| What's Growing This Week: | |
Asparagus(All) - %
Minneola Tangelos (All)
Leeks (All)
Sweet Potatoes (all)
Cauliflower (all)
Spinach (All)
Pink Lady Apples (All) --- #
Green Garlic (M,L)
Carrots (M,L)
Red Kale (L) Broccoli (L) # -- Apples come from CCOF Certified Organic Cuyama Valley Orchards % -- Asparagus comes from CCOF certified Jim and Deborah Durst 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 Navels
Mandarin season is over, but we have bulk Navel oranges available in 6 1/2 lb. boxes 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.
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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!
Happy First Day of Spring! It seems a bit of a formality this year, since it's been warm and sunny for two months now. But you will notice a distinct difference in your boxes today. Generally we like to roll out new seasonal items one at a time, but this week we have three (four for Large boxes) -- just as I predicted last week.
I spent some time last week looking back at our farm records. We've been keeping planting logs at Terra Firma since the early 1990s. But starting in 2007 I added basic weather observations that make them a more useful source of historical information.
We have been in a generally cold and wet cycle at least since fall of 2009, especially in the spring, which some meteorologists say is a regularly occurring pattern that will last ten years. As a result we have pushed our planting dates for summer crops back a bit while extending our spring season for some cool weather crops.
On our farm, 2013 seems completely different. For example, we already have a solid crop on our apricot trees and so does everyone else in the area. This hasn't happened since 2008. Even last year, when we had a bumper crop of peaches and other fruit, the apricots mostly sat it out.
By all indications, the large pool of cold water off the California coast that caused the cooler weather the last four years is still there. Looking back at the summers of '07 and '08, they were pretty brutal. It was 110 degrees here on June 13th, 2007, and July of 2008 we had 21 consecutive days over 100. Pretty brutal for working. But our summer crops loved it -- those were our two best years in business. In contrast, cool and wet 2011 was our worst year ever.
If spring of 2013 is anything like the winter, it will be a hot and dry one, and we'll be harvesting our summer crops beginning in May and June like we used to back before 2009. The tomatoes, summer squash, and green beans we've planted are up and running.
If it cools down and gets rainy for a month, we'll be back to the pattern of the last four years. It'll be a long season of asparagus and strawberries and summer crops will arrive later than we like. But at least we'll have a decent crop of apricots.
Thanks,
Pablito
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In Your Boxes
Asparagus season starts today for everyone. For the next six to eight weeks, you'll get at least one bunch every week, and Medium and especially Large boxes will sometimes get double bunches. Due to soil born diseases in our fields, we can't grow our own asparagus, so we get it from other organic growers in Yolo County who don't have the same problem we do. This week the asparagus comes from Jim and Deborah Durst in Esparto, 15 miles north of us. You should always soak your asparagus before preparing, as it grows up through the soil and can collect silt in the crevices. Asparagus also needs to have the tough bottoms removed by snapping or cutting them off. You can also peel the bottoms. Minneola Tangelos are a spring-ripening citrus with an intense flavor and lots of juice. While storms in January and February normally knock much of our crop on the ground before they are ripe, the calm, dry weather means we have quite a bit of fruit on the trees. Green Garlic is another of our primary spring crops with a relatively short season. These are whole garlic plants that would eventually mature and develop the heads we harvest and dry. We plant an extra garlic field every year, spaced closer to together, specifically to harvest for this purpose. Green garlic can be used raw or cooked, and has its own unique garlickyness. Some people find it milder than bulb garlic; others think it is spicier. The entire plant that you receive is edible, aside from any roots that may still be attached and any dried or yellow ends of the leaves. The leaves are similar in flavor to chives, if tougher in texture, and can be used the same way, but should be minced finely if not cooked. I find that tablespoon of green garlic is equivalent to a teaspoon of bulb garlic, but you may disagree. Small boxes will get green garlic next week. |
Recipe: Roasted Asparagus with Green Garlic and Tangelo Juice
I always liked asparagus. It wasn't until the first time I had it grilled that I started to love it. Roasting it achieves a similar end -- the spears are caramelized but keep some of their crunchy texture.
Trim one bunch of asparagus and soak the spears. Drain and allow to dry. Cut the asparagus in 2 inch pieces and slice any pieces thicker than your pinkie in half lengthwise.
Toss the asparagus with 1 T. olive oil, salt, and pepper and arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet.
Roast at 400 degrees until the asparagus begins to brown.
Meanwhile, mince green garlic to make 2 T. (whites or leaves). Remove the zest from 1 small tangelo and then mince it. Juice the tangelo.
Toss the asparagus with the garlic, juice and zest. Return to the oven to cook for another 3-5 minutes, until the garlic is tender.
Note: If you want to do this on the grill, marinate the asparagus for an hour with the tangelo juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Then cook the marinade with the zest and garlic in a saucepan for 10 minutes and then drizzle over the spears after they are grilled.
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