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 2014

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

If you got woken up on Saturday night by the 6.0 Earthquake in Napa, you might have thought something along the lines of "Drop, cover and hold."

If you live in Winters, California though, your first thought was likely "The dam!", quickly followed by "where is the nearest tall tree I can climb."

The timing of the quake on Saturday was a bit of a coincidence for the Winters community. You see, we hold an Earthquake Festival every year to commemorate the anniversary of the magnitude 6.6 quake that leveled our town in 1892. The festival was last Friday night, even though the quake itself was in April.

Many things have changed in Winters since 1892. But arguably one of the biggest is the construction of the Monticello Dam, 10 miles upstream from our town on Putah Creek, in the 1950s. The dam, which created 50 mile long, 300 foot-plus deep Lake Berryessa, was built directly atop the Green Valley fault.

If a giant earthquake were to strike along that fault and cause the dam to break, folks in Winters would have just a few minutes to reach high ground. No one knows exactly how deep the water would only be when it hit our town, but it would be moving pretty fast and carrying alot of larger objects with it. Houses would get pushed off their foundations and cars would float down the streets. Of course, a quake big enough to crumble the dam would probably already have flattened the town, just like the last time. I've heard old-timers say that the flood would just be insult on top of injury.

Closer to the dam, however, the water would be much deeper. The ranch where we plant our strawberries each year, for example, is just 5 miles from the dam and right below the narrow canyon leading down from it. Water there would be much, much deeper and moving much faster. It would scour the entire landscape, uprooting trees, washing away buildings and probably drowning anyone in the area. And it would arrive just minutes after the dam broke.

On a daily basis, the Monticello Dam is a hugely positive influence on our community, providing us with recreation and the business it brings in as well as abundant irrigation water. But if and when that giant earthquake hits, well...we just try not to think about it.

As it was, the 6.0 quake on Sunday shook us out of bed and broke a few dishes, but nothing more. The Bureau of Reclamation did a full inspection of the dam on Sunday and concluded that it had survived the quake with zero damage. If another 6.6 quake like the one in 1892 hit, though...who knows.

Our hearts go out to the folks in Napa whose houses shifted off their foundations and the winemakers whose vintages were destroyed. But there's no escaping what we were really thinking on Sunday morning: Better there than here.

Thanks,

Pablito

Produce 101

We could grow Eggplant at Terra Firma, but we don't -- for a number of reasons. Primary among them is simply that it isn't that popular. I personally love it, but many people don't.

If you are one of the people that does love eggplant, though, this is your lucky week. Our friends and neighbors up the road at Riverdog Farm have an abundant crop right now and offered to share it with us so we are sending some along. It may pop up in your boxes once or twice more before the season ends.

And if you are someone who doesn't love eggplant, you may want to try the recipe below anyway. If you don't want to even try it, then you might offer your eggplant to another subscriber at your drop site -- I'm sure the eggplant lovers would happily trade you another item or maybe even buy it.

After taking a month long summer vacation, Basil is back in your boxes today. It will show up in your boxes every two weeks or so until cold weather arrives.

The Peaches in your boxes today are likely the last of the season. The variety -- called Fairtime -- is quite firm when ripe, with a very mild flavor. They may take several days to soften up on your kitchen counter, but they are sweet and juicy even when fairly hard.

Recipe: Roasted Eggplant Salad Thai Style

Roasting eggplant in the oven brings out its delicate flavor while giving it a more interesting texture than simply sauteing it.

Cut 1 eggplant lengthwise in 1/2" thick slices. On a plate, mix together 1 T. soy sauce and 1 t. olive or sesame oil. Brush the slices with the mixture and place them on a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees until the eggplant begins to brown on the bottom, then flip to brown the other side. (You can also grill them on the bbq).

Dice 1 lb. of tomatoes and toss in a bowl with salt.

Core and thinly slice 2-3 sweet peppers in rounds. Toss with the tomatoes and add the juice of 1 lime and 1 T. Thai fish sauce (or soy sauce). Add chile pepper flakes to taste if you like.

Remove the leaves from 1 bunch of basil and tear the big ones into pieces. Toss with the tomatoes.

In a small pan, toast 1/2 C. of almonds or peanuts until lightly browned. Chop roughly.

Mince 2 cloves of garlic and toast in the pan over low heat in 1 T. olive oil. Don't let the garlic burn.

When the eggplant is cooked, allow it to cool for 10 minutes, then cut into large cubes. Toss with the tomato mixture. Season with more lime juice and fish sauce/soy sauce. Top with the toasted nuts and garlic.

Serve the salad with Thai sticky rice or regular cooked rice or quinoa.