| What's Growing This Week: | |
Summer Squash(All)
Strawberries (All)
Red Grapefruit (All)
Cilantro (all)
Arugula (All)
Snap Peas (All)
Green Garlic (All)
Shelling Peas (M,L)
Cherries (M,L)
Spinach (M,L)
Asparagus (L)
Spring Onions (L)
Items may be substituted without notice.
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Bulk Items
Half flats (6 baskets) of berries are available for delivery with your regular CSA box.
You can order two ways:
1) subscribe to our berry season and get 1 or more half-flats each week, or
2) Place a one-time order whenever you feel the berry need. The berries will be there the next time you pick up your CSA box.
Ruby Red Grapefruit is also available in bulk.
To sign up, log in to your account and go to the Web Store.
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Contact Us:
| terrafirmafarm.com
csa@terrafirmafarm.com
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| CSA Rates 2013 | 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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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!
I was talking on Sunday to a friend of mine who has a very large farm of mostly conventional crops. "Everyone's farming organically this year" he told me laughing. We were discussing the seemingly endless fierce wind that has plagued our area since late March.
The strong wind has made it pointless to spray crops -- illegal, actually. Even a slight breeze can cause drift away from the target crop and onto another one, but the wind we've been having would blow the spray for a mile. Unfortunately, it also blows in pests and diseases from other farms. So on the few days that the wind has stopped, we and every other farmer in the area have been out spraying. Of course all of our sprays are organically approved.
Strong wind makes even the simplest task more difficult, as anyone who has ever driven across the Bay Bridge on a blustery night knows. There are many tasks that we simply can't do on the farm if the wind is blowing hard enough knock a hat off your head. Spinach and arugula leaves blow away as you cut them. Tender transplants wilt and dry just minutes after being planting.
Irrigation water from sprinklers simply blows away, most of it evaporating into the dry air without ever reaching the plants that so desperately need it. We are watering as much of the farm as possible right now with drip and furrow irrigation, neither of which sprays the water into the air.
Tillage -- preparing the soil for planting -- is one of the biggest tasks in the spring, for us and most other farms in the state. We don't like to till if it's windy enough to blow soil into the air and off the farm. But it's been unavoidable this year; there's simply too much work to get done. Yesterday winds gusting to 45 mph blew so much dust into Sacramento that it obscured visibility on the interstate.
Luckily for the TFF crew, much of the day's work right now is in the two places probably best protected from the wind on our farm: the strawberry field and the cherry orchard. Even so, you might need to rinse a light coating of dust off those items, which we don't wash here on the farm, when you get them home.
Thanks,
Pablito
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In Your Boxes
With lots of spring fruits and vegetables beating down the door, we left the asparagus out this week for all except the large boxes. I know some folks will miss it while others have had their fill for a while. Cherry harvest has started in earnest thanks to several days of summer weather over the weekend, and Medium boxes get some this week in place of double Strawberries -- which are not exactly happy about the heat. Berry-loving subscribers can still get extra berries in bulk if one basket in your boxes is not enough. Small boxes will get cherries next week. If you love Grapefruit, you are happy to see the Ruby Reds in today's boxes. We try our best not to overload everyone else with this particular citrus fruit. Which is why we also have bulk grapefruit available for the folks who just can't get enough. Warm sunny weather this year really pushed our Summer Squash along -- first in the greenhouse, and then in the field. We've had squash in the boxes by late April other years, but not very often. The Cilantro in your boxes is a nice match for the squash and peas, maybe in an Indian or Thai curry. If you're one of those people who wishes it was parsley instead, I want you to know that the parsley I planted back in January is still not big enough to harvest. The cilantro was planted in early March. |
Size Up For Spring
Feeling like your box is a little light right now? Blowing through your berries, cherries, peas and greens? Many of our spring crops are high value items that take lots of time and energy to harvest, but not much time or energy to prepare and eat. We offer a few easy ways for you to get more good healthy food from the farm. 1) Size up your box. You can do this for a single week, if you like. Large boxes this week got double peas and berries as well as the additional items you see on the list. Small boxes next week will be getting cherries, but not berries -- Medium boxes will get both. Going up one box size costs $10. And you can switch back down any time. 2) Buy Bulk Items. We currently are offering half-flats of strawberries for delivery every week as well as 10 lb. boxes of Ruby Red Grapefruit. You can buy these items on a weekly basis, or set up a seasonal subscription. And if there is an item you use lots of and would like to get in bulk, just let us know via email. |
Recipe: Pea and Squash Masala Curry
Cilantro is most often used raw in salads or salsa, or added to dishes after they are done cooking. But in Indian cuisine it is often cooked with spices to make a curry sauce as in this recipe.
In a spice grinder or mortar and pestle, grind 1 tsp. fennel seeds, 1/4 t. coriander seeds, and 1/2 t. cumin seeds. Add to a food processor with 1 chopped spring onion, 3 T. minced green garlic, 1 C. packed cilantro leaves, and 1 minced green chile (optional). Puree.
Heat 2 T. canola oil in a large skillet. When it is hot, add the pureed mixture. Cook for 10 minutes, then add 1 C. diced canned tomatoes, 1/2 t. each garam masala and turmeric powder. Season with salt and additional hot pepper if you like.
Shell 1/2 lb. English peas. Trim 1 C. snap peas and cut in 2 or 3 pieces. Trim 2-3 summer squash and cut into thin half rounds (You can slice them thicker but they will need to cook longer).
Wash spinach leaves and chop 2 C.
Add the squash to the pan and stir to combine. Add both types of peas and cook until they are just tender. Add the spinach, stir into the curry and turn off the heat. If you want to thicken the sauce, add a few tablespoons of cream, coconut milk or almond milk.
Garnish with more cilantro, chopped.
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