Good Food from Healthy Farms
Featured Veggie: French Breakfast Radishes
Mar 29th
Image by http://www.flickr.com/photos/crobj/
French Breakfast Radishes have a unique elongated shape and red coloring that fades to white at the ends. Their crisp texture and mild flavor make them a wonderful addition to salads, sandwiches, and veggie platters, or eaten alone as a snack. This week we are featuring radishes from Groundwork Organic Farm in Eugene, OR.
Who Owns Organic?
Mar 29th
Unbeknown to many a healthy eater, from 1995 to 2007 a lot of the bright organic brands of tomorrow became subsidiaries of the “big name” brands of yesterday. Thanks to Philip H. Howard, we now have that in a visual form.
In 1995 the organic processing industry was relatively ‘fragmented’, as indicated by the 81 independent organic brands shown at the beginning of the animation. By 2007, however, all but 15 of these were acquired by multinational food processors, many of which also introduced organic versions of their mainstream brands. Note the extent to which investment firms played a role in this process of consolidation by acquiring one or more organic brands before selling them to multinational processors.
View video here.
Blog Redesigned!
Mar 26th
After extensive consultation with some of the top designers on the internet, Terra Organics is excited to unveil our new Blog and Recipe spaces. Our slicker design is now 300% more conducive to strong content presentation, discussion facilitation and overall organics promotion. Keep checking back for the latest information on Terra Organics, the food industry and fun community events.
Have something for the blog?:
Email it to etrotter@terra-organics.com.
Furthermore, our new Recipe Blog provides dynamic navigation including by ingredient search to make cooking with organics that much easier. Plus, our new Recipe site offers an opportunity to not only view great recipes for our boxes, but also to discuss recipes and other cooking tips with members of our community. Check out our Recipe Forum and ignite a discussion.
Submit a Recipe:
We’re constantly looking for new and interesting recipes to share with the Terra Organics community. If you have one, please share it with us and we’ll post it.
We hope you enjoy our new spaces and are continuing to enjoy Good Food from Healthy Farms.
Jamie Oliver’s “Food Revolution” on Oprah
Mar 26th
Jamie Oliver is trying to make American schools provide more healthy foods. His mission is to start a food revolution and change the way Americans eat. Check out some footage of Jamie on Oprah.
Storage and Preparation Tips for Week of 03/22/10
Mar 22nd
¨ Asparagus: To prevent the stems from drying and toughening, wrap sliced ends with a lightly dampened paper towel, seal it in a plastic bag and store in the refrigerator crisper up to three days. More >
Basic Artichoke Preparation
Mar 22nd
¨ If the artichokes have little thorns on the end of the leaves, cut off the thorned tips of all of the leaves.
¨ Slice about 3/4 inch to an inch off the tip of the artichoke.
¨ Pull off any smaller leaves towards the base. More >
Featured Veggie: Artichokes
Mar 22nd
Actually the bud of a plant from the thistle family, artichokes are thought to have been consumed since Roman times. Today, California reigns as the largest producer of artichokes in the U.S. Artichokes are most commonly enjoyed steamed or boiled, then eaten with butter or mayonnaise. Their hearts have a unique taste that is complemented by the flavors of lemon and garlic.
Featured Veggie: Red Butter Leaf Lettuce
Mar 17th
This variety of lettuce is aptly named, with its buttery texture that seems to melt in your mouth. Butter lettuce has a mild flavor that lends itself to a wide variety of pairings. Try butter lettuce in salads, wraps, and sandwiches.
Featured Veggie: Lacinato Kale Raab
Mar 9th
What is Raab? Raab (also spelled rabe) is available only in the spring, when over-wintered plants in the brassica family (such as cabbage, brussels sprouts, collards, kale, and broccoli) begin to flower and send out seed shoots. When the kale flowers, the stalks lengthen, and the leaves change shape and become quite tender and sweet. Raab is most tender before the florets actually flower, and is wonderful sautéed, braised, stir fried, grilled, or raw in hearty salads. This week we are featuring lacinato kale raab from Nash’s Produce in Sequim, WA.
Terra in Perspective/Extended Referral Dates
Mar 4th
Based upon some comments we received from our recent customer survey, we know that you may have an interest in knowing where Terra Organics fits into the local organic farming and food scene. So, a couple of high points:
- In 2008, Pierce County had a total of just eight certified organic farms, totaling 885 acres. Just two farms, both dairy farms, represent more than 2/3 of this total. With the purchase last year of 40 acres in Orting, our farm, Tahoma Farms, is the largest organic farm, excluding dairies, in Pierce County.
- In 2006, 19 cents of every dollar spent in the US on food went to the farmer; the rest went to the processor, the wholesaler, the trucker, the retailer. We return at least 50 cents of every dollar you spend to the farms we purchase from directly. And in the summer months, 90% of our produce is purchased directly from the farmer.
- There are more and more CSA and “produce box” programs springing up every year. Terra Organics is, in our estimation, the fourth largest in the state.
We strive to grow our business for the sake of having a larger impact on the health of our local economy, farmland preservation, the future of farming, the environment – in short, the viability of small-scale, organic agriculture.
To this end, we value your efforts to spread the word about Terra Organics.
We have been adding new customers at a breakneck pace over the last two months, with an average of more than three new sign-ups per day! This means that we now need to devote more of our land to production this year and buy more produce from area farmers. Great things if, like us, you think that local farms and local food is important!
So, thank you.
The referral program where you get $5 off your next delivery in addition to the $5 off your friend/neighbor/family member receives when she signs up is going on for another 10 days.
