A positive change

After raising chickens for the last 25 years we have come to the realization that we just don’t want to take the time to do it anymore. We love the delicious, fluffy eggs they produce, and use their manure to feed the garden. When we first started with chickens, finding fresh organic eggs was much more difficult. As a matter of fact, finding fresh organic grown food of any type was more difficult, hence part of the reason for starting our now very large vegetable garden.

These days driving from work to our home we pass an organic vegetable farm with attached “farm stand”. Just next door there is a lady who raises chickens and feeds them organically. Again, there is a little farm stand attached where you leave the money and retrieve the eggs from a small refrigerator.  We also have at least 3 farmers markets within 12 miles of here. These places didn't exist 25 years ago.

We have decided that once our chickens have stopped producing, we will not replace them.  The garden is going to shrink in physical size also, but not disappear. We still find joy raising vegetables and fruit for fresh picking. What will happen is we won’t feel the need to fill up every square inch of garden space as we have in the past. It will cut down on the amount of time necessary to maintain what is a very large garden spread.  We also want to support the people who have made it their business to grow fresh, organic food.

I think as we see more locally produced organic sources of food become available you’ll see this trend grow. Some people will always want to raise their own food, and that’s great. However, I think you will see more people doing what we are doing, and as such the trend of “growing you own” food will plateau, if it hasn't already. That’s OK, since we have come so far over the last 25 years in making available organic, locally grown food. Some will still need to grow their own for a variety of reasons. We live in a very special place, and not everyone has this opportunity like we do. Still, I see this as a very positive trend.

The future of community supported agriculture

There is a lot of talk about changing the way food gets to market. It's nice to see people who are willing to put the time, and effort to see if they can make it work. Farming, whether it's "old school" dirt farming or soil less hydroponic farming is hard work. Will the younger generation be willing to put in the immense effort needed to bring our food to table?

South Fork Farm at Gold Hill is owned and operated by Jaclyn Moyer and Ryan Dorsey. The couple lease 12 acres from The American River Conservancy, which recently purchased the historic 272 Veerkamp property at Gold Hill. The property is the site of the first Japanese colony in North America, The Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Colony.  As we drive by the farm twice a day on the way to and from work my curiosity brought me to the farm. I was met by Jaclyn and Ryan who took the time out of their busy day to show me around.

The farm is certified organic and a Community Supported Agriculture enterprise.We walked through the fields where their first crops we're growing and being harvested. Since this is early spring there was lot's of lettuce varieties as well as other leafy greens. Onions we're planted as well as garlic. Inside a hoop house built over the soil we're young seedlings of heirloom tomatoes, many of which will be planted in the hoop house so as to provide an earlier crop.

A wood fired oven has been built to bake bread that will be made out of heirloom wheat being grown on the farm.  This is interesting  in light of renewed interest in heirloom wheat. Some people feel it may be an answer for our current problems with obesity and diabetes, which we talked about last year. They have planted the majority this year in Sonora Wheat. According to slowfoodusa.org Sonoma Wheat"comprised the majority of production by 1880 in California’s Central Valley, where 2,550,000 acres of wheat were grown, the largest wheat enterprise in history at that time...Since the 1950's "it has not been used in commercial production anywhere on the continent."

The last couple of days we have driven past the farm where we could see smoke rising from the oven as it's being "cured" in preparation for it's first loaves, this fall.  It will be fun to try the bread baked from this grain, and grown just down the road from us. I would like to see this type of enterprise replicated in other communities, both urban and rural. While there is like no doubt the commercial mega farms are not going away, the rise of these smaller farms producing organic food closer to the market should be a growing trend. Even more exciting is to find younger people like Jaclyn and Ryan who are willing to make the commitment to try this new enterprise. It's from these efforts that we will carve out a new way forward in growing our safe food supply.