This past Saturday night, there was a party at the farm to celebrate the baptism of two new additions to our farm family.  Giovanni Melendez Lopez is the new son of Hector Melendez Lopez and his wife Elena.  Hector is the newest owner of Terra Firma, and he is responsible for delivering many of your CSA boxes as well as for keeping our farm and delivery trucks functioning.  Rubi Balcazar is the new daughter of Misael Balcazar and his wife Rosa.  Misael is our farm foreman, and Rosa works alongside him most of the time.                      

The Melendez’ and the Balcazars come from different ends and sides of Mexico.  Hector and Elena, as well as several of their relatives who also work at Terra Firma, come from the western highlands of Jalisco state, near Guadalajara.  It’s a dry country where cactus and cattle are the big crops, and the men tend to sport cowboy hats and boots.  Misael and Rosa come from the lowlands of Veracruz, a hot, jungly state on the Gulf of Mexico where fishing and petroleum are the dominant industries.

In Mexico, someone from Jalisco might live their whole life without meeting a person from Veracruz, and vice versa.  Even upon arriving in the U.S., first generation immigrants often stick close to their roots, trying to preserve their geographic ties.  But at our farm, people from different countries and states have formed long lasting relationships.

In past newsletters, I have stressed that Terra Firma is a farm made up of families, not a Family Farm as it is often imagined and stereotyped.  Neither Hector nor Paul’s wife or children are currently involved in the day to day operation of Terra Firma, and I’m not even married.  Yet our farm thrives in part due to the tight family networks of the people who work here.  Hector’s mom, dad, brother, and sister in law are all part of TFF.  In addition to Rosa, Misael’s brother also works for us.  And we have several other brother/brother and husband/wife teams.

But what I think is more remarkable about how our farm’s workforce has evolved is how friendships have developed across families.   I think this is due in part to the feeling that our employees have of being part of an enterprise that is growing and improving every year.  We don’t have a perfect workplace — “office” politics is always a factor, and everyone would like their paycheck to be larger.  But because of the structure of our farm and the yearly calendar, our employees are invested in the growing process from start to finish.  They see the progress, have input into decisions that are made.  They understand that a good year for us will be a good year for them, too, and in bad years, they know what to expect as well.  And they understand very well that our farm works best when everyone works as a team, regardless of where they came from or which soccer team they root for.

Almost everyone who works at our farm attended the party Saturday night, most with their spouses and children.  It was a crystal ball into the future of agriculture in California, as well.  There were a handful of Anglo Americans at the party.  Everyone else was Latino.  Many at the party were born in Mexico, never learned to speak English, and have been working on farms for their entire lives.  Another, smaller group are people like Hector and his brothers, who are buying small farms here and establishing businesses that will continue to grow.  They are filling an important gap as Anglo American farmers become fewer and farther between.

The children at the party are all growing up as bilingual Americans, speaking English without an accent at school but Spanish at home.  Many of them will grow up with a distaste for the agriculture that employed their parents, probably with good reason.  But some of the kids that Terra Firma is supporting will grow up with a positive image of farming, and with an interest in continuing in their parent’s vocation — as the children of farm laborers have done in California for a hundred years.  They might end up with the last laugh, if their future is one in which the U.S. has exported even the highest paying high-tech jobs overseas while demand for food continues to exceed the supply.

My baptism wishes to Giovanni and Rubi is that the U.S.A. they grow up in  acknowledges the critical contributions of immigrant families to the success of our country, no matter how they ended up arriving here. 

IN YOUR BOXES

The weather is cooperating a bit better with our plans for Strawberry harvest this week.  We had another few hot days over the weekend, but  it cooled down nicely last night, and the berries for Wednesday’s boxes were picked in a chilly breeze courtesy of the fog hanging over the coastal range.  So we had no problem finding enough berries to put two baskets in each Medium and Large box.  One of those baskets is the Chandler variety, softer and small; the other is Camarosa, larger and firmer.  If you’re going to save one basket for a few days, it should be the Camarosas, as they keep better in the fridge.

Our onions are sizing up in a hurry, beginning to develop skins and swell into full size bulbs.  We’ll begin harvesting them to cure into real bulb onions in another week or ten days, letting the tops dry down and the skins thicken.  In the meantime, we’re still picking them with the green tops on, but your best bet is probably just to cut the tops off and discard them.  At this point you should still refrigerate the onions, but if you have a well-ventilated place to hang them up, you could just cure them yourself and use when convenient.

We’ve also stopped harvesting Green Garlic, as it is now developing into heads.  We’ll harvest the first batch later this week and send it along soon as Fresh Garlic, fully bulbed without the tops on.

The first bunched Beets from our spring planted field are growing like weeds right now, so we’ve sent you along a bunch.  The roots will be decidedly more tender than the last batch of beet roots we put in your boxes, and they will cook much more quickly.  The tops are tender and mild, and as always, loaded with vitamins and minerals, so steam or sauté them and enjoy.

The parade of spring legumes continues at Terra Firma, with Snap peas, English Peas and Fava Beans all producing nicely.  We are trying to rotate these through the Medium and Large boxes to keep it interesting; Small boxes are primarily getting Snap Peas.

Thanks,  Pablito
 

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

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

Strawberry Cornmeal Waffles — A special treat for Mother’s Day brunch.

Slice 1 basket of TFF strawberries, then toss in a bowl and allow to warm to room temperature.

Heat a waffle iron.

Separate the yolks and whites of two eggs.  Beat the yolks in a bowl and add 1 3/4 C. milk.

In a separate bowl, sift together 1/2 C. whole wheat pastry flour, 1/2 C. white flour, 2 1/2 t. baking powder, 1 T. brown sugar, and 1/2 t. salt.  Add 1 C. yellow cornmeal.

Combine the ingredients together in a firm swift strokes. 

In another bowl, beat the egg whites until they are stiff but not dry.  Fold them into the batter.

Use a ladle to spoon enough batter onto the waffle iron to just cover it, and cook until lightly browned.

If the strawberries haven’t released their juices, add 1-2 T. maple syrup.

Serve the waffles with the strawberries and any other topping you like!

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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