Member News

For decades, I have been the sole person at Terra Firma Farm who plants almost a dozen of the crops we grow:  Arugula, Beets, Chard, Carrots, Corn, Lettuce, Peas, Spinach, and Winter Squash.  These are crops that are "direct-seeded", meaning you plant the seeds in the ground rather than starts grown in a nursery -- for those crops, we use "transplanters" that mechanically plant the little plants fed into them by humans.  On our [MORE ...]

Last week the most reliable long-range weather models released their seasonal prediction for the coming winter's precipitation, and it's a doozy.  Thanks to what is now being called the "Super El Niño", San Francisco and the area around I-80 could get as much as 200 percent of our average rainfall.  You may have heard that Northern California won't be as wet Southern California, and that may end up being true:  the projection is for [MORE ...]

There is a very old adage that farmers tend to do well economically when there's a war on.  Obviously not in the exact location where the war is being fought -- war is a disaster locally for anyone caught in the crossfire.  But wars have historically meant an increase in demand for agricultural goods for farmers who were still in a position to grow and harvest their crops.  On the flip side, during wars [MORE ...]

With a 25 year old roof on our house, and a record-strength El Nino winter on the way, my wife and I decided it was time for a new one.  The roofing crews showed up this week.  First, one crew tore off the old roof and hauled it away.  Today, a second crew arrived with a specialized truck to unload all the materials onto the roof.  Tomorrow, a third crew will come to install [MORE ...]

There are tens of thousands of acres of strawberries planted every year in California -- although berries are technically a semi-perennial crop, they are grown here as annuals.  Despite the scale of this task, though, it's an old-fashioned process, as no effective berry-planting machine has been invented.  The plants themselves, called crowns, are leafless bundles of mostly roots that are grown in "nursery fields", dug up with specialized machines, and packed tightly into boxes.  [MORE ...]

For several decades, "Reduce, Reuse & Recycle" has been a mantra for many people who hope to live in a more environmentally sustainable manner.   But in the last few years, the 3 Rs have also been helpful in managing day-to-day finances in an economy built on low interest rates, disposable goods and cheap imports that has now turned inflationary. Humans have been recycling since before planned obsolescence took over, but farmers never stopped.  [MORE ...]

We've had a fantastic stonefruit year at Terra Firma, and we've been harvesting lots of big, pretty, and very tasty fruit continuously since mid-April.  But in other areas of Yolo County, just 30 miles to the north, farmers have almost no crop.  Until two weeks ago, I had no idea what explained the difference. There are a number of factors that influence the annual production of deciduous fruit and nut trees.  The first is [MORE ...]

Today is the first day in August that the temperature here won't be close to or above 100.  It's not unusual for us to have a week or ten-day long stretch of triple digits at Terra Firma, as we average about three full weeks of 100 degree weather every year.  Our "preferred" timing for these hot spells is mid-June through mid-August, as most of the crops we grow during that period actually enjoy hot [MORE ...]

If you've ever travelled abroad, you may have visited countries where tourists are given the advice "Don't Drink the Water". I have a very distinct memory of traveling in Guatemala and getting violently ill despite being very careful to not drink anything except purified water.  Then a friend asked:  Did you eat any salad? And in fact I had. Americans take it for granted that the water they use to flush the toilet will [MORE ...]

Like a tomato tidal wave, the 2026 Heirloom Tomato Season is upon us.  Last week, I included a short list of the heirlooms we are featuring this year and a brief description.  This week, I am devoting the whole newsletter to the subject. "Heirloom Tomatoes" were originally defined as open-pollinated, non-hybrid (and thus non-GMO) tomato varieties that had been handed down over the years from gardener to gardener, farmer to farmer.  They were everything [MORE ...]

You may have been a little surprised to see the first peaches show up in your CSA boxes in mid-April -- so were we.  2026 saw the earliest-ever start to our peach season at Terra Firma.  That was the result of the hot weather we experienced in March, which created near-perfect conditions for pollination and fast growth of the immature fruit.  Combined with cold, foggy weather in December that ensured the trees had an [MORE ...]

I've written in the past about how one of the fun and challenging parts of farming the way we do is finding new and better varieties of crops to grow.  For most farmers, this mostly boils down for finding crops that grow well for them, produce the most income with the least expense, and meet the demands of their buyers -- who are usually not consumers.  In fact, this rubric could be called "consumers [MORE ...]

