Summer 2017 Publisher's Note
My yard is tiny. I live in town in a cozy neighborhood where you could reach out and touch the next house if you were so inclined. In our front yard, planting space is minimal so my husband built us a raised garden bed that is all of 2’ wide by 8’ long. And I am constantly amazed by the bounty we get out of this miniscule garden. As fall sets in, our planter is bursting with Sungold cherry tomatoes, basil, tomatillos and squash. I am always surprised that, even with this tiny plot, I have plenty to share.
Fall is the season of abundant harvests, and this issue is filled with stories of how to share it. Whether you are pressing apples into cider like our county Sheriff, Tom Allman (pg. 25) or growing grain to feed our community like Doug Mosel (pg. 23), we have lots of examples of generosity.
If I ever feel overwhelmed by the bountiful harvest, the Willits area has an answer: the Grateful Gleaners. This group of volunteers is more than happy to come pick up the fruit or vegetables that would otherwise go to waste. Gleaning is the act of collecting leftover crops from farmers’ (or neighbors’) fields after they have been harvested or in some cases gathering fruits and vegetables that are not being harvested. The Grateful Gleaners have collected hundreds of pounds of fruits and vegetables over the years, and they are geared up for a busy season again this year. “We take what we gather and donate it to the Food Bank or Senior Center,” says Karen Gridley. “We have a great time, but our group of volunteers is getting up there in age. We need more young volunteers to climb up those orchard ladders,“ she laughs. Karen and her husband, Wolfgang Ronnefeldt, helped found the Grateful Gleaners, and they have had many adventures gathering food.
Many other groups around Mendocino County have similar groups of friends or neighbors that meet to harvest this time of year. It may be an apple pressing party in Anderson Valley or a tomato canning adventure at a friend’s house. Many hands really do make light work. So next time you notice that your zucchini are getting out of control, put out the call for someone with a spiralizer (nifty device that makes zucchini noodles), and everyone can leave the party with noodles to spare. Or invite friends to gather the apples from the trees out back. That fresh fruit can be donated to the food bank or dried for later use.
Even small garden spaces like mine make enough to go around. I’ve decided to share all these tomatoes from my tiny plot around my neighborhood. I noticed a friend who lives across the street has an abundance of plums. Maybe we can make a trade and share the bounty.
Holly Madrigal, Publisher
For more information on the Grateful Gleaners, call (707) 459-2101.
Image courtesy of Campovida.
Tomatoes, Tomatoes, Tomatoes
by Torrey Douglass
During those chilly February days when the skies are grey and the garden is sleeping, I daydream of sun-warmed, ripe, juicy tomatoes from the coming summer’s garden. But fast forward to September, and there does come a point when the tomato craving has been more than satiated, yet the tomatoes keep coming. That’s when I pull out the canning pot and cook up some roast tomato and chilli relish, a pungent, flavor-packed sauce that is tangy, sweet, and super tomato-y. It goes beautifully with sandwiches, burgers, and roasted meats. Keep it in the fridge for up to three months, or can it in a hot water bath so you can pop one open on a chilly February day when you’re daydreaming about summer tomatoes.
Recipe: Roast Tomato & Chilli Relish
A wonderful way to use your excess garden tomatoes. Based on a recipe from Donna Hay’s Flavors cookbook.
Ingredients:
- 8 tomatoes, halved
- 2 Tb olive oil
- 3 Tb balsamic vinegar
- cracked black pepper
- 1 Tb olive oil, extra
- 1 onion, chopped
- 3-4 red chillies, seeded and chopped
- 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar, extra
- 2 Tb brown sugar
- sea salt to taste
Directions: Preheat the oven to 400°F. Roast the tomatoes by spreading them on a sheet, cut side down. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and sprinkle with black pepper. Roast for 30 minutes, remove and roughly chop. In a pan, heat the olive oil and fry onion and chillies for 3 minutes, then add the tomatoes with their juices, the additional balsamic, brown sugar and sea salt. Simmer until thick, about 15 minutes. Store in sterilized jars in the fridge for up to 3 months. Makes 4 cups.
Campovida
by Anna Levy photos
by Bobby Cochran
Anna Beuselinck and Gary Breen were not restaurateurs or winemakers when they founded Campovida, the Hoplandbased food and wine destination that aims to showcase the culture and history of Mendocino County. Rather, they were longtime Bay Area residents who had hoped to build something together. To their surprise, it was a neglected property north of the city that tapped into a long-held but as-yet-unformed idea that centered on slowing down, breaking bread, and spending time within a community.
“We got married in the Chianti region of Tuscany 14 years ago, where we really unplugged, had long dinners and long lunches, and heard stories from people around us,” Anna remembers. “We kept thinking, how do we do that? How do we recreate that experience where we come together, gather, and share stories? That became a dream for us.”
Several years later, it was Gary who set that dream in motion, though unwittingly at first, when he came across the former Fetzer Valley Oaks property, which had closed in 2006. The couple hadn’t intended on moving, but something in the land called Gary back to it, over and over again.
At first, Anna was skeptical. “The property was in disarray,” she says, remembering overgrown gardens and buildings that, standing empty, had been vandalized. Eventually, though, Gary convinced her that the land presented a unique opportunity, and so in 2010, they headed north, their two young children in tow.
“Our dream included no fences, valley oaks, views of the hillside—simple things, but things you start to take for granted,” Anna says.
