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

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

Last week was one of the chilliest weeks we've had in 2014, and April ended up being rainier than December, January and February combined. But summer is coming soon. Really soon.

A glance at the box list today and you will see that we started picking summer squash today, just enough for the Large boxes. But it's going to get hot this week here at the farm, and by next week everyone will get some.

And it's not just squash. I have already eaten several handfuls of cherry tomatoes in the field. You have to walk through half the field to get a whole basket, but there are many green fruit now that will be ripening soon. By mid-May there will be plenty.

Our peach orchard started blooming almost two weeks earlier than it ever has this spring, so I wasn't too surprised to see fruit on the earliest ripening trees already turning orange. Yes, you read right. We will have peaches in a couple of weeks.

This will be second year in a row that our summer crops will really get going in May. I would love to take credit, but as usual, it's mostly about the weather. Drought years tend to be warm and, uh, sunny. And the more sunshine, the faster our crops grow.

Warm dry weather during bloom also means we have a decent crop of Apricots on the trees, although they won't ripen until late May at the earliest. Apricots hate cold, wet weather and we often have few or none in years when it rains on the blossoms.

Not all the plants love the warm weather this year though. Cherries actually prefer colder climates like the upper Midwest and Washington state. Winters in California aren't always cold enough to send them into full dormancy and guarantee a healthy bloom in the spring. This year was off the charts warm, one of the warmest winters recorded. As a result, the cherry bloom was weak and sporadic. Our trees have almost no fruit on them, and neighboring orchards are the same. Birds and bugs will likely eat or damage all of them. Statewide predictions are for a cherry crop of 25% of normal or less.

Ready or not, summer's almost here. May, it's the new June.

Thanks,

Pablito

Reminder: Fuzz on Strawberries

There is no mold on Terra Firma strawberries!
At least not when you get them. The white fuzz on your berries is the aerially born seeds of the giant Cottonwood trees that line the road alongside our berry patch. It falls on the berries and plants and sticks right to the little hairs on the fruit. We can't wash the berries before we send them to you, but it's easy enough for you to wash the fuzz off. And since there is still a coating of dust on all the fruit from the last rainstorm anyway, you should be washing the berries anyway.

This week's Boxes

Medium and Large boxes get double Strawberries this week. If you get a Small box and want more berries, you can either upsize or order berries in bulk.

The 2nd basket of berries this week is a different variety than the first. Chandlers are the melt-in-your mouth berry, Camarosas are larger and firmer. Unlike the Chandlers, the Camarosas will keep in the fridge for several days if stored in a sealed container. So eat the Chandlers first.

This is the final week of Asparagus in your CSA boxes as harvest is wrapping up after almost two months and it's getting hot. Next week you will all see Summer Squash.

You will probably notice that the Green Garlic in your boxes has some pretty big bulbs and is starting to differentiate into cloves. The next time we send you garlic, it will be just heads and they will be beginning to dry and cure.

We have gotten a few requests from Small box subscribers for english peas. We will be sending you some next week. Pea season is still just getting started and should last until early June.

Recipe: Pea and Potato Yogurt Curry
A creamy spring curry.

Heat 1 T. vegetable oil in a heavy bottom pot. Saute 1 1/2 C. chopped spring onion. When it softens add 3 T. minced fresh ginger, 2 t. cumin seeds, 1 t. Madras curry powder, and 1/2 t. turmeric. Add cayenne pepper to taste. Saute until the onions begin to brown.

Dice 1 lb. of potatoes and add to the onions with the juice of 1 lime. Still well to coat.

Add 2 C. plain yogurt and 4 C. vegetable broth to the pot. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 40 minutes, until the potatoes are quite tender.

Meanwhile, shell English peas and trim Snap Peas to make 2 C. Wash 4 C. of spinach and chop roughly.

Add to the pot and stir, then cook until the spinach wilts. Season with salt and pepper and serve with lime wedges and chopped cilantro.