News from Terra Firma Farm

Thanks to everyone who wrote in last week in response to my "Greens Pep Talk". It was brought to our attention that size of our bunches of greens has gotten smaller recently; that problem was addressed quickly and you should notice the difference this week.
Responders were clearly in the "MORE GREENS PLEASE" camp, so if you have another opinion, I suggest you let us know. The fact is, leafy greens is one thing we have in relative abundance right now, and we are sharing the love with you this week.
We also got alot of responses from Small box subscribers who let us know that I screwed up the list of items in their boxes. In the old days of paper newsletters, a second person here always checked the item list before the newsletter was printed out and copied. Now that the newsletter has entered the internet age, it is far to easy for me to press the "send" button on the email newsletter without double checking the list. We are working on a good system to prevent this same mistake from happening again. Please accept our apologies.

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              Thanks,
                 Pablito

Sunshine!

Just about everyone who lives north of I-80 in Northern California has gotten to enjoy some sunshine in the last week. Here at the farm we've had very warm days -- record high temperatures, actually -- while nights continue to feel like winter. Monday it was 33 at sunrise, and 73 at three in the afternoon. With a little wind, the ground has actually dried out enough for us to plant a few things: onions, kale, chard, carrots, beets, spinach, and peas. This was a big relief, since much of the stuff was supposed to have been planted in December.

Transplanting kale and chard

The warm temperatures and sunshine should really help resuscitate some of our fields that were on the verge of dissolving into the ground under the endless cold and wet. We've even begun irrigating the smallest plants.
Another task that we're catching up on is weeding. The weeds have had six uninterrupted weeks to get ahead of us, but we're making headway both in our tractor cultivation and hand hoeing: onions, broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots fields have all gotten cleaned up and we're making progress on the garlic and strawberries.
We don't have a long to-do list for January, normally one of the wettest and coldest months of the year. Same goes for February. So once we get caught up with work from the fall, we'd really like to get another month of so of rain. Late March and April are the times when we get really busy planting for spring and summer. But we know that Mother Nature likes playing practical jokes. So we won't let her fool us into thinking it's spring and then pulling the rug out from under us with a cold snap or a flood. Not this time ;)

TFF Produce Mysteries Explained

Why do my sweet potatoes come in a bag full of dirt? TFF grows a small amount of sweet potatoes, just for our subscribers. Unlike regular potatoes or carrots, sweet potatoes don't store well after they are washed -- the wet skins get moldy. Large sweet potato farms have special "dry" cleaning equipment to remove the dirt from the roots. This equipment is very expensive and we can't justify buying it. So we send the sweet potatoes to you with the dirt on them and let you clean them yourselves. We recommend that you dry the sweet potatoes with a towel after washing, or wash them just before cooking.

What are the "warts" on the cabbages in my box last week? This is cosmetic freeze damage -- not insect larvae or feeding scars. Very cold temperatures cause exposed leaves of the cabbage to freeze solid. The water inside them expands, rupturing the cells and damaging the cellulose. As the cabbage continues to grow, scars form on the damaged areas and new leaves cover them over. The "warts" are the scars. They are 100% vegetarian.
What about the warts on the parsnips? These are a response by the plant to root knot nematodes, tiny insects in the soil that attack plant roots. Much like the freeze scars on cabbage, the "warts" are a scar that forms to heal the damage done by the nematodes and are purely cosmetic. Unlike the cabbage warts, however, these are a message to us as farmers: you are growing root vegetables in the same field for too long without rotating your crops! Message received...
What happened to the carrot tops? In the introduction, I mentioned crops melting into the ground. That's what happened to the leaves of the carrots with all the moisture in December. The roots are still wonderful, and we are sending them along to you loose and unbunched.

In your boxes

Dry bulb garlic is the last of the 2010 crop. This garlic will probably start to sprout in a few weeks -- if you don't plan on using it soon, it would be best to keep it in the fridge.

Navel Orange Season starts this week. The Navels are richly sweet, meaty and... are alot harder to peel than Satsuma Mandarins. I suggest slicing or quartering them for a week or two while you let your fingernails grow a bit longer.
The last of our Parsnip crop is in your boxes today. Remember that if you want to cook these with other vegetables, such as potatoes, you need to parboil them for a few minutes first. The big ones also will have woody cores that you should remove after parboiling (cut in half top to bottom and pull the core out).
Red Russian Kale is in your box today. Need a kale recipe? The New York Times has a great new section with healthy recipes broken down by vegetable ingredients.

Mashed Potato and Parsnip Gratin. The gratin will be fluffier if you use a food processor to puree the vegetables. You can also add a little whole milk or cream.
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.
Scrub 2 lbs. of yellow potatoes. Cut into 2 inch pieces.
Peel 1 lb. parsnips. Cut in half top to bottom and drop into the boiling water. When the roots are fork-tender (about 3 minutes), remove them from the water (but don't drain it). Rinse under cold water and check the cores -- if they are still rock-hard, cut them out.
Return the parsnips to the water along with the potatoes and garlic. Boil until very tender, 15-20 minutes.
Meanwhile, clean and dice 1 leek. Saute in 3 T. olive oil until tender and beginning to brown. (Alternately: dice bacon to make 1/2 C., then fry in a skillet until it begins to brown. Cook the leeks with the bacon instead of oil).
Drain the vegetables, reserving 2 C. of broth, and rinse. Mash or puree, using as little liquid as possible. Season with salt and pepper.
Transfer the vegetables into ramekins, a baking dish, or a pie pan. Top with the leeks and 1 C. grated gruyete or sharp cheddar.
Bake at 400 degrees until the cheese is melted and top nicely browned.