greek-salad-with-fennel

Roasted Cauliflower & Fennel Soup

• 2 heads cauliflower, cored & cut in florets
• 1 bulb fennel, quartered
• 3 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 shallot, minced
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
• 5 cup chicken or vegetable broth + more to thin if needed
• 1/2 cup cream or milk (can substitute non-dairy milk)
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/4 cup parmesan, grated
• Salt & pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with foil. Place cauliflower florets and fennel in a single layer onto the prepared baking sheets. Drizzle Cauliflower and fennel with olive oil; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Gently toss to combine. Place into the oven and roast cauliflower and fennel for about 25-30 minutes or until tender.

About 10 minutes before the cauliflower and fennel are done roasting, start cooking shallots. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add shallots and cook for about 2-3 minutes. Add garlic and cook another 1-2 minutes. Add thyme, white pepper, and broth.

Add cauliflower and fennel once done roasting. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 5 minutes. Puree with an immersion blender or high-powered blender until creamy.

Stir in heavy cream, butter, and parmesan. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. If the soup is too thick, add more broth until desired consistency is reached.

From Food52.com by Savor and Sage, https://food52.com/recipes/85966-roasted-cauliflower-fennel-soup

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