Welcome to the 17th share of the Pitchfork & Crow 2022 Summer CSA! Here’s what’s in the share this week:

• Salad Mix
• Broccoli
• Savoy Cabbage
• Parsley
• Fennel – We know members like roasted fennel, fennel pickles, and shaved fennel salads. Our favorite way to eat fennel is caramelized onion and fennel tart. We cook down the onion and fennel, toss it into a pastry galette style, top it whatever mix of cheeses we have on hand and bake until the pastry it cooked.
• Beets – Click here for a flashback to a standby recipe suggestion for beets and parsley. Scroll up on that page for a glimpse at farm life back in 2013.
• Sweet Onions
• “Delectable” Sweet Corn
• Romano Beans – Mixed green and purple striped beans, great for use in your favorite green bean recipes.
• Zucchini & Summer Squash – Including green zucchini, yellow summer squash, and “Mexicana” zucchini.
• Mixed Cucumbers – Including green cukes, ‘Silver Slicer’ yellow cukes, and lemon cukes.
• Sweet & Jalapeno Peppers
• Mixed Cherry Tomatoes
• Mixed Slicer Tomatoes
• Pears – Asian & Bartlett

Thursday marks the autumnal equinox, the point in the year when the light hours and dark hours are equal lengths. Going forward we’ll be losing daylight hours until we reach the winter solstice on December 21st. If you weren’t already feeling the seasonal shift I imagine it will start to become apparent as we’re plunged into more time in the dark. The shift has certainly been happening on the farm as plant growth has slowed and powdery mildew has begun to set in on some crops. The zucchinis are putting on fewer fruits, the cucumbers are slowing down, the tomatoes are on the decline.

One harbinger of autumn for us is the ripening and harvesting of winter squash. We grew 12 different types of winter squash this season including varieties of pumpkins, kabocha, spaghetti, delicata, butternut, and acorn squash. Some will make appearances in upcoming fall shares but most will be headed to Winter CSA shares.

The wet start to the season made for rough conditions for cultivating the winter squash field right out of the gate. It wasn’t dry enough to get the cultivating tractor through the beds before a sea of grass took hold. A couple of times we made inroads through hoeing and hand weeding once the plants started to spread out and the tractor really couldn’t make a pass, but the grass wasn’t deterred and our half acre of winter squash was a mess most of the season. Needless to say we dreaded the harvest and assumed the worst.

This past week we finally made time to tackle the harvest project. Thankfully it wasn’t quite as dismal as we’d expected, though in the end it was maybe half of last year’s haul. Upside, it takes up less space in the barn. Downside of course, we’ve got less squash to share in the coming months. Thankfully we will have some to share though; there will be pumpkin pies this year!

With the winter squash harvest behind us and that field mowed we can now focus on cleaning up some other areas. In the week ahead you can find us weeding, cultivating, mowing, and weed whacking in order to wrestle some semblance of control back in several areas. We’ve got a greenhouse to transplant into and an organic fertilizer run to make before that can happen. And we’ve got flint corn to harvest for future corn flour and polenta eating. The days may be getting shorter but we’ve still got plenty of things that need doing to pack into them.

Baked Olive, Tomato, and Feta Dip

• ¹/₄ cup tomato sauce, homemade or store-bought (a teeny amount! so the cheese doesn’t stick to the bottom! a perfect use for leftovers or the dregs of the jar)
• 8 ounces block of feta cheese, drained
• ¹/₂ cup pitted and roughly chopped Kalamata olives
• 1 ¹/₃ cups halved cherry tomatoes
• 2 cloves garlic, finely grated
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• a few turns fresh ground pepper
• toast, crackers, pita, and/or a spoon for eating

Preheat the oven to 400° F.

Pour the tomato sauce into the bottom of a small oven-safe dish (I used a 6–inch round). Place the feta in the center and press to slightly break the block apart. This is a rough-crumbly-spreading situation, not a make-a-clean-cheese-layer situation.

In a medium bowl, mix the olives, tomatoes, garlic, oregano, and pepper — you don’t need to season with salt, as the feta is salty enough on its own. Pour the mixture evenly over the cheese.

Bake for 15 minutes. Your kitchen will smell like pizza and the feta will get warm and spreadable. Top with the parsley once it’s out of the oven.

Serve to guests with toast or crackers, or stuff into a pita pocket with a fried egg and arugula for a meal for yourself.

From Food52.com by Kendra Vaculin, https://food52.com/recipes/37883-baked-olive-tomato-and-feta-dip

Cabbage, Italian Sausage, and Orzo Soup with Parmesan

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 pound Italian sausage (mild or spicy), bulk or with casings removed
• 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 1 pinch freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• ¹/₄ cup tomato paste
• 1 large Napa or Savoy cabbage (about 2 pounds), trimmed, quartered, and thinly sliced
• 4 cups chicken stock, homemade or low-sodium store-bought
• 4 cups water
• ³/₄ cup orzo
• 1 or 2 Parmesan rinds
• ¹/₃ cup chopped Italian parsley
• 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar, or to taste
• ¹/₂ cup grated Parmesan

Heat olive oil in a large thick-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add sausage in a single layer and brown, breaking it into bite-sized pieces and stirring occasionally, until it is just cooked through and no longer pink. Remove with a slotted spoon, leaving the rendered fat in the pot.

Add the onion and several big pinches of kosher salt and black pepper. Saute for about 4 minutes, then add the garlic and saute for another 1 minute. Lower the heat, and add the tomato paste and continue cooking, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom of the pot, until it caramelizes and starts to change in color from bright to brick red, about 3 minutes. (Don’t rush this step; the caramelized paste adds depth and complexity to the soup.)

Add the cabbage, chicken stock, water, orzo, Parmesan rind(s), and another big pinch or two of salt. Simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pot occasionally to ensure nothing sticks. Add sausage and simmer for 5 to 8 minutes longer, stirring and scraping occasionally, until the orzo and cabbage are tender. Remove and discard rinds.

At the end, add parsley and red wine vinegar. Adjust salt and acidity to taste. Serve the soup in bowls, topped with grated Parmesan.

From Food52.com by EmilyC, https://food52.com/recipes/84039-sausage-cabbage-soup-recipe-with-orzo-parmesan

Quinoa with Roasted Beets and Pear

• 2 cups cooked quinoa (I prefer red)
• 2 medium-sized beets, scrubbed (I like a mix of colors)
• ¹/₄ cup walnuts
• 1 large pear, cubed
• 3 ounces crumbled feta
• 1 splash olive oil
• 1 splash Balsamic vinegar
• 1 pinch salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat your oven to 400° F.

