Happy Labor Day
I hope everyone enjoyed their end-of-summer holiday. Here at the farm it was a mostly normally "weekend" for us, meaning we took Sunday off.  As is almost always the case with summer three day weekends, our crops don't take any extra time off and neither do we.  But we did manage to get almost everyone on the farm home early either Saturday or Monday, depending on the work they were doing.  I believe it is important for everyone who eats to know that for the folks who grow their food -- especially the farmworkers -- Labor Day is just another workday.

Save the Date:  Farm Day
Terra Firma's annual farm event for subscribers will take place on Saturday, October 22nd in the afternoon.  We'll announce more details soon!

Finding Old TFF Recipes
We're approaching the 20th year anniversary of our Community Supported Agriculture program here at Terra Firma.  That's 1000 newsletters give or take, and well more than 1000 recipes for seasonal vegetables and fruit. 
The vast majority of these newsletters and the recipes they contain are still available in the  old newsletter archive on our website.  That link is also always available here, on the left column and is fully searchable.  For instance, if you want to find a recipe for zucchini, just type in "zucchini recipe" in the search window.  You will get a list of links to TFF newsletters with zucchini recipes.   If you can be more specific, such as "zucchini soup", the list of results will be shorter.
Unfortunately, when we switched to the current online newsletter format, the "new" newsletters were archived in a different way and are not currently searchable.  Even using Google or other search engines, the contents of the newsletters are basically "hidden".  The only option right now to find a recipe in a newsletter published after September 2010 is to manually open the documents.
We are not happy with the lack of a search function on the new archive and we are looking for a way to jury rig one until Constant Contact decides to install one.  We understand any frustration you might have trying to find recipes that we published during the last year, but remember, 19 out of 20 TFF newsletter recipes are still easily and readily available at the website.

Recipe -- Potato-Green Bean Tacos
A simple vegetarian filling for tacos.  Top with the Roasted Veggie Salsa below or any other good salsa, and some salty cheese.
Boil salted water in a large pot.  Rinse 1 lb. of potatoes, cutting them in half if they are larger than a egg.  Add to the pot and cook until just tender.  Drain and rinse them.  When they are cool, cut them into a small dice.
Trim 1/2 lb. green beans and cut into small pieces.
Dice 1 onion.
Saute the onion in 2 T. olive oil until tender.  Raise the heat and add the green beans.  Stir frequently until they are tender.
Add the potatoes and cook until lightly browned.   The onions should be completely caramelized.  Season with salt and pepper.
Heat corn or wheat tortillas on both sides, fill with a few spoonfuls of the potato mixture, and top with salsa and crumbled feta or other salty cheese.

Recipe -- Roasted Veggie Salsa
This is a good way to utilize the intense heat when you first light a fire in your grill and it's too hot for the steak or chicken.  You can also make it in the oven.
Heat the oven to 450 or fire up the grill. 
Place 2-4 whole sweet peppers and 3-4 whole tomatoes in a roasting pan or large cast iron skillet and roast them.   If you like it spicy, add a jalapeno or serrano pepper or two.
 Use a tongs to turn the vegetables so they get browned on 3 or 4 sides.
Remove the vegetables from heat and allow to cool.  Core the tomatoes, taking care to reserve the liquid.  Core the peppers and remove the seeds and discard the watery liquid inside.
Puree the vegetables in a food processor, adding salt, minced garlic, and lime juice to taste.  Add the reserved tomato liquid (or not) to achieve the consistency you like.