It also, of course, included food, wine, and honoring the community they quickly came to adore.
“There is an undiscovered magic and beauty and community which allows for possibility. That’s what captured us. There’s a history here of generational families.” Even at this point, Anna knows, “We’re the newbies here.”
Their influence, though, has been significant. Campovida, whose name means ‘field of life,’ now includes a winery, event space, boutique hotel, and restaurant—the Piazza de Campovida—in the Hopland area, along with an Oakland tasting room.
“Being in Hopland,” she says, “you have to create something that’s so good that people will drive to it, but that the locals will come back to every day, too. That’s definitely influenced us as a community and destination restaurant.”
Throughout their business, the couple remains committed to shining a light on Mendocino County. That means, in part, using as many seasonal, fresh ingredients as possible, sourced both from their own organic garden and from local purveyors.
“We discovered real food when we moved up here,” says Anna. “There is so much access to cheese makers, poultry, meat, vegetables, fruit, olive oil.”
Those ingredients are brought forth at the Piazza, shining in such dishes as an arugula salad with a changing marquee of featured ingredients, a roasted chicken with a lemon au jus and seasonal vegetables, and their locally-sourced burger, added because of neighbors’ requests and now the restaurant’s top seller.
For their wine, which they have produced under their own label for five harvests, they tapped into the local environment and turned towards lesser-known grapes to highlight those that grow most successfully in Mendocino County.
“It’s not Chardonnay and Cabernet,” Anna says of their purposely-small operation, which totals less than 3,000 cases. “Our intention was to focus on rare, unique varietals that are home-grown from our neighbors.” Though they use some well-known grapes, less familiar names such as Arneis, Roussane, and Nebbiolo also grace their labels. “With the exception of a few blends, all of our wines are single vineyard designated,” she notes.
The idea of staying closely tied into the community also translates into looking for local talent to play a role within Campovida. Almost half of the staff members are originally from Hopland, and the Piazza has become connected to Mendocino College’s internship programs, both to support and grow opportunities for education and employment.
“We’ve been part of their Culinary Advisory Board to help send our employees up there,” Anna says about their partnership with Mendocino College, “but also to attract the education to focus on what the local restaurants want and need.”
Campovida remains committed to sharing the property. Whether that’s inviting local schoolchildren to tour the garden or learn about the history of the land, or hosting events such as an Easter Egg Hunt, Earth Day celebration, or what they call the “Enchanted Garden” around Halloween, Anna and Gary are clear on the fact that their work is made more enjoyable by involving others.
“Being in a small town, everyone’s related. Being mindful of what you say, staying honest and being ethical in work and life, is a great practice and lifestyle,” Anna notes.
As they move forward, expanding into new projects, such as the formal addition of a higher-end restaurant called the Stock Farm and the revitalization of the old Hopland Hotel, it seems clear that Campovida will continue to uphold the principles that have brought it to this point.
“We intend to do all this,” Anna adds. “It is more about the life and legacy we want to leave.”
As their lives in Hopland unfold, there’s little doubt that their legacy will emerge as Campovida has, in a way that honors the land, the community, and the dreams this family dared to follow. From a wedding in Tuscany to this small town in Mendocino County, this is one ‘field of life’ that will, surely, continue to grow.
Visit Campovida.com for more information, including events such as the Seasonal Saturday Stroll (until October 7, 2017), the Hopland Fall Passport (October 14 – 15, 2017), and the Mushroom Festival (November 11, 2017).
Cows for Kids Laytonville’s Schoolyard Beef Project
story & photos by Ree Slocum
About ten years ago, the owners of the Big Chief— Matt Paridis, Clay Carpenter, and Troy Terrill—turned a yearly party into The Crawfish Boil Fundraiser. They had turned their annual gathering into a community party to raise funds for local nonprofit programs in Laytonville. Matt was working as the “Lunch Lady” at the Laytonville School at the time and saw a need to introduce higher quality food to the children. Through the fundraiser, the school became one of the recipients.
Funding raised over the first few years helped pay for two greenhouses, located on the school grounds, which grow salad greens and other produce both for the school and for sale. Around four years ago, Meadow, owner of Long Valley Feed, and her husband, Paolo Shere, came to the same conclusion along with Matt and Clay. “We live in cattle country. Why are we serving low quality, commodity beef to our children?” There had to be a way to get high quality local beef onto the children’s lunch plates at a decent price.
With seed money from the Crawfish Boil, they put together a unique program called School Yard Beef. Little did the group know that the program would take them to many businesses owned by like-minded people who wanted tohelp by donating their time and energy.
Laytonville School System loved the idea. They had greenhouses to produce high quality veggies for the students. By adding locally produced beef to the menu, they could improve both nutrition and flavor and give the kids a better food experience. With education and taste testing, the children bought into the grass fed beef idea. But there was always the concern that the beef would be too expensive.
Despite that concern, the next steps fell into place. Cattleman and butcher Tim Hurt, owner of Covelo Beef, generously offered to sell his beef to the program at a highly discounted rate. Tim has an excellent reputation as a cattleman and runs herds in Covelo, Laytonville, and on the coast. His beef is grass fed with no antibiotics or hormones. “I wanted to provide healthy food for the kids,” he said. “I’ve worked in the big slaughterhouses in the 80s, and food that goes to the general public isn’t as safe as the food I produce. I just don’t like the quality. It’s not what I want my kids to eat. That’s why I started the whole Covelo Natural program— because I wanted a safer, healthier supply of beef and pork for my family.”