Slice off the leaves at the top of the beets. Drizzle with a little olive oil, and then wrap each individually and loosely in tin foil. Place on a baking sheet and roast for 40 to 50 minutes, or until soft enough that you can easily stab one with a fork and it doesn’t give you any problems. Unwrap and set aside to let cool; once touchable, run the beets under water to slide the skin off. Cut beets into cubes.

Lower your oven temperature to 350° F. Spread walnuts out in a single layer on a baking sheet and toast for 8 minutes. Allow the nuts to cool before giving them a rough chop.

Assemble the salad by dumping everything together into a bowl because you, brilliant human, know that that’s how salads work. Quinoa, beet cubes, pear cubes, walnuts and feta, a.k.a. the dream team. Toss with a slight drizzle of balsamic, a little olive oil, and some coarse salt and freshly ground pepper. Did you know this is awesome warm or cold? It is. Bring it to work for lunch the next day because it will be bitchin’ straight from the fridge, and your coworkers will be like ughhhhhhh.

From Food52.com by Kendra Vaculin, https://food52.com/recipes/31742-quinoa-with-roasted-beets-and-pear

Welcome to the 15th share of the Pitchfork & Crow 2022 Summer CSA! Here’s what’s in the share this week:

• “Florence” Leaf Lettuce
• Broccoli
• Cilantro
• Fennel
• LaRatte Fingerling Potatoes
• “Red Long of Tropea” Torpedo Onions – Originally from southern Italy, these sweetish red onions are great raw or cooked.
• Garlic
• “Delectable” Sweet Corn
• Zucchini & Summer Squash – Including green & yellow zucchini, yellow summer squash, and “Mexicana” zucchini.
• Mixed Cucumbers – Including green cukes, ‘Silver Slicer’ yellow cukes, and lemon cukes.
• Mixed Sweet Peppers
• Aji Marchant Hot Peppers– These peppers have an intriguing history that you can read about here. Though not too spicy when yellow and under-ripe they get hotter as they mature to red.
• Tomatillos – A little like green tomatoes, tomatillos make excellent salsa verde and enchilada sauce. Check out this website for more details and recipes.
• Mixed Eggplant
• Mixed Cherry Tomatoes
• Mixed Slicer Tomatoes
• Tuscan or Honey Orange Melons – The Tuscans are similar to cantaloupes and the Honey Orange are orange fleshed honeydews. Both are delicious.

Labor Day has passed, and with it the unofficial end of Summer. Fortunately the vegetables in the field are still growing strong and we’ll get to continue enjoying the fruits of summer for a while longer. The wet, cold start to the season put us behind from the outset and in some ways it feels like we’re still playing catch-up with the summer even now. As kids head back to school and the days shorten noticeably it’s time to savor the summer bounty before it’s gone for good.

For instance, although the tomato plants had a rough start they’re now pumping out the tomatoes. Here’s a video Jeff made while harvesting cherry tomatoes last week:

Every year the tomatoes surprise me with how fast they grow from tiny seeds, to stout transplants, to a full-on jungle. It’s already time to be taking notes on varieties and trellising tips for next year. What a whirlwind.

September 1st marks the date that we aim to seed our overwintering onions. These are cold hardy varieties bred to withstand the winter weather and short days and then bulb up the following spring for harvest in June. Seeded too early and they’ll bolt before forming a bulb. Seeded too late and they’ll be too small to transplant into the field before the rain returns.

This past week we finished up our main season onion harvest and the next day I seeded flats of overwintering onions. We try to have a steady supply of onions year round if we can. The main season bulbs are now drying down on empty benches in the prop house and will be headed out to members over the remaining fall shares and into the winter season.

Here’s a snippet of the onion harvest this past week. We use an undercutter bar that attaches to our tractor for cutting the roots of the onions to avoid digging the bulbs out with a digging fork or by hand. You may recall us using this tool for the garlic harvest too. In this video I’m standing on the top bar for a little extra weight to get the undercutter to dig under the onions. Although we still have to pick the onions up off the ground, undercutting makes the process much faster.

With the onion harvest behind us we’re looking ahead to the potato and winter squash harvest. In the week ahead we’ll be delving into those projects as well as working towards seeding greenhouses for fall/winter crops, undertaking some weeding and cultivating, mowing, and the perpetual irrigation and prop house chores. Jeff’s birthday is coming up at the end of the week too, so perhaps there will be some non-farm fun had as well.

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 cups roughly chopped Romaine (2/3 small head) (or how about leaf lettuce?)
• 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 mandoline 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

Salsa de Papaya y Tomatillo Cruda

• 3 medium tomatillos (226 grams) husked, rinsed, and cut into ¼-inch pieces
• ¹/₄ firm-ripe papaya (226 grams), peeled, seeded, and cut into ¼-inch pieces
• ¹/₄ medium white onion (98 grams), coarsely chopped
• 3 chiles serranos (72 grams), stemmed and finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, finely grated
• 6 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice (3 to 4 limes)
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint
• Morton kosher salt

In a medium bowl, toss the tomatillos, papaya, onion, chiles serranos, garlic, lime juice, and mint to combine. Season with salt to taste. Cover the bowl with plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour to allow the flavors to come together. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Do ahead: The salsa cruda can be made up to 1 day ahead. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

From Food52.com by Rick Martinez, https://food52.com/recipes/87904-salsa-de-papaya-y-tomatillo-cruda-recipe

Kachumber (Indian Salsa)

• 1 yellow onion
• 1 peeled cucumber
• 1 tomato
• 1 ¹/₂ teaspoons cilantro
• 1 jalapeno
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• Salt to taste

Dice the onion, cucumber, and tomato into small pieces. Finely chop the cilantro.

Deseed and dice the jalapeno.

Mix all these ingredients in a bowl with the vinegar; salt to taste.

From Food52.com by Amreen, https://food52.com/recipes/1956-kachumber

Welcome to the 14th share of the Pitchfork & Crow 2022 Summer CSA! Here’s what’s in the share this week:

• Salad Mix
• 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.
• Cabbage
• Basil
• Chioggia Beets
• Onion
• “Delectable” Sweet Corn
• Mixed Romano Snap Beans – Flat podded mixed yellow and purple striped snap beans, great for any snap bean/green bean recipe. Note, the first two rounds of our green beans mysteriously didn’t germinate but there will be green beans in the future.
• Zucchini & Summer Squash – Including green & yellow zucchini, yellow summer squash, and “Mexicana” zucchini.
• Mixed Cucumbers – Including green cukes, ‘Silver Slicer’ yellow cukes, and lemon cukes.
• Mixed Sweet Peppers & Jalapeno Peppers
• Mixed Cherry Tomatoes
• Mixed Slicer Tomatoes
• Tuscan Melons – Very similar to cantaloupes, these range fleshed melons and tasty!

