Summer CSA Share #10

Welcome to the 10th share of the Pitchfork & Crow 2026 Summer CSA! Here’s what’s in the share this week:

Lettuce Mix – A mix of three lettuce varieties.
Parsley
Broccoli
Mixed Cauliflower
Huckleberry Gold New Potatoes – These are freshly dug and haven’t developed a thick skin so use them up sooner than later. We’re giving them to you unwashed to help prolong their storage life.
Mixed Small Onions – Mixed pints of small torpedo and yellow onions and shallots.
Sweet Corn!
Mixed Snap Beans – Green, yellow, and purple snap beans.
Summer Squash & Zucchini
Mixed Cucumbers – Mixed green and silver slicers and some lemons too. Last year a CSA member shared a quick pickle recipe that became a go-to for us all summer. It’s pickling season! You can check it out here and enjoy pickles too.
Purple Bell Peppers – These are the immature coloring for this variety of bell pepper, so treat them like green peppers.
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 like in this recipe.
Mixed Tomatoes – We’ve got tomatoes! Pints of cherries plus lots of big slicers this week.

^{The rudbeckia and zinnias at the front of the farm are popular with the honey bees (top and bottom left). But so are the zucchini flowers!}

Hello August! We’ve been grateful for the mild start to this generally warm month. A couple of days in the 70s is just what we needed to keep making progress on all the things that need attention. We’ve been doing this long enough (this is our 17th Summer CSA season!) that we know July is probably going to kick our butts and true to form it has a little. Things get a little wild, the weeds gain an advantage, the long days begin to take their toll. But now it’s August and it’s time to wrangle things back into some semblance of order before it’s too late. Unfortunately the heat is showing up too.

^{Early August vegetable haul including sweet corn (top left) shishito peppers (top right), a bumble bee hanging out in the tomatoes (bottom left), and new potatoes (bottom right).}

At least we’re eating well while we ride the wave that is the summer farming season. Simple meals are key this time of year when there never quite seems to be enough time in the day and we’re eating dinner at 9pm. Pulling the rubbermaid box we store most of our vegetables in from the bottom shelf of our fridge is always step one to dinner prep. What needs to be used up? Is it time to make a slaw or saute a medley of corn, broccoli cauliflower, and zucchini to eat with with pasta and pesto from the freezer or build up a bowl of salad for rice and roasted salmon or is it quesadillas and roasted chicken with whatever vegetables Jeff pulls out? No matter what it is, hopefully there are leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

^{Summer vibes on the farm from Nugget belly rubs (top left), wild blackberries on the field edges (middle left), and an emptying prop house (bottom left) to evening irrigation on newly transplanted crops (top right) and a smoky sunset (bottom right).}

Last week we had our first in seventeen years visit from the FDA. In the past decade or so a big federal food safety law has come into being called the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). It covers many aspects of food safety and applies to farms in a tiered system based on sales over a rolling three year period. We fall in the mid-level “modified exempt” category, meaning we’ve just got a handful of things to comply with including proving our income falls below the fully covered level, that we keep sanitation records, and that the water we use on the farm for irrigating and washing produce is safe. We’d had about a month to anticipate what that visit might look like and we’d taken some steps toward covering our bases. We got our paperwork together including financial statements and water tests, we spent some time cleaning and organizing workspaces, we outlined some standard operating procedures for sanitizing that we’d been doing but hadn’t made official. As some of you predicted, the meeting went off without a hitch and the inspector reviewed our financials, asked some basic business questions, and generally gave us a thumbs up with no notes review. Whew, glad that’s over.

Last week we also got the fall and winter cabbage, last round of beans and cucumbers, and more lettuce planted. Now we’re back to fully focusing on farming and in the week ahead we’ll be striving to transplant the winter broccoli and cauliflower. There’s lot of weeding and cultivating and mowing to catch up on too. Plus some propagation and some accounting. And it’s going to be hot! Let’s go August!

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:

Crispy Salmon with Corn, Blackberry & Shishito Salad

2 ears corn, shucked
6 ounce blackberries
Kosher salt, to taste
6 teaspoon canola oil, divided
4 ounce shishito peppers
2 (1/2-pound) salmon fillets
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice, plus more to taste
2 lime cheeks, for serving

Take 1 ear of corn and use a very sharp knife to cut the kernels off the cob. Add those to a bowl. Halve the larger blackberries lengthwise, but leave the smaller ones as they are. Add all the blackberries to the bowl with the corn. Season with a pinch of salt and toss.