Tim and sometimes Paolo trailer the cattle to the closest USDA-certified slaughterhouse in Humboldt County’s town of Eureka. The slaughterhouse doesn’t give a discount but they do transport the carcasses at no extra cost to the packing houses. From there the meat goes to Roundman’s Smoke House in Fort Bragg where, on his own time, Tim cuts and packages the beef into prime cuts and hamburger. Roundman doesn’t charge Tim for using the facilities, which results in significant savings. On the trip home to Covelo, Tim drops off the packaged beef at Meadow’s Long Valley Feed Store, where it’s frozen and stored. Meadow then sells the prime cuts, some of the hamburger, and stew meat to the public at market prices, both from the feed store and at the Laytonville Farmer’s Market. Most of the hamburger and stew meat is set aside for the School Yard Beef program, which is sold to the school at a generous discount.
The program started with one steer and has increased to about five per year. Money raised by selling the meat allows the program to purchase its next steers. After three years, the School Yard Beef Program has become self-sustaining and has started to make a small profit. Community members are invited to volunteer and reap the benefits of providing high quality beef to children in Laytonville’s schools.
The School Yard Beef Program is a creative and ingenious program peopled by caring individuals and businesses. It not only increases access to delicious, local, grass fed beef to children, it’s also helping improve the local economy.
To learn more or to volunteer, contact Meadow at (707) 984-6711.
2000 Years Old and Still Growing
Agriturismo Protects Puglia’s Ancient Olive Trees
by Andy Balestracci
photos by Andy Balestracci & Linda MacElwee
In a country where olive oil is revered, Puglia is the heartland. Located in the heel of the Italian peninsula, it’s home to an estimated 60 million trees—one tree, our host explained, for every Italian.
We were walking through the warm sunshine of an olive orchard planted approximately 2000 seasons ago at Masseria Brancati, an agriturismo olive farm and Bed & Breakfast, located a few miles outside the whitewashed hilltown of Ostuni. The Masseria is a traditional Puglian Farmhouse, with thick, fortified walls to protect their wealth against centuries of attempted theft. The coveted riches were not coins or jewels but the liquid gold of the day— olive oil.
Widely spaced olive trees
Corrado Rodio, Masseria Brancati‘s visionary owner, oversees a living treasure of the Puglian culture in the olive trees he stewards. There were two striking observations on our arrival: the girth of the trees and the wide spacing.
Having lived in the Mediterranean climate of California for the last 20 years, I have grown to love the hardiness and abundance of the Olive or Olea europaea. Where other foodcrops would wither to dust, it’s able to thrive dry-farmed, from the first fragrant June blossom to the oil-plump late fall harvest of ripe fruit. Olives were first planted in California in the late nineteenth century—relative toddlers compared to the massive, gnarled, Ent-like trees of Masseria.
These trees are also distinguished from their California cousins by their open, park like spacing. Most modern day plantings are closely packed to maximize production with irrigation. The Masseria’s trees were planted sometime in the 1st century A.D. using the Roman method, with trees spaced approximately 60 feet apart. This approach maximizes soil moisture—helpful for a time when there were no machines to pump water from underground aquifers.
The Roman writer Columella described this practice in his 1st century A.D. agricultural treatise, De Re Rustica.
Thick walls protect from invaders
There are two varieties of olive trees grown at Masseria Brancati: Ogliarola Salentina and Coratina. Of these the Ogliarola Salentina variety is, perhaps, the oldest. Amongst the wide and evenly spaced Roman era giants stands a bent over spiral living trunk known as The Old Man—estimated to be 3000 years old and perhaps the father of them all. At the time of its planting, olive oil was not just used for cooking. Olive oil lamps lit the ancient world. And Ogliarola Salentina oil from The Old Man may have lit up a million nights. Last year, it still produced about 15 pounds of olives.
Despite the hardiness of these and other Puglian Olives, they face many obstacles. To combat market pressures to maximize orchard plantings and standardize for increasingly mechanized harvesting, the regional Government, in June 2007, gave designated ancient trees protection under law. The Millenari di Puglia project was born to identify and protect these ancient trees—sometimes individually, sometimes as whole orchards—like those at Masseria Brancati.
The orchard may not have changed that much over the centuries but the technology of olive milling and pressing has. We walked down a flight of carved out limestone stairs into the hypogeum, or underground cellar. These are common among the Masserias of Puglia—both for the natural climate control but also for keeping the oil safe from marauding Adriatic pirates. This space carved from the native limestone, and a “newer”19th century millstone aboveground, contains oil presses, mills, and settling basins that span 2,500 years: Messapian (700BC-200BC), Roman (200BC-), and Medieval/ Venetian (1400AD-1880AD).
'The Old Man', 3000 years old and still producing
In 2013, an insect-borne bacterial blight, Xylella Fastidiosa, emerged, causing quick death in infected trees. The current theory proposes that the bacterium was introduced from landscaping plants imported from Brazil. In Puglia, more than a million trees have been killed. And despite a government- imposed quarantine zone that spans the breadth of the Italian peninsula, the bacterium has spread to France and, most recently, to Spain. Concern is high and there has been a lot of finger pointing, but it looks like Xylella is here to stay. Let’s hope that a method of control is found soon, or a tiny bacterium may eradicate trees that have endured through many centuries and multiple empires.
