Right now you can get a half flat of Strawberries (6 pints) or an 8 lb. box of Peaches delivered with your CSA box.

Order one week at a time, or subscribe for the season. Go to the Web Store section of your TFF account to sign up.

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

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

I was completely shocked yesterday when I came inside for a drink of water and checked the weather map at Weather Underground. Not at how warm it was here on the farm -- 96 degrees is a hot day for May, but not unusual and certainly not a record. What shocked me was that it was the same temperature in downtown San Francisco as it was here.

Bay Area folks don't need me to tell you that yesterday (Tuesday) broke records all across the region. In fact, according to the National Weather Service, it broke the high temperature record at all 17 sites they keep track of down there. And today is supposed to be a repeat.

Planning for heat around here is almost part of our DNA. Since last Monday we have started work at 6 a.m. to take advantage of the few hours of cool in the morning. Right now we still have half a dozen crops that do not like heat: strawberries, spinach, lettuce, and other leafy greens. We need to get those harvested, packed, and into the cooler before it gets to be much over 80 degrees. In other words, it's a race against the clock.

The worst late spring heatwaves we have around here can take us up well above 100 degrees, and often involve hot wind. On days like those, it can be 80 degrees at 7 a.m. and we are forced to cancel harvest of delicate items completely. The current "warm spell" as forecasters in Sacramento are calling it isn't so bad.

However, heatwaves like this one present another problem for us that is completely outside our control. We keep Terra Firma produce cool every minute until it is delivered -- even the building where we pack your boxes is air conditioned, and our trucks are refrigerated. But we rely on Mother Nature and your fabulous Bay Area breezes to keep it cool and fresh once we drop your boxes off. The timing of this spring heatwave could not be worse, falling as it does on both of our delivery days down there.

Your pre-cooled CSA boxes will stay fresh for a few hours after delivered today and tomorrow. But the sooner you pick them up and get the contents in the fridge, the better. Make sure to open any plastic bags or poke holes in them before doing so though, to release the warmer air inside. It's probably also a good idea to eat or prepare your fruits and veggies in a couple of days.

If you pick up your box on Wedsnesday, you have already gotten an email reminding you to pick up your box in a timely fashion. We will also send one out tomorrow. I apologize if I am being repetitive.

Stay cool today and tomorrow, relief is coming on Friday. Making sure you get the highest quality produce is our highest priority.

Thanks,

Pablito

This week's Boxes

We have a true bumper crop of Peaches and Nectarines this year, and there are several different varieties of fruit ripening in our summer fruit orchard right now: 3 types of Nectarines, 2 of yellow Peaches, and the white-fleshed Donut peaches. So there is a bag of fruit in everyone's box today with a mixture of fruit (not necessarily all the different ones though). You will notice that most of them are fairly small; this is the nature of early season fruit.

Our dilemma in picking peaches is this: they have to be ripe, but not so ripe that they are damaged when we pack them in your boxes. Our goal is to pick them one day before they soften enough to eat. That way, when you get them home and leave them sitting out for a night they will be ready to eat the next day. If you live in a particularly chilly part of San Francisco, it may take two nights.

Peaches are truly ready to eat when they give just slightly to the touch. Early season peaches and nectarines don't have quite as full a flavor as later ones, but we're not expecting any complaints.

Beginning next week, get bulk peaches in 8 lb. boxes delivered alongside your CSA box. You can order by the week, or set up a regular weekly delivery, at the Web Store.

Chioggia Beets with their pretty green tops are back in your boxes today. I recently discovered that when sliced and roasted, the Chioggias taste remarkably similar to dried strawberries. I tossed them with lime juice and chile powder and tossed them with a salad. There is another beet recipe below that doesn't involve cooking that might be more appealing this week.

Alongside the bag of baby Spinach in your boxes today, Medium and Large subscribers will find a few small heads of Lettuce. In a few weeks we will have full sized heads. These are new varieties that produce leaves that are smaller and easier to wash at home.

Recipe: Marinated Raw Beet Salad
I don't usually do salad recipes two weeks in a row, but I'm guessing most people won't feel like turning on the stove or oven tonight. You can grate the beets for this recipe, but with the bulls-eye Chioggias in your boxes today, paper thin slices are prettier. It's also much less messy cutting them than the red ones.

Cut 2-3 Chioggia beets in half from top to bottom. Place the cut side down and use a very sharp knife to cut them into very thin half rounds.

Whisk together 5 T. fresh orange juice, 3 T. lemon juice, and 2 T. olive oil with salt and pepper. Add 2 T. of fresh minced parsley, mint or cilantro. Toss the marinade with the beets and allow to sit for several hours or overnight in the fridge.

Before serving, grate 1-2 carrots and toss with the beets. Wash and rinse the leaves of 1 head of lettuce. Dress them with the remaining marinade then serve the beets on a bed of leaves.