Welcome to the 21st share of the Pitchfork & Crow 2026 Summer CSA! Here’s what’s in the share this week:

• Escarole – A little hardier than lettuce, escarole will stand up to wilting or a little cooking. We like to use it as a base for warm pasta or salmon topped with your favorite sauce/dressing. And it’s time to break out the Italian Wedding Soup recipe.
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• French Breakfast Radishes
• Bunching Onions
• Sweet Corn – This is very possibly the last of the sweet corn until next summer. It’s your last chance to get some stored away for soup season.
• Mixed Snap Beans – Choose between the flat-podded Dragon Tongue Romano Beans and the round-podded tri-color snap bean mix we’ve had multiple times this season. Use as you would other types of snap beans.
• Mixed Bell Sweet Peppers – These sweet peppers ripen to red.
• Mixed Italian Frying Sweet Peppers – These red and yellow Italian frying peppers can be used like bell peppers.
• Poblano Peppers – The classic stuffing pepper, also good for flavoring any dish that is asking for a mild chile kick.
• Shishito Peppers – A Japanese variety 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.
• Tomatoes – We eeked out some more tomatoes!
• Butternut Squash – These are the squash we didn’t get inside ahead of the first frost of the season. They seemed to have fared okay, though some have faint superficial marking. We decided it was best not to waste them and suggest using them sooner than later just in case they don’t store well.

October has really brought the fall. We’ve had the return of a little rain, but lots of dry spells too. We’ve had frosty mornings, but mild, sunny afternoons. Through it all we’ve been in full squirrel mode as we work to get things harvested and into storage. It’s time to harvest all the things for late fall and winter eating.

We’ve been feeling the end of the growing season closing in and it’s been a real push to use this nice weather to get all the things done. This past week we first prioritized the garlic planting. As I finished up cracking the ninety pounds of beautiful seed garlic we purchased, Jeff finished prepping the beds. After years battling garlic rust we’ve decided to take some advice from a nearby farmer friend and increase our bed spacing and use straw mulch. This will hopefully decrease the water splashing that promotes the spreading of rust in the late spring. Fingers crossed for rust-free garlic in 2027.

Once finished with the garlic we turned our attention to the overwintering onions. They’re now also in the ground and settling in to face the winter ahead. If all goes to plan (and it doesn’t always but we keep trying) we’ll harvest these onions for the first shares of the 2027 Summer CSA in June. Whoa. We also got in a couple of beds of fava beans for overwintering. And then it was back to dry corn harvesting. The popcorn and flour corn is now drying down in the prop house.

Once again it was a whirlwind of a week checking projects off the To Do list. As we look ahead next up is the planting of winter greens in a prepped and waiting greenhouse. And potato harvesting. And sweet potato harvesting. We also need to bring in our meager apple harvest. The rain in this weekend’s forecast keeps disappearing only to reappear, suggesting it’s a roll of the dice whether or not we get through another week before the return of the mud.

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:

Roasted Butternut Squash Queso

• 2 cup butternut squash, cubed
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• Salt and pepper
• 3 tablespoon butter
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 3 tablespoon flour
• 2 cup whole milk
• 1 cup sharp yellow cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1/2 cup pepper jack or Monterey cheese, shredded
• 1-2 chipotle in adobo peppers (depending on how spicy you like it)
• Cilantro, chopped for garnish
• Scallions, chopped for garnish
• Serrano pepper, sliced thin, for garnish
• Sweet potato chips or tortilla chips, for serving

Preheat oven to 400° F. In a bowl, toss the butternut squash with olive oil, cumin, smoked paprika, chili powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Once coated, pour onto a parchment lined sheet tray and roast for 20-25 minutes or until squash is tender. Set aside.

To make to queso, melt the butter in a medium sauce pan. Once the butter is hot, add the garlic and cook for about a minute or two until garlic is fragrant. Next, add in the flour and cook until just toasted, about two minutes. Using a whisk, slowly incorporate the milk to make a béchamel. Bring the béchamel to a bubble and let thicken just a bit. Remove from the heat and pour it straight into a blender.

To the blender, add the roasted squash, both cheeses, and the chipotle peppers. Blend for a few minutes or until the sauce is very smooth and silky. Taste and season with more salt, if necessary.