Next week, many of us will mark the 250th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence from England with a feast that looks nothing like the meal our revolutionary forebearers might have enjoyed on July 4th, 1777.  Their spread likely featured era favorites such as  Turtle Soup, Poached Salmon, and seasonal vegetables including boiled peas, cucumbers and potatoes.  They didn't have hamburgers or hot dogs.  Their corn  would have been just a few feet tall [MORE ...]

The epitaph I wrote last week for the Strawberries appears to have been premature.  They made it through last week's wind and what turned out to be a five-day stretch of 100 degree temperatures.  If they make it through the rest of June, they will officially snatch the title of "Longest Berry Season Ever" from the current record holder 2025. Other than the strawberries, though, we are in full "summer harvest" mode here -- [MORE ...]

We've had a long Strawberry season this year, but this week probably marks its conclusion.  The phrase that comes to mind for me is "It could have been a contender" -- for the best ever.  It started early with lots of promise, but experienced several setbacks: multiple periods of unseasonal wet weather followed by a potentially season-ending "injury" from a major wind event.  The recovery took several weeks while the plants grew new leaves [MORE ...]

We've got another milestone at Terra Firma Farm this week: our earliest ever harvest of Sweet Corn, on June 1st.  That's a full week earlier than our previous record, set just last year. It's always our goal to have sweet corn to harvest in early June.  But that means planting in early March, which is often impossible.  Corn is planted "from seed", meaning the seeds are planted directly into the soil.  We can't plant [MORE ...]

The town of Winters was built on apricots.  At one point in mid 20th century, most of the farmland for miles around it were planted in apricot orchards.   Thousands of people worked in the orchards during harvest season, and hundreds more worked in the various packing sheds in and around town.  A portion of the crop was packed for the fresh market, and then loaded onto trains.  A spur railroad line carried the crop [MORE ...]

2026 has been a goofy year for farming, and it has thrown us so many curveballs it's hard to keep track of them all.  On a couple of them, though, we took wild swings and hit home runs.  The hot, dry weather in March provided us with just about the perfect conditions for our first plantings of Tomatoes and Sweet Corn, which took off growing almost instantly and -- unlike the humans on the [MORE ...]

  From an early age my parents taught me the importance of "variety" for fruits and vegetables.  Not as in "eating a variety" of them, but rather, choosing the right variety.  My dad's grandfather was fruit and vegetable farmer.  He took us apple picking every year in the fall and we would pick several different varities.  Cortland for pies and applesauce, McIntosh for eating fresh, McCoun for making cider.  "Red Delicious" apples were not [MORE ...]

California is home to the majority of certified organic farmland in the U.S., and has been since organic farms were first certified.  There are multiple reasons why this is the case.  The majority of all "specialty crops" -- fruits, vegetables and nuts -- grown in the U.S. were already grown here.  The state has the biggest population in the country, making it an enormous market. But the single biggest reason why most of the [MORE ...]

Since it started raining on Monday afternoon, we've received over an inch and half of rain here at Terra Firma and it's still raining lightly.  In combination with the previous April storm series, we are now sitting at almost 3 inches of rain for the month -- more than double our average. Unlike last week, we were able to get enough strawberries harvested for your boxes this week before the rain started.  Almost everyone [MORE ...]

We got quite a few complaints from subscribers last week about the flavor and ripeness of the strawberries in your boxes:  as always, feedback is much appreciated.  I apologize if they did not live up to your expectations. In my excitement about how early the berries were ripening, I neglected to include a disclaimer that they might lacking a bit in the flavor department.  This is often true of the first strawberries of the [MORE ...]

The title of my newsletter is NOT an April Fool's joke.  This week indeed marks the official opening of the 2026 TFF Strawberry season,  and it's starting with a bang.  Most years we have a slow ramp up in harvest:  5 flats one day, 10 the next, then 20, then 40, etc.  This year, we picked 5 flats last Monday, 8 on Wednesday, 24 on Friday and then BOOM, 180 on Monday.  Where last [MORE ...]

My father was usually a pretty serious guy, but he had a prankster's sense of humor.  Every once in a while, my brother and I would be outside playing or working, and he would throw a bucket of water off the deck or spray us with the hose from behind the shrubs.  My mom didn't think it was funny at all when he did it to her, even if it was a hot day. [MORE ...]