As we wrap up the month of August we can’t say we’re sad to see it go. August is always a pinnacle in the growing season; a clash of all the things that need doing and never quite enough time to do the doing. August is coming to terms with the realities of the season, for better or worse. August is exhaustion.

We’re ready to welcome September and shorter days and (hopefully) cooler temps. Fall is just around the corner and we’re here for it.

Last Thursday we had our annual organic inspection. The organic certification process begins with us outlining our organic system plan (OSP) comprised of descriptions of our farming practices. We submit updates to our OSP to our certifier, Oregon Tilth, and they review it to confirm we’re in line with the National Organic Program standards. It covers everything from seed sources to purchased inputs to potential contamination issues like neighbors overspraying or the use of conventional produce packaging.

Each year we are inspected and the inspector submits a report to the reviewer to confirm that what we’ve outlined appears to be true on the ground. This year’s inspection was fairly routine. We spend a couple of hours reviewing records like seed receipts, fertilizer sources and spreading records, and harvest records. We go through a couple of exercises to show that the amount of some crop that was harvested can be traced from seed source, transplant production, and field planting. Then we spend some time walking the farm. The inspector looks for things like buffers from conventional neighbors, weed and pest control measures, all materials that come in contact with organic products, and our backstock of organic fertilizer and inputs.

No big issues were flagged this time around. We’re glad to have made it through that process for the year and it’s always nice to have an outsider confirm we’re on the right track.

We’ll be starting September off by harvesting the main season onions and sowing the overwintering onions. We’ll also be planting some spinach, weeding some beets and celeriac, making a plan for winter cover cropping, and prepping field houses for fall/winter cropping. Of course that’s in addition to the general irrigation management, weekly cultivation, and propagation house management. The calendar may be turning but there’s still plenty of doing left to be done.

A fun note, Jeff discovered today that one of his ducks has hatched out 7-9 ducklings recently. He’d wondered where that duck had gotten to, and it now looks like she’s been busy with her new tiny flock. We’ll try to get some photos to share soon.

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:

Lemony Pasta with Sardines & Escarole

• Kosher salt
• 12 ounces short pasta, such as farfalle or rigatoni
• 2 (3- to 5-ounce) tins sardines packed in olive oil
• 2 large garlic cloves
• 1 large lemon
• 1 ¹/₂ teaspoons mild chile flakes, such as Aleppo, piment d’Espelette, or gochugaru, plus more for serving
• 1 (12-ounce) head escarole or romaine, washed and roughly torn
• ¹/₂ cup (about 1 ounce) chopped fresh dill (fronds and stems), mint, or basil (or a mix)
• Extra-virgin olive oil, for serving (optional)

Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. When it comes to a boil, add a handful of salt, then cook the pasta according to the package directions.

While the pasta cooks, transfer the sardines to a small plate and the cans’ oil to a large bowl. Use a Microplane to grate the garlic and lemon zest directly into the bowl. Add the chile flakes, then use a fork to combine the mixture.

Drain the pasta and immediately transfer to the large bowl with the garlicky oil and toss aggressively.

Halve the lemon and squeeze into the bowl. Add the escarole and dill, then toss to coat. Gently toss in the sardines. Season with salt and more chile flakes to taste. Drizzle each serving with olive oil, if desired.

From Food52.com by Rebecca Firkser, https://food52.com/recipes/87542-lemony-pasta-with-sardines-and-escarole-recipe

Tomato, Cucumber, Corn, and Herb Summer Salad

• 1 to 2 garlic cloves
• 1 very small red onion (or shallot)
• Juice and zest of 1 small lemon
• 2 tablespoons Champagne (or white wine) vinegar
• 2 tablespoons sherry (or red wine) vinegar
• 1 ear corn
• 1 large tomato (or a pint of cherry tomatoes)
• 1 cucumber
• ¹/₄ cup olive oil
• ¹/₂ cup chives
• 1 cup basil
• ¹/₂ teaspoon flaky salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Set out a large mixing bowl. Mince the garlic and thinly slice the red onion; move them to the bowl. Add the lemon juice and zest and both vinegars. Spoon the liquid over the onion and garlic to coat so that their harshness starts to mellow.

Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to a vigorous simmer. Remove the husk from the corn. Boil the corn for 1 to 3 minutes, depending on how deep you are into corn season. (Very fresh corn barely needs to be cooked at all.) Remove the corn from the water, and run it briefly under the tap, until it is cool enough to handle. Cut the kernels from the cob, and scoop them into the mixing bowl.

Dice the tomato or cut the cherry tomatoes into halves. Cut the cucumber into thin half moons. Add both to the bowl. Pour in the olive oil. Mince the chives and chiffonade the basil and then add those, too. Finish by adding the salt and black pepper. Give everything a generous stir, and then allow the salad to sit for 5 minutes; taste it, and add more olive oil, salt, and pepper if needed. If you have time, allow the salad to sit for another 20 to 30 minutes. Serve with plenty of good bread, to mop up all the juices.

From Food52.com by Cristina Sciarra, https://food52.com/recipes/35737-tomato-cucumber-corn-and-herb-summer-salad

Best Way to Cook Beets

• 1 bunch beets

Heat your oven to 350 degrees.

Cut off the leggy root and the tops. Then scrub the beets if they’re dirty.

Lay a large piece of foil on a baking sheet, leaving half the foil hanging off one end. Place the beets on top of the foil on the baking sheet. Sprinkle the beets with olive oil — just enough to dress them like salad greens — and season with salt and pepper. Fold the foli in half to make a packet and crimp the edges.

Bake until the beets are tender (you can check by piercing a fork through the foil). It usually takes 40 to 60 minutes, depending on the size of the beets. Let them cool in the foil packets

When the beets are cool enough to touch, remove them from the packet and peel off the skins — they should slip off like Concord grape skins.

From Food52.com by Amanda Hesser, https://food52.com/recipes/4149-the-best-way-to-cook-beets

Sheet Pan Roast Chicken and Cabbage

• 1 teaspoon neutral oil, for greasing
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• ¹/₄ cup melted coconut oil or olive oil
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar (or other)
• 1 tablespoon Sriracha, optional
• 8 pieces bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs or drumsticks
• 1 pinch kosher salt and pepper to taste
• 1 head cabbage, 2 to 3 lbs.

Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Pour a teaspoon of neutral oil over a rimmed sheet pan. Rub to coat.

In a small bowl, stir together the sesame oil, coconut oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sriracha, if using. Place chicken in a large bowl. Season all over with salt and pepper. Pour 1/4 cup of the prepared mixture over the chicken and let marinate while the oven preheats. (Chicken can marinate longer, too, but try, if time permits, to bring it to room temperature before cooking—the coconut oil will solidify in the fridge and look clumpy, which is fine.)

Cut the cabbage in half through the core. Cut again through each core and repeat this process until you are left with many wedges, no greater than 1-inch wide. Place the wedges in a large bowl, season all over with salt and pepper, and toss with the remaining dressing.

Place chicken on prepared sheet pan spreading it out evenly. Roast for 10 minutes. Remove pan from oven, and nestle cabbage wedges all around the pieces, tucking it under if necessary—it will feel like a lot of cabbage. Roast for 20 to 25 minutes more or until chicken is golden and cooked through. Remove pan from oven, transfer chicken to a platter to rest. Return cabbage to the oven to roast for 10 to 15 minutes more, or until juices have reduced and edges of cabbage wedges are caramelized.

From Food52.com by Alexandra Stafford, https://food52.com/recipes/64451-sheet-pan-roast-chicken-and-cabbage

Welcome to the 13th share of the Pitchfork & Crow 2022 Summer CSA! Here’s what’s in the share this week:

• Butterhead Lettuce
• Red Leaf Lettuce
• Broccoli or Cauliflower
• Thai Basil
• Dill
• Kohlrabi – The classic CSA vegetable, kohlrabi is often new to folks who are new to CSAs. Why else would you come home with such a strange looking vegetable? We like them chopped up and raw, like a carrot stick, but they can be roasted, or added to mashed potatoes, or shaved super thin into salads. I’ve heard kohlrabi and peanut butter can be a pretty great snack too.
• Munching Onions
• “Sweetness” Sweet Corn
• Mixed Romano Snap Beans – Flat podded mixed yellow and purple striped snap beans, great for any snap bean/green bean recipe.
• Zucchini & Summer Squash – Including green & yellow zucchini, yellow summer squash, and “Mexicana” zucchini.
• Mixed Cucumbers – Including green cukes, ‘Silver Slicer’ yellow cukes, and lemon cukes.
• Mixed Sweet Peppers & Poblano Peppers
• Mixed Cherry Tomatoes
• Mixed Slicer Tomatoes
• Red & Yellow Farm Apples – These apples were planted on the farm before we got here, so we don’t know the varieties, but they’re tasty for fresh eating or cooking.

Here we are, halfway through the Summer CSA season! Thirteen weeks down, thirteen to go. After a rough start it’s nice to have made it to the peak of tomato season. August is quickly fleeting though and only time will tell weather we’ll get an extended summer or shift to autumn weather-wise.

One task you hope to not be undertaking on the farm during August, the height of weeding season, is dealing with a repair on your cultivating tractor. A couple weeks back Jeff noticed an issue with the clutch on our little 1947 Farmall cub tractor. It appeared that somewhere along the way the thrust bearing had broken, requiring that the tractor be split in two to be replaced. Luckily he had the parts on hand and this past week he took a day to make the repair.

Although this tractor is designed to be split in two, it’s a complicated procedure requiring a lot of blocking and lifting and methodical removal of bolts and wires and anything else that spans the front and back halves of the tractor. The steering wheel, for instance, becomes a potential hang-up as the two ends are separated. Thanks to handy reference videos made by the company that sells replacement parts for these old tractors, Jeff was able to fairly efficiently get the tractor split, install the new clutch parts, re-unite the two tractor halves, and make the clutch adjustments in a day. Not great timing to deal with this repair in August, but he was a champ and got it done! Thankfully he was back to cultivating the next morning.

In addition to weeding and cultivating and the clutch repair, we also managed to get the last of the broccoli and cauliflower transplanted this past week. We’ve got lettuce, bunching onions, dill and cilantro on deck for this week. The planting goes on.

On Thursday we’re scheduled to have our annual organic inspection. The past couple of years we’ve had inspections over Zoom, but this year we’ll be returning to an in-person inspection. Most of the inspection is spent reviewing records to ensure our inputs and methods all match our organic plan and the federal organic standards. We’ll also tour the inspector around the farm. It generally takes 3-4 hours in all. It will be nice to mark that one off the To Do list for this season. We’ll let you know the highlights next week.

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:

Minted Summer Succotash

• ¹/₂ pound green beans (both haricot verts or Romano work well), trimmed and snapped in halves or thirds
• 2 tablespoons sherry or red wine vinegar, or more to taste
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, or more to taste
• 8 ounces dried Christmas lima beans, cooked according to package instructions (regular lima beans can be substituted)
• 1 ¹/₂ cups cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2 cups fresh corn kernels (from about 3 ears)
• 1 tablespoon fresh chives, coarsely chopped
• 3 tablespoons fresh mint, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup goat cheese, crumbled
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Lime wedges, for serving

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and prepare an ice bath in a large bowl. Add a generous amount of kosher salt, then the beans. Cook until tender but still slightly crisp in the middle (about 2 to 3 minutes for haricot verts and slightly longer for Romano beans). Transfer to the ice bath to stop the cooking and lock in the color. Drain and set aside.

Place vinegar in a small bowl, then gradually whisk in oil.

In a large bowl, combine green beans, Christmas limas, cherry tomatoes, corn, chives, mint, and 3/4 cup goat cheese. Pour dressing over salad, a little at a time, tasting as you go. Toss to coat. Season with kosher salt and pepper. Garnish with remaining 1/4 cup goat cheese. Serve at room temperature, with lime wedges on the side.

From Food52.com by EmilyC, https://food52.com/recipes/12800-minted-summer-succotash

Kohlrabi Salad

1 head kohlrabi
¹/₂ apple, such as Gala
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sesame oil
¹/₂ bird’s eye chili
1 pinch cumin
¹/₂ teaspoon fish sauce
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
Salt & freshly ground pepper to taste

With a sharp knife, cut off the “branches” of the kohlrabi. Peel it with a vegetable peeler.

Cut the kohlrabi into matchsticks either using a sharp knife of a mandolin (I used the latter). Do the same with the apple.

Toss the kohlrabi and the apple with the remaining ingredients and chill before eating.

