Member News
Expanding the Culinary Tastes of Picky Eaters
One of the most ubiquitous pests we deal with on our fall crops is the appropriately named Cabbage Moth and it’s offspring the Cabbage Looper (so called due to it’s inchworm-esque mode of walking). In addition to its namesake, the Cabbage … Continue reading
Catching up in Hurry
What a difference a week can make on the farm, and in California in general. Last Monday our area was actually under a Fire Weather Watch, with dry wind blowing dust everywhere. One week later and the farm is a … Continue reading
The Families Who Really Grow Our Food
Terra Firma is a family farm, but not in the mainsteam mythology, TV ad kind of way where everything is done by the members of a single family. Hector and Elena are full-time owner-operators, along with their son Hector Junior. … Continue reading
Dreaming of a Wet Thanksgiving
We started picking Satsuma Mandarins on Saturday, and with that, we have now fully settled into “winter mode” — a relatively calm period at Terra Firma where we harvest citrus, root crops, and leafy greens. But it doesn’t feel like … Continue reading
A Bitter and Sweet Lettuce Tale
Last week I wrote about carrots — a vegetable we grow that few other farmers in our area grow. Another one is lettuce. Most of the lettuce that grows in the area around our farm is actually a weed: wild … Continue reading
Your Source for Hand-Crafted Carrots
It might surprise you, but for over 25 years, we’ve been one of the largest carrot growers in the Sacramento area. But that is a deceptive statistic. Very few farmers grow carrots at all in this area, so the 4 or 5 … Continue reading
Season Ender
There’s something missing in your boxes today, something you’ve gotten from us every week since mid-June. That’s right, for the first time in 18 weeks, there are no tomatoes in any Terra Firma CSA box. Some years, our tomato season … Continue reading
Power’s Out: The Aftermath
At Terra Firma, we rely utterly on PG&E not just to keep the lights on, but to run our irrigation, washing and drinking water pumps and refrigerate our produce. But for the many people who might take it for granted … Continue reading
Power’s Out!
We woke up this morning with no electricity on the farm. The powers that be at PGE in their infinite wisdom shut the lights off just after midnight. For Terra Firma, that means our coolers and irrigation pumps are not … Continue reading
The Orange Glow of Autumn (Produce)
Orange is getting a bad name right now, what with all the crazy news coming out of Washington these days. That’s unfortunate, now that it’s fall. I would hazard a guess that if you gave people a box of crayons … Continue reading
Terra Firma’s Aerial Defense Squad
Late summer is Dragonfly season in Terra Firma’s fields. Every day around sunset, thousands of them take to the air en masse, hovering and swooping over our tomato, melon and other fields. I enjoy watching them, but until recently I had … Continue reading
Countdown to Equinox
We’re a week away from the Fall Equinox, and despite all the hot weather we’ve been having, summer is wrapping up on our farm. It’s true that it can stay plenty hot in the Sacramento Valley this time of year … Continue reading
Spending the Summer Under Cover
Cover crops — crops grown specifically to improve the soil rather than to produce income — are a critical part of our farming practices at Terra Firma. In the winter, over half our land is normally “covered”. But since we … Continue reading
The Last Stand of Summer 2019
After the “nicest July ever” that I mentioned a few weeks back, Summer of 2019 seems to have had second thoughts. Like a child just realizing that it’s time to go back to school, it’s making a dramatic last stand … Continue reading
CSI Terra Firma: The Farm Detectives
At least a few times a year, we come across the scene of a minor crime on the farm. It’s almost always theft of small, easy-to-transport items like chainsaws or other valuable tools. Occasionally, someone will steal a farm pickup … Continue reading
Farmers Need Help Adapting to Climate Change
Last week the U.N. released a report that clearly stated that the world’s food supply is threatened by climate change. It received quite a bit of attention from the media, including this article in the New York Times. Any time … Continue reading
Confused Onions: The Sequel
Back in the spring I wrote a newsletter about our confused onions that went to seed instead of making edible bulbs for us to harvest. While we were initially disappointed, our attitude changed when we found out seed for that … Continue reading
Everyone’s Favorite Tractor
If you drive around a rural area, you’ll see some big, shiny new tractors out in the fields just about every day. But during the busiest times of year — planting and harvest seasons — you’ll see plenty of old … Continue reading
Nicest July Ever
Just this week we added yet another feature to our list of social media resources: a Terra Firma Farm You Tube channel. We will use this channel every once in a while to post videos of cool stuff that we … Continue reading
All the Colors of a Sunrise, in a Peach
Way back in 2003 when a group of our CSA subscribers helped us first secure a piece of land with the security to plant fruit trees, we decided to focus primarily on Peaches and Nectarines. Taken together, these so-called “stone … Continue reading
Cucumbers and their Diabolical Pests
