| What's Growing This Week | |
Strawberries
Cherries
Summer Squash
Red Onions
Spinach (S,L)
Carrots (S,L)
Salad Mix (M,L)
Sugar Snap Peas (M,L)
Peaches (M,L)
English Peas (M,L)
Beets (M,L)
Cilantro (L)
Asparagus (L) #
Grapefruit (L)
Items are subject to substitution without notice.
# Asparagus comes from Jim and Deborah Durst in Esparto. It is CCOF certified organic. |
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Berry Care 101
-- TFF strawberries are highly perishable. If you want them to keep for more than a day, store them in a sealed, airtight plastic container in the fridge.
-- Don't wash them until just before you eat them.
-- Recycle the green baskets. We can't reuse them here (for food safety reasons) so there's no reason to send them back to us.
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Get More Berries!
Did the basket of strawberries in your box disappear before your spouse/partner/roommate got it home? You can get a half flat (6 baskets) of TFF berries delivered with your box, for just $12. Log on to your account and go to the Web Store, then select strawberries. Deliveries will start the first of May.
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Bulk Cherries
We are in the peak of our cherry harvest right now, but any one of the frequent rainstorms we're having could wipe out the crop. If we make it to next week without a disaster, we will have 10 lb. boxes of cherries available for $50. If you would like to put your name on a list to get a box, email us at csa@terrafirmafarm.com.
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Contact Us:
| terrafirmafarm.com
csa@terrafirmafarm.com
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| CSA Rates 2011 | Boxes are charged on Monday for the week's deliveries at:
$14 Small
$24 Medium
$32 Large
For a payment of $300, get a 3% bonus. Your account balance will be $309.
For a payment of$850, get a 5% bonus. Your account will be posted as $892.00
For a payment of $1,400, get a 7% bonus. Your payment will be posted as $1,498.
Vacations are charged weekly when notice is given as a fee, no charges occur during the vacation week.
$4 Small
$8 Medium
$11 Large
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Payments, Billing, and Changes
| Schedule vacations, change box sizes, make payments or sign up for autopay by logging in to your subscriber account at terrafirmafarm.com
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News From Terra Firma Farm
Community Supported Agriculture
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Greetings!
Despite the extremely "challenging" weather we've been experiencing lately, we've got another great box for everyone this week: the best of springtime with a taste of summer thrown in. More on that below.
Last year we had a great crop of summer fruit: apricots, peaches, and nectarines. While it was true that cooler than normal temperatures kept the fruit from reaching its full flavor potential, the trees were healthy and made a heavy crop. It's not the same this year.
This might seem like a strange thing to say on a week that we are sending peaches or nectarines to many of our subscribers. But these are early varieties, which bloomed and set fruit during the warm, dry weather we had in early February. By the beginning of March, when most of our summer fruit blossoms, the weather had taken a turn for the worse.
Which brings me to the Apricots. The ancient trees in our orchard, older and wiser than the 6 year old peach trees, took a pass this year. They barely even bothered to bloom at all -- on some trees you could count the flowers on one hand. There are old apricot trees all around Winters, and almost none of them have a crop. Somehow they knew it was best to wait for a better year to expend their stored up energy on. There will be no apricots in your boxes this year.
With no heavy crop to take care of, the apricot trees look healthy and green. Not so the peaches. 2011 will go down in local history as "the year of Peach Leaf Curl". PLC is a disease that rain brings in. As its name suggests, it makes the leaves of the trees curl up, turn black, and fall off. In extreme cases, it can kill whole branches or even entire trees.
The timing of the heaviest rain this year created apparently perfect conditions for PLC. The disease is relatively simple to control in a "normal" winter, when most rainfall occurs in mid-winter, while the trees are dormant. Light rain later in the spring isn't such a problem. But this year, the heaviest rain came during and after bloom. The frequent storms kept the leaves constantly wet, and didn't allow us to get into the orchard to spray the organic materials that control the disease.