From Food52.com by SassyRadish, https://food52.com/recipes/8689-kohlrabi-salad

Summer Bounty Frittata

2 tablespoons olive oil
¹/₂ red onion, finely chopped
¹/₄ cup red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 small zucchini, chopped into 1/8 inch-thick rounds
1 ear of corn, kernels removed
A handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
A couple basil leaves, thinly sliced
6 large eggs
Salt and pepper

In a medium (around 9-inch) oven-safe skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat until it is shimmering. Stir in the onion and bell pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until they have softened and browned, around 5 minutes.

Stir in the zucchini rounds and corn kernels and cook until softening, about 3 minutes. Add the cherry tomatoes and basil leaves plus a couple pinches of salt and pepper and give a stir.

Turn the heat down to medium-low and let the veggies hang out until the tomatoes just start to soften, a minute or two. During that time, in a medium bowl, whisk the eggs with a few pinches of salt and pepper and turn your oven broiler on.

Pour the eggs over the vegetables and let the frittata cook until it is most of the way set, but the top is still uncooked, then transfer the frittata to the oven and broil just until the top is cooked. Remove from the oven. This frittata can be served warm, room temperature, or cold. It’s good with a salad and really yummy sandwiched between pieces of bread, especially with some pesto.

From Food52.com by FiveAndSpice, https://food52.com/recipes/30719-summer-bounty-frittata

Welcome to the 12th share of the Pitchfork & Crow 2022 Summer CSA! Here’s what’s in the share this week:

• Crispino Iceberg Lettuce
• Romaine or Green Leaf Lettuce
• Broccoli
• Cilantro
• Carrots
• Bunching Onions
• “Red Toch” Garlic – A milder garlic from the Republic of Georgia, good both raw or cooked.
• “Sweetness”& “Delectable” Sweet Corn
• Mixed Romano Snap Beans – Flat podded mixed yellow and purple striped snap beans, great for any snap bean recipe.
• Zucchini & Summer Squash – Including green & yellow zucchini, yellow summer squash, and “Mexicana” zucchini.
• Mixed Cucumbers – Including green cukes, ‘Silver Slicer’ yellow cukes, and some lemon cukes.
• Shishito Peppers – these Japanese frying peppers are delicious quickly blistered in hot oil and tossed with a little salt. Mostly mild, 1 in 10 can be hot.
• Tomatillos – A little like green tomatoes, tomatillos make excellent salsa verde and enchilada sauce. Check out this website for more details and recipes.
• Mixed Cherry Tomatoes
• Mixed Slicer Tomatoes

We’re halfway through August and nearly halfway through the CSA season! After months of preparing and planting we’re now in the midst of the height of the growing season. Tomatoes are coloring up, corn is coming on fast and furious, and we’re into the third rounds of zucchini and cucumbers already. This is what we dream of in the dark of winter in January when we’re planning for the next season. Summertime!

While we try to keep up with the very many things happening on the farm it’s helpful to have some guide posts along the way. Things that mark the progress of the season and help to remind us of the bigger picture rather than be swallowed by the myriad of small details. One of these reminders is the weekly boxing of the 25 shares-worth of produce purchased by the Linn Benton Food Share. Like CSA members, the LBFS purchases shares from us (at a discounted price) in the early spring and gets weekly distributions of seasonal vegetables through the summer and fall.

Each week we separate out 25 shares of everything other CSA members get that week, weigh each type of vegetable for record keeping, and box it all up for pick-up by the LBFS. The produce is split between the Lebanon Soup Kitchen and a food pantry in town. This weekly process serves as a good reminder of the overarching goal we have of helping to feed our community as well as a visual (how many boxes from week to week) and numerical (how much weight from week to week) tally of how successful we’ve been from week to week. We’re lucky to have the support of the LBFS and appreciate their enthusiasm for supporting local producers.

This past week we managed to get through some of the transplanting on deck, including the final round of basil in the video above plus storage beets and purple sprouting broccoli. We’ve got one more big push this week before the weekly transplanting lets up a little for the season. We’ll be finding space in the field for the overwintering cauliflower, another round of bunching onions, next round of lettuce, and final round of fall cauliflower and broccoli. We’ve also got plenty of weeding, mowing, and cultivating to undertake. And the irrigation chores don’t end this time of year. Looks like we’ll be keeping busy.

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:

Grace Young’s Stir-Fried Iceberg Lettuce

• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon rice wine or dry sherry
• ³/₄ teaspoon sugar
• ¹/₂ teaspoon freshly ground white or black pepper
• 1 ¹/₂ tablespoons peanut oil or other neutral oil
• 4 scallions, cut on the diagonal into 1-inch pieces
• 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced or smashed
• ¹/₂ medium head iceberg lettuce, cored, outermost leaves discarded, inner leaves torn into 4-inch wide pieces (or substitute 12 ounces of other greens — see headnote)
• Kosher salt, to taste

In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine or sherry, sugar, and pepper; set sauce aside.

Heat a wok or 12-inch skillet over high heat. Add peanut oil, half of the scallions (including all of the white and light green pieces), and garlic and cook until garlic is golden, about 5 seconds. Add lettuce and stir-fry until lettuce softens slightly, about 1 minute. Drizzle in sauce and cook until lettuce is just coated with the sauce, about 1 minute. Season with salt, divide between 4 bowls while lettuce is just tender and still bright green, and garnish with remaining scallions.

From Food52.com by Genius Recipes, https://food52.com/recipes/27723-grace-young-s-stir-fried-iceberg-lettuce

Greek Salad

• Dressing
• 2 tablespoons 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 grams cucumber
• 1 handful Kalamata olives
• 1 tablespoon capers, rinsed
• ¹/₃ green bell pepper, cut crosswise into 3 circles
• 150 grams 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

Chilaquiles Verde

• 3 pounds tomatillos in the husk
• 1 large red onion cut in 1/2-inch slices
• 2 jalapeños
• 8 cloves of garlic, unpeeled
• 1 handful of cilantro leaves
• 1 lime
• 1 heaping spoonful of crema or sour cream
• 1 quart chicken stock (preferably homemade)
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 12 corn tortillas
• 1 cup (or more if you like) queso fresco in large crumbles (1/2- to 1-inch pieces), or shredded monterrey jack
• ¹/₂ cup crumbled cotija cheese
• Cilantro leaves, for garnish
• Salt and olive oil, as needed

Lay tomatillos, onions, jalapeños, and garlic on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.

Place the baking sheet under the broiler, until the veggies are wilted and blistered, about 10 minutes (time will vary based on the heat of your broiler). Remove the veggies and let them cool until you are able to handle them.

