Small Farm Aims To Produce Sustainable Community

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We're concluding the podcast series from Fairview Gardens Organic Farm, near Santa Barbara, CA. I visited the farm on January 25 to conduct interviews and take pictures.  If you missed the earlier posts and podcasts, I hope you'll have a look back.  Fairview is a 12 acre remnant of farmland in a suburban tract. The farm also works an additional 11 acres on another site.

   Suburban tractors do tillage, turn compost and form planting beds (Click to enlarge)

Fairview is on a coastal plain below the Santa Ynez Mountains near Santa Barbara. The area was developed with houses in the 1960's and 70's.  In that era, the farm was already organic.  It is now one of the oldest organic farm operations in California.

 

Even in January, the farm greenhouse is active with starts for the next rotation.  Year round cropping is a challenge for the crew and the management of production. And there is no freeze to kill weeds or pests.

   

Jen and Toby in the greenhouse.  In the podcast you'll hear Jen talk about her experience on the farm as an aspiring farmer and what she learns from walking the farm.  Farm manager Toby talks about working with a crew that has been farming the same small acreage for 20 years.  The crew at this farm knows the soil and growing conditions in every "micro zone" of the farm.  This intimate connection with the soil is re-enforced in every day, hands-on operation.

 

Toby McPartland talked to me about his ideas for operating Fairview Gardens as a small farm business. His thinking includes ways to establish an economic niche for small farms in local communities.  He's also looking at ways to involve the community in feeding itself. 

I really appreciated having a talk with this young farmer who is finding innovative ways to re-integrate small agriculture into our community.

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It's A Good Business - Fairview Gardens Tour Part 3

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The blog continues with our visit to Fairview Gardens Farm in Goleta, California, just a few minutes away from our home in Santa Barbara.   

I visited the farm several weeks ago, so yes, these are pictures of the farm in the current season.  These strawberries were threatened by heavy rain and hail last week, but careful harvesting and good luck saved the farm from losing much of this valuable crop.  

For this podcast I interviewed farm manager Toby McPartland.  Don't miss it if you are pondering small farming on your own.  Toby explains that he plans for profit.  Value added products and business links in the community are ways in which he is growing the farm as a small business.

These honey bees are at work on the farm in this very informal hive set up.  The bees work in a grove of avocado trees, adjacent to a fruit orchard.

We use Fairview Gardens as a way to see farming differently. A lot of current organic methods are in practice here and this was an opportunity to learn on a farm which stays in production year round.  In fact, the challenge here is that there is no significant period of down time for farmers, managers and marketing workers on this farm.

But they are imagining  new possibilities. Even as North America continues to produce massive amounts of food for processing and export, kids in farm country don't get fresh local food in their school lunch meals.  In many places, local food culture and traditions are disappearing under a wave of yogurt in plastic tubes and mass produced pizza.  In another generation, grandmother's home made mustard pickles could be a delicacy that their children don't even recognize.

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Visit to an Urban Farm - The Fairview Gardens Story Part II

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We are continuing our tour of Fairview Gardens Farm and the Center for Urban Agriculture just north of Santa Barbara - which is about 90 miles (about 145 km) north of Los Angeles, California.

We live on a semi-desert  coastal plain below mountains that reach about 3,000 feet.  In the winter, we get a dusting of snow on the mountain tops and seasonal rain in the rocky canyons.  Over time, the result has been that  our  heavy clay topsoil is up to 20 feet deep! 

     

So this is January in Santa Barbara.  At the top you see see Broccoli plants and below are fruit trees. In the centers between rows, the farmers plant crops that create a market profit, keep the soil biologically active, conserve irrigation water and fix beneficial nutrients for the fruit crops on the trees and the row crops to come. They work to produce as much as they can from every square yard of this farm, saving soil, labor, fuel and water.

  

The farmers on the crew work in the greenhouse to start the next rotations of cash crops.  High yields on small acreage requires lots of hand work in tight rotations. Though temperatures only dip below freezing for a few nights at a time each winter, concentrating light, water, heat and hand planting keeps crops ready for rotation  in all seasons.  We are studying this intensive method for our farm in PEI.  We think that concentrating production, even in our shallower soil and shorter season, should allow us to get higher than conventional yields. We think we can benefit from concentrating our inputs and relying on biological soil activity, moderation of water needs, managing weed pressure and focusing  labor and machines in a smaller area to give greater returns over time.

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Visit to an Urban Farm - The Fairview Gardens Story

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Jen Emiko Higa Corey met me at the Fairview Gardens Farm Stand on Monday morning to take me on a tour of this Goleta, California farm and to answer my questions about the operation of this highly productive organic business.