The results are obvious in our orchard: many trees have lost some or most of their leaves. Many of the branches that had fruit on them have turned black and died. The fruit that does remain will be smaller than normal. The hardest hit trees were those that we planted just last year: some of them will almost certainly die and need to be replanted.
As far as summer fruit is concerned, this week and the next might be the heaviest harvest of the summer. The main season varieties that ripen in July and August got hit much harder by the Peach Leaf Curl. The trees have a light crop, but the bigger problem is the lack of foliage. The cold weather now isn't encouraging many new leaves to grow, and a sudden heatwave could end up cooking the fruit that is not adequately protected from the sun.
The fruits you get this week are small and scarred up -- they literally went through weather hell in March. Peaches picked in May are never the most flavorful, and these haven't had a lick of warm weather to help them out. But we think they deserve points simply for showing up.
Thanks,
Pablito |
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In your boxes
A note for Thursday Small box subscribers: The contents of your boxes this week are different from what is listed above. Heavy rain Wednesday morning prevented us from harvesting all the strawberries we needed for your boxes. Sugar snap peas and additional cherries were substituted. Please accept our apologies for any disappointment.
Cherry harvest is at its peak right now. We are harvesting mostly the Bing variety, which has the characteristic "crunch" and tangy sweetness that many people consider "cherry-ness". The Bing trees are loaded, and by keeping a close eye on the weather, we have been able to get most of the fruit harvested prior to the frequent rainstorms that can split the ripest cherries in half. Meanwhile, the cool temperatures make for slower ripening, which ideally will extend the season. Disclaimer: an untimely, unforecast and/or especially heavy rain could end our season at any time.
The word "Peaches" is on the list today for Medium and Large boxes, but you may get any of the following: Yellow Peaches, White Donut Peaches, or Yellow Nectarines. We have several varieties ripening at the same time. The peaches and nectarines we send you are probably not ready to eat as soon as you get them home. We do our best to send fruit that will arrive unbruised but soften up within a day or two in your kitchen. Leave the fruit at room temperature until it gives slightly to the touch.
White Donut peaches are low acid and quite mild tasting; the yellow peaches and nectarines are tangier. None of them are tremendously sweet right now thanks to the weather. Still, I find they make a nice mix with the strawberries right now when sliced up and combined with some good yogurt or cream.
It's been well over a month since we've had any Beets with their tops still attached, and the ones in your boxes this week sure took their sweet time sizing up -- they were planted back in January! Make sure to use both the roots and greens.
We have begun harvest and curing of both Onions and garlic, and are sending you some fresh Red Onions. You can store these at room temperature.
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Size up for Spring
It's easy to get more of the good stuff we're harvesting right now, just go to your account and size up. You change downsize again at any time.
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Recipe -- Sugar Snap Salad with Beets
You can steam the beets for this recipe if you don't want to roast them. If you're steaming the beets, you can saute the onions in a pan on the stove instead.
Trim 1 bunch of beets, removing and saving the greens. Scrub the roots. Wrap in foil and roast in the oven at 400 degrees (or steam) until tender, about 45 minutes.
Hardboil 2 eggs. Allow to cool, then cut into eighths.
Grate summer squash to make 1 C., then squeeze out the water and sprinkle with salt.
Thinly slice onion to make 1 C. Toss with 1 T. olive oil in a cast iron skillet and roast in the oven until caramelized, stirring a few times.
Place the onion in a food processor or blender with 1 t. salt, 1 T. water, 2 T. red wine vinegar, and 1/2 t. fresh thyme. Puree until smooth -- the dressing will be thick. Season with salt and pepper.
Trim 2 C. snap peas and cut in half.
When the beets are done, peel them and cut into thin wedges.
Toss the peas and beets with the dressing, then add 2-4 C. of washed, dried salad mix or spinach.
Top with the sliced eggs and the grated squash.
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