Enter the Satsuma
|
Community Supported Agriculture Newsletter November 16, 2005 11/16/05 |
|
Enter the Satsuma |
|
Pablito .... 
THANKGIVING DELIVERY SCHEDULE — IMPORTANT
Thanksgiving Week delivery schedule for
CSA boxes this year will be as follows:
Wednesday delivery will be unchanged.
The approximate contents of the Thanksgiving boxes is listed on page 2 of this newsletter
HOLIDAY READING
Well, not exactly, but Jared Diamond’s
Collapse should be required reading for today’s policymakers and business
leaders. A farmer friend of mine is raising money to distribute free
copies to decision makers here in Yolo County, but the scenarios Diamond
examines are relevant on many scales. In his book, he examines how
otherwise thriving civilizations around the globe disappeared because of
poor decisions and failure to see problems coming and adapt.
Some of the parallels he draws between ancient civilizations such as the Maya, Easter Island, the Anasazi, and our own are truly worrisome. These peoples established economies and societies that lasted for hundreds or even a thousand years, and like most people in the U.S. and industrialized world today, they probably imagined their societies would exist forever. Yet all of them disappeared because they used up key resources and destroyed the environment in a way that eventually undermined the pillars of their society.
The inhabitants of Easter Island and the Anasazi deforested their entire surroundings, despite their obvious dependence on wood for fuel and buildings. In fact, leaders on Easter Island squandered the disappearing trees to help build monuments to their own glory. How could they have been so shortsighted? Well, right now our leaders are fighting a war overseas, and fighting amongst themselves, about oil. They should be spending all this money and time finding a new energy source, because everyone knows that oil is going to begin to run out in just a few decades. The rest of us can’t be blamed for simply worrying about whether or not we can afford to fill our tanks, because we have come to take oil for granted. In reading this book, it is clear that when — not if — the oil runs out our fossil fuel-based civilization will cease to exist in the form we know it.
Another clear thread in Diamond’s explorations is the link between food and population. Many societies were so successful at fishing, hunting or farming for a while that they created their own demise in the form of population growth that eventually overtaxed their food sources. He explains an archeological ratio that tracks the number of farmers to the number of non-farmers (food consumers) and shows how high this ratio had gotten when most of these ancient civilizations collapsed. In the U.S. we are far, far past that point, with just 2% of the population feeding the rest. . For the Maya, drought in their semi-arid area also played a key factor in their collapse. Imagine a California in a massive, global-warming caused drought, or even in a post-fossil fuel world. There is no way that it could continue to exist in its current form. Throw in the collapse of a global economy focused entirely onefficiency” and specialization that assumes long distant shipping is cheap and easy. If this scenario were to occur 20 years from now, the United States would by then have lost most of its accumulated knowledge and infrastructure for growing food and manufacturing basic necessities locally. The transition back to a 19th century society would not be a smooth one. In a single generation, our society could lose 100 years or more of progress. Anyone who thinks it can’t happen here, well, I’d say you should read this book. Or ask the next Mayan you meet how their empire is doing...
IN YOUR BOXES
Planning for Thanksgiving? Well,
next week’s boxes will have plenty of potatoes and sweet potatoes — if
you’re making pumpkin pie, you may want to save this week’s butternut squash
for that purpose (Large boxes may get squash again, though). Another
key T-day ingredient will also be present — Celery — a little on the small
side but packing plenty of flavor for your gravy, stuffing, or post-holiday
soup. Onions, as usual. Mandarins, persimmons, and/or
apples (depending on box size) in the fruit department. Salad greens
for everyone. The remaining few items will depend on availability
Returning to the current week, you’ll
find beautiful Purple Broccoli in your boxes this week. This attractive
vegetable has two sides to its personality — served raw or very lightly
steamed, it is a conversation piece that tastes remarkably like green broccoli.
Cooked fully, it loses almost all of its color and becomes, in essence,
regular green broccoli.
We harvested the first Satsuma mandarins
this week, just a few, because they are still a bit tangy. If you
like your citrus tart, you’ll be happy. If not, you may want to juice
the little fellas and add a little honey before drinking. As the
fruit sweetens up, we will increase the amount in your boxes.
That’s a head of Escarole in your boxes
today, not lettuce. This slightly bitter cooking green is a staple
of Italian vegetable gardens, with it’s ability to stay slightly crunchy
when cooked as well as to absorb flavorful liquids. Like most bitter
vegetables, it is complemented by salty and acidic ingredients such as
lemon juice, vinegar, olives, and cheeses like feta.
Recipes..............
..............
.
| Monthly | Quarterly | Yearly | |
| Small box | 52 | 150 | 580 |
| Medium Box | 86 | 245 | 959 |
| Large Box | 116 | 330 | 1294 |
**being offered only to existing everyother week subscribers, as the small box has better variety and is more tuned to the smaller household appetite. The weekly schedule is also much easier to remember, and saves us all a lot of problems at the pick up sites. |
46 | 131 | 513 |
| Vacation Credits: | Small | Medium | Large |
| Vacation credits are lower to discourage overuse, and to reflect actual cost to the farm | $8 | $13 | $18 |
We Up/downgrades are $5 per week per increment.
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
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.
MAILING ADDRESS:
Terra Firma Farms, Inc
P.O. Box 836
Winters, CA 95694
(530) 756-2800
www.terrafirmafarm.com
Goldenbell@aol.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Newsletter Archives |