As we walked through the orchard in the afternoon light, we couldn’t help but be overcome with emotion, contemplating the foresight and labor of a long dead farmer. The impressive longevity of these trees has yielded so many harvests, lit up so many nights, and brought a smile to many a grateful visitor. Let us hope for another 2000 years of plenty.
Masseria Brancati: http://masseriabrancati.it/index.php/en/
Millenari di Puglia: http://www.ulivisecolaridipuglia.com/en/the-project
McFadden Farm in Potter Valley
story & photos by Ree Slocum
Busy man, pushing 80 with a keen sense of humor, a deep laugh, and a memory like a trap; he’s also fluent in Spanish, amongst other languages—that’s Guinness McFadden, who met me at his home and farm in Potter Valley, a piece of paradise. At that moment, the kitchen was bustling with energy as Kristine Loayza and Jenny Wheeler, friends of Guinness’s daughter, Fontaine, were preparing scrumptious dishes for the McFadden Wine Club Dinner coming up in a few days. Fontaine greeted me warmly, and Guinness walked me through the home, something like a sprawling-ranch style with an East Coast cottage feel, to a table on the screened-in porch for our interview.
Guinness, who grew up in New York City, was in the Navy for nine years—some of it as a lieutenant and later as an admiral’s aide—and was “chasing around Russian submarines in 90-foot seas, and off the Cuban shore [during] the Missile Crisis, and in multiple firefights in Vietnam in the River Forces.” He saw a lot of war. Guinness left the Navy and decided to go to Stanford Business School. Going to Stanford got him to California. After a few semesters and looking ahead to a corporate life, he realized that scenario didn’t fit. He quit and didn’t look back. Guinness and a friend found their way to Napa to find out about growing grapes. In those days, grape growing in California wasn’t about varietals. It was about making red or white wines.
He met Ivan Schoch, a maverick who believed in growing and making wine from different varieties of grapes. Guinness was exploring grape growing solo when he met Schoch. I’m sure Schoch soon recognized the energy, spirit and smarts of this young McFadden and enjoyed mentoring him in the details about viticulture and winemaking. When Guinness decided to buy some acreage and begin his own vineyard, all of Napa had been pretty much picked over. Schoch gave him a wonderful piece of advice: go to Mendocino County. Guinness did just that.
McFadden's Certified Organic Beef | Guinness with girlfriend Judith Bailey| Guinness at the door to his 60kw hydroelectric powerhouse
When he got to the county, he looked at acreage for sale in Potter Valley. He arrived at the 52-acre property on a hot and dusty August afternoon in 1970. It was amazingly green for that time of year, and all around were stately valley oaks providing beauty and shade. Because of the Potter Valley Irrigation District, farmers had been using diverted, dammed, and gravity-fed water from the Eel River since 1924. The water diversion is part of a dam and powerhouse that provides electricity to Potter Valley and towns farther south. Guinness thought he’d found the perfectly peaceful spot to grow grapes.
“But it was f*@&in’ brutal!” he laughed. Around the time Guinness bought his property and planted his first Riesling wine grapes, the wineries in Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino counties had tied up the free-market trade in wine grapes by price fixing the grapes. According to Guinness, they’d also blacklisted Charlie Barra, who had started the North Coast Grape Growers Association. With tenacious persistence, Barra and the association broke the monopoly that had kept the prices down. “Just as Charlie got things goin’ I started wanderin’ in here,” Guinness told me. Thanks to their efforts, by 1974 Guinness had his first Riesling grape harvest. He’s been thankful to Barra ever since.
Through the years, the original 52 acres have grown into 500. Instead of the tent, milker’s room and run-down old shack that were his first abodes as a bachelor, Guinness and the family live in the beautiful home he had built on a wooded knoll. His original vines were “The Big Four”: Cabernet, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Riesling. Over time, he’s added Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Gewürtztraminer, and Zinfandel. He has impressive results from a climate that has a diurnal variance in temperature from 95 degrees at 4 pm to 45 degrees at 6 am. “It makes for interesting grapes,” he confided. It certainly seems to work well. McFadden Farm wines have won a Double Gold, two Golds and Best of Class, among other awards in the 2017 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition.
Early on, McFadden Farm diversified what they grew for the yearly income, but also to keep valued workers in year-round employment. They now sell wine, herbs, braided garlic, bay laurel wreaths and grass-fed beef, all registered as California Certified Organic. The future for McFadden Farm seems as green and lush as the land that grows their fine organic wines and other products.
Visit McFadden Farm Stand & Tasting Room 13275 South Hwy 101, Hopland
(707) 744 8463 | mcfaddenfarm.com
Ree Slocum is a photographer and writer who loves simple, creatively delicious, locally sourced food and beverages and revels in being distracted by the natural world when working on her deck “office.”
Huckleberries
by Liz Migliorelli
We are lucky to have huckleberry as an abundant local food and medicine. The
leaf can be harvested and added into other herbal tea blends. The leaves are high
in vitamin C, are antiseptic, astringent, and can help stabilize blood sugar levels,
which you might need after eating too much huckleberry pie!
The recipe below is for a delicious syrup made from the huckleberries themselves.
It’s easy to prepare and goes great on top of pancakes, waffles, yogurt, ice cream,
in your tea, or by the spoonful.
Recipe: SIMPLE HUCKLEBERRY SYRUP
- Gently cook down 2 cups of berries in 2 cups of water until you have reduced
- the liquid by half.
