Farm News & Seasonal Dinner Tickets Giveaway!

As our event season starts to wind down, it's clear how very important it is for our farm to connect with our greater community.

On Saturday, October 11th, we are incredibly honored to be joining forces with our good friends and partners at the Center For Land-Based Learning, as well as Bon Appetit Management Company and Beneficial State Bank, to create an amazing dinner and at the Oracle Conference Center in Redwood Shores. We hope you'll consider joining us for this unique, inspiring and delicious event!  

Which is why...We are thrilled to give away THREE PAIRS of tickets to our upcoming Fall Farm Feast and Food System Talks at Oracle on Saturday, October 11th.  Please note, the events are in the San Francisco Bay Area and you have to be available to attend on the date mentioned.

Fall Farm Feast and Food Systems Talks
TICKET GIVEAWAY!! 
(CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED)

Here's How to Enter – 
In our September 29, 2014 Farm News "Always Planning Ahead" we talk about how important your feedback is to our farm and the planning we do from season to season. As such, to win a pair of tickets to our Fall Farm Feast and Food Systems Talk event, simply leave a comment below answering this question by 8:00 a.m. Friday, October 3rd (one entry per person please).

What fruits or vegetables would you 
like to see planted on our farm?

No purchase required. Limit one entry per person, please. Entries will close on Friday, October 3rd, at 8:00 am. Winners are chosen by Random Number Generator and announced on our blog on Friday, October 3rd. Tickets for this event only and are not redeemable for cash but can be transferred to another party if winner cannot attend.

Congratulations to our winners: Carmen, Teri P. and Ron! 

Thank you to everyone who participated in our Giveaway.

Together, Farm Fresh To You and the Center for Land-Based Learning are partnering with Bon Appétit Management Company (BAMCO) and Oracle to educate and engage in conversation about the importance of sustainable farming practices, as well as eating organic, seasonal foods. The event will include a free open house with local farmers, followed by a ticketed farm-to-fork seasonal dinner and a panel presentation and discussion with three national industry leaders in the food system. This diverse and educational event promises to be both delicious and thought-provoking.

The event benefits the Kathleen Barsotti Non Profit for Sustainable Agriculture,
whose mission is to support and provide resources to farm workers and their families, and the Center for Land-Based Learning, providing hands-on programs that educate California’s youth and creating the next generation of farmers.  

For tickets and more information: www.fallfarmfeast2014.eventbrite.com 

Savor & Save Summer - Organic Heirloom Tomato Paste and How To Freeze

One of the perks of our new Customize Your Box feature is the ability to add more of your favorite seasonal fruits and vegetables to your deliveries. Love heirloom tomatoes? They are certainly one of our farm's and family's most beloved items - and they are currently available by the pound and the case at a special summer's-end, back-to-school price!

What would you do with a bunch of heirlooms grabbed a great price?

Here are two simple ways to save the taste of summer heirlooms for enjoying now and in the winter season.

SUMMER SAVORED - TOMATO PASTE

Tomato paste is a great kitchen staple, adding rich flavor to pastas, sauces, soups and much more. Why buy a can when you can easily and healthily make your own organic heirloom tomato paste? Here are two simple ways to cook down your heirlooms to concentrate and capture their flavor.

Option 1: Simmer On The Stove
A simple way to save your fresh heirlooms is to core, coarsely chop and seed your tomatoes, add a little seasoning and just keep cooking them down...and cooking them down...and cooking them down over a medium-low heat until it becomes a thick liquid/paste.

Option 2: Oven-Roast Your Tomatoes
Some folks swear you should oven roast your tomatoes before pureeing into a paste because baking at a low heat for several hours condenses the sweet flavor of the tomato.

Depending on the size of your tomato, slice in half (smaller tomatoes) or into thick slices, then in half (larger tomatoes). Place cut side up on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil (optional) and salt and pepper. Bake in a 200 degree F oven until dry, soft and pliable, like a raisin (this could take anywhere from 2 to 8 hours).

