Fresh from our Farmers: Year ‘round farm store at Tara Firma

We’re a little more than a week away from the opening of the first seasonal farmers market of the year, West End Farmers Market. It won’t be long before more markets get underway and then the race will be on, with an unfolding bounty of delicious seasonal produce. Now, in these last weeks of winter, some farms, especially a few that operate year-round CSA programs, are augmenting what they grow with produce from partner farms.

Tara Firma Farms, in Petaluma, operates a year-round meat and produce CSA program and opens its farm store to the public, daily, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

At the core of the Petaluma farm’s ranching endeavor is grass-fed meat and pastured chicken. Currently, they have New York steak, ribeye steak and ground beef from black and red Angus cattle; pork roast and bacon from a selection of four breeds, Gloucester Old Spots, Tamworth, Hampshire and Berkshire; whole chicken and individual cuts, sausages and farm-made chicken bone broth; and beef bone broth in 24-ounce containers. If you prefer to make your own chicken bone broth, they have heads, backs, feet and necks. They raise turkeys, too, for the winter holidays.

Tara Firma also has eggs from their own hens and duck eggs from a farm in Two Rock.

The farm has formed partnerships with a number of other local producers. They’ve just added McClelland Dairy’s grass-fed butter and yogurt, sour cream and milk from Straus Family Creamery and, during the growing season, procure their produce from County Line Farm and First Light Farm, both based in Petaluma.

Currently, neither partner farm is producing enough to sell to Tara Firma so they have reached out beyond the county line to secure organic vegetables and are currently offering artichokes, asparagus, kale, chard, collard greens and onions.

The CSA program has plenty of room for more members and offers many options, from a $20 vegetable share and a $40 convenience meat share to a $100 “grande” meat share, with many other options. Once you join, you can access the on-line store and custom order what you’d like. Max Smoot is the coordinator of membership services and you can reach him at 765-1202.

If you’d like to see the 250-acre farm and its happy creatures, they offer free tours every Saturday and Sunday, at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. The farm is also open for special events, including seasonal dinners and barn dances. First up in 2015 is this Saturday, March 7, from 5 to 8 p.m. It’s a St. Patrick’s Day Celebration, with corned beef, potatoes, salad and other seasonal fare, with a tour of the farm before dinner. Cost is $60 for members and $75 for the general public; you must be at least 21 to attend.

Tara Firma Farms, founded in 2009, is owned and operated by Tara and Craig Smith. It is located at 3796 I St. Extension, Petaluma. The farm store is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, to buy tickets for events and to sign up for a farm share, visit tarafirmafarms.com or call 765-1202.

Michele Anna Jordan has written 19 books to date, including the new “More Than Meatballs.” Email Jordan at catsmilk@sonic.net. You’ll find her blog, “Eat This Now,” at pantry.blogs.pressdemocrat.com.