- Strain the mixture, pressing out the extra huckleberry juice through a sieve.
- While the liquid is still warm, add 3/4 cup organic cane sugar to your one cup
- liquid and stir in well so the sugar dissolves and the liquid thickens.
- Bottle and store in the fridge for up to three weeks—although it probably
- won’t last that long, it’s too tasty!
Liz Migliorelli (aka Sister Spinster) is a clinical western herbalist and magic maker who lives on the Mendocino coast. She teaches herbal classes, sees clients and keeps a well stocked apothecary. You can learn more and work with her by visiting her website: www.sisterspinster.net
Use care when wild foraging. Eat only plants, berries, and mushrooms that have been safely identified.
Tending the Family Trees: The Apple Farm's Next Generation Steps Up
by Torrey Douglass
The Bates family are a creative bunch. Owners of 35 acres next to the Navarro River just outside of Philo, Tim and Karen Bates have raised four children on this gently rolling slice of paradise. Now grown, the combination of art and farming integral to their upbringing is evident in the kids’ various careers. Sofia is currently a livestock manager in Napa, keeping 150 head of cattle happy and healthy. Joe, also in Napa, runs his own fabrication business, producing beautiful steel and concrete counters and sinks. Polly lives in Oakland and, among other pursuits, teaches at a kids science camp and is curator, instructor, and stilt dancer at Daring Arts Movement, a performance art organization with a focus on diversity and social justice.
Then there’s Rita, the youngest daughter, who has opted to stay on the farm. Like her mom, she is relaxed and self-possessed, with an independent spirit and quick curiosity— qualities that make her well-suited to an operation as complex as the many-faceted Apple Farm, where the Bates grow apples, host cooking weekends, lodge guests, make juice and other apple-y items, manage a farm stand, wrangle newlyweds, and tend the gardens.
The Apple Farm has been in the Bates family since 1984 and is largely covered in orchards. Over 80 varieties of heirloom apple trees reach down into the rich river-bottom soil and up toward the generous sun. The sun and soil also sustain an array of gardens growing cooking herbs, vegetables, and a rainbow explosion of flowers used not only to encourage pollinators but also to beautify weddings and other events held at the farm.
Like her mom used to, Rita spends the bulk of her time working in the gardens. “I love turning what we grow into food,” she says. The gardens’ veggies appear on the plates of wedding guests, at the farm stand, on the menu at Table 128 in Boonville (run by Rita’s uncle), and in dishes served up by the local Bruxo Food Truck (run by her cousin).
The gardens also supply Stay & Cook weekends, the participatory farm experience that has sustained the farm and made it a popular destination for Bay Area food fans since 1995. (Think “Farm to Table” before that was a thing.) Throughout the weekend, a group of eight guests stays in the orchard cottages, tours the farm, and, best of all, gets to roll up their sleeves and prepare three farm-fresh meals under the creative instruction of their hosts. Folks go home with some new recipes, a taste for Anderson Valley wines, and an inspired sense of the good life.
Rita loves this part: sharing a slice of farm living with people new to it. “It’s so satisfying to take a guest into the garden, show them which herb to pick, then go make something with it. A lot of them have never done that.”
• • •
When asked about her childhood on the farm, Rita describes it as “liberating … We had tons of space to run around and be kids! There were so many things to be interested in here, from growing things to cooking to building projects, and plenty of creative outlets that directly led to what I do now. It kept me busy …”
“… but not out of trouble,” quips her husband, Jerzy Skupny, with an affectionate smile. The two married in the spring of 2016 and have made the farm their home. Farms are traditionally multi-generational affairs, and Rita’s parents are happy to have them on board to help.
When asked how he feels about having the two living there, Rita’s dad, Tim, gives a small smile and simply says, “Fantastic. Just fantastic.” He recalls how, a few weeks after his farm internship began, Jerzy stopped by Tim and Karen’s house to tell them he was “sweet on Rita.” It’s not common these days for a young man to give parents a heads-up about his intentions, and the gesture was appreciated.
Jerzy attended College of the Atlantic in Maine, where he studied botany, managed its six-acre organic farm, and fell in love with New England’s apples. He also noted the rising popularity of hard cider, so when he began interning at the Apple Farm in 2013, he paid special attention to the cider production. Today the refreshing drink has improved in quality and consistency and is a popular item at the farm stand.
The key to good cider making, says Jerzy, is buying variety-specific apples. “It’s similar to grapes. Just as there are table grapes and wine grapes, there are eating apples and cider apples. The tannins that make a crisp, dry cider don’t necessarily make for good eating,” though he says that rule is far from hard and fast.
Hard and fast rules generally aren’t helpful to anyone working in close partnership with Nature. Jerzy and the Bates prefer a spirit of flexibility and experimentation to feed the farm’s evolution. There are always new projects afoot, new growing techniques to try. Besides keeping a close eye on the 10-barrel-a-year hard cider production, Jerzy has helped identify which of the jams and chutneys the family should keep in production, and which should be retired. Simplifying in one area makes room for trying things in another.
During our visit, Jerzy handed me a perfectly sweet, juicy peach, picked from a cluster of new peach trees they’ve planted. “They were grown here years ago, and we’re working on bringing them back,” he says. Working with trees is Jerzy’s passion. He spends his time on understory management and holistic orcharding, experimenting with effective microbes (EM) to create a probiotic spray that improves arboreal health. He stops himself before getting too technical—he knows I won’t follow—but the glint in his eye says he’d happily dive down that rabbit hole with someone who speaks Tree Geek.