Pour into a serving bowl and serve immediately or put into a fondue pot to keep warm. Garnish the top with chopped cilantro, scallions and serrano pepper slices.

From Food52.com by Grant Melton, https://food52.com/recipes/75123-roasted-butternut-squash-queso

Escarole Salad with Za’atar Pita Crisps, Blood Oranges, Radishes, and Hazelnuts

• 1 large or 2 small heads escarole, coarsely torn
• 1/3 cup hazelnuts, toasted, skinned, and chopped
• 4 radishes, mandolined or thinly sliced
• 2 medium blood oranges, supremed with juices reserved
• 6 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil (for the za’atar pita crisps), plus 3 tablespoons for the dressing
• 6 pieces of pita, cut into 1-inch squares
• 2 tablespoon za’atar
• 1 clove garlic, microplaned or very finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 2 teaspoon thick balsamic vinegar
• 2 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoon buttermilk
• 1/4 teaspoon smoked (or kosher) salt
• 1 small shallot, thinly sliced
• Handful parsley leaves

Wash and dry the escarole. Look out for bugs — they like to hide amongst the leaves. Set aside.

Make sure all of your components are ready: the hazelnuts, radishes, and blood orange supremes.

To make the za’atar pita crisps: Heat 6 tablespoons of olive oil in a medium-sized pan over medium heat. Once hot but not smoking, add the pita. Toss every minute or so. Turn heat down if it gets too hot. You don’t want them to burn. When they’re starting to crisp up, add za’atar. Toss for a few more minutes until almost completely crisp. Take off the heat and cool. You will have extra. You will want extra.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together garlic, lemon zest, both vinegars, olive oil, buttermilk, and salt. Taste. If it’s too tangy, add more olive oil. If it’s too oily, add more rice wine vinegar. Whisk in the shallots and set aside for a few minutes.

Place the escarole in a serving bowl. Toss with 1/2 of the following: reserved dressing, hazelnuts, radishes, and orange supremes. Taste. You will probably need a few more splashes of dressing. Don’t be afraid to overdress. This salad needs a lot. Top the salad with the remaining hazelnuts, radishes, and supremes. Rain down as many za’atar pita crisps as you like. Add a few splashes of the blood orange juice over the whole salad. Garnish with parsley for a bit of extra green.

From Food52.com by Phyllis Grant, https://food52.com/recipes/34085-escarole-salad-with-za-atar-pita-crisps-blood-oranges-radishes-and-hazelnuts

Roasted Red Pepper & Cauliflower Dip

• 6 cup chopped cauliflower (in roughly large bite-sized florets), stalks included (about 1 small head of cauliflower, minus the green core part)
• 2 red bell peppers, with seeds and stems removed, quartered
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1/4 cup olive oil, plus more as needed and for drizzling to serve
• 2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus a big pinch, plus more to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper, plus more to taste (you can substitute black or rainbow if you prefer)
• 2 tablespoon fresh-squeezed lemon juice, plus more to taste
• 1/3 cup tahini, well stirred1 pinch cayenne pepper
• 3 tablespoon water, room temp
• 1 handful finely chopped herbs, toasted seeds, and/or crushed nuts to serve (optional)

Heat oven to 450°F. Toss cauliflower, peppers, and garlic together with olive oil, salt, and pepper on a sheet-pan, and spread out into an even layer. Roast in oven for about 30 minutes, stirring once midway through, until the cauliflower is tender enough that you can squash a floret easily with the tines of a fork. Let cool for a few minutes.

In a food processor, combine roasted cauliflower, peppers, and garlic (scrape in any browned bits from the bottom of the pan!) with lemon juice, tahini, cayenne, and a big pinch of salt. Blend to combine until it’s fully homogeneous, scraping down sides with a spatula midway through, about 3 minutes. Add the water, and blend for another couple of minutes, until it’s smooth and light. Taste and adjust seasoning with additional salt, pepper, and lemon juice as needed.

To serve, transfer to a bowl and make a dramatic swooshy pattern on top. Drizzle with your favorite toppings. (Store for up to a week, covered, in the refrigerator.)

From Food52.com by Ella Quittner, https://food52.com/recipes/78111-roasted-red-pepper-and-cauliflower-dip