As most TFF subscribers know, the area where Terra Firma farms is no stranger to heat.  Generally speaking, it's objectively hot here most of the time from May through mid-October with afternoon temperatures rarely failing to break 80 degrees.  And while it occasionally rains during that period, precipitation is uncommon.  For us, that's normal, and most of the crops we grow enjoy dry heat and suffer if it's too cold or wet.  But it's [MORE ...]

California's farmers, already dealing with high inflation and low prices, are now facing a situation with fossil fuel energy that can only be described as a crisis.  Although the problem affects all of our state's residents to some degree, I will as usual focus on the implications for agriculture.  Sadly, the crisis is a political one and both state and federal governments are equally culpable. I'll start with the obvious: our President started a [MORE ...]

We started planting our first tomatoes in the field yesterday, March 3rd, and will finish later today.  The earliest we've ever done it was in late February, and some years it has happened as late as the 20th.  We do a total of five plantings between now and mid-June, but this one is always the largest.  With luck,  the fruit will start to ripen some in late May, starting with cherry tomatoes followed by [MORE ...]

We received some immensely sad news last week after the tragic avalanche last week that took the lives of nine Backcountry skiers on a weekend outing to Castle Peak, near Donner Summit.  Among the victims was Caroline Sekar, our long-time Bennington Street drop site host.  Adding to the tragedy for the family, Caroline's sister Liz Clabaugh was also lost in the accident.   By all accounts, Caroline was an amazing human being.   Caroline and her [MORE ...]

It's probably not news to you that we grow lots of Broccoli at Terra Firma. It's a staple of our CSA boxes from mid-October through March most years. It's a versatile crop for us, as it enjoys warm, dry weather as well as cool conditions -- although you may notice it tastes best when it's quite cold outside. The waxy coating on its leaves, which it shares with its relatives cabbage and kale, allows [MORE ...]

The first time I saw Winters, California, was in early February of 1993 when I came to interview for a job on the farm that would eventually become Terra Firma.  I took the back roads through Pleasant's Valley just north of Vacaville, a narrow  valley between the Coast Range and the foothills.  Part way through a very wet winter, it was sea of emerald green grass and trees for miles and reminded me both [MORE ...]

For more than fifty years, U.S. agriculture has prided itself on the idea that "American farmers feed the world".  But over the span of ten years, our market for exports has gradually evaporated.  This year, are no overseas buyers for the corn, soybeans and other commodity crops grown on most farmland in the U.S.,  which are currently moldering in silos and warehouses across the farm belt.  The farmers that grow them are  staring bankruptcy [MORE ...]

Last Thursday I participated in a panel discussion on immigration at the Ecofarm Conference in Asilomar.  The issue has been top of mind for many farmers since last year, but with the tragic killing of Renee Good just a few days earlier, it took on even greater urgency.  Just prior to the event I was approached by the conference organizers with a request to meet privately with a high-level elected official who would be [MORE ...]

There's an old saying about "watching paint dry", a metaphor for a slow and boring activity. But paint has nothing on dirt. One of soil's chief properties is water absortion.  Like a giant sponge covering the Earth, the soil absorbs much of the rain that falls on its surface and then releases it back over time.  Some of the water moves down further into the ground. Some of it is evaporated from the surface by [MORE ...]

Winter provides numerous benefits to agriculture in areas like the Central Valley of California. First among them is rain, which replenishes the soil and fills the reservoirs.  But the cold temperatures also send deciduous fruit and nut trees into the hibernation period -- dormancy -- that they require to bloom uniformly and produce a good crop each year.  Humans who work in farming also benefit, getting their own annual rest period. But until this [MORE ...]

Happy New Year and Welcome to the 2026 Terra Firma CSA season -- our 31st.  I hope you all had an enjoyable and .restful holiday period. If you spent those holidays here in Northern California, you may be feeling a little S.A.D. -- as in Seasonal Affective Disorder -- due to near-continuous rain and lack of sunshine over the last two weeks.  I returned from sunny (and cold) New York on December 26th, and [MORE ...]

This week will be our final delivery of CSA boxes for 2025.  We sincerely hope you have enjoyed sharing in the bounty of our farm, and plan on continuing to do so in 2026.  We feel a deep obligation to put together the best combination of high quality produce that we can grow here, and I hope that is reflected in what you receive each week. 2025 is our 30th year of continuous CSA [MORE ...]

Depending on where you live along the axis of Terra Firma's delivery routes, right now you are either basking in warm and sunlight, or shivering in the cold fog.  Here at the farm, we haven't seen the sun in a week and even then it was just brief glimpses.  The thermometer has been pegged at 45 degrees -- day and night -- and every morning we wake to a heavy dew that takes hours [MORE ...]

