News from Terra Firma Farm

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

Bulk Items

Bulk summer produce items are done for the season. If you want bulk quantities of something that you're getting in your boxes, just shoot us an email.

Otherwise, our next scheduled bulk item will be Satsuma mandarins in November.

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

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

News From Terra Firma Farm

Community Supported Agriculture

Greetings!

Thanks to everyone who sent in a response to last week's newsletter. One thing I didn't mention last week was that while our CSA box numbers have dropped a bit since their peak, they have been holding steady since and we still believe that our customers are the best thing we have going. For those who expressed concern about my tone, know this : Next year will be the 20th anniversary of our CSA, and we fully expect to celebrate it and many after it -- we are just experiencing some angst and I was sharing it with you all.

I got several suggestions subscriber emails about ways in which we could share some of the burdens we've been experiencing. These include direct loans, a price increase, or adopting more flexibility in what your weekly boxes contain depending on the season and weather.

We aren't considering a price increase right now, but if gas prices stay high and cause a spike in inflation, we may need to in the future. In the past, we have looked to subscribers to help provide loans when we needed them, and we may do so in the future again.

But it is the last idea that is most interesting. Our web-based software allows us to change the amount that is deducted from our subscribers accounts each week. So where we currently put the same dollar value of produce in your boxes every week, we could instead change the total value at certain times of year -- higher in the summer and fall, lower in the winter.

We already shift the value of individual items up and down given seasonal considerations -- for example, early ripening tomatoes are less abundant and more expensive to produce, so we assign them a higher value than tomatoes harvested during the main season.

Of course, neither of these options helps us much if -- when -- we lose an entire crop that we have planted for you -- something that has happened at least 6 times in the last three years. And while most of the subscribers who emailed me reassuringly told me they would be willing to pay for the crop even if they didn't receive any that year, the reality from our side looks very different.

Many, if not most of our customers, have high expectations for the volume and quality they receive in their TFF boxes -- and are quick to ask for credits if they feel they are not up to snuff. After all, there are dozens of farms offering CSA boxes in the Bay Area now. And more importantly, there are even more "produce delivery services" who share none of the risk that actual CSA farmers do.

For the time being we are going to focus on trying to do a better job at balancing our income and expenses. One big change we are making is to have Hector Melendez take over management of our CSA packing operation. Hector has many years of experience delivering your CSA boxes and knows many of you personally. And as an owner of the business, we hope he will bring a new eye to this very important role. If you are a drop-site host and you see Hector every week, you will notice someone else doing deliveries starting next week.

Thanks,

Pablito

Farm Day
Farm Day tickets are sold out, thanks for your support. If you bought tickets, you will soon receive an email with directions and important info regarding the event.

In your boxes
We are sending you our first Salad Mix of the season this week. Medium and Large boxes are also getting Arugula. We are taking extra care with this crop this week given the hot temperatures: picking it first thing in the morning, refrigerating it in the field, washing it quickly and treating it with extra TLC during packing. We are confident that the salad greens we are sending you this week are of high quality.

That said, as you probably are aware, this week is forecast to be warm in the Bay Area as well. Our CSA drop sites are not refrigerated and boxes left for too long may end up with quality issues on the salad mix as well as other items. Please try to pick up your boxes promptly this week to avoid disappointment. We also recommend eating your salad greens within 3 days -- or less if your box sits at the drop site for too long.

There are more cooking greens in your boxes today: Kale. The flavor is still a bit strong with the heat we've been having here, but all the nutrition is still there.

We are off and running with Broccoli season, and there is plenty for everyone today. The variety we are harvesting this week looks a bit funny -- it is much paler green than what you may be accustomed to, and the heads are not uniform. But it's tasty and mild. Enjoy.

Fuyu Persimmons are in the Medium and Large boxes today. Fuyus are the "eat it like an apple" variety, crisp and sweet with no puckery taste. Fuyus have a tough skin that adds crunchy, but many people peel them before eating. The fruit in your boxes are ready to eat, but will continue to ripen if let at room temperature, eventually becoming soft. Do not store Fuyus in the fridge as cold air turns them to mush.

Recipe: Fall Fruit and Vegetable Slaw
A soupy combo of vegetables and broth for a chilly fall night. Carnivores may want to add a small amount of bacon or cured meat along with the oil.

Peel 1 persimmon and 1 Asian pear. Using a grater, a hand shredder or a mandolin, shred or julienne both. Immediately toss with the juice of 1 lemon or 2 limes and a dash of salt.

Cut 1 cabbage in half across the middle. Place the cut side of 1 half down and finely shred it until you have 4 C.

Grate 3-4 carrots and 1 piece of fresh ginger to make 2 T.

For the dressing: combine 3 T. olive oil with 1 T. red or white miso paste and whisk to combine. Add a little rice vinegar if it needs more liquid.

Toss everything in a bowl with the oil/miso mixture. Season with salt, pepper, and more rice vinegar to taste.

Toast 3 T. sesame seeds in a skillet and then sprinkle over the top.

Serve on a bed of salad mix or arugula, on top of fish, or anywhere else you need a crunchy, juice accent.