| What's Growing This Week: | |
Tomatoes (All)
Peaches (All)
Sweet Corn (All)
Onions (All)
Melon (All)
Cucumber (All)
Carrots (All)
Seedless Grapes (M,L)
Zucchini (M,L)
Figs (L)
Shishito Peppers (L)
Items may be substituted without notice.
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Bulk Items
Peaches (seconds) and Tomatoes 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!
It's been a long dry season this year; the second year in a row with below average rainfall. So I wasn't shocked to hear discussion at a local watering hole recently turn to talk of wells in the area running dry. I was a bit surprised to hear it this early in the year though -- it's not even fall yet and we have several months to go before it rains enough to allow people to turn their pumps off.
As I mention frequently in the newsletter, Terra Firm irrigates most of our crops with one of the most sustainable water supplies in California: local water from Lake Berryessa delivered via Putah Creek and the Solano Irrigation District. Even after two dry years, the Lake is still mostly full and there is no sign that water deliveries will be restricted next year even if the drought continues. In other parts of California, however, the picture is far bleaker.
Nonetheless, we do rely on groundwater pumping for part of our crops, especially citrus. All of our oranges and grapefruit come from small orchards that are irrigated using wells. One of those wells -- the one in our Minneola Tangelo orchard -- went dry this last week. The owners will have to drill a new, deeper well on their property, but it might not be finished in time to save this year's crop of oranges.
Irrigation is a key component of growing summer crops in our area. But as we ramp up to begin planting for fall and winter, I always start looking for long term forecasts. Ideally, we prefer to turn the pumps off completely by Thanksgiving and let Mother Nature irrigate our greens, broccoli, leeks, carrots and other cool season crops. Clouds, fog and rain -- while dreary for humans -- are the best growing environment for these vegetables. They also allow the soil to rehydrate and groundwater tables to recover.
So I was cautiously optimistic today to see a long-term forecast for a mild, wet winter for California with some good soaking storms and plenty of snow. Historical statistics back this up, as it is extremely rare to have three dry winters in a row. So even if 2012 and 2013 end up being the first two years of a ten year drought, 2014 will almost certainly be wetter. Let's hope so.
Thanks,
Pablito
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In Your Boxes
Our Sweet Peppers are taking a short hiatus as one planting is finished for the season and the second one is just beginning to ripen.
Meanwhile , Shishito Peppers are in the Large boxes today. You might remember these from last year -- they are small dark green peppers that are generally cooked whole, fried in olive oil with salt and served on their own. They are closely related to Padron peppers, but are never spicy as the Padrons often are. We do not put hot peppers of any type in your CSA boxes. Unfortunately, we had a major seed problem with the Shishitos this year, leaving us with just a small faction of the plants we had hoped. As a result, it is unlikely that we will ever have enough of this specialty item to include it in either the Small or Medium boxes. |
Terra Firma in the house at Burning Man
If you're headed to the Nevada desert at the end of August this year, you might be interested to hear that you can get your TFF produce on the Playa while you are there. None of us from the farm will attending the annual event; we're too busy growing the stuff. But for the third year in a row, my brother Mark will be buying a truckload of melons, watermelons, tomatoes, cucumbers and other produce up to the event and giving it away. A whole camp has sprung up around the concept, which he calls WMICC: Organic Produce on the Playa since 2011. If you're interested in participating, donating or just dropping by the stand, you can find more info on Facebook here. |
Recipe: Black Bean Soup with Summer Veggies
Well, it's soup weather even in the Sacramento Valley this week, so I know it must be even colder in the Bay Area. Here's a filling and rich vegan soup to warm you up. I use my slow cooker to cook beans, soaking them overnight and then leaving them on the low setting all day. They are done when I get home from work with no risk of burning.
Soak 1 1/2 C. black beans overnight. Drain, rinse and cook until tender in plenty of salted water.
Heat 3 T. olive oil in a soup pot and add 2 C. chopped onions. Saute until tender, then add 1 T. cumin powder and cook another 5 minutes. Add 3 minced cloves of garlic and a dash of crushed red pepper.
Dice 2 lbs. of tomatoes and add to the pot. Simmer for 10 minutes, until they have completely disintegrated.
Shuck 2-3 ears of corn and cut the kernels off the cob. Add to the tomatoes and cook 5 minutes.
Using a slotted spoon, add the beans to the pot. Add 2 Cups of the bean broth and bring to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes.
If you like the soup creamy, puree half of it and return to the pot. If you like it brothier, you can add more broth instead.
Season the soup with salt, lots of black pepper, and lime juice or red wine vinegar.
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