This valuable land was preserved for agriculture in an urban landscape.  I came to see if the techniques, marketing and production ideas that make this farm business work on so many different levels could be used in rural communities like ours in PEI.    

Using a land trust to preserve farmland is something

many people might want to know more about.  In many areas of North America, valuable farm land is being lost to development. A private owner agreed to put this land in a Trust managed by a non profit corporation that agrees to run the land as an organic farm.  On our walk, Jen explained how the farm manages crop production in this front field and how it even values it's "view-scape" by being aware of what the public sees as they drive by.  And by the way it IS January and Fairview Gardens is actively growing.                                                                                                                                          

The strawberries are coming early, thanks to rain and warm weather.  Although the berry crop is always welcome for the cash it brings, the concern is that a sudden cold snap could be a major setback for these "seascape" plants.  Jen explained the difference between the slower organic cropping technique at Fairview and how it differs from other commercial growers in the region. (In 2007, there were 6,414 acres of strawberries harvested in our county at a value of  $312,754,997). At Fairview Gardens this is a high value AND a high quality crop.

This Series will continue in the following post.  Be sure to check back in the next few days for more.  Better yet, become a subscriber or follower of the blog by using the links provided on the right hand side of the page. And you can share this blog with your friends too by emailing a link.

You can contact Jen Emiko Higa Corey at Fairview Gardens and visit their website for more information.

Finally, please add your questions and comments to the blog so that  I get your feedback and we can share your information with those interested in this topic.

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Visit to an Urban Farm

Fairview Gardens Farm (click to enlarge)

I visited Fairview Gardens this morning. I took a tour of the Farm and got a few pictures and interviews with several people on the management team who run the farm.  I have wonderful interviews, pictures and information to share about the farm and it's Community Supported Agriculture program.  I'll be posting podcasts, pictures and photos in the next few days.

For our readers in SoCal it's a great chance to learn about the Center for Urban Agriculture and this valuable food and farming resource in our area.

For our friends in northern climes, especially in PEI, it's a way to pass some time during the season when your farm sleeps and look in on a working farm that operates year 'round. I learned a few things that I'm really excited to pass along to you.

So keep checking in this week, or subscribe to the blog so you don't miss anything!  

JQ

Harvest From An Urban Farm

Greetings From Santa Barbara

Well we've made the jump back to Santa Barbara. Here's our home away from PEI.
Might be hard to tell, but this is an original farmhouse from the 1910's, before the area
was subdivided into housing back in the 1930's.


We live in the county, right across the street from the city and a short walk from the Junior High where I went to school.

Susan has been working as a volunteer accountant with Fairview Gardens Farm in Goleta. In exchange we get a small share from their CSA Program (Community Supported Agriculture). CSA programs are great and we're looking at the potential of a CSA for Dunn Creek Farm.

This week our share from the 12 acre farm at Fairview included pomegranates, yellow summer squash, heirloom tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, strawberries and anaheim chiles (which will be turned into chile rellenos tonight!)

Our farm shares on PEI would be quite different to suit local climate and tastes. But they could include fresh herbs and garlic, staples like sweet corn and beans and even ground whole wheat flour! A CSA could support fresh, local, minimally processed, sustainable and organic products for people in eastern PEI.

These sunflowers looked so bright against the barn. If you look at the top picture, you'll see that our environment in California is often muted tans and brown. The fall light in PEI makes primary colors POP.

A busy honey bee pollinates a sunflower. We had an active bee yard. Thanks to Island Gold Honey (and John Burhoe) for keeping bees in our certified fields. At a time when honeybees are under stress, we're glad to provide safe organic pasture to our local bee keeper. And we more than enjoy the natural honey from our variety of clovers, buckwheat and wild flowers.

We also benefit from working bees in our inter-cropped rows of vegetables. They increase the yields from our plants.

Never trust a sheepdog with a kitten.

We're in transition back to our urban life and I'm using this opportunity to harvest new knowledge to take back to the farm. We've made a farm plan for 2010 and I'm working on learning some new media skills to continue our efforts at communicating with our friends, supporters and customers. And I'm hoping to learn more about the operation of the CSA at one of California's oldest organic farms.

Our friends Laura-Jane and Cameron at Whimfield are working on the Growing Circle project and we intend to support that effort and use it to reach out to the community of on-line users on PEI.

Our summer series of audio podcasts was well received and provided me with a lot of learning and inspiration. I'm collecting new material to continue our story from the West Coast.

And tonight I'm going to make an organic Mexican dinner!