Heat a large cast-iron over medium heat. While that heats up, de-kernel the remaining ear of corn. When the pan is hot, add 2 teaspoons canola oil. Swirl the oil around, then add the just-cut corn (not the corn with the blackberries! We want that to stay raw). Season with a pinch of salt, stir, then leave the corn alone to cook for about 6 minutes, stirring maybe once or twice, until it’s golden-brown and starting to char. Push aside the corn-blackberry mixture so half of the bowl is empty, then dump the crispy corn there to cool.

With the pan still over medium heat, add another 2 teaspoons canola oil, then the shishitos and another pinch of salt. Cook in the same way—mostly leaving alone—for 6 minutes, until charred and deflated. Dump onto a cutting board to cool a bit and turn off the heat.

Wipe out the skillet. Dry the salmon all over (this will encourage better browning), then season it generously with salt and black pepper. Turn the heat under the skillet on again, this time to medium-high. When the pan is hot, add the remaining 2 teaspoons canola oil. When the oil is shimmering, carefully add the salmon, skin side-down—it should loudly sizzle. Immediately lower the heat to medium-low and press down the salmon with a fish spatula, to prevent the skin from curling. Cook for 5 to 10 minutes, pressing down with the spatula occasionally, until the skin is deeply browned and crispy, and the flesh is nearly at the temperature you’d want to eat it at (I aim for 125°F for medium-rare). Flip the salmon and cook for another minute, then turn off the heat and remove it from the pan.

While the salmon is cooking, chop the shishitos into smaller pieces (figure into thirds or fourths depending on the size of the pepper). Add these shishitos to the bowl with the corn and blackberries. Dress with the olive oil and lime juice. Toss and taste. Adjust with more olive oil, lime juice, and salt as needed.

Serve the salmon with the salad on top or alongside, with a lime cheek to squeeze on top of the fish.

From Food52.com by Emma Laperruque, https://food52.com/recipes/81770-salmon-salad-recipe

Summer Corn Salad

3 cup corn kernels (fresh or thawed if frozen)
1/3 cup toasted pine nuts
3 Persian cucumber, diced
1 tablespoon fresh chives, chopped
Parmesan cheese, shaved or grated (to taste)
2 tablespoon Fresh basil leaves, torn (for garnish)
1/3 cup mayonnaise
4 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (or 1 small clove garlic, minced)
Salt and pepper to taste

Prepare the Corn: If using fresh corn, grill the corn until tender. Cut the kernels off the cob. If using frozen corn, thaw and drain well. Heat a grill pan or a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the corn kernels in a single layer and let them char for about 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they are slightly blackened and charred. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

Make the Dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic powder (or minced garlic), salt, and pepper until well combined. Adjust seasoning to taste.

Assemble the Salad: In a large mixing bowl, combine the corn kernels, toasted pine nuts, diced Persian cucumber, basil, and chopped chives.

Add Dressing and Toss: Pour the dressing over the salad ingredients and gently toss until everything is evenly coated with the dressing.

Serve: Transfer the salad to a serving dish or individual plates. Top with shaved or grated Parmesan.

From Food52.com by Kit Keenan, https://food52.com/recipes/92785-summer-corn-salad-by-kit-keenan

Spice Merchant Cauliflower

1 large cauliflower (about 1 ½ pound of cauliflower florets)
5 ounce raw cashewnuts
3 ounce sultanas (gold raisins)
5 tablespoon olive oil
4 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoon minced parsley
1/2 teaspoon za’atar
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 garlic clove, crushed
1/4 teaspoon finely shredded lemon zest
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Place the sultanas in a bowl and pour warm water over them. Leave the sultanas for about 15 minutes, until plump. Drain and discard the water.

Heat a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Reduce the heat to medium low, add the cashewnuts and toast them for about 8 minutes, until lightly golden and gently charred. Stir frequently to make sure that cashewnuts do not burn. Let the cashewnuts cool. Cut the half of the cashewnuts into smaller pieces (or simply crush them with your hands).

Break the cauliflower into florets, making sure to leave behind as much of the stem as possible. Chop the florets into smaller pieces. Transfer the cauliflower into food processor in batches, and pulse until the pieces are finely chopped and resemble couscous. Be careful not to over-process.

In a large sauté pan, heat three tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Add the cauliflower couscous to the pan and cook for about 7 minutes, stirring frequently.

Remove the couscous from the heat and let it cool. Add the sultanas, cashewnuts, za’atar, cumin, parsley, garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, and the remaining two tablespoons of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.

Leave the couscous for about 15 minutes for the flavors to combine. Serve at room temperature.

From Food52.com by QueenSashy, https://food52.com/recipes/21165-spice-merchant-cauliflower-couscous