News from Terra Firma Farm

How many of you Terra Firma subscribers purchase organic milk? cheese? butter? If you're not a vegan and you buy organic, dairy products are probably a high priority on your list. For many, this has alot to do with the overuse of growth hormones (such as Monsanto's BST) in conventional dairies. If you are a consumer of organic dairy products, read up below on the USDA's decision last week to approve genetically modified alfalfa, how it is going to affect organic dairy farmers, and what efforts are underway to protest it.

In other, more local news, the mostly dry weather lately has given us the opportunity to move sheep back onto the farm early this year. With all the rain in late 2010 and warm days of January, the grass and clover in our pistachio orchard and vineyard is lush and tall. The nursing ewes with their lambs are hungrily muching away, "mowing" these "weeds" for us while leaving rich nutrients behind. By the time they finish up in the grapes in a few weeks, it will be time to move them onto the fields of cover crop where we will eventually plant this summers' corn and tomatoes. Mowing the fields with a tractor is a high-horsepower task that takes lots of diesel fuel, so the sheep are saving us money as well as reducing our carbon footprint. We don't graze the sheep on fields where fast growing crops or leafy greens will be planted -- even though sheep manure has never been implicated in food poisoning. We have been working with sheep farmers now for over three years, and are thrilled at the benefits that grazing animals have made to our farming system. We don't sell any meat ourselves, but I encourage everyone to support local California lamb products as a sustainable source of meat.

   .
              Thanks,
                 Pablito

Why you should care about GMO Alfalfa

Other than occasionally munching on sprouts, most humans never consume alfalfa directly. But everyone who drinks milk or eats milk or dairy products eats hundreds of pounds of alfalfa indirectly each year. Alfalfa is the primary crop used in the production of hay, which makes up a majority of dairy and beef cattles' diets. A leguminous plant, like peas and beans, it is a perennial crop that is harvested multiple times per season, for up to five years. It is the fourth most widely planted farm crop in the United States after corn, soybeans and wheat. Alfalfa is primarily cut, dried, and then baled as hay. It is also frequently used as a pasture for animals, especially sheep.
Animals used for the production of organic milk and meat must be fed a diet that is organically grown, and alfalfa is a large part of this diet. Even cows that are primarily "grass fed" are often given alfalfa hay as a supplement, because it has a much higher protein content than grass.
For several years now, Monsanto has been seeking approval to sell seeds for alfalfa that has been genetically modified to resist its herbicide Roundup. Like all other "Roundup Ready" crops, alfalfa sprayed with the chemical would survive while weeds around it would die. Last week, the USDA decided to completely de-regulate RR alfalfa.
Organic farmers are not allowed to plant any crop that is genetically modified (GMO), including alfalfa. Yet alfalfa is a plant that flowers almost continuously while it is growing, and bees can carry the pollen as far as two miles. This means that growers trying to produce non-GMO alfalfa seed will have to make sure that there is no GMO alfalfa growing within a two-mile radius of their seed crop. Because alfalfa is such a widely planted crop, this is going to make it nearly impossible to produce seed that is acceptable for organic hay production. In the long-run, it is highly likely that all alfalfa seed produced in the U.S. will be contaminated by Monsanto's genes.
When we took the step of banning GMOs in organic production, we put ourselves in the position of David against a global corporate Goliath. It is no secret that Monsanto's corporate leaders have a different vision for how to feed the world than those of us who buy and grow organic food. GMO alfalfa isn't going to make milk cheaper or feed starving children in Africa, but it is going to produce enormous profits for Monsanto. To say that they don't care whether or not they destroy the organic dairy industry is a massive understatement.
There is a long-shot campaign under way to pressure President Obama to reverse the USDA's decision, and there will be legal challenges as well. If you are interested in joining this effort, go here.

In your boxes

Walnuts are back in your boxes today. Many subscribers have noticed and commented that our nuts are much tastier and sweeter than most commercially available ones. In fact, the trees in our orchard are two older varieties (Serr and Hartley) that are no longer planted -- and sadly, are slowly dying. Meanwhile, the most widely planted walnut in California is a bland, oily nut that many people simply don't like to eat but which produces bumper crops every year. Most stores do not even know the variety of walnut they are selling, much less label them by name.
Warm weather the last week has done wonders for our spinach fields, which haven't grown much since November. Bunched spinach has been a part of your boxes the last few weeks, and now we have baby Spinach as well. If you haven't noticed, the spinach from our farm this time of year is almost unbelievably sweet, although the cold weather makes it a little chewier.
There's a head of mid-winter Radicchio in your boxes today. It might look different than the ones you've seen before: it's a new variety of Treviso-type radicchio, which is more of long-leafed, tall head than the standard round ones. It is also much more cold and rain hardy, and it has held up well to the weather this year. Radicchio is a bitter vegetable, but the heads in your boxes today are as mildly bitter as any you've probably tried. Tossed with the right dressing, such as the one in the recipe below, it's a nice contrast to other sweeter greens.

Tricolore Salad. The traditional version representing the colors of the Italian flag is made with Belgian endive and Arugula. This version uses spinach for the green and cabbage for the white, while still keeping Radicchio in the starring role.

Toast 3/4 C. walnuts in a hot skillet until lightly browned. Allow to cool, then chop finely.
Finely mince 1 clove of garlic. Combine with 2 T. balsamic or sherry vinegar, 2 t. Dijon mustard, and 5 T. olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
Separate the leaves of 1 head of Radicchio, rinse or soak and then spin dry. Cut the larger outer leaves crosswise in thin strips; the smaller inner leaves can be left whole or sliced lengthwise in two or three pieces.
Soak 4 C. baby spinach leaves, rinse and spin dry.
Cut a head of cabbage in half across its width, then place one of the halves cut side down and shred until you have 4 C.
Toss the greens together until they are well mixed, then add the dressing and the walnuts.
Using a vegetable peeler, shave thin slices of parmesan cheese over the salad, as much as you like.

Photo of the week
Here at the western side of the Sacramento Valley, we are often right at the edge of the fog belt. Last Thursday morning, it was clear just a hundred feet up. I took this picture just after dawn, and within an hour it was sunny. foggy morning