Leeks are an underground vegetable. And I'm not just talking about how they grow. Among all the members of the Allium family to which they belong, they are definitely among the least ubitiquitous -- least here in the U.S. And while they are often relegated to "gourmet" or "luxury" status here, they are just as earthy and versatile as onions and garlic. As I hinted a couple of weeks back, today marks the start [MORE ...]

Onions are the second-most consumed vegetable worldwide after tomatoes, and form the foundation of many important culinary dishes around the world.  They are eaten raw and cooked, immature and fully mature.  Planted and harvested all over the world, they have been adapted by humanity to grow in a range of climatic conditions and regions.  As you know, they are also a frequent part of your CSA boxes. Just because onions are ubiquitous doesn't mean [MORE ...]

In Northern California north of Interstate 80, the drought of the early 2020s is distant memory.  Reservoirs are full and groundwater tables have risen after 3 consecutive wet winters.  And with regular storms since late September giving us a big headstart on the coming winter, it very much feels like we have entered a multi-year wet period:  an "anti-drought", as it were.  The last time this happened was in the late 1990s.  With reservoirs [MORE ...]

With our last fields of Sweet Corn and Green Beans finished and the crops in your boxes, we now conclude the "Warm and Dry" season on our farm, and officially start the "Cold and Wet" one. Appropriate, then, that wind-driven rain is pounding the windows while I write and our field crew enjoys a well-deserved day off. Unlike some years, when we have a 3-4 week gap between the two seasons, the transition this [MORE ...]

We're wrapping up our planting activities for the year right now, having lost over a week due to wet conditions from the early October storms.  Fall Onions went in last Thursday and yesterday, and the last of our Broccoli is getting planted as I write this newsletter.  We started planting Garlic last Friday, continued on Monday and hope to finish up tomorrow or Friday.  The last round of leafy greens will get done today [MORE ...]

Every winter in the area around our farm, drivers who pull off the asphalt  roads -- for whatever  reason -- sometimes make the mistake of driving just a  little to far off the gravel shoulder onto the native soil beyond it.  Once they do, their wheel or wheels sink immediately and  begin to spin with no traction as the slippery mud covers the treads.  Within seconds, their cars are immobilized.   The relatively recent combination [MORE ...]

Today we bid a fond farewell to the 2025 Tomato season.  We picked our first tomatoes of the year the last week of May, and the ones we harvested yesterday will likely be the last of the year, although if it doesn't rain next week as we currently expect, we may be able to harvest once or twice more.  But assuming that doesn't happen, we'll end up with a 20 week season.  That doesn't [MORE ...]

Sometimes when I am taking a shower in the evening, my wife walks in to the bathroom to brush her teeth and get ready for bed.  Then, when she walks out the door she turns off the lights and leaves me showering in the dark.  That is kind of what this week feels like on the farm.  Last Friday, it was sunny and hot; the temperature was 97 degrees at 5 p.m.  Yesterday, it [MORE ...]

Predicting the future has never been possible, but that doesn't stop lots of people from trying.  Twenty years ago, predictions about what things would look like as climate change progressed were very cut and dry.  One of the consequences would be reduced yields of food crops and thus, less food for humanity. Fast forward two decades and the realities have become more nuanced.  Yes, the world is getting hotter overall, but that doesn't mean [MORE ...]

A quick follow up on last week's newsletter: The day after I finished writing about the fate of our 2025 pistachio crop, the processor called to let me know that they needed certified organic pistachios this year after all. While we still won't be getting any of them back to include in your boxes, it still is somewhat of a relief. One vegetable that you haven't seen much of in your boxes until lately [MORE ...]

September is harvest time for Pistachios in California and at Terra Firma -- along with dozens of other crops of course. We're getting ready for that task here this week, and plan to start on it next week. Unfortunately, TFF subscribers won't be seeing any of our 2025 pistachios in their boxes any time soon. If that makes you sad, well, it makes me even sadder. We have a bumper crop of nuts on [MORE ...]

An "easement" is a legal construct that allows a property owner to sell another entity the right to use their land or part of it for a specific purpose, for example, to drive through on their way to another property.  Easements also exist for powerlines, gas pipelines, and dozens of other uses.  But there is another type of easement: a so-called Proscriptive Easement.  Under this legal framework, if a landowner allows others to pass [MORE ...]