| What's Growing This Week: | |
Tomatoes (All)
Sweet Peppers (All)
Peaches (All)
Red Onions (All)
Melon (All)
Potatoes (All)
Cucumber (S,L)
Summer Squash (S,L)
Gold Beets (M,L)
Tomatillos (L)
Items may be substituted without notice.
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Bulk Items
Ruby Red Grapefruit and Peaches (seconds) are 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!
Sweet Bell Peppers are one the most difficult vegetables to grow organically, especially in the Central Valley of California. The standard supermarket bell pepper is dark green, almost black, while it is ripening. Meanwhile, the plants generally make excessive amounts of fruit, and not enough leaves to shade them. Any part of the pepper sticking out from under the leaves is vulnerable to sunburn, which renders them useless. Conventional farmers generally use a tremendous amount of fertilizer to combat this problem by pushing the plant to make more foliage, but still lose lots of peppers. On our farm, we used to compost four out of five peppers.
Then we discovered Hungarian peppers. These are varieties that are pale yellow before they ripen. They don't get as hot in the sun, and so are less likely to sunburn. They ripen first to a pale orange color, and finally to red. We grow two varieties. Gypsy are smaller, pointed peppers that resemble certain types of hot peppers. Flamingos look more like a bell pepper, although not quite as square. Both are milder than green bell peppers when unripe (yellow), and sweeten up just like bells once they turn color.
But even the Gypsys and Flamingos will sunburn if it gets hot enough. So for several years now, we have planted our peppers as late as possible, hoping to avoid the intense sun of mid-summer on the ripening fruit. Unfortunately this decision also meant not having any peppers until almost Labor Day some years. So last year we tried a small experiment. We planted a few beds of peppers in between rows of staked and trellised tomatoes. By the time the peppers began to ripen, the tomato plants were 5 feet tall, effectively protecting them from the sun for most of the day -- especially during the afternoon. The experiment was a success. We were harvesting ripe peppers by mid-July.
This year we expanded the early pepper field, tweaking a few details, and it looks even better. In fact ,there was so much fruit on the plants that we harvested some of them unripe -- to lighten the load -- and sent them along to you a few weeks back. But the real test of our experiment came last week, when it was over 100 degrees for 6 days straight. The "walls" of tomato plants did their job, protecting the peppers from the sun. As a result, this week we can finally share the success with you, putting a few orange-ripe peppers in each of your boxes. We expect this planting to continue producing until the later field comes into production in August.
Enjoy!
Thanks,
Pablito
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In Your Boxes
Almost anything you can do with a bell pepper, you can do just as well with a Gypsy or Flamingo.
 | | Flamingo Peppers |
The walls are a little thinner, so aren't quite as crunchy raw, but they cook quicker. Be sure to store in a plastic bag in the fridge or they will shrivel up. Beets make a nice addition to any summer salad, whether cooked or raw. But it is a bit of a bummer to color your Caprese salad purple. We have the answer to this problem: Gold Beets, in your boxes today. They have some skin blemishes that are easily removed by peeling before or after you cook them. See the recipe below if you need inspiration. We are having a gap between Sweet Corn plantings right now but it will be back next week and for the rest of the month. Melons in today's boxes are one of two types. Orange Honeydew are pale green with a smooth rind and an orange flesh. Sharlyn are oval with a netted rind and a pale pink flesh. These melons may need to ripen for a day or two before eating -- leave them at room temperature until their aroma perfumes your kitchen. At this point, put them in the fridge. Once a melon is cut, it also needs to be refrigerated and the cut part covered with plastic. To make your melon easier to eat, slice the whole thing up once it's ripe and cut into chunks. Store in a plastic container. Tomatillos were a new crop for us last year and we've planted them again this year. We won't be putting them in your boxes every week or anything, but you will see them once or twice (probably more if you get a Large box). They are most commonly used in green salsa, roasted or grilled first and then pureed with lime juice, peppers, and cilantro. They have the texture of tomatoes with a much tangier flavor. |
Recipe: Roasted Beet & Tomato Salad with Homemade Pickled Onions
Wrap 3-4 Gold beets in foil and roast at 425 until tender, about an hour. Peel and cut into thin slices.
While the beets are cooking, simmer 1 1/4 C. cider vinegar, 6 T. water, 1 T. mustard seed, 1 t. cumin seed, and 1 t.whole allspice berries with 1 t. sugar for 15 minutes. Add 2 small red onions, cut into 1/2" thick wedges and cook for 2 minutes. Use sieve to drain the onions and spices (reserving the liquid), then discard the spices.
Cut thick slices of 2-3 tomatoes and sprinkle with salt and olive oil. Toss with the beets and onions plus pickling liquid to taste.
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