The weather always plays an important role in our weekly harvest.  For example, the heatwave forecast for late this week will almost certainly diminish our strawberry harvest.  But in some years it also wrecks havoc with our planting and tending of the crops.  In order to keep our CSA boxes full and interesting, we have a pretty rigorous schedule to adhere to, requiring us to plant numerous crops every two weeks — different fruits and vegetables depending on the season.  Beginning in March and continuing until Memorial Day, we are planting about 20 acres a month, or 5 acres a week.  While we can harvest in the rain, we can’t plant or tend to the crops in the rain or when the soil is saturated.  So in a rainy spring, we have to work around the weather, which leads to delays in planting, weeding, etc. and thus often to gaps or delays in our harvest.

 This year, the rain stopped completely in February, allowing us the comparative luxury of being able to do all this work almost exactly on schedule.  We haven’t missed a single planting of a single crop this year — similar to last year.  Also similar to last year:  the weather for us has been Goldilocksian:  not too hot, not too cold, just right.

 Over the 12 plus years we have been doing our CSA, we’ve had very few years like this.  We always keep our bases covered in the spring, planting two sets of crops — one that likes it warmer and one that likes it cooler.  If one group suffers, the other is happy.  And yet once again, we’re having a spring that both sets tolerate and even thrive in.

The majority of the crops we will harvest during the summer have now been planted, and are growing nicely.  Four plantings of tomatoes, three of melons and squash, 6 of sweet corn and green beans.  These fields will keep us busy harvesting through the end of July.  The first tiny green beans have already appeared on the earliest planted field, and should be ready to harvest just about the time that our last pea field finishes us in two weeks or so.

If you’re wondering about those super-early tomatoes, planted back in February, they are growing beautifully and have set a tremendous crop of green fruit.  There’s a good chance that the first of those tomatoes will appear in your boxes by Memorial Day — maybe sooner.  The other 3 tomato fields look beautiful too, although lots can happen between now and harvest.

As I have mentioned in prior newsletters, the weather also played a critical contribution in lining up what could be our best summer fruit harvest ever.  Cherries, apricots, and peaches trees are all loaded with fruit.  Our biggest issue with the trees right now is making sure that the branches don’t break as the fruit starts ripening.

Our other fruits appear to be in good shape too.  Fig trees have a good early set on them and are already beginning to form their second set of fruit.  Grapevines are just now beginning to flower, but it appears that all of our varieties have a good crop, which will mean a long and bountiful grape season.

With June fast approaching, we are beginning to focus on our fall-harvested storage crops.  We have barely begun harvesting our overwintered crop of onions, which go into your boxes all summer long.  But at the same time, we have already planted our fall storage onions, which will grow through the summer and be harvested in late August.  Likewise Sweet Potatoes, which are scheduled to get planted next week along with Winter Squash.

The weather this year has also been perfect for our Potatoes, planted in February and March.  The first variety to mature is Yukon Gold, and we expect to begin harvesting that field in less than two weeks.

ATTENTION SMALL BOXERS!
The season of bounty is coming, and you are going to miss out!  If you find yourself envying the Medium and Large boxes, it’s time to upgrade.   The low price e of our Small box subscriptions means that we are limited in the volume of high-value items such as cherries and strawberries (and later, tomatoes) that we can put in your boxes.  Also, with the Small box’s focus on convenience, certain items are rarely going to make it onto the list.  Give it a try — if you find yourself overwhelmed, you are welcome to switch back with a week’s notice.

IN YOUR BOXES
You’ll find the first shiny red cherries of the season in your boxes today.  There’s a bumper crop of fruit coming at us, but this week we just barely got enough cherries for everyone.  The forecast heatwave may knock our strawberries out of commission — temporarily or for the year, depending on its severity and duration — but the same hot weather will also speed the ripening of cherries and you’ll likely see more next week.

Cherries are one of the most time-consuming crops to harvest, which is why they are usually pretty pricey.  However, in a heavy crop year, the pickers can grab more fruit at a time and move the ladders around less, which translates into lower costs.  We hope to pass this savings along to you in the form of more fruit when the  crop begins to ripen in earnest.  Our cherry orchard has 6 varieties in it, which mature in succession, giving us a 3-6 week cherry season depending on the weather.
 

The first Summer Squash of the year are in your boxes today, too:  Green and Gold Zucchini as well as Sunburst pattypan.  Because summer squash is an important component of our CSA boxes for many months, we try not to overload you with a lot of it in any one week.

Our Asparagus season is officially over for 2008, with the Large boxes getting the last little bit we were able to pick from the field.  Longer days and hotter weather make the asparagus tough and less sweet, and the spears begin to open up at the tip before they are long enough to harvest.  We were pleasantly surprised to be able to supply most of the needs of our CSA this year with our own asparagus.  We will delay our decision to remove the field for another year and see what happens next year.

Garlic in today’s boxes is partially dried — i.e. no longer “Green Garlic”.  The cloves should be peeled and used as you would regular dry heads of garlic,
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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............................

Baked Penne with Ricotta and Spring Vegetables — This recipe takes about 15 minutes to prepare for baking, less if you have help with the fresh legumes.

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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