Summer CSA Share #11

Welcome to the 11th 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.
Cilantro
Broccoli or Cauliflower
Cabbage – Choose from red or green this time.
Yukon Gem 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.
Yellow Onions
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.
Mixed Sweet Peppers – We’ve got some more purple bells and some Italian frying peppers that are beginning to turn red. Italian frying peppers can be used like bell peppers. Also, purple is 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.
Eggplant
Mixed Tomatoes – We’ve got tomatoes! Pints of cherries plus lots of slicers of all sizes this week.

^{So many bees working the flowers around the farm! I got a little mesmerized by the diversity when trying to identify these bees and didn’t come up with solid IDs. Honey bee and perhaps a small tickle bee in the rudbeckia (top left and right), a big bumble bee in the green beans (bottom left) and no bees but a lovely grey poppy (bottom right).}

And we’re back for week 11 of the Summer CSA! The smoky skies have cleared for the time being and the sun is shining and the crops are growing and we’re here trying to keep up. Sounds a lot like August on the farm.

^{Sometimes you think, this is just a lovely moment and decide you’d better get a photo or two. This was Monday night irrigation troubleshooting. Jeff is way out there at the end of the sweet potatoes unclogging a sprinkler (left) and the sun is heading down over some greenhouses and the first round of sweet corn.}

I’ve been trying to remind myself to get photos throughout the week to share. It’s too easy to go about the week’s tasks and end up with few photos to document what we’ve been up to. I meant to photograph the saving of the eggplants from bindweed and thistle on Thursday and the seeding of our fall snow pea experiment on Friday but forgot to pull out the phone. I did snap a few photos of transplanting on Saturday but it’s hard to document that whole process while my hands are busy getting plants in the ground. And I’m not sure I got a single vegetable glamour shot from the harvest this week. Crazy! I’ll continue to work on the photo side of things.

^{We transplanted! Twelve more beds of broccoli and cauliflower are in the ground. Plus enjoying the shade of the neighbor’s oak trees at the end of field.}

As mentioned we transplanted the fall and overwintering broccoli and cauliflower this past Saturday. It’s always a big push to get that last round brassicas in the ground after so many successions of them through the early part of the season. One of our trusted broccoli varieties is called Marathon and it never fails to feel like a planting marathon by this point when we’re planting it out. But we’re looking forward to purple sprouting broccoli and overwintered cauliflower next March and April!

^{Random photos from the week including pickling yellow beets that had been boiled with red beets creating a lovely beet sunset effect (top left), collecting celery seed (top right), and smoky skies (bottom).}

In the week ahead we’ll be doing some more transplanting, this time chard, beets, fennel, bunching onions, and perhaps chicories. We’ve also got lots of mowing and cultivating to get to. There’s the spring pea greenhouse that still needs clearing out and tomatoes to trellis and winter carrots to hoe. Let’s get to it before that list gets any longer!

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:

Di San Xian (Stir-Fried Eggplant, Potato, & Bell Pepper)

2 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
2 teaspoon cornstarch
2 medium potatoes
1/2 medium green bell pepper
1/2 medium red bell pepper
1 medium Japanese or Chinese eggplant
Neutral oil, for deep-frying
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 scallions, ends trimmed and roughly chopped
Cooked rice, for serving

In a medium bowl, whisk the soy sauces, sugar, and ¾ cup of water until the sugar is dissolved. In a small bowl, mix the cornstarch with 1 tablespoon of water until combined.

Scrub and peel the potatoes (or leave the skin on), then cut into 1-inch chunks. Cut the bell peppers into 1-inch chunks. Trim the ends from the eggplant, then roll-cut into 1-inch pieces (I like to cut the eggplant right before frying to prevent it from oxidizing).

