Terra Firma Farm
In This Issue
This Week's Box
Produce 101
Recipe of the week
This Week's Box:

   

Tomatoes (All)

Pistachios (All) 

Seedless Grapes (All)  

Padron Peppers (All)  

Delicata Squash (All)  

Green Beans(All)  

Watermelon (All)

Garlic (All) 

  

Painted Serpent Cukes (M,L)     

Black Seedless Grapes (M,L) 

Sweet Peppers (M,L) 

 

Zucchini (L)  

 

 

Items may be substituted without notice.



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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  
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News From Terra Firma Farm
Community Supported Agriculture
   

It's crunch time at Terra Firma right now.  Despite the unseasonal hot weather we've been having since Labor Day (it was 103 on Friday, for example), we are scrambling to get ready for winter.

That's right.  I said "Winter".  I know that it's officially still summer for another 5 days, but the sun is already getting low in the sky and it's fully dark by eight p.m.

Preparing for winter on our farm involves two primary activities.  The first is planting winter crops.  We have just 6-8 weeks during which we can plant vegetables like carrots, kale, beets, and cabbage.  It's still much too hot in July, but by late September, the days are getting so short that the crops don't reach the critical size before the dark, cold  and wet (we hope) days of winter set in.

Planting winter crops in August and early September is a challenge, mostly due to the hot weather.  Tiny seedlings need water almost daily when it's over 90 degrees.  And unlike, say, carrots, weeds love the heat.  They grow so fast it is tough sometimes to keep them from overrunning the much slower growing vegetables.  Bugs like hot weather too, growing faster and reproducing more frequently.

While we are busy watering and weeding, there's another big job to be done right now:  harvesting our many acres of storage crops.  Winter squash, sweet potatoes, and potatoes that we harvest now will keep through much of  winter and are critical to filling your boxes during that time.  Between Labor Day and the end of this month, we will end up harvesting over a hundreds thousand pounds of these crops.

One storage crop that doesn't make that much work for us is Pistachios.  That's because the crop is shaken from the trees mechanically onto tarps and conveyor belts.  We don't own the expensive harvest equipment, but rather contract it out.  This year's very light crop of nuts took just a day and a half to harvest.

By the end of this month, most of our summer crops will be done for the year and we'll be watching the skies for the rain we hope will come in abundance.  It's been mostly sunny and dry here now for what feels like 9 months, and we're ready for a change.

Thanks,


Pablito
Farm Day:  October 25th
Among the emails we received last week were a few inquiring about the date for this year's Farm Day at Terra Firma.  We have decided to hold the event on Saturday, October 25th, from 2-5 pm.

Tickets will go on sale on September 25th.

This year will feature the usual attractions:  Strawberry picking, Pumpkins, and a farm tour.  We will also have the usual distractions:  live music, amusements for the kids, beer and wine for parents and other adults, and possibly a food vendor.  Details when tickets go on sale.

Produce 101

Speaking of storage crops, the first winter squash of the season is in your boxes today:  Delicata.  I consider them to be "the Gateway Winter Squash", because they are small, easy to cut and don't need to be peeled since the skin is edible.  And while winter squash are usually oven-roasted or cooked in soups, Delicata can also easily be cooked on the grill or even sauteed.

Pistachios are also in your boxes today, for the first time in many months.  These are of course last year's crop, as the new crop is still being processed.  But unlike most other things we grow, nuts keep quite nicely for a year or more as long as they are refrigerated.

Coming soon:  Arugula and Spinach. The first tender greens of fall will be ready in a week or two, weather depending as always.



 
Recipe:  Grilled Delicata Squash with Sauteed Veggies

You can also cook the squash in the oven.

Prepare or heat your bbq grill.

Cut the stem off 1-2 Delicata squash and then cut half lengthwise.  Scoop out the seeds and pulp.  Place the squash face down and slice into half rounds that are thicker than the gaps in your grill so they can't fall through.

In a large bowl, toss the squash with 2 T. olive oil, 1 T. soy sauce, black pepper and a pinch of curry or garam marsala.  When the grill is medium hot, arrange the squash in a single layer.  Turn each slice with a tongs when brown on the bottom and repeat.

At this point you can just eat the squash.  Or,

Trim and cut 1/2 lb. green beans in half.  Saute in 2 T. olive oil in a wok or cast iron skillet.  When they begin to soften, add 2 sweet peppers, peeled, cored and sliced and 2 minced cloves of garlic.  Saute until the peppers are tender.

Toss the squash with the vegetables and season with more soy sauce and the juice of half a lemon.

 
Searchable TFF Recipe Archive

Don't like the sound of this week's recipe?  Looking for a recipe from a year ago or longer? Or maybe you want to see all the TFF recipes using a certain item or items?  Check out our searchable recipe archive at the bottom left corner of the homepage.