Remove the husks from the tomatillos, squeeze the garlic from the cloves, and remove the stem from the jalapeños. Throw the roasted veggies into a blender, along with any juices that accumulated on the baking tray. Add the cilantro leaves, the juice of the lime, and the crema. Purée until the mixture is very smooth. Taste and make any needed adjustments (more salt, acid, etc).

While the veggies are still in the oven, bring the chicken broth to a gentle simmer in a dutch oven. Add the chicken breasts and allow them to simmer until tender, about 20 minutes. Move the chicken to a cutting board and use two forks to shred it. Return the chicken and any juices to the pot.

Add the tomatillo purée to the chicken broth, taste for seasoning (note the sauce should be tangy, almost sour, so add another squeeze of lime if necessary), and bring to a simmer. Cover and let the mixture simmer for about 20 minutes.

Cut the tortillas into quarters. If your tortillas are fresh, dry them out in the oven or toaster oven. If they’re stale and dried out, add them right to the pot. Stir the mixture and let simmer for another 10 minutes. The tortillas will cause the sauce to thicken.

Uncover and stir in the queso fresco or sprinkle with the monterrey jack. Cover the pot again, allowing the cheese to melt. Uncover, sprinkle with cotija and cilantro, and serve.

Note: The chilaquiles are just as good — maybe better — the next day. A fried egg on top wouldn’t hurt either!

From Food52.com by Lisina, https://food52.com/recipes/21285-chilaquiles-verdes

Welcome to the 11th share of the Pitchfork & Crow 2022 Summer CSA! Here’s what’s in the share this week:

• Salad Mix – A mix of 4 lettuces.
• Cabbage
• Broccoli and/or Cauliflower – This week’s broccoli was heading up over the last couple of weeks, through the worst of the recent heatwaves. It didn’t love the heat looks-wise but it’s still tasty enough to enjoy.
• Yukon Gem Potatoes – An improvement on the classic Yukon Gold, these are great for baking, boiling, or frying.
• Red Bunching Onions
• “Red Toch” Garlic – A milder from the Republic of Georgia, good both raw or cooked.
• Zucchini & Summer Squash – Including green & yellow zucchini, yellow summer squash, and “Mexicana” zucchini.
• Mixed Cucumbers – Including green cukes, ‘Silver Slicer’ yellow cukes, and some lemon cukes.
• “Sweetness”& “Delectable” Sweet Corn – We’re straddling the first two varieties of corn this week. Both are sweet and tasty!
• Mixed Cherry Tomatoes
• Mixed Slicer Tomatoes

We’re happily welcoming a reprieve from the hot temps after a couple of weeks of highs in the upper nineties here on the farm. Yesterday’s harvest weather was almost pleasant and this morning’s overcast sky and cool start almost has a hint of autumn. I’m sure August has some more twist and turns in store but we’ll take the good weather whenever we can.

As has been par for the season, last week was all about working to catch-up. Lots of mowing, weed whacking, tractor cultivating, and hand weeding to try to keep at least some of the weeds in check. There was a little propagation (lettuce, spinach) and lots of irrigation management and moving pipe. We also dug the first potatoes in the outside potato patch. Hurrah for potatoes! The fall and winter cabbage found a home in the field too.

We’re at that point in the season when we’re moving through successions of crops but we’re not quite done with some as we begin to harvest from others. That means the farm is nearing full as we continue to plant for winter without flipping the earlier beds. It’s a puzzle trying to fit beds of winter crops near each other while only having a handful of limited spaces available for planting.

In the week ahead I see more weeding and cultivating and mowing in our future. We’ve also got some transplanting on deck: beets, basil, bunching onions and fall/winter broccoli and cauliflower if we can find the space. It’s time to sow fall/winter radishes and turnips too. August is the height of things that need doing on the farm and we’re feeling it. Thankfully we can see the other side of August approaching quickly and with it a gradual transition out of the constant transplanting push and into more of a maintenance mode, hopefully.

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:

Endless Summer Potato Salad

• 6 large Yukon Gold potatoes
• 4 cucumbers (each about 9 inches long)
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons scallions, mostly the white part, minced
• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 3 tablespoons champagne vinegar
• 1 tablespoon fresh tarragon leaves, minced
• 1 tablespoon curly parsley, minced
• 1 cup olive oil
• 4 ounce jar of pimentos, drained and chopped

In a large pot of water, cook the potatoes until tender but not mushy (still firm). Cool, peel, and cut into thin round slices.

Peel the cucumbers. Using a julienne tool or mandoline (Benriner), julienne the cucumbers until you get to the seeds. You’ll have long, thin slices that are the length of the cucumber. Put into a colander, sprinkle with a little salt and sweat out excess water. Save the cucumber water.

Put the reserved cucumber water, mustard, scallions, mayonnaise, vinegar, tarragon, parsley, and olive oil into a blender. Blend until it becomes a smooth emulsion. Add black pepper to taste.

Gently (I use my hands) fold the cucumbers into the potatoes.

Next, fold the sauce into the potatoes and cucumbers.

Finally, fold the minced pimento into the salad.

From Food52.com by DYMNYNO, https://food52.com/recipes/4710-endless-summer-potato-salad

Mom’s Famous Zucchini Gratin

• 8 to 10 baby or small yellow squash and zucchini (or 3 medium-sized) sliced into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
• 6 scallions, trimmed and cut into 1-inch lengths
• 1 large shallot, thinly sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 2 sprigs rosemary, leaves only
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• ¹/₂ teaspoon coarse sea salt, plus more to taste
• 3 tablespoons crème fraîche
• 2 slices of good whole-wheat toast, crumbled
• ³/₄ cup grated Swiss and Manchego cheese, mixed together
• Freshly ground pepper

Place first five ingredients (squash through rosemary) in a buttered gratin pan.

Drizzle with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Toss until everything is coated.

Bake at 375° F for 30 to 40 minutes. Squash should be tender but not completely limp.

Take the pan out from the oven and toss squash again. Top with with dollops of crème fraîche, then sprinkle on the breadcrumbs and the shredded cheese.

Drizzle the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil over the top. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and freshly ground pepper. Return pan to oven and bake until the crust is nicely browned and crisp, about 20 minutes.

From Food52.com by JOANG, https://food52.com/recipes/5420-mom-s-famous-zucchini-gratin

Suspiciously Delicious Creamed Cabbage

• 1 medium green cabbage, cored and thinly sliced
• 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon (heaping) grated fresh ginger
• 2 tablespoons butter
• ³/₄ cup heavy cream
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

In a very large pan, heat the butter over medium heat until it is melted and starting to bubble a little. Stir in the onion and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes, until softened.