Fill a large wok or saucepan with enough oil for frying (1 to 2 inches deep) and heat to 350°F. Meanwhile, set a wire rack on top of a sheet pan next to the stove. Fry the potatoes until golden brown, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes. Use a sieve to transfer the potatoes to the wire rack to drain excess oil. Using the same oil with the same heat, flash-fry the eggplant for about 45 seconds. After 30 seconds, add the bell peppers, too. Transfer the eggplant and peppers to the wire rack.

Carefully pour the oil into a heatproof vessel (you can reserve and reuse it for other dishes), leaving about 1 tablespoon in the pan.

Over medium heat, sauté the garlic and scallion until aromatic, about 1 minute. Add the soy-sugar mixture and bring to a boil.

Add the potatoes, eggplant, and bell pepper and toss to combine. Cook until nicely coated and the potatoes are fork-tender, less than 2 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning accordingly. Add the slurry and simmer until thickened. Serve immediately with a bowl of rice.

From Food52.com by WoonHeng Chia, https://food52.com/recipes/87908-di-san-xian-recipe

Greek Salad

Dressing

2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more to serve
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Salad

1/2 small red onion, finely sliced, or to taste
4 medium-size ripe tomatoes (total weight about 500 grams)
500 gram cucumber
1 handful Kalamata olives
1 tablespoon capers, rinsed
1/3 green bell pepper, cut crosswise into 3 circles
150 gram feta cheese
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Crusty bread, for serving

Start by making the dressing, whisking all the ingredients together in a bowl. (If you want to marinate the onion first, add it to the dressing now, letting it soften there for 20 minutes.)

Cut the tomatoes into large, thick, wedges, about ¾ inch (2 centimeters) wide. Peel the cucumber and cut it into thick, diagonal slices about ¾ inch (2 centimeters) wide also, then cut these slices in half, so they are roughly the same size as the tomatoes.

Place the tomatoes, cucumber, and onion in a large bowl. Add the dressing and toss together well.

Scatter the olives and capers over the salad, layer on the slices of green bell pepper, and place a large piece of feta on top. Drizzle the entire salad with a bit more extra-virgin olive oil and finish with the dried oregano. Serve with crusty bread.

From Food52.com by Yasmin Khan, https://food52.com/recipes/86189-best-greek-salad-recipe

California Chicken Tacos with Corn and Red Cabbage Slaw

Chicken:

1 5-pound roasting chicken
3 limes
1 pinch salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste

Other Fillings:

3 to 4 ears of fresh corn, husks attached
1/2 medium-sized red cabbage, finely sliced
1 bunch green onions, finely sliced
6 ounce queso fresca, crumbled
12 flour tortillas, warmed
1 dollop sour cream (optional)
1 handful Cilantro (optional)

Place chicken in roasting pan, or prepare for grilling as you normally would. Generously salt the cavity. Zest the limes, then cut them in half. Gently loosen the skin of the chicken: Start at the neck, work back towards the breast, and then finish at the legs. Push the lime zest under the skin, spreading evenly. Squeeze the lime juice over the chicken and place the squeezed limes in its cavity. Dust chicken with salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste. Place it in a 325° F oven for 1 hour 45 minutes, or grill as you normally would a whole chicken.

Gently remove the cornsilk from the corn so that the cob can still rest in it’s husk. Fill a large bowl or Ziplock bag with icy water and soak the corn for 15 to 20 minutes. Place corn in its husk on a medium-hot grill and cook for 25 minutes, turning as the husks char. Remove from grill and let cool, then remove kernels.

Place cabbage in a bowl with the corn kernels, sliced green onions, and crumbled queso fresca. Squeeze the juice of the three limes over the mixture. Set aside.

When chicken is finished cooking, let it cool and then remove meat, discarding the skin and bones. Serve the chicken pieces on a platter next to the corn, cabbage slaw, and warm tortillas.

To assemble: Place the chicken on a tortilla, add slaw, sour cream, and cilantro (if desired), and roll into a taco or burrito.

From Food52.com by Linda Burkhart, https://food52.com/recipes/28505-california-chicken-tacos-with-corn-and-red-cabbage-slaw