Right now you can get an 8 lb. box of Peaches or 12 lb. box of Tomatoes 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:

$16 Small
$27 Medium
$36 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.

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

Important: Please note that your CSA box is larger this week. We moved all the boxes up a size to accomodate the first watermelons of the year. Check the label before taking a box!

We have grown and packed you a true Independence Day box this week, complete with our first Watermelons and plenty of Sweet Corn.

The corn in your boxes today was planted back in mid-April, and the watermelon just a couple of weeks later. Which gets me to thinking once again about traditional holiday foods and their authenticity.

There aren't that many places in the U.S. where you can plant warm weather crops in April, and even fewer where they will be ready by July 4th. Florida and California would be the main ones. In many other states, the ground is still partially frozen in early April and frost -- which kills both corn and watermelons -- is common into May. So it's a pretty safe bet that 4th of July picnics and barbeques prior to the advent of refrigerated transportation did not include either corn on the cob or slices of juicy watermelon.

I'm betting that the vegetable selection at most Independence Day celebrations in the 17, 18 and early 1900s was likely limited to coleslaw and potato salad. Maybe some green beans.

So, was there a concerted marketing campaign by sweet corn and watermelon growers in California and the Deep South? Slogans like "No July 4th picnic is complete without a juicy red watermelon" and organized marketing activities like seed spitting contests or greased watermelon relay-races. Or was it just truckloads of them showing up at grocery stores just in time for holiday promotional sales?

Nowadays the U.S. Department of Agriculture actually funds efforts like these by taxing growers of certain products to pay for marketing and advertising ala "Got Milk?", or studies of healthy benefits of eating nuts.

But in the 1940s and 50s, there wasn't that much exciting local produce in the markets in the Midwest or Northeast in early summer. There certainly weren't any mangoes from the Phillipines or tomatoes from Mexico. So when the first watermelons and sweet corn showed up just before July 4th, everyone around the country was probably excited. Even if all that produce was coming from far away California or Florida, it was still American produce for America's birthday celebration. And both are perfect foods for eating outdoors.

Whatever you are doing this holiday week and whereever you are doing it, we wish you a safe and happy Fourth of July. And if you are here and getting your box, enjoy the watermelon, sweet corn and other summer goodies.

Thanks,

Pablito

Ripening Tips

It just so happens that Tomatoes and Peaches ripen under the same conditions and in more or less the same way. Here is the drill:
1) Do not refrigerate
2) Store in a warm but well-ventilated place (not a closet)
3) Remove them from the bag. A wire basket or colander is the ideal place to keep them. If you put them in a bowl, don't stack too high.
4) Check them individually every day. They may not all ripen the same day.
5) In 1-3 days, they will be ready to eat. Press gently with one finger on the bottom of the fruit. If it gives slightly, it is ready to eat!
6) If you have a good sense of smell, you can use your nose instead of your finger to test ripeness.

This Week's Boxes

As always, we grow old-fashioned Watermelons with seeds in them. This week the melons are red-fleshed but we also have plenty of yellow watermelons planted this year and you will get one in a few weeks.

Caterpillars have discovered our Sweet Corn field, as they always do, and most of your ears will have one or more in it. Cutting off the tip of the corn when you get it will remove the critter and the area it has damaged. We do not issue credits for caterpillars in corn.

Two Tomato varieties are particularly abundant in our field rigth now, and you may get some of either (or both) this week: Lemon Boy and Pink Beauty. These are both juicy salad tomatoes. The first is bright yellow and slightly tangy. The second is pinkish red with a rich, mild flavor.

Recipe: Roasted Green Bean Salad
Most bean salads have you parboil the beans first, for this one they are oven-roasted. The biggest challenge with this recipe is not eating all the beans straight from the oven. While they are tasty that way, they are even better once combined with tangy tomato vinagrette.

Trim the stems off 1/2 lb. green beans. Cut them into 2 or 3 pieces. Toss with 1 T. olive oil and sprinkle with salt.

Place in a single layer on a cookie sheet -- do not pile the beans atop each other or they will steam instead of roasting. Roast at 425 degrees in the oven, turning once or twice.

Mince 2 cloves or more of garlic. Dice 2 or 3 tomatoes and toss in a bowl with salt. Allow to sit for 10 minutes, then add 1 T. olive oil.

When the green beans are wilted and beginning to brown, add the garlic to the pan and stir to combine. Return the pan to the oven and cook another 2-3 minutes. Don't let the garlic burn.

Transfer the hot green beans immediately to the bowl with the tomatoes and toss well. Taste and add a splash of red wine vinegar to to taste.