Stir in the ginger and cook for about a minute. Then, add in the cabbage, stirring well to coat it with the butter and other flavors. Cook, stirring occasionally for about 15-20 minutes, until the cabbage has softened and caramelized.

Turn the heat to low and stir in the cream making sure to scrape any browned bits up from the pan bottom. Cover and cook over low for about 10 minutes. Uncover, add salt and pepper to taste. Then cook for a few more minutes, stirring once or twice, to let some of the liquid evaporate. Adjust seasonings as desired and serve.

From Food52.com by FIVEANDSPICE, https://food52.com/recipes/7533-suspiciously-delicious-cabbage

Welcome to the 9th share of the Pitchfork & Crow 2022 Summer CSA! Here’s what’s in the share this week:

• Green Leaf Lettuce
• Romaine Lettuce
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower – We’re straddling the July and August cauliflower plantings. Though we’re happy to be getting something out of the dreaded July planting, we’re happy to be moving on to the next succession.
• Cilantro
• Thai Basil – Popular in SE Asian dishes, this basil has an anise-flavor kick. Click here for info on the differences between Thai basil and Italian basil.
• French Breakfast Radishes – We don’t typically attempt radishes in July, but a month ago things we’re looking a little bleak so we sowed some in an empty high tunnel bed. They’re now ready to spice up your salads and vegetable sautes!
• Carrots
• Yellow Onion
• Green or Purple Pepper – These are both the immature versions of these pepper varieties. Treat them all like green peppers.
• Zucchini & Summer Squash – Including green & yellow zucchini and yellow summer squash.
• Mixed Cucumbers – Including green cukes, ‘Silver Slicer’ yellow cukes, and some lemon cukes.

We’ve got a mantra-like phrase that we say fairly often around here: It could be worse. This week’s heatwave has put us firmly in this mindset. The heat for yesterday’s harvest was pretty intense, but at least there was generally a breeze and it wasn’t the 116 degrees that we hit last year. It could have been worse. These scenarios generally devolve further, often ending in a reference to one of the many rough endings in the classic 1980s Oregon Trail computer game. It could be worse; your wagon axle could break, your oxen could die while fording the river, and you could have dysentery.

Needless to say it’s hot out there and there’s not a lot to be done about it but start early, work late, take breaks, and drink water. Lots of water. On the bright side we’ve got electricity to keep the well pumping!

We passed a milestone on the transplanting front this past week. The fifth and final succession of sweet corn went in the ground. We hope to be harvesting the first round in the next couple of weeks, as it was delayed due to the cold spring, (remember the cold spring?) and then we should be in the corn for the next few months.

It’s a turning point in the season when we start to wrap up the big plantings. In this case it means we’re running out of time to get a successful harvest from corn varieties that need 70-80 days to fully mature plus factoring in the loss of daylight hours over the next couple of months. That puts us squarely in October when we hope to be harvesting this final round before the first frosts. Getting this last round in gives us hope that before too long fall will be here once again.

In the coming week we’ll be hiding from the heat some, but the work goes on. There’s weeding, and cultivating, and weed whacking, and trellising tomatoes, and mowing, and all the irrigation to be done. We’ll also be transplanting lettuce, chicories, fall/winter cabbage, winter kohlrabi, cilantro, and dill later this weekend on the backside of the heatwave. Luckily we’ll be eating well thanks to this week’s tasty harvest in between sessions of battling the heat. It could be worse.

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:

Summer Thai Inspired Salad

Marinated Vegetables and Dressing

• 1 cup brown rice vinegar
• ¹/₄ cup honey
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 Thai chiles/1 jalapeno, finely chopped
• 3 carrots, julienned
• 2 zucchini, julienned
• 2 red/orange/yellow peppers, julienned
• ¹/₄ cup freshly squeezed lime juice
• 2 peaches or 1 mango, pitted (I peeled the mango but not the peaches)
• 1 shallot, peeled
• ¹/₂ avocado
• 2 tablespoons Thai fish sauce
• 1 pinch red pepper flakes
• ³/₄ cup water
• 1 handful fresh cilantro

Salad

• 1 head romaine, cut into ribbons
• 3-4 handfuls arugula/spinach/lettuce of your choice
• 1 handful fresh basil, roll into cigar shape and cut thin ribbons
• 1 handful fresh mint, chopped
• 1 pound grilled shrimp or lump crabmeat
• 1 peach or mango (chop the peach and julienne the mango)

VEGETABLE MARINADE: Combine the brown rice vinegar through to peppers (first 8 ingredients) in a bowl and let sit for an hour. When ready to assemble the salad, you will be removing the vegetables from the marinade. I usually reserve the marinade, puree it, and use it in dressings over the week.

DRESSING: Combine in a blender until smooth.

WHOLE SALAD ASSEMBLY: In a large wide bowl, combine the romaine, lettuce of your choice, basil, and mint. Lightly toss the marinated vegetables with the salad ingredients.

Put the grilled shrimp or crabmeat on top and dress the whole salad with the dressing. Lightly toss and serve.

From Food52.com by testkitchenette, https://food52.com/recipes/10749-summer-thai-inspired-salad

Cauliflower “Couscous” with Mint & Radish

• 3 cups white or yellow cauliflower, stems removed
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 lemon
• ¹/₄ cup fresh mint
• ¹/₄ cup fresh parsley (or try cilantro)
• 8 ounces radishes
• 8 ounces cucumber
• 2 pinches sea salt
• black pepper or red chili flakes
• 1 cup crumbled feta cheese (optional)

Quarter and thinly slice cucumber and radishes. (peel cucumber first if skin is tough). Then finely chop parsley and mint. juice and zest lemon. toss all together in a large salad bowl.

In a food processor, pulse-chow the cauliflower florets until it resembles small-grain couscous. If you have a small food processor, do this in batches so that your processor is never more than half full. Do not over-process into a puree.

If you don’t own a food processor, simply use a large cutting board and finely chop small batches of cauliflower into the desired texture.

Add cauliflower “couscous” to salad bowl and toss gently with remaining ingredients. salt and pepper to taste.

