Our salad mix, heading for the spinner

What’s Growing This Week:  Green Onions Cilantro Sweet Potatoes Broccoli  Cauliflower Spinach Salad mix Carrots Tangelos Navel Oranges

 Pablito....

FARM HISTORY, Part II
This is a sequel to last week’s newsletter, in which I excerpted parts of our landlord George Hemenway’s farm journal from the year 1950.  Actually, it’s a prequel, since I wanted to give an overview of the history of the land we are farming now, to frame the very specific stories printed here last week.

Some of you may not know that Paul Holmes and I, aka Terra Firma, did not grow up into farming families, nor do we own the land we currently farm.  We are “back to the land” guys, with no family history to refer to, no memorabilia, etc. that refers to our farm.  George is our surrogate father.  And since his only son chose not to farm the land his father and grandfather had farmed, you could consider us his surrogate sons.  He tells us stories about this field and that orchard, the weather and the flooding.  And rather than fall asleep from boredom, we sit, rapt, and try to remember as much as we can of what he tells us.  Every detail of the past in agriculture can be a potential aid in future decision making.

George’s father bought 175 acres north of Putah Creek around 1900.  He planted orchards on the part closest to the creek, and grazed cattle on the pasture and hills farther away from the water (and the pump).  When his sons and daughter grew up, he divided the ranch among them, with George getting the 60 acres that include about 30 acres of our vegetable fields and the hill overlooking them.Being an enterprising young man, George eventually added another 100 acres or so to his claim.   For the time, George and his family farmed a lot of apricots — they shipped them to San Francisco, L.A., and even back east..  But the Hemenways weren’t an agribusiness operation.  George and his brother pruned most of the trees himself eachwinter — an enormous and exhausting job.  He grafted new varieties himself (most orchasdists now hire a specialist to do so) and grew  his own rootstock (instead of buying it from nurseries).  He and his wife Idell kept chickens , trading the excess eggs for milk from a neighbor and slaughtering the birds for meat in the winter.  He grew his own hay and grain to feed his cattle, selling or trading the excess to neighbors.  Every spring, they would plant a very large garden and grow melons and other crops under the shade of the young orchards.  They would can and freeze their own tomatoes, peppers, sweet corn, and squash.  All of their vegetables — carrots, lettuce, spinach, beets, potatoes, onions — came from their own garden.  And they would often have enough extra to sell dozens of boxes to the produce brokers who came to pick up the fruit from the orchard.

 No cell phones, no computers.  (Actually, no phone at all, at least in 1950).  And even though those modern appliances supposedly same us time, George seemed to have some free time back then.  Well, at least enough to write a page or two in his journal each day.

Even back in 1950, farmer’s weren’t rich by the standards of other businesspeople.  They saved money by working longer hours, growing and preserving as much of their food as possible (George and Idell often worked until 7 p.m. in the orchards, then headed over to the vegetable patch to weed and harvest what they wanted to eat with dinner — which obviously wouldn’t get eaten until way past 9 p.m.)

Nowadays, organic farmers like us are probably the closest to following this model of not counting your own labor as an expense.  But even so, we fall prey to the lure of “convenience”,which can also be considered “externalizing your costs” — paying someone else to do something you could do yourself.

Reading George’s farm journals, I remember that certain kinds of “work” served other purposes, too.  For example — weeding and harvesting your own vegetables after work, as many home gardeners know, doesn’t just save you a trip to the store.  It gives you some quiet, meditative time or “quality time” with loved ones; light exercise; and interaction with the natural world — the soil, the sunset, bugs and plants.  In the year 2000, the “free time” we have bought through conveniences and efficiency seems often spent in a not-always-successful attempt to engage in the same types of activities — massage, meditation, health clubs, outdoor adventures.  But strangely enough, in the year 2000, they usually cost you money.  And with every passing generation, it seems that more folks forget that they shouldn’t have to.

Thanks,            Pablito
 

Attention juicers!   Get 10 lbs. of navel oranges for $7.50 or 10 lbs. of tangelos for $9, delivered with your CSA box.  No limit.  Simply call 7 days in advance to order, then sent a check or add the amount to your next monthly check.  Navels available until Feb. 29, and Tangelos available until March 15.  Load up on your Vitamin C!                To order, click on the oranges image.

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Paying the Bills Every year around this time, most people finally figure out that they spent more money than they made during the holiday season.  It’s an unpleasant feeling, isn’t it?  Believe me — we understand how you feel.  Terra Firma’s finances are like that for six months of the year.  That’s what it’s like to farm. So, I need to ask you all to put Terra Firma near the top of your list of bills to pay out your stretched bank account.  From now until the end of June, we rely absolutely on our CSA subscribers to make our payroll and keep the creditors at bay.  Right now, despite the rain, we are buying all the stuff we need to farm this year — seeds, fertilizer, greenhouse supplies.  We are spending hours planting tomatoes and pepper seeds in the greenhouses on rainy days, and hoeing like mad on the dry ones.  We are fixing tractors and repairing broken equipment.  And, as usual, we are not making nearly enough money to pay for all this work.  For that, we will have to wait until summer.  Every year it gets a little better, but winter will never be a time when we have more money than we need. That said — Thank you, everyone who has sent their checks in already.  Especially the quarterly and yearly ones, which are invaluable to us during this time of year.

 

Recipes                         ............................

 Cauliflower with Yogurt — from the World of the East Vegetarian Cooking , by Madhur Jefferies
Break a cauliflower into large florets.  Bring 3 C. water to a boil and add 2 t. salt.  When the water is boiling, drop in the cauliflower.  Boil for about 2 minutes, or until cauliflower is cooked but slightly crunchy.  (The stems will turn  faintly green).  Drain in a colander and run under cold water.
Chop 3 green onions, green and white parts, and a handful of cilantro.  Beat in a bowl with 2 C. plain yogurt until smooth and creamy.  Add 3/4 t. salt, 1/2 t. toasted cumin seeds, and a dash of cayenne pepper.
 

Produce 101: preparation & storage  Rain and mud make it hard to get all the grit out of our SALAD MIX and SPINACH.   To avoid gritty salads, make sure to soak the greens in water to get any remaining dirt out.  The picture is of our spinner, made from a washing machine and laundry baskets.  If you stare at it long enough, you can see a 3-D image of our farm.  Just kidding. GREEN ONIONS need a little trimming before use. Simply cut off the roots, pull off the lowest leave and outer layer of skin, and rinse. CARROTS have reached the peak of their crispness and flavor.  Make sure to store them in plastic to preserve it.

Terra Firma Basics
San Francisco/Sacramento/Davis Prices
Every Week: Every Other Week:
$70 Monthly $37 monthly
$200 Quarterly $106 quarterly
$780 Yearly $412 Yearly
$16 weekly vacation adjustment
Subscriptions automatically renew - and arenot cancelled for late payment / So tell us if you choose to cancel.

Vacations & Billing Inquiries
We need seven days notice before a vacation hold or other change of service.
Contact Valerie through voicemail at (530) 756-2800, or e-mail Goldenbell@aol.com

MAILING ADDRESS:
Terra Firma Farm
P.O. Box 836
Winters, CA 95694
(530) 756-2800
www.terrafirmafarm.com
Goldenbell@aol.com em
 

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