Welcome to the 12th share of the Pitchfork & Crow 2026 Summer CSA! Here’s what’s in the share this week:

• Little Gem Lettuce – Somewhere between a mini romaine and butter lettuce.
• Dill
• Celery
• Lacinato Kale
• Carrots
• Bunching Onions
• Sweet Corn – Too much corn to keep up with? Get some in the freezer for winter meals!
• Mixed Snap Beans – Green, yellow, and purple snap beans.
• Summer Squash & Zucchini
• Mixed Cucumbers – Mixed green and silver slicers and some lemons 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.
• Poblano Peppers – The classic stuffing pepper, also good for flavoring any dish that is asking for a mild chile kick.
• Mixed Tomatoes – We’ve got tomatoes! Pints of cherries plus lots of slicers of all sizes this week.
• Melons – It’s melon-palooza week! Including: Tirreno Tuscan cantaloupes, Honey Orange honeydews, and Lambkin piel de sapo melons.

Summer is getting real around here. The flowers at the front of the farm are a riot of color as most of the varieties are now in full bloom. The melons are finally ripening and they’re coming on fast. Our trial of a second round of tomatoes, this one outside, has been an early success and we harvested several bins of ripe tomatoes from it this week. The sweet corn is rolling in and the sweet peppers are starting to color up. All the best summery produce is happening now!

Sometimes it feels like half of farming is just constantly moving things around. We move flats of transplants from the germ chamber to the prop house, then to the hardening off table outside, then to the tractor for transplanting. We harvest a crop only to move it to the truck for transport to the barn, then move it to the wash tub, then into the cooler, then to the CSA pick-up. You get the idea. Looking around there’s plenty to do and be doing and much of it falls into the “move that thing over there” category. Just an observation as we move into the heavy harvest season and continue moving vegetables around.

It’s been an interesting week here on the farm. As we made it through the FDA inspection a couple of weeks back unscathed and the propagation schedule has decreased some, we’ve been happy to find time to get to other projects. Jeff spent a lot of time weed whacking and mowing last Thursday and Friday. Things are looking much better now that he’s cleaned up some edges and erased a few weedy messes. I spent Thursday and part of Friday saucing overripe tomatoes and we now have a pantry shelf full of tomato sauce canned for the coming winter. I also weeded some winter carrots, which felt like a luxury to be getting to but of course I didn’t get through as much as I’d have liked. We also spent Saturday transplanting chard, beets, fennel, celery, and bunching onions for fall eating.

Not all things went as smoothly as we’d have liked. As Jeff was transferring the front fork attachment from one tractor to the other for transplanting the first tractor stalled out and hasn’t wanted to start since. It’s been a weekend of troubleshooting. As with most tractor issues it’s been a crash course in mechanics. This time learning about fuel injectors and priming pumps and fuel pumps and what’s that screw for and how can changing a fuel filter lead to catastrophe? It looks like it’s time to get this tractor into a shop. Add that project to the list.

Many of you have heard Jeff describe his non-farming boat building project at the CSA pick-up. He’s been a little obsessed with it this spring and summer and after spending a lot of time building the trailer he’s finally made some progress on the boat itself. It’s constructed of two canoes with a platform built over them to create a single hull. He took it out for a test run on some nearby ponds last Wednesday night and proved the concept. Nugget and I went along for the inaugural ride and can attest that indeed it floats and is stable and is a boat. Nice job Jeff!

In the week ahead we’ll be getting the chicories in the ground, hopefully making progress on the tractor fix, a little propagating, and more carrot weeding. Soon we’ll be harvesting onions, potatoes, pears etc. We’re full steam ahead!

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:

Summer Corn Chowder

6 medium ears of corn
6 strips of bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1 medium poblano, finely chopped
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1 small celery rib, finely chopped
3 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded and finely chopped
2 medium boiling potatoes (about 1 pound), peeled and cubed
1 teaspoon kosher salt
¹/₈ teaspoon ground allspice
1 pinch granulated sugar
1 dry bay leaf
2 cups half-and-half, at room temperature
1 cup milk
Freshly ground black pepper
Chopped flat-leaf parsley, for garnish