From Food52.com by Aubrey | Drum Beets, https://food52.com/recipes/26581-cauliflower-couscous-with-mint-radish

Banh Mi Soft Tacos

• 1 daikon radish, cut into matchsticks (or try this week’s radishes)
• 3 carrots, cut into matchsticks
• ¹/₄ cup cup white vinegar
• ¹/₄ cup unseasoned rice vinegar
• 1 cup water
• ¹/₄ cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons sriracha
• 2 teaspoons Maggi seasoning
• 2 pounds chicken thighs, boneless
• 1 cup Thai barbecue sauce or teriyaki sauce
• 1 package taco-size soft corn tortillas
• 1 English cucumber, chopped
• 2 jalapeño peppers, chopped
• 1 bunch cilantro, chopped
• 1 queso fresco cheese round, broken into small pieces (optional)

Make the pickled vegetables: Put the white vinegar, rice vinegar, water, sugar, and salt into a canning jar or container with a lid and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add the daikon and carrot matchsticks. Make sure all the vegetables are covered. Refrigerate up to a month.

Make the “sauce”: Mix the mayonnaise, sriracha, and Maggi seasoning together until combined. Refrigerate.

Marinate the chicken in the Thai or teriyaki sauce for at least an hour or overnight. Barbecue, broil, or bake the chicken until brown and the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. Cool and shred the chicken into small pieces.

To assemble tacos: Warm corn tortillas directly over a gas burner, under the broiler, or on the grill. (You can also wrap them them in a wet paper towel two or three at a time and microwave for 30 seconds.)

Spread about 1/2 teaspoon of the sriracha sauce on each warm tortilla, then put shredded chicken on top. Add the pickled vegetables and chopped cucumbers and jalapeños. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro. Add more sriracha sauce on top.

If desired, sprinkle tacos with the soft queso fresco cheese.

This recipe is great with marinated beef or pork strips, too!

From Food52.com by Leith Devine, https://food52.com/recipes/36376-banh-mi-soft-tacos

Welcome to the 8th share of the Pitchfork & Crow 2022 Summer CSA! Here’s what’s in the share this week:

• Green Leaf Lettuce
• Red Butter/Romaine Lettuce
• Rainbow Chard
• Lacinato Kale
• Celery
• Cilantro
• Flowering Dill
• French Breakfast Radishes – We don’t typically attempt radishes in July, but a month ago things we’re looking a little bleak so we sowed some in an empty high tunnel bed. They’re now ready to spice up your salads and vegetable sautes!
• Strawberry Paw Red Skinned Potatoes
• Yellow Onions
• Fresh Garlic – We’re sharing the bulbs that have exposed cloves and won’t store very long. It’s also not as dry as fully cured garlic will be as it’s straight out of the field. Not for storage, use it up.
• Zucchini & Summer Squash – Including green & yellow zucchini and yellow summer squash.
• Mixed Cucumbers – Including green cukes, ‘Silver Slicer’ yellow cukes, and some lemon cukes.

Another week in the books, and we’re suddenly two months into this Summer CSA season. The rough spring planting conditions continue to have an effect on crops in the field, but it’s a little less each week as we progress further into the season. Soon enough we’ll be through the worst of those spring planted crops and the high summer crops will hopefully have caught up too. I’m talking tomatoes and peppers and corn! As with everything this season, they’re a little delayed but hopefully they’re worth the wait.

July is a transition month as we work to maintain the crops in the field and continue the planting push, now made up of fall and winter crops. Last week’s big propagation week included sowing next spring’s purple sprouting broccoli and overwintering cauliflower as well as fall broccoli and cauliflower and storage beets. We also sowed our final round of carrots for the season and transplanted fall crops like rutabaga and kohlrabi. Just about the time we get the hang of this summer season it’s time to shift focus to winter again.

As with each week that passes, we have high hopes of doing some catch-up in the week ahead. Everywhere we turn there are projects that could use some time and energy to tackle. I see carrot weeding and tomato trellising in our future. And there’s more seeds to sow and transplanting to get in the ground. And mowing, still more mowing. Plus it’s time to get serious about a fall/winter greenhouse plan as we transition spring crops out of the houses. It’s mid-July and there’s plenty to be doing around here.

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:

Jane Grigson’s Celery Soup

• ¹/₂ pound celery, chopped (outside stalks or celeriac — about 2 cups)
• ¹/₂ cup chopped onion
• ¹/₂ cup diced potato
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 4 cups turkey or chicken stock
• ¹/₂ cup milk (optional, up to 1 cup)
• 1 teaspoon dill weed (2 teaspoons for fresh dill)
• 2 ¹/₂ tablespoons cream

Stew celery, onion, and potato gently in the butter in a covered pan for 10 minutes. Don’t let the vegetables brown. Add stock or water and 1/2 teaspoon of dill weed. Simmer for 20 minutes if you have a blender, 40 minutes if you use a food mill.

Blend or purée the soup. Pour through a strainer into a clean pan (to remove the last few threads of celery), adding a little milk if too thick. Bring slowly to just under the boil, seasoning with salt, pepper and more dill weed if required.

Put the cream into the soup dish, and pour the soup in on top. Swirl round with the ladle before serving, to mix in the cream.

From Food52.com by Genius Recipes, https://food52.com/recipes/26523-jane-grigson-s-celery-soup

Marinated Zucchini, Kalamata Olive, and Mozzarella Salad

• 4 medium yellow or green zucchini
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pinch salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 balls buffalo mozzarella
• 16 kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
• 1 handful fresh basil and oregano leaves (cilantro and mint work well, too), finely chopped

Cut the zucchini into ribbons with a mandoline or a vegetable peeler. Put them in a bowl and add the lemon juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir well. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Cut the mozzarella into small pieces and add them, the olives, and the chopped herbs to the chilled zucchini. Stir well and serve!

From Food52.com, https://food52.com/recipes/37137-marinated-zucchini-kalamata-olive-mozzarella-salad

Potato-Kale Hash with Chickpeas

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup onions, diced
• 2-3 medium baked and cold potatoes, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ³/₄ cup cooked chick peas (or canned)
• 2-3 cups shredded tuscan kale
• salt to taste
• nanami togarashi (Japanese pepper blend) to taste

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the onions until translucent, about 3-5 minutes. Add the potatoes and let them cook on one side for a couple minutes. Turn the potatoes to allow the other sides to color. Give each side 2-3 minutes, the idea is to add a little color and crisp, not to char the potatoes. If they are getting dark, lower the heat. If the pan is dry, add additional oil, a few drops at a time or give it a spritz with spray oil.

When the potatoes are almost completely browned, add the garlic, chickpeas and kale and continue to saute, turning the mixture as you go, until the kale is wilted and the chickpeas have gained a little color.

Season with salt, sprinkle the nanami togarashi over the top as a garnish and serve immediately.

From Food52.com by JaneOfManyTrade, https://food52.com/recipes/33741-potato-kale-hash-with-chickpeas