News from Terra Firma Farm

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a great holiday season.
As is often the case, the two weeks that Terra Firma was closed were cold, wet, and dark: alternating between pouring rain, dense fog, and icy cold. On New Years' Day it even snowed several inches just 10 miles north of the farm. Between the weather and the short days, very few plants on the farm did any growing at all and everyone was happy to get out of the weather for a while. All in all it was a good time to take a vacation.
This week began sunny and dry, although Monday started out with the farm completely encased in ice after nighttime temperatures plummeted to 24 degrees. We are keeping our fingers crossed that the forecast of mostly dry for the next two weeks holds up. It's been roughly six weeks since we did anything on the farm other than harvest. Fields need weeding, crops need planting, and in general the soil needs a break from constant moisture. The plants need some sunshine (and so do the people!). I personally can't remember a year when we got so much rain in December.
In other ways, though, our winter season is just getting started. We're still harvesting Satsuma Mandarins, which are normally finished by now, and we are just about to start picking Navel oranges and grapefruit. We've had several close calls with cold weather, including this morning, but so far most of the crop has escaped damage.
Some fields that were damaged by earlier frosts appear to be recovering, especially the Beets (in today's boxes) and Chard. While we've had a disastrous Cauliflower season, with aphids and rain destroying much of the crop, there are still several plantings that have yet to mature -- along with more broccoli. And there are still tons of carrots and leeks in the field.
We've also still got plenty of Winter Squash in the barn, and Potatoes (both in the cooler and still in the ground). We had a bumper crop of both in 2010.
We often struggle in the winter to keep your CSA boxes both full and interesting. This year will probably be no exception. However, we have a new tool to deal with times of scarcity. Our new CSA management software will give us the option of charging you all less for a week's box, if we find it necessary. We'll inform you in the newsletter that the box is missing an item or two, and you'll notice a smaller charge to your account that week.
In 2011 at Terra Firma, we intend to keep doing our best to feed our subscribers as best we can, and hope the weather cuts us a little more of a break than it did last year.

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Thanks,
                 Pablito

Direct Debit Payments

One of the primary motivations for farmers to start a CSA is to "eliminate the middleman" between us and customers. Yet since we moved to a web-based account management, our payment options have been giving the "the middleman" a sizable cut: Paypal and credit cards charge us 3%. Well, over the holidays the folks who run our account management system finally finished setting up the system for subscribers who want to make direct electronic payments to Terra Firma.
As of today, we offer a third payment option: E-Check. You can choose either one-time payments or automatic ones. If you choose to sign up for E-Check, you will be asked to enter your bank account information. And when you make the payments, they will come straight out of your bank account and into ours. Instead of paying 3% in fees, we pay 1%.
If you are already signed up for automatic payments using Paypal or a Credit Card and want to switch to E-Check, you will need to send us an email letting us know. Once we have discontinued the old autopayment, we will let you know to set up a new one with E-Check.
When you enter the information on the E-Check screen, it must match your bank account info exactly: First and Last name. If you enter "Rob" and your bank account is under "Robert", we will receive a notice of decline of payment. If possible, use a real check from your bank to fill out the form.

Russian Hot and Sour Soup (aka Borscht). This is borscht how it is served in the Ukranian restaurants of NYC's East Village, chunky, filling, and warm. If you want an even thicker soup, add a pound of diced potatoes with the beets. You can steam the beets before slicing and adding to the soup to speed things up, but the broth won't be as thick and rich.
Cut the tops off 1 head of fennel and the leaves off 1 leek. Rinse well and then place in a large pot with 10 C. of boiling water. Simmer for at least 30 minutes.
Clean the leek shank and finely dice. Rinse and dice 3 carrots.
Heat 3 T. olive oil in a pot or skillet and then add the leeks and carrots. Saute for 15 minutes, until they are nicely browned.
Using a strainer, remove the fennel and leek tops from the broth. Add 1 C. of the broth to the leek/carrot mixture, using a wooden spoon to deglaze the pan. Combine everything in the pot. Bring the soup to a boil and simmer.
Cut the roots off 1 bunch of beets, then trim the beets and thinly slice in rounds or half rounds. Add to the pot. Season with salt and a generous amount of black pepper.
Cut a head of red cabbage in half and shred one half of it. When the beets are tender, add the cabbage to the soup and cook for 5 minutes.
Wash the beet greens and remove the stems, then chop the leaves. Add the leaves to the soup along with 1/2 C. rice or other mild vinegar, simmer for 3 minutes and serve.

Marmalade If you make this in small batches and eat within a couple of weeks, there's no need to heat-pack it in jars.

Cut 4 mandarins and 2 Meyer Lemons in half and remove any seeds. Gently squeeze the juice into a bowl, then chop the fruit as finely as possible, including the rinds.
Measure the amount of juice and fruit you have and make a note of it.
Combine the fruit/juice with three times as much water (i.e. -- 3 C. of water for 1 C. fruit/juice). Soak for 12 hours.
Simmer for 20 minutes, then let soak another 12 hours.
For every cup of fruit/juice you started with, add 2/3 C. sugar.
Bring the mixture to a boil and then simmer until it thickens. This will take about 1/2 hour. The liquid will not noticeably congeal until the last few minutes of cooking, at which point you should lower the heat and stir frequently to avoid it burning. Make sure to remove it from the pot while it is still syrupy: it will firm up once refrigerated.

More Resources Links to articles and blogs discussing food and agriculture.

Here's a lengthy and fascinating discussion in the New York Times about the recent upward trend in global food prices and whether it is a fluke or a sign that humanity is pushing the planet's ability to produce food. A contentious issue to say the least.
And from the Fresno Bee, an article about how home builders unhappy with a farmland protection ordinances in Stanislaus County are going to take their fight to the Supreme Court.