Next Week’s Schedule:

So far we have raised over $1,000 for area food banks. We will be delivering fresh fruits and vegetables next week and will match all donations dollar-for-dollar.

You can make a donation in one of two ways:

1. Login to your Terra Organics account and view the “More Stuff” category in the webstore (during webstore hours only).  There is an “item”  called “$5 Food Bank Donation.”  You can make donations in $5 increments up to $100.
2. Reply to this email and let us know how much you’d like to donate.

Here are some of the highlights and specials for the upcoming week:

• Limited Quantities of Green Beans at $2.75 per pound (!!!)
• Herbed Bird – A 4 oz. bag of Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, perfect for the bird or the biscuits
• Gorgeous CA grown vine tomatoes at $3.75 per pound
• 8 oz. bag of Cranberries at $3.75
• Sweet Potatoes at $1.75 per pound and Garnet Yams at $1.50 per pound
• Tahoma Farms’ Brussels Sprouts at $4.00 per pound
• 5 pound bags of Russet Potatoes for $3.50

If you have an order scheduled for this upcoming week, you will receive an email notifying you when the web store has been opened for your delivery day.

If you need to make any changes to your subscription, schedule a vacation or make a payment Click Here to Login to Your Account

Sincerely,

The Terra Organics Team

Web store hours will also be shortened to allow us to assemble your orders – details forthcoming.

A new shipment arrived from Bluebird Grains this morning.  We have added 2 pound bags of Emmer Flour and smaller bags of their Emmer-Sage Biscuit mix.  Other items include the Pancake Mix, Potlatch Pilaf and the Hot Cereal Blend.  Check out the More Items section of the web store and the article about Bluebird in last month’s Sunset Magazine.

The Winter Vegetable Medley ($35) this week includes:

5 lbs Red Beets, 5 lbs Purple Carrots, 5 lbs Sunchokes, 5 Delicata Squash and 2 Butternut Squash.

As we mentioned last week, a holiday tradition here at Terra continues this year with a food drive for area food banks. As in years past we will match all donations dollar-for-dollar but this year we are going to be tracking where donations are coming from, aggregate all donations and matching funds by city, and then find the closest food bank to donate the food to.  All communities face food insecurity and because our network extends beyond Tacoma we want you to be able to make a positive contribution to the needs of the hungry where you live.

You can make a donation in one of two ways:

1. Login to your Terra Organics account and view the “More Stuff” category in the webstore (during webstore hours only).  There is an “item”  called “$5 Food Bank Donation.”  You can make donations in $5 increments up to $500.
2. Reply to this email, send an email later, call, write us a letter, telegram…

The charge will be assessed to your account along with the rest of your order.  We will share the total amount raised and the list of food banks that will receive donations the week of Thanksgiving, along with how much produce will be sent.

Here are some of the highlights and specials for the upcoming week:

• Mishirasu Asian Pears from Dry Slough, at $1.50 each
• First of the season Satsuma Mandarins and Navel Oranges
• Gorgeous CA grown vine tomatoes at $2.75 per pound
• Local Savoy Cabbage at $3.75 per head
• Newly Added Sweet Potatoes at $1.75 per pound

If you have an order scheduled for this upcoming week, you will receive an email notifying you when the web store has been opened for your delivery day.

If you need to make any changes to your subscription, schedule a vacation or make a payment Click Here to Login to Your Account

Sincerely,

The Terra Organics Team

We’re full of announcements this week, including some logistical information about Thanksgiving week deliveries and our annual Food Drive for area food banks.

For the week of Thanksgiving, if…

Other than that it will be business as usual with some great deals on Thanksgiving day favorites.

We will continue a longstanding tradition at Terra this year with our annual Thanksgiving day food drive for area food banks.  As in years past we will match all donations dollar-for-dollar but this year we are going to be tracking where donations are coming from, aggregate all donations and matching funds by city, and then find the closest food bank to donate the food to.  All communities face food insecurity and because our network extends beyond Tacoma we want you to be able to make a positive contribution to the needs of the hungry where you live.

You can make a donation in one of two ways:

1. Login to your Terra Organics account and view the “More Stuff” category in the webstore (during webstore hours only).  There is an “item”  called “$5 Food Bank Donation.”  You can make donations in $5 increments up to $500.
2. Reply to this email, send an email later, call, write us a letter, telegram…

The charge will be assessed to your account along with the rest of your order.  We will share the total amount raised and the list of food banks that will receive donations the week of Thanksgiving, along with how much produce will be sent.

Just because the CSA box of produce exclusively from Tahoma ended last week that doesn’t mean that we don’t have lots of great fall and winter vegetables to share.  So we’ve added a new item to the webstore that will be available for a few weeks.  We’re calling it the Winter Vegetable Medley and for $35 you can receive a selection of winter squash and root crops suitable for a root cellar but not in quantities that require one.  The variety will change each week and for this week we’ve chosen:

2 lbs Turnips, 2 lbs Shallots, 2 lbs Rutabaga, 2 lbs Chiogga Beets, 5 lbs Yellow Satina Potatoes, 1 Red Kuri and 1 Buttercup Squash.