These days the Apple Farm seems to be a place in balance. After 33 years of hard work, Karen and Tim have learned a lot of lessons, experience they’ve applied to streamlining their systems and keeping life in balance. They’ve also taken to heart the advice of writer and farmer, Gene Logsdon: Get smaller and smarter. “We used to do 35 [Stay & Cook] weekends a year. Now we do 12 or 15,” says Karen. “We don’t have to be full all the time. It’s kind of nice to have a weekend where the cottages are empty. It gives us a break.”
Occassional breaks aside, it’s still a lot of work. Overnight guests and cooking weekend attendees, wedding parties and farmstand visitors, animals, gardens, and orchards— all need attention and care. But with a new generation commiting their creativity, energy and ideas to life at The Apple Farm, it’s a safe bet those trees will continue to be tended for years to come.
The Apple Farm 18501 Greenwood Road, Philo
(707) 895-2333 | philoapplefarm.com
Active Optimism: The Mendocino Grain Project
by Elizabeth Archer
Bread is so central to our human experience that the price of grain is often cited as the single most important factor that contributes to political unrest. The expectation, everywhere, is that grain should be cheap. If the poorest people in the world can’t afford it, get ready for a revolution. So it’s no surprise that over the centuries, humans have found ways to reduce the price of growing, processing, and storing grain, all while increasing yields. But at what cost?
Some argue that the increase in gluten intolerence is the result of modern milling, which strips most components away from the wheat kernel and grinds what’s left into a fine white powder void of most nutritional content. Additionally, most wheat grown today is a hybrid developed some 40 years ago and bears only a glancing resemblance to the grains our grandparents ate. So yes, bread is cheap, but our bodies are picking up the tab.
Enter Doug Mosel, local elder, mentor, and tireless renegade in the fight to reclaim real food.
Mosel was a healthcare consultant when he discovered “The Work that Reconnects,” by Deep Ecologist Joanna Macy. “Getting exposed to that work had a profound impact on my life,” says Mosel, who quit his consulting practice and went to work for Macy for 10 years.
Doug Mosel in the fields, ©Eat Retreat| Triticale, a hybrid of wheat and rye| Doug Mosel| Purple Prairie Barley
He moved to Mendocino County in 1999, where he helped coordinate Mendocino County’s successful Measure H campaign to ban GMO crops. That introduced him to various farmers markets around the county, and it wasn’t long before Mosel was farming for himself. Says Mosel, “I grew up on a farm in Nebraska, and it was still in my blood.” Mosel helped found the Anderson Valley Foodshed, and after realizing there was a grain gap in local food production, he decided to try his hand at it.
Mosel bought a combine and a seed cleaner and grew his first experimental crops of wheat and oats in 2008. He credits a lot of the inspiration for what he does to The Whole Grain Connection, a nonprofit by Monica Spiller, which identifies varieties of wheat that are ideal for our growing conditions. Mosel has grown numerous varieties—one year he planted 21 types of grains and lentils—but the first crop he planted in substantial volume was Sonora wheat, likely California’s oldest variety.
Soon after Mosel planted his first field, another farmer found out he had a combine, and they struck up a deal to work together. Other farmers approached Mosel about growing grain, and one cold wintry day, they convened the first of several annual local grain growers meetings at Nelson Vineyards. He founded The Mendocino Grain Project with John Gramke and Sophia Bates in 2009, offering the first CSA-style grain share in 2010. Today, Mosel is the project’s principal farmer, grain cleaner, and miller. He has worked with farmers in five North Coast counties, including harvesting, cleaning and milling grain for those who want to grow grain but don’t have the equipment necessary to process it.
What Mosel plants depends on varieties he likes, how much acreage is available, and growing conditions. This year, he planted just three varieties: Sonora, the most versatile and in-demand grain he grows; Red Fife, a Canadian landrace wheat; and Ethiopian Blue Tinge Emmer, “a beautiful purple-hued wheat,” says Mosel. If there is enough rain and available land, he hopes to expand production in 2018 to include more wheat varieties, rye, and lentils.
Flour from The Mendocino Grain Project is not currently available via CSA, but it can be purchased at the Ukiah Natural Foods Co-Op and the Westside Renaissance Market. Mosel also sells directly to buyers, including Schat’s Bakery—which bakes a 100% local loaf on Thursdays—and other bakers and chefs.
And, while it may carry a higher price tag than a bag of bleached white flour, the prices are remarkably reasonable: Sonora is sold for $2.05/lb at the Renaissance Market.
Mosel is passionate about what he does because people love the grains and “it’s an antidote to Big Grain—that large anonymous system of grain production—economically, nutritionally, and environmentally.”
Economically, local grain makes our regional food economy more resilient. Nutritionally, there’s little argument that whole grains are healthier, says Mosel, but “there is no official definition of ‘whole grain,’ so we can’t rely on labels.” And, over the last 10 years, the chemical residue in wheat-based foods has risen significantly, indicative of the environmental impact as well. Conventionally produced grain uses a lot of chemicals and a lot of water.
“We know these old varieties can be dry farmed,” says Mosel. “They’re less demanding of water and fertilizer than modern varieties that were bred for increased production.” Small-scale farmers can choose heirloom varieties known for heat and drought tolerance, which is especially important in the face of climate change.
