Ruby Red Grapefruit

What’s Growing This Week: Carrots Leeks Salad Mix Potatoes —-# Asparagus—-% Tangelos Grapefruit Red Beets (M, L) Spinach (M) Green Garlic (L) Chard (L) Navel Oranges (L) Head Lettuce (L)

A few months ago I wrote about how organic farming is becoming a potential career with a quite positive future.  There are numerous opportunities available right now for people with the right combination of talents and interests.  Unfortunately, making a career in agriculture is always going to take a certain amount of physical labor, and I understand that most young people these days are being trained to avoid any work that gets their hands dirty.  Still, it’s just not possible for we existing organic farmers to take advantage of all the new opportunities out there.

In the last few years, several of our friends and neighbors farming organically have decided to incorporate livestock into their fruit and vegetable farms.  There are numerous philosophical and practical reasons for an organic farmer to make this decision.  Well-managed livestock can provide weed control, free fertilizer, and a marketable product.  They can utilize cull produce for feed.  Nonetheless, there are numerous reasons why a sane vegetable grower resists the temptation to diversity into animal husbandry.  Vegetables and fruit require tremendous amounts of attention as it is, animals require as much or more, but in different ways.  And in many ways they are less forgiving.  Chickens die more quickly than vegetables if they run out of water, for example.  And sheep or cows that break through a fence can easily destroy acres of vegetables or fruit in just a few hours.

Then there are the very real complexities of “harvesting” and marketing livestock products.  Dairy animals need to be milked daily, and the milk quickly refrigerated and transported — all requiring special equipment.   Slaughtering meat animals is a highly regulated endeavor that also requires special facilities.  And selling any animal product involves risks and liabilities that selling produce does not.

Still, there is a huge demand right now for organic and sustainably raised eggs, milk, cheese, and meat.  For many of the products, the supply is not keeping up.  While the overall demand for organic products is growing about 20% annually, the demand for livestock products is growing much faster.  And most of the existing organic farmers in the U.S. are growing plants, not animals.  There is a clear opportunity for growers of all levels — from big supermarket suppliers to farmers market and CSA sellers.

Farming is a capital intensive business.  But the largest obstacle to entry is and continues to be the cost of land.  Despite the bursting of the housing bubble, farmland values right now are still increasing due to the worldwide commodity shortage.  Rented land is getting more expensive and harder to find, too, as crop prices rise and competition for land increases.  A new organic farmer hoping to grow vegetables also has to take land through a three year transition before it can be certified organic, adding an additional obstacle.

But there are thousands of acres of already-certified organic land that could become immediately available to new organic livestock growers.  This land is already being planted with vegetables and fruit, just not necessarily 12 months of the year.

Here are a few examples:  a field of kale and chard, harvested all winter and now going to seed.  A pistachio orchard with a knee-high crop of grass and clover that needs to be removed before irrigation starts.  An equipment yard where the weeds are so high you can’t find anything… Of course I’m talking about some of Terra Firma’s fields, but I’m sure that numerous opportunities exist at other organic farms in the area.  I know I would be happy to have a responsible manager graze livestock on our fields free of charge.

So with a truck, trailer, livestock and some movable fencing, an enterprising young organic rancher could conceivably get a start in the business without the burden of rent or land ownership.  You might say “they’re sure going to have to move around a lot”, and that is true.  However, moving livestock is something many ranchers do over the course of the year, following the seasons and the best grazing spots.

One of the biggest obstacles for small livestock producers has always been access to processing facilities, which are controlled by the largest producers and suppliers.  Recently, though, the USDA began handing out grants for regional mobile processing facilities so that smaller farmers could produce specialty meat and market it themselves.  You’ve probably already seen evidence of this in the increased diversity of  local and organic meat products at Coops, small grocery stores, and farmers markets.

So if you know someone who’s thinking of getting into organic farming, send them a copy of this newsletter.  As long as they’re not looking for advice about how to manage livestock organically, that is.

IN YOUR BOXES

The first of our spring crop of Ruby Red Grapefruit are in your CSA boxes today, but you might not realize it.  That’s because while the Rubies have their trademark colors — bright yellow with a large pink blush on them — their size this year is a lot closer to that of a Navel orange.  We’re really not sure why the Rubies didn’t size up this year.  The other grapefruits in our orchards got plenty big.  In fact, the Oroblancos were the biggest we’ve ever had.  Perhaps it’s because we had two big crops in a row of large grapefruit, and the trees were too tired this year to size up all the fruit that pollinated.

Still, we’re not going to complain, and we hope you don’t, either.  The Ruby Red grapefruits are just as sweet and juicy as they are every year.  And the orchard that they come from has pulled off some miracles over the years, including last year, when it somehow managed to avoid damage from the freeze that ruined most of our other late-harvest citrus.  If you find the grapefruit are not suitable for eating with a spoon, try cutting them up into quarters or slices.  If that fails, just turn them into juice.  Their small size actually makes them a better fit for a household juicer than average sized grapefruit.  And these grapefruit yield lots of sweet, colorful juice per fruit.

We’re currently harvesting a bumper crop of overwintered beets, both red and gold.   The beets in your box today are red ones, bunched with the tops on, but we’re also harvesting topped, loose beets that we’re storing in the cooler to put in your boxes after the field goes to seed.  If  you still have leftover beets in your fridge, or if you still haven’t found a way to get your kids to eat beets, try this:   Cut the roots into shoestring French fry shape (thin rectangles), tossing with 1 t. olive oil, salt, and pepper, and then roasting at 400 degrees. Stir a few times with the spatula and cook until they’re crisp and chewy.

Please make sure to include your account name, the one on the sign off sheet ~ on the box, in every correspondance to Valerie

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

 Asparagus Beet Salad with Grapefruit — This recipe uses the grapefruit juices as part of  the vinagrette.  Take care to remove all the white pith from the grapefruit sections.
Fire up the steamer and drop in 3-4 beets.  When they are fork tender, remove and place in a basin of cold water.  Meanwhile, trim 1 bunch of asparagus and steam briefly, until still crisp but bright green.  Rinse under cold water.
Peel the beets, then cut into half round slices.  Place in a large bowl.
Peel 1 grapefruit and separate the sections from the pith.  Do this over the bowl with the beets in it to catch the juices.  Toss with the beets.
In a separate bowl, whisk together 3 T. olive oil and 3 T. balsamic vinegar with salt and pepper.
Peel 1 avocado and cut into cubes.  Add to the salad.
Cut the asparagus into bite sized pieces and toss with the rest of the salad ingredients.  Add the dressing a little at a time until you’re happy with the salad.
Serve on a bed of spinach, lettuce, or salad greens.

CSA membership fees ~payment due day is first of month.~~ Quarterly discounts are given for any 3 month period only if paid in advance.
They are given as an extra credit when the payment is applied, you won't see your monthly rate change.
 

For mid-month changes,  Up/downgrades are $5 per week per increment.  Small to large is $10.

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.  Include your account name in full (what's on the sign off sheet).

Account Balance Inquiries The account sheet is hiding under the sign off sheet each week with your account balance on it.  Mid month I've been e-mailing statments, so if you're not getting it send me an e-mail requesting to be added to the list. To be able to read the statements you need to be logged in as an administrator on a PC, and virus programs may corrupt the file. Some Mac operating systems do allow the file to be viewed.  We can't resend them, and it wouldn't work any better the second time anyway.

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

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