End of Summer Update

After months of cloudlessness, a storm passed over the valley today and as predicted, granted us farm-folk a day of rest. This climactic shift marks the beginning of the rainy season here in chico. We are finally enjoying all my favorite cold-weather crops: butternut squash, broccoli, and soon carrots. This time of fall harvest feels somehow much more exciting than the long summer days we would spend picking cherry tomatoes from the vine. We are wrapping up the season here, planting garlic and onions–the final task before adam and i set out and leave the farm. Work is slowing down. We still savor our weekly visit to the farmers market. With all the available foodstuffs and opportunities to trade with other vendors, my diet is now almost exclusively comprised of local food items. I can get everything from soap, to rice, to chocolate pie at the saturday market, usually without spending any cash.

With only a month left here on the farm, Adam and I are busy wrapping up a number of personal projects: the backyard sauna, winter mulching, canning, transplanting, herb collecting and drying… And of course, there’s all those chickens yet to harvest and sell. We’ve been raising them on our own the last eight weeks with the hopes of making a small profit for our homeward journey. They are very healthy, active birds. It’s been a wonderful experiment, which i will write about in detail next time.

This past weekend adam and i celebrated a long-awaited visit from our friend elizabeth, whose visit happened to coincide with the sierra oro farm trail. This annual event includes dozens of farm tours and wine-tastings throughout the surrounding area. Experiencing these farms firsthand really drives home the impact of participating in a local food economy. I like walking under the trees from which my favorite olive oil is pressed and meeting the cows who make possible the cheese i have been eating all summer.

One of the most sustainable farms we encountered on the tour was Chaffin Family Orchards. This vast farmland founded by the Chaffin family in the early 1900′s is home to olive trees, some over a hundred years old. The property is “hugged” by surrounding hills and scenically backed by tabletop mountain, behind which a reservoir and the potential for hydroelectric power lie hidden. This ideal geographic location helps form a microclimate in which fruit can be harvested 365 days a year. In the last ten years the farm has become a working testament to the the pastoral system. The hens for example are fenced in with the milking cows and rotated to distribute impact and fertility. Goats clear weeds. Sheep roam the orchard. All of the animals are joined by dogs who treat them as family, thereby minimizing predation. It’s a veritable Eden.

I am soaking up the last of my lessons here, knowing the next month is going to fly by. The change in weather reminds me how ready i am for something new, a change in scenery. which in turn reminds me how special is the here and now. everywhere i go these days, i see impossible futures reaching into present reality and imagine how it will all take place.

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