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 Mandarins

We have 5 lb. boxes of Satsumas available for purchase and delivery to your drop site. You can buy them a week at a time, or subscribe to get a box (or more) every week through the season. Go to your account and then the Web Store to buy.

Our mandarin season will continue into January this year.

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!

With just eleven days to go until the shortest day of the year, it still doesn't feel much like winter around here. So it might be easy to forget that next week is our final delivery week for 2012. There will be no changes to the normal weekly delivery schedule -- all boxes will be delivered on their usual days.

Our annual two week vacation begins the following week. There will be no Terra Firma CSA boxes delivered the week of Christmas (12/26,12/27,12/28) or New Years (1/2,1/3,1/4). If you are planning to be gone either of those weeks, there is no need to schedule a box vacation. It's all taken care of.

CSA deliveries will resume on January 8th, 2013.

Next week's box will be similar in theme to the box you received (or didn't) the week of Thanksgiving: it will have a high percentage of items that will store for a week or ten days in case you spend lots of time eating out or at other people's houses. But they will also be items that can easily be integrated into a holiday dinner. You can expect to see cabbage, carrots, winter squash and potatoes in there. In addition, we are happy to announce that we will be sending along the first pistachios from the 2012 harvest. We got just enough back from the processor to send everyone a half pound.

Thanks,

Pablito

Give the Gift of Good Food

Your chance to send a friend or loved one a TFF holiday gift basket is gone...we will be shipping the baskets out in the next day or two. However, you still have a chance to get them a gift certificate good towards a CSA subscription. Go to your account for more details.

5 lb. boxes of Mandarins also make good last minute gifts, and are small enough that you can easily fit one or two in a suitcase. You still have a few days to order the mandarins on the web store for next week's delivery.

The Wonderful World of Brassicas

Brassicas, crucifers, cole crops...these are all names for the plant family which provides human beings with so many different food items. Broccoli and cauliflower produce edible flower stems. Cabbage and brussel sprouts make tightly packed and blanched masses of leaves. Kolhrabi has a large and edible stem; arugula, Kale and collard greens are grown for their leaves; and Bok Choy both. Mustard and Canola produce edible seeds and oil seeds, respectively.

Cole crops love the climate of the Central Valley from Labor Day until Easter. They tolerate hot weather when they are young and cold weather when they get bigger, which makes them a perfect fit for us to plant in the fall and harvest until spring.

Another reason that brassicas grow well here in the winter is that they are essentially waterproof. The waxy coating on the leaves sheds water down into the gutter-shaped stems, which let the water run down towards the soil. Long periods of rain can damage the head of a broccoli or cauliflower plant, but the leaves will be fine.

The leaves of broccoli and cauliflower are very similar to Collard Greens, edible and quite tasty. Yet humans, in our strange way, have decided that they should always be removed from the vegetable. Meanwhile, fields of Collard Greens are grown separately for their leaves. You will occasionally find a few broccoli or cauliflower leaves attached to the heads we send you -- mostly to protect them. But don't be scared to throw them into the pan too.

Finally, let's not forget Broccoli stalks -- my favorite part of the vegetable. Peeled and sliced, they can be eaten raw or cooked. They have a texture similar to zucchini (and identical to Kolrabi, if you've ever eaten it) but crunchier with a mild broccoli flavor.

There's one more positive I'll mention about TFF's winter brassica season: this vegetable family is loaded with vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants and other compounds that keep you healthy during this immuno-challenging time of year. So eat 'em up and keep those flus and colds at bay.

Recipe: Pan Fried Tofu and Roasted Broccoli with Spicy Mandarin Sauce
You can cook the broccoli in the wok (separately from the tofu) but it won't be the same. You can also use chicken instead of tofu.

Heat the oven to 425.

Cut 1 lb. firm tofu into not-too-small cubes. Toss them with 1 t. spicy sesame oil and 1 T. soy sauce. Let sit 10 minutes.

Remove the zest from 2 mandarins and reserve it, then juice them. Combine the juice and zest in a small pan with 2 T. soy sauce. Add 1 T. minced fresh ginger, 1 T. minced garlic, 1 t. sugar, and 1/4 t. hot pepper flakes. Simmer for 15 minutes. The sauce should thicken a bit.

Cut 1 lb. broccoli into florets. Peel the stems and cut into bite-sized pieces. Toss with 1 T. olive oil and salt.

Roast in the oven, stirring 3-4 times, until the broccoli is browned on the edges.

Meanwhile, fry the tofu in a wok with 2 T. canola oil until it is browned on all sides.

Add the broccoli to the wok along with half the mandarin sauce and stir for just a minute or so to combine. Taste and add more sauce if needed.

Recipe: Massaged Kale Salad
Curly Kale soaks up the lemony dressing, but it's best to let it soak for a while and mash the leaves with a wooden spoon.

Wash 1 bunch of curly kale and remove the tough stems. Cut into small pieces or shred. The smaller the pieces the better they will soak up the dressing.

Combine the juice of 1/2 a lemon with 2 T. olive oil and salt with the kale. Massage with your hands or mash with a wooden spoon. Allow to sit 15 minutes or up to an hour, stirring/smashing a few more times.

Thinly slice 1 apple. Grate 2-3 carrots. Toss together with more lemon juice.

Toss the apple/carrot mixture with the kale and drizzle with another 1-2 T. olive oil and lots of black pepper. Season with more salt to taste.

Top with toasted pumpkin or sesame seeds.

For a more complete meal, combine the salad with cooked bulgar wheat or quinoa and crumbled feta cheese.