“To avoid serious threat to life as we know it on this planet,” says Mosel, “carbon emissions must be dramatically reduced or eliminated in the next 15-20 years.” This is the motivator that drives Mosel these days. He hosts the Agriculture and Ecology Hour on KZYX, and has committed future shows to discussion about and solutions for moving toward zero-emissions food production. His ideas include animal and human power, as well as air- and solar-generated electric motors. These methods may require small-scale growing, which he sees as a benefit. The more local growers there are, the more resilient the food system is.
Mosel encourages everyone to work toward lowering their own emissions and to use their purchasing and lobbying power to influence the food system. Says Mosel, “Our dollars speak loudly in the choices we make about what we buy and where we buy it.”
Mosel chooses optimistic action over passive defeat. He is animated about his dreams for the future, saying, “It’s possible. It can be done. But it’s going to take all the creativity and passion that we can muster to make it happen.”
Mendocino Grain Project | PO Box 1566, Ukiah | mendocinograin.net
Elizabeth Archer is an enthusiastic eater and promoter of the local food scene in Mendocino County. She and her husband run Carson and Bees, a beekeeping operation in Ukiah.
Arresting Flavors—DIY: Hard Cider with Tom Allman
by Holly Madrigal
photos by Ree Slocum
Sheriff Tom Allman gets a gleam in his eye when he talks about making hard cider. “It’s just so much fun, and it is a retirement plan—for whenever that is,” Tom laughs.
“My wife Laura and I were visiting friends in England and we ended up in a little pub, and they served us a pint of hard cider. It was not too sweet and it was crisp and refreshing,” he remembers. “Maybe we drank too much because we got it into our heads that we could do this.”
It may seem unconventional, given that the fertile Willits valley has typically grown hay and provided rangeland for cattle. Though apples are a different story altogether, Tom was optimistic. In fact, he remembers that there was a historic cider house not far from his home in Willits. And the roots for cider are deep in this country; hard cider was a traditional family drink in frontier times, since it wasn’t always safe to drink water. Research, in fact, even suggests that Johnny Appleseed wasn’t planting apples to eat; rather, he was interested in varieties that made delicious cider.
After his visit to England, Tom and Laura began researching what it would take to produce cider and sketched out a rough plan. It was a multifaceted project, with some pieces coming more quickly than others. The name —Satisfied Apple—was easy to settle on. Collecting materials took more focus. The pneumatic apple press, for example, came from North Carolina, while the apples themselves came from their own property and friends’ trees as well.
When it was time to produce the cider, Tom found eager help in family and friends. Tom’s family came down from Humboldt County, and along with some in their local community, the apples were soon getting pressed. The rewards came quickly, as “family and neighbors all took home fresh juice for their families.”
That fresh, unfermented apple juice, Tom says, is completely different from that which can be bought in a store. “It’s a revelation. Like, oh my gosh, where have you been all my life? It’s so sweet and good.” Tom also decided to venture into cider vinegar, noting that it’s “so good for you.” With a light effervescence and a wallop of tang, the vinegar is an explosion of taste and texture.
Tom is careful to note that he does not sell hard apple cider and doesn’t produce more than 200 gallons a year. Rather, he makes it for his own enjoyment and is honing his craft. He has traveled as far as Oregon State to take cider making classes at the university. And he has stayed close to home for the annual fruit tree pruning workshops held by Dave Watts and Richard Jeske.
“I have planted over 120 apple trees here,” he says. “I get the good ones because I work with Dave Watts at San Hedrin Nursery. I order them early. If you order trees in late fall you are going to get a better quality tree than those who wait until spring.”
Tom also credits the Gowan family for helping in those early years. They sold him organic apples and talked shop about the best fermentation methods, yeasts and apple varieties. “They make a really good hard cider and have been so generous with their knowledge,” adds Allman. “When I asked them why they would help me out, they said, ‘If Mendocino County had just one winery, no one would come and visit.’”
“I am by no way competition to the Gowans. They produce hundreds of thousands of gallons a year and consider themselves small cider producers,” Tom adds. “Compared to them I am a micro-micro producer.”
At this point, Tom still buys apples from Gowan’s. “I am probably three years away from being able to grow all the apples I need on-site,” Tom explains. Still, he is looking down the road at the long process of developing cider and gaining the certifications allowing it for sale. He’s even taken the step of designing a logo, with the help of Tim Ramming at Printing Plus.
Tom notes that the local community has influenced him significantly and continues to do so. For example, Tom says that “at first, I was concerned because I could never get two apple ciders to taste the same.” It wasn’t until he sought out input from others that he realized his mistake. “I was speaking to a man in Ukiah. He is about 80 and makes hard apple cider. [He] almost yelled when he told me, ‘That’s the idea! You don’t want to be a cookie cutter!’”
As Tom and Laura continue to learn, they also continue to develop the vision for this post-retirement plan. Tom, for instance, proudly shows off a new tank that will make sparkling cider, and they are setting aside funds to buy a 15-barrel Brite Tank someday.
Still, the focus on local production extends to how Tom sees sharing the results. “I see myself producing hard cider that is going to stay in Mendocino and Humboldt County.” He describes a scene he envisions. “Imagine if this was a summer evening, and the weather was just right,” he says. “We could have a little covered area out here, and you could come taste cider and eat homemade pizza.”
“I think that would be just about perfect,” he adds.