Growing cucumbers organically is challenging just about everywhere in the continental U.S. thanks to a small pest with a big appetite. Two actually. Cucumber beetles are the size and shape of Ladybugs, but that is where their similarities end. These … Continue reading
Interactive Tomato Identification Guide
Happy July 4th Holiday! We’ve packed you a seasonally appropriate box of produce this week; more on that below. With tomato season hitting its full stride this week, we present the following interactive textual Ven diagram to help you figure … Continue reading
Stuck in the February Mud: A Tomato Tale
Tomato season kicked into full gear at Terra Firma over the weekend, as you will see in your boxes today. As TFF subscribers, you are sharing the harvest of one of the only producing tomato fields in Northern California right … Continue reading
“Your Cheatin’ (Apricot) Heart”
If more country tunes were written by farmers, there would be a song about Apricots: how they love you and leave you with a broken heart and an empty bank account. Then, just when you are getting over them and … Continue reading
Celebrating the Annual Garlic Harvest
We have been growing Garlic at Terra Firma since, well, since before it was Terra Firma. In fact, when our founder Paul Holmes starting farming up, garlic and tomatoes were his primary crops. The climate in Winters is very close … Continue reading
Summer Starts…NOW!
Imagine you come to work on a Monday morning to find your workstation has been moved to a room with no climate control. Your job description has been changed without any notification. The project you were working on on Friday … Continue reading
Potatoes, Parsnips and Lessons Learned
There are many ways to learn your lesson farming, but many of them involve failure. I remember quite clearly arriving for the first time to work at Terra Firma (called Sky High Farm back then) in February of 1993. It … Continue reading
The Heartbreak of Rain on May Fruit
The storms that swept through California during the last week produced record amounts of rainfall as well as record cool temperatures for late May. They also ruined millions of dollars worth of cherries and strawberries. Cherries and Strawberries have a … Continue reading
The Sad Tale of the Confused Onions
Most vegetables go through a series of life stages including vegetative growth, flowering, fruiting and senescence (aka, “death”). Our goal as humans — farmers, gardeners, and eaters — is generally to succeed in growing them until they produce the part … Continue reading
Tariffs and Tomatoes
If you’re paying attention to trade policy at all, you’ve probably heard that the Trump Administration is threatening to raise tariffs on Friday on a large part of the exports that China sends us, again. This news caused the stock … Continue reading
CSA and Climate Change
There’s a lengthy series in the New York Times this week about farming and climate change that includes a “How-to” guide for consumers to reduce the carbon footprint of their diet. I would guess that most TFF subscribers are already … Continue reading
Berry Season has Begun.
Strawberry season is here! We started harvesting a trickle of strawberries last week from our field; mostly too late to get them into your CSA boxes. But we knew that with summer-like temperatures coming this week, the numbers would jump … Continue reading
A Shout-Out to the Production Crew
On our farm, “the harvest” is a daily, never-ending activity that involves the majority of our team’s time and energy. Picking the crops, washing them, sorting them and packing them is a year-round activity. Anyone who calls this “unskilled labor”, … Continue reading
The Revenge of the Fungi
The use of antibiotics in conventional livestock production has made meat cheap and abundant, but it has also contributed to the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacterias like E. Coli and Salmonella. Now, a new drug-resistant pathogen is spreading rapidly through hospitals … Continue reading
Foraging in our own Fields
During the fall, spring, and winter I enjoy foraging for wild mushrooms in our fields as well as the surrounding woods. We don’t get many of the exciting varieties that Bay Area mushroom hunters treasure, like chanterelles or morels. But … Continue reading
Suburban Sprawl is not Climate-Smart
Almost ten years ago, Yolo County (where Winters is located) came out with a preliminary study identifying major sources of carbon pollution here. Compared to other counties surrounding us, we don’t actually have much. There is very little industry here, … Continue reading
“Doing the Right Thing” isn’t always the right thing to do
During the numerous winter storms of 2019, much of our farm was covered with lush green plants grown specifically to protect the soil from wind and rain. Cover crops, as they are know, are a core component of our organic … Continue reading
There’s no rushing Asparagus
Of all the crops we grow, asparagus is one of the least predictable and most temperamental. For the centuries that it has been grown, this has made it a difficult and risky crop to plant. And yet up until twenty … Continue reading
Hang in There
Right around know, you are hoping for something completely different in your TFF CSA boxes. Not just a different type of cabbage or citrus, but something entirely different from the stuff you’ve been getting from us all winter. Despite the … Continue reading
Getting a Sneak Peak at your box…Every week.