1. Working over a bowl, cut the corn kernels from the cobs at about half their depth. Then, using the back of the knife, scrape the cobs over the bowl to release all the corn milk.
2. In a large saucepan, fry the bacon over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp, about 10 minutes. Transfer the bacon to a paper towel–lined plate or wire rack to drain.
3. Discard all but 3 tablespoons of the bacon drippings from the pan. Add the onion and cook over medium heat until golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the poblano, jalapeño, and celery and cook until slightly softened, about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Now stir in the tomatoes, potatoes, salt, allspice, sugar, bay leaf, and the reserved corn kernels and their milk. Cook over medium heat until the mixture begins to sizzle.
4. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are tender, 35 to 45 minutes. Stir in the cream and milk and bring just to a boil. Remove from heat and season with black pepper to taste. Ladle the chowder into bowls. Crumble the cooled bacon and sprinkle that on top, along with the parsley.

From Food52.com by Nancy Jo, https://food52.com/recipes/142-summer-corn-chowder

Grilled Summer Salad with Tonnato Verde

• Salad
• 1 pound romano, wax, or green beans (or a mix)
• 1 pound small escarole and/or little Gem heads, halved lengthwise through the core
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• ¹/₂ baguette, halved lengthwise
• 1 ear fresh corn, husked
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice (from about 1 medium lemon)
• 1 large tomato, chopped
• 2 tablespoons drained capers

• Tonnato Verde
• 2 (7-ounce) cans high-quality water-or oil-packed tuna, drained
• 4 ounces soft tofu
• 3 salt-or oil-packed anchovy fillets, drained
• 2 whole garlic cloves
• ¹/₂ cup (packed) Italian parsley leaves
• ¹/₄ cup chopped chives, plus more for garnish
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice (from about 1 medium lemon)
• 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
• 1 tablespoon drained capers
• ¹/₂ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Make the salad: Heat a grill or grill pan over medium-high heat. Lightly grease the grates.

Toss beans and lettuce with 2 tablespoons of the oil and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle the cut side of the baguette with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Grill the lettuce, beans, bread, and corn, turning occasionally, until lettuce is wilted, bread is toasted, and beans and corn are nicely charred and tender—this will take about 2 minutes for the lettuce and bread, about 5 minutes for the beans, and 10 to 12 minutes for the corn. Once cooked, transfer vegetables and bread to a cutting board to cool. Coarsely chop the cooled lettuce and bread, cut the corn kernels off of the cob, and set aside. Leave the beans whole.

Meanwhile, make the tonnato verde: In a food processor, add 2 ounces of the tuna, tofu, anchovies, garlic, parsley, chives, lemon juice, Parmesan, and capers. Pulse a few times to combine. With the machine on, slowly drizzle in the oil until the mixture is well emulsified. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

To a large bowl, add the grilled lettuce and beans; season with the 2 tablespoons lemon juice, plus salt and pepper to taste, and toss to combine. Divide this mixture on 4 plates, then follow with the croutons, corn, tomatoes, capers and the remaining tuna, divided for each serving. Drizzle one-quarter of the dressing over each salad, then garnish with chives and more black pepper.

From Food52.com by Kay Chun, https://food52.com/recipes/86186-grilled-salad-recipe-with-tonnato-herb-sauce

Summer Melon Salad with Harissa, Feta, and Mint

• 1 cup cantaloupe (watermelon could be substituted), cut into small cubes
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 cup Persian cucumbers, cut into thin coins (about 1/8″ thick) or English cucumber, cut into half lengthwise and then half moons 1/8″ thick
• 1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled or cubed, or to taste (I recommend splurging a little on good-quality feta; it’s worth it)
• 1/4 cup fresh mint, leaves roughly chopped or torn
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon harissa (or to taste)
• 1 teaspoon honey
• Freshly squeezed lemon juice
• Fleur de sel (or other sea salt) and freshly ground black pepper

Mix the cantaloupe, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, mint, and feta in a bowl.

In a small bowl, whisk the extra-virgin olive oil with the harissa and honey.

Drizzle the harissa-honey dressing over the salad, a little at a time, tasting as you go. Season to taste with fleur de sel, a little freshly ground black pepper, and lemon juice. Toss to combine. The flavors will pop when you get the right amount of seasoning!

This salad can be assembled in advance and chilled, though I like to add the tomatoes at room temperature. The flavors get even better after they’ve had a chance to mingle.

From Food52.com by EmilyC, https://food52.com/recipes/12856-summer-melon-salad-with-harissa-feta-and-mint