With winter soups, gratins and roasted veggies in mind, we think this will be a great assortment of local veggies to have on hand for the month of November.  We also have greens and radishes, including French Breakfast, in the web store this week from Tahoma.

Without much fanfare we added Terra Organics HQ as a pickup location last week.  You can now pickup at our warehouse in Tacoma (815 S 28th St) on Mondays from 1pm to 7pm.

Here are some of the highlights and specials for the upcoming week:

• Mishirasu Asian Pears from Dry Slough, at $1.75 each
• Red, Seedless Grapes at $5.50 for a two-pound bag
• Green Leaf Lettuce at $1.75 per head
• Newly Added Sweet Potatoes at $1.75 per pound

If you have an order scheduled for this upcoming week, you will receive an email notifying you when the web store has been opened for your delivery day.

If you need to make any changes to your subscription, schedule a vacation or make a payment Click Here to Login to Your Account

It’s hard to believe that our growing season is really only five months long. Of course there are local vegetables available pretty much year-round but the challenge from here on out, as growers and purveyors, is to provide fresh and flavorful fruits and vegetables with a good amount of variety between now and next summer. Season-extending techniques are out there, but they are often expensive and therefore don’t amount to a lot of production, volume-wise.

So it’s mostly roots and some greens from now until May Day; the first seeds of next season get planted around mid-February if we’re lucky. The only other planting between now and then is garlic – which we’re still not planting large quantities of until we get better at growing it – and cover crops, which aid in soil health and fertility and are a cornerstone of organic agriculture.

We’re humbled by the overall challenge of growing and distributing the food that we grow on our 40 acre farm, and this, our third year, has been the most difficult of the last three. Or maybe we say that every year, just as we redouble our efforts for the next season and the next round of changes for Terra Organics. We take a big, deep collective breath and then can’t help but get excited about what’s to come.

Here are some of the highlights and specials for the upcoming week:

• Brussels Sprouts from Tahoma Farms, at $5.50 per pound
• Red, Seedless Grapes at $5.75 for a two-pound bag
• Chanterelle Mushrooms, at a sale price of $3.50 per 1/4 lb
• Beautiful, tender Parsnips, $2.50 per pound

If you have an order scheduled for this upcoming week, you will receive an email notifying you when the web store has been opened for your delivery day.

If you need to make any changes to your subscription, schedule a vacation or make a payment Click Here to Login to Your Account

Sincerely,

The Terra Organics Team

And the purple carrots are gorgeous this week!  Not only a novelty because they taste great, too!

Here are some of the highlights and specials for the upcoming week:

• Brussels Sprouts from Tahoma Farms, at $3.00 per 3/4 lb
• Last of the Mixed Eggplant from Tahoma, at $2.50 per pound
• Chanterelle Mushrooms, at a sale price of $3.50 per 1/4 lb
• Beautiful, large bunches of mild Arugula, $2 per bunch

If you have an order scheduled for this upcoming week, you will receive an email notifying you when the web store has been opened for your delivery day.

If you need to make any changes to your subscription, schedule a vacation or make a payment Click Here to Login to Your Account

Sincerely,

The Terra Organics Team

The pace was furious, as volunteers set out at opposing ends along each planting strip.  The groups worked towards each other, meeting in the middle of two different areas designated for planting – one was 1500 feet in length, the other 2000.  After the trees were in the ground, Earth Corps did a quality check while the Pierce Conservation District flagged different species for survivability tracking.  Along one planting row, we were also able to get each of the 300 or so plants wrapped with a protective tree tube and placed burlap sacks on the ground to aid in weed suppression and moisture retention.  The next step will be placing mulch at the base of all 800 plants, as an extra step to increase survivability rates and decrease the amount of maintenance and watering we may need to do next year.  Once these plants make it through next year, it will be smooth sailing from there on out.

The purpose of undertaking this large conservation planting is to enhance the long-term health and survivability of the farm. With the fall months reeling in winter, this was a good a time as ever to put those long-term benefits in motion. The actions our wonderful volunteers took this past Saturday will pay off in years to come.

Thanks for all who came and helped us plant the future of our farm!

Check out photos from the event here!

Please RSVP here for the event.

We’d also like to thank Earthcorps, Pierce Conservation District’s Stream Team and the Natural Resources Conservation Service for making this possible.

Here are some of the highlights and specials for the upcoming week:

• Brussels Sprouts from Tahoma Farms
• Fuji, Gala, McIntosh and Honeycrisp Apples
• Chanterelle Mushrooms, locally-foraged
• Last locally grown cucumbers and corn of the year!