What's next? Two more options!

Option 3: Enjoy Now
Well, when oven-roasted is the route you take, you may want to pull aside some of your tomato gems for enjoying now before you puree the rest for later. Keep in the refrigerator by covering them in oil for a few weeks, or in the freezer for a few months.

COUS COUS - With feta cheese, oven-roasted tomatoes, kalamata olives and fresh basil. This makes for a great Meatless Monday meal. 

FRITATTA - Oven-roasted tomatoes add a touch of sweetness and a lovely texture to this egg dish. 

PASTA - Use oven-dried tomatoes as a great substitute for tomato sauce in pasta dishes.

Option 4: Save For Later

FREEZING TIP - Freeze in an ice cube tray for convenient, smaller portions.

USES - Stir into pasta sauces or salad dressings. Add to soups, stews, chili, casseroles or any other dish where a tomato flavor is desired.

FROZEN: MAKES SUMMER NOT FORGOTTEN

To freeze your tomatoes without turning into puree, make sure they are fully ripe and ready to eat. 

Remove the stem/core. To make skins easier to remove, score a line from the core, around the bottom, and back up again to the other side. In batches, add tomatoes to boiling water for about 2 minutes, then remove and transfer to a bowl of ice water. After one minute, remove and carefully remove the skins and discard. Place tomatoes on a baking sheet and put in freezer. Tomatoes can be frozen whole, chopped or sliced. Once fully frozen, transfer to a freezer-safe container.

Use within 8 months for best flavor. Add tomatoes in cooked dishes as you would fresh tomatoes.

HEAD TO YOUR ONLINE MARKET 

Hope you head on over to our online Farm Stand Market and take your tomatoes before they are grabbed and gobbled up at such a good price. I know that's what we're doing this weekend!

Remember, you can add and make changes to your box contents by 10 a.m. 2 days prior to your scheduled delivery. Not part of our farm family? Find out if we deliver to your neighborhood.

Summer Sights

Our farm is operating at full speed. We are in the middle of the summer harvest. The tall tomato vines are still yielding precious little gems, but the plants are beginning to look old and tired.

The tips of their vines are bright green with new growth, but closer to the ground, shades of yellow and brown can be seen. The tomatoes have grown all the way up the top of the five-foot stakes that were placed in the ground to guide them toward the sun.

At the other end of the farm are second and third plantings that are just starting to be harvested. Beyond that is a fourth planting that we have not taken a tomato from yet. These plants are vibrant green with no sign of fading despite the heat.

Next to the first tomato field sits our melons, which were first planted on the east end, which is where the harvest is happening now. The melon plants have grown to cover the entire field, leaving no view of the brown dirt, only the green of melon plant with the occasional shiny melon.

The melon plants on the west end of the field, which were the last to be planted, are a more vibrant green, and the sun highlights the new vines that are stretching up toward the sky, holding their little yellow melon flowers out for the bees to pollinate – soon those flowers will be weighted down with a quickly growing little melons.

Beyond both of those fields is our creek, which is less of a creek and more of a series of puddles. In these puddles, moss is growing like crazy. Tracks of deer, raccoons, coyotes, birds, rabbits, squirrels and the occasional fresh water otter are easy to find.

Some of the holes are big enough and replenished quickly enough that we are able to irrigate from these natural springs, but the majority of our farm’s irrigation water is being pumped from a precious groundwater resource. In the absence of this groundwater, our farm would be dry and dead.

Farm evenings are amazing this time of year. The fields back up to the creek mark the line from which the golden hills rise in small mounds toward the sky. The sky has been filled with unique summer clouds that offer a texture much more rich that a clear sky.

In the final hour of the day, the smoke in the atmosphere from wild fires is coupled with the amber glow of our sun’s golden hour. Combined with the farm’s fields, hills and clouds, the farm atmosphere puts on a show that might compete with the World Cup.