We frequently get requests to post a list of the CSA box contents early in the week so people know what other food they need to buy each week. We’ve tried to do it a few times, but haven’t kept … Continue reading
Your Source for Rain-Fed Produce
“Hi, I’m a Terra Firma vegetable, and it’s been 120 days since my last drink.” There aren’t many places in the United States where you can reliably grow fresh fruits and vegetables in the winter without irrigation. In most of … Continue reading
Rain and Weeds
There’s a very simple way to kill most weeds for much of the year California. You simply cut the plant’s root just below the soil, or better yet, pull the root out of the ground and leave it lying there. … Continue reading
Getting Munched by Munchery
If you live in the SF Bay Area, you have probably heard the news about the prepared-meal delivery company Munchery, who shut their doors and their bank accounts recently without paying their vendors or employees. I’m sorry for anyone affected … Continue reading
Guest D.J. — Alicia
Hi All, Alicia here! I have been working here at Terra Firma for a little over a year now, focusing on CSA coordination and sales with our stores, restaurants and wholesalers. Pablito is handing the mic to me this week … Continue reading
Welcome to “January Thaw”
Yesterday morning if you looked east from some of our fields you could clearly see the snow-topped mountains of the Sierra Nevada, all the way from Mt. Lassen in the north down to the peaks South of Lake Tahoe. Thanks … Continue reading
A Rant and a Recipe
Skimming one of the numerous articles in the news media this week about the federal government shutdown, one number jumped out at me: $23,000. That’s the amount that an entry level TSA worker makes. This year, even Terra Firma’s lowest … Continue reading
A Wet Start to 2019
Happy New Year! I would guess that most people, given the choice, would prefer rain to come during the week while they are at work instead of on the weekends. Obviously if you work outside, as mostly we do here … Continue reading
Was 2018 a Good Year?
The question that everyone asks a farmer in late December is “Did you have a good year?” They are generally referring to your crop or crops, and for some farmers the question is easily answered. For example, our neighbors who … Continue reading
It’s Hard to Fool Weeds
Every year as fall transitions into winter, and again as winter changes to spring, something amazing — and a little terrifying (for a farmer) happens in our fields. The weeds in our fields change. The warmth- and sunshine-loving weeds that … Continue reading
Making Aromatic Memories
When I was a child, we often drove past a General Foods factory where they made bouillon cubes. I still remember the smell of homemade soup cooking wafting through the car windows. This week, you will smell that same fragrance when … Continue reading
LATEST RECIPES
Potato-Leek GratinVietnamese-Style Spaghetti Squash
Butternut-Chevre Crostini with Saute Beet Greens
Broccoli-Stem Mashed Potatoes
Roasted Broccoli and Spinach Sesame Noodles
Spinach-Carrot Rice Stew
Spicey Acorn Squash Tacos
Arugula-Delicata Bowl with Home-made Pepitas
VISIT FULL RECIPE ARCHIVE
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Expanding the Culinary Tastes of Picky Eaters
One of the most ubiquitous pests we deal with on our fall crops is the appropriately named Cabbage Moth and it’s offspring the Cabbage Looper (so called due to it’s inchworm-esque mode of walking). In addition to its namesake, the Cabbage … Continue reading
Catching up in Hurry
What a difference a week can make on the farm, and in California in general. Last Monday our area was actually under a Fire Weather Watch, with dry wind blowing dust everywhere. One week later and the farm is a … Continue reading
The Families Who Really Grow Our Food
Terra Firma is a family farm, but not in the mainsteam mythology, TV ad kind of way where everything is done by the members of a single family. Hector and Elena are full-time owner-operators, along with their son Hector Junior. … Continue reading