| What's Growing This Week: | |
Tomatoes (All)
Garlic (All)
Seedless Grapes (All)
Carrots (S,L)
Melon (S,L)
Zucchini (S,M)
Watermelon (M,L)
Basil (M,L)
Sweet Peppers (M,L)
Figs (L)
Green Beans (L)
Shishito Peppers (L)
Peaches (L)
Items may be substituted without notice.
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Contact Us:
| terrafirmafarm.com
csa@terrafirmafarm.com
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| CSA Rates 2012 | 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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Bulk Items
Now available, 10 lb. boxes of ripe tomatoes ready for saucing, jarring or canning. $15 each delivered to your drop site. You can buy boxes one at a time, or subscribe and a get a box every week. Go to your account page to sign up.
We also have a limited amount of peaches available. These are not first quality, but may be slightly bruised -- perfect for cooking or canning. $15 for ten pounds when available. |
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Pledge of Authenticity
Terra Firma is a real farm. We grow 99% of the produce that goes into our boxes on our 220 acres of certified organic land in Winters. If we do buy produce from other farms, it's almost always from a neighboring farm and we give them full credit in the box list.
The owners of Terra Firma are involved in every aspect of making your boxes a reality: walking the fields, planting the crops, selecting and checking what goes in the boxes and finally delivering them to you. We eat the crops from our fields every day, just like you do. Thanks for supporting our efforts and enjoying the food we grow.
Paul, Pablito, & Hector
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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!
When people talk about technology, they are usually talking about computers and the internet. In agriculture, GPS or drip irrigation are usually mentioned. But the technology that may have benefited agriculture the most in the last twenty years is now so ubiquitous that everyone takes it almost completely for granted -- the cellphone.
When I first arrived at the farm in 1992, we didn't have any cellphones -- very few farmers did. We didn't even have walkie talkies. Instead, we had to communicate every instruction in person. That meant walking or driving to the place where you thought a person or persons was working to talk to them. If someone ran out of work and wasn't sure what to do, they would either go looking for a supervisor, or simply wait until someone showed up to give them instructions.
When we got our first cellphones a few years later, it probably doubled our efficiency by 500%. It also saved us hundreds of gallons of gasoline a year. And while some people still describe electronic devices as "tethers", for farmers cellphones were enormously liberating. For us it meant being able to leave the farm to go to market, or run errands, or even to take a day off without stressing the whole time about being out of touch.
There are spots on the farm where our phones never worked. But everyone knew where those spots are, and where the nearest spot with good reception was. So it was quite alarming when a few weeks back, our phones started to lose service in places where they had always worked well. All of a sudden, we found ourselves driving around to find people or give messages. But in the almost 20 years since 1993, we have grown and expanded and our farm is much more far flung.
It turns out that the cell provider we had used for over ten years is being shut down in a few months by the larger company that bought it, and they have already begun unplugging cell towers in our area. No, customers were not advised in advance. We quickly decided to switch to a new carrier -- you know, the one that promises the best coverage everywhere.
I wasn't excited about switching seven phones to a new carrier during our busiest time of year, but staff at the new company assured me they could do it overnight and there would be no interruption in service. Well...the next day we had four phones that could only receive, but not make calls, and three that could make but not receive them. The problems lasted for over 48 hours. For those two days, we were thrust back into the pre-cellphone days of the "good old" early 90s and it was no fun at all.
Those were two of the most stressful days I ever have experienced and I hope it never happens again. Tether, smether. We heart our cellphones.
Thanks,
Pablito
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In Your Boxes:
You may have noticed that there were fewer Tomatoes in your boxes last week -- we were in a bit of harvesting lull. Well, this week the tomatoes have kicked into overdrive with 6 days and counting of temperatures over 100 degrees. So we have once again increased the amount in your boxes. We are anticipating a heavy volume through the end of the month.
For the first time ever this year our Sweet Pepper field has no traditional bell peppers. Instead we have opted for a variety of specialty peppers. In particular, we are growing several varieties that start out pale yellow instead of green before ripening to orange or red. We are also growing red, orange and yellow Italian frying peppers as well as Pimentos.
Unfortunately, the peppers started ripening this year just as the temperatures soared, which means that many of them have literally been cooked on the plants by the hot sun. Rather than watch all of them get fried, we are harvesting partially ripe peppers for your boxes this week. You may get peppers that are partially yellow and partially orange, or peppers that are partially green and partially yellow or red. They also may have a small blemish or two, a sunburned spot or tip that can easily be cut off or out.
We began our Apple and asian pear harvest last week and are anticipating a good harvest of both. The apples in your boxes today are good old fashioned Gravensteins and possibly a Gala or two mixed in as well. Gravees grown in the Central Valley are sweeter and less acidic than the ones grown in Sebastapol, but they still have a a refreshing brisk aftertaste. Galas are sweetness, pure and simple. Both have yellow peels with red highlights, but the Gravensteins also have some green tinting.
We are between plantings of both Cucumbers and Corn this week. We expect to have corn back next week and then again until Labor Day; cukes might not be available again for two weeks but will continue into September.
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Recipe: Fresh Tomato Gorgonzola Sauce
Still think tomato sauce has to be thick and super-sweet? This is a fast-cooking sauce with lots of delicious liquid that you thicken up just slightly with tangy soft Gorgonzola or other blue cheese.
Dice 2 lbs. of ripe tomatoes, making sure to reserve the juices as you cut them.
Mince 2 cloves of garlic.
Warm 2 T. olive oil in a large cast iron skillet -- not too hot. Add the garlic and a dash of hot pepper flakes. Saute the garlic until it is soft and fragrant but not brown.
Add the tomatoes and raise the heat. Cook until they liquify and then lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. You don't want the sauce to thicken much.
Cut 1/4 lb. of soft gorgonzola into pieces and then drop into the pan. Stir into the sauce until they dissolve completely and the sauce becomes silkenly creamy.
Season with salt and serve over pasta.
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