Farmer Matt says:

“Our soil has been farmed for one hundred and fifty years. The many farmers who have come before us cared for this soil and this land because there has always been a farmer who has lived on this land. We consider organic farming to be the fountain of youth of soil. Nutrient rich soil produces nutrient rich food. In a country of perceived abundance, people are eating more and more unhealthy food, and our bodies are not getting the vitamins and minerals we need. Healthy soil produces healthy crops and healthy crops produce healthy people. Farming organically and promoting good dietary choices is a privilege. I am quite happy with my profession.”

Our land has previously been planted in fruit trees, most recently walnut trees, which were removed in 2006. The soil is a sycamore silty clay loam, with an excellent texture for growing all kinds of vegetables. 

We started farming here in 2009, after searching all around Northern California. We wandered on to the property, knocked on the door, and asked to start our farm. This was the beginning of an adventure that has taught us construction, mechanics, logistics, marketing, irrigation design, nutrition, and of course horticulture. Our farm is a living system that is constantly teaching us new ways of doing things.

Our soil fertility program is based on growing winter cover crops, and compost applications before planting. Our most important pest management tool is our high crop diversity. We also have a greenhouse where we grow all our own seedlings. 

We have three tractors on the farm, two are larger that do our primary soil preparation with a disc, shapes beds, and gets the fields all ready for planting. We also run our transplanter off our larger tractors, which has seats that allows people to ride and push plants into the ground while sitting. The smaller tractor is a 1961 Farmall 140. It has a belly bar which allows us to see the crops right below our feet when we’re driving over beds, so that we can cultivate weeds using different sized tools dragged along the surface of the soil. 

The farm is run by partners Matthew Mccue and Lily Schneider. Together, with three employees, the farm crew grows, harvests, packs and delivers each box of produce for CSA and for market.