If you have an order scheduled for this upcoming week, you will receive an email notifying you when the web store has been opened for your delivery day.

If you need to make any changes to your subscription, schedule a vacation or make a payment Click Here to Login to Your Account

Sincerely,

The Terra Organics Team

First, the Pierce County Council looks to de-designate 125 acres of prime Puyallup Valley agricultural lands at their October 18^th council session. In a letter from Dan Roach, councilmember from District #1, he says, “approval of the plan amendment will result in the preservation of significant blocks of prime agricultural lands through conservation easements.  These conservation easements guarantee preservation of Pierce County farmland in a permanent way that cannot be modified though zoning or by future legislative actions.”

Apparently the irony of this statement is lost on him and the rest of the councilmembers that support this annexation/development of 125 acres of Agricultural Resource Lands (ARL) south of Highway 410 between Sumner and Bonney Lake. In essence he is saying that the council will prevent future councilmembers from doing exactly what the present council is doing: taking the designation of farmland away for the sake of development.

It’s not too late to let the council know how you feel. With a quick click here you can send an email to all councilmembers to let them know you do not want some of the best farmland in the country paved over.

On a related note, big agribusiness companies don’t want us to know that we’re eating genetically modified organisms (GMO’s). Why? Probably because they know that means they won’t sell as many of their GMO crops to the manufacturers. Did you know that 75% of non-organic processed foods in the grocery store contain GMO’s? A signature-gathering movement is afoot in California to require GMO foods to be labeled as such and there’s a national movement as well. Click here to tell the FDA and President Obama you want GMO’s labeled.

Here are some of the highlights and specials for the upcoming week:

• Last of the Yellow Doll watermelon from Tahoma (really this time)
• Honeycrisp Apples at $1/each
• Chanterelle Mushrooms, locally-foraged
• The first winter squash of the year from Tahoma Farms

Below is a preview of the standard box contents for next week.

If you have an order scheduled for this upcoming week, you will receive an email notifying you when the web store has been opened for your delivery day.

If you need to make any changes to your subscription, schedule a vacation or make a payment Click Here to Login to Your Account

Sincerely,

The Terra Organics Team

It’s a time of transition here at Terra Organics.  We have two goodbyes to say in the next two weeks:

Billy has been part of our team for only a few short months, a summer job between University of Puget Sound and graduate school at UW.  He was a great utility guy, doing 90% of the farm runs throughout the summer and wholesale deliveries and putting orders together.  Good luck, Billy!

Sadly, next week is Rebecca’s last week at Terra.  With us for a little more than a year, she was a great addition to the office staff and has ably and professionally handled most of the emails and phone calls that come into us.  We wish her the best in her new pursuits in Costa Rica (!) and will also be looking to find a replacement in the coming weeks.  If you have experience in customer service, and would like to be a part of our team, please email a resume and brief letter of introduction to jobs@terra-organics.com.

Both Billy and Rebecca will be helping out at Tahoma Farms for this year’s HarvestFest on Saturday, October 1st.

Here are some of the highlights and specials for the upcoming week:

• Tahoma Mini Cantaloupe!  Only $2.25 each
• Tahoma Cherry Tomatoes!  Only $2.75 per pint
• more Tahoma Tomatoes by the case!  10# cases available for $15
• Kiwi Berries, Asian Pears and more great Plums and Pluots, all from the Northwest

If you have an order scheduled for this upcoming week, you will receive an email notifying you when the web store has been opened for your delivery day.

If you need to make any changes to your subscription, schedule a vacation or make a payment Click Here to Login to Your Account

Sincerely,

The Terra Organics Team

We have two great events lined up this year.

The first is all about reflecting on the hard work and having fun with pumpkins, face-painting, a scavenger hunt, a cooking demonstration, hay rides and grilled corn on the cob. HarvestFest 2011 is a county-wide day of farm activities and Tahoma Farms will once again open its doors to the public for this FREE event on Saturday, October 1, 2011.

On Saturday, October 15, we will be planting native trees, shrubs, vines and ground covers at Tahoma Farms to aid in wildlife habitat and soil conservation. The event will end with a farm tour at noon, where we will look at cover crops, winter vegetables and what’s going on in the greenhouse. Refreshments and free produce for all who attend to help us plant close to 1,000 plants!

Here are some of the highlights and specials for the upcoming week:

• Tahoma Mini Cantaloupe!  Only $2 each
• Tahoma Cherry Tomatoes! Sungold and Sweet Million, only $2.50 per pint
• Tahoma Slicer Tomatoes! $2.75 per pound and 10# cases available for $15
• Honeycrisp Apples!  They’re baaack!!

If you have an order scheduled for this upcoming week, you will receive an email notifying you when the web store has been opened for your delivery day.

If you need to make any changes to your subscription, schedule a vacation or make a payment Click Here to Login to Your Account

Sincerely,

The Terra Organics Team