Considering Tom’s passion, his partnership with Laura, and the support of their family and community, it seems that sipping Satisfied Apple Cider on a warm day in the future is more than just a possibility. Given some time, it may well be exactly as Tom sees it: a certain type of perfection, in the tastiest, most local of ways.
Arresting Flavors Sidebar: Local Faves
Since you can’t buy Tom’s cider just yet, we’ve put together a list of great local options to tickle your tastebuds.
Gowan’s Estate Grown Heirloom Ciders
83 heirlooms sparkle in this family-farmed craft cider, all from Gowan’s heritage orchards of Anderson Valley. The ciders are crisp, flavorful, and fruity. Purchase online (and join the cider club!) at gowansheirloomcider.com.
The Apple Farm Farmhouse Cider
Dry and sparkling, the Farmhouse Cider from The Apple Farm outside of Philo is carefully crafted by Jerzy Skupny, who watches over every step of its production. Constantly experimenting with selected heirloom apple varieties, the cider has a rustic style that captures the essence of apple. Available from the farm stand at The Apple Farm.
Drew Family Cellars Sur La Mer Brut Cider
A light and refreshing dry cider, made like a traditional sparkling wine and containing notes of citrus, green apple, quartz and subtle saline notes (suggests coastal proximity). Good with creamy cheeses, savory crepes, roast chicken or oysters on the half shell. Available at the Drew Tasting Room at The Madrones outside of Philo, Surf Market in Gualala, Harvest Market, and the Elk Store.
Fathers + Daughters Cellars Apple Kobler
A singular dry cider from the orchards at Ferrington Vineyard, tended by the Kobler family, who’ve farmed in Anderson Valley for over 50 years. Made with a mix of Sierra Beauty, Pippin, and Golden Delicious, this cider is available online at fanddcellars.com.
Yamakiri Wines Sin Eater Ciders
Crafted by Winemaker/Cidermaker Alex Crangle, these small batch, unfiltered ciders are fresh, heady, and delicious. They use juice from a variety of apples, all sourced from the biodynamic Filigreen Farm in Anderson Valley. Available on tap at Saucy, the Boonville Hotel, The Buckhorn, The Shed, and Yorkville Market. Also available by the bottle at select restaurants and markets.
The Flying Saucy
You might not think that a background in TV, film, and acting would serve as preparation for a career in the restaurant business, but Cynthia Ariosta would beg to differ. Owner of Saucy, Ukiah’s favorite pizzeria and pub, Cynthia claims that running a restaurant draws on the same skills used in the performing arts. “It’s theater and improv. You have to be on your toes. Between the management, staff, and customers, it’s a different cast of characters, a different audience, every day.”
And now the show is on the road.
Meet The Flying Saucy, Cynthia’s newest venture and a mobile extension of her 90-seat restaurant in downtown Ukiah, across from the Mendocino County courthouse on West Standley. The Flying Saucy captures Saucy’s bikermeets- hipster vibe, all matte black and diamond plate with flashes of orange. It’s a self-contained eatery on the go, complete with Mugnaini wood-fired pizza oven and eight taps (four for beer, four for wine). Pull up to a level spot, plug in the generator, and you can have passed hors d’oeuvres, family style meals, hot pizza and cold drinks pretty much anywhere. Not a food truck, the unit is mobile pizza for hire. Any event with hungry people (think wedding, corporate retreat, milestone birthday party, etc.) will go better with The Flying Saucy and its bag of delicious tricks.
One such trick is the Live Mozzarella Station. Cheese curd is added to a pot of boiling water, magic words are intoned over the steam, and out pops deliciously fresh and gooey warm mozzarella. Have it on its own or topped with diced tomato—but only in summer. Like the restaurant, dishes served up via The Flying Saucy are thick with locally sourced and seasonal ingredients. “I won’t serve anything that isn’t sweet and delicious,” says Cynthia, who gets her produce from Mendocino farms like Tequio Community Farm, Covelo Organics, Langdon Farm, and Yokayo Roots Farm, as well as the Food Hub and the School of Adaptive Agriculture. Even the wood that cooks the pizza is from Frank’s Firewood in Anderson Valley. “I love the wonder on people’s faces when they peek inside the oven and see that the only thing cooking the pizza is the fire,” says Cynthia.
• • •
Cynthia grew up on Staten Island, a physician’s daughter in an Italian family that loves food. Escargot was her favorite dish as a youngster, the result of frequent fine dining excursions into New York City. Add to that a beloved grandmother who made homemade gnocchi and risotto, plus a garden out back full of fresh tomatoes, zucchini, and broccoli, and the result is a lifelong love affair with food.
While pursuing a television/film career in New York City, Cynthia worked in restaurants to make a living. When she was ready to move on from acting, it was a no-brainer to redirect her creative energies into the restaurant business.
She opened Saucy in 2012 and won the Business of the Year award from the Ukiah Chamber of Commerce that same year. She credits her capable and hard-working staff for much of the restaurant’s success. “I have an amazing team,” she says. “I couldn’t go on the road if they weren’t capable of running things without me.”
Saucy’s vibe is both playful and pared-down-industrial, with a combination of features that keeps the clientele mixed and coming back. It’s become a favorite haunt of beer lovers, offering a wide selection of esoteric, small batch brews. A flat screen TV above the bar plays sport games, and adventurous types can order beer flights like Flight Light, Flight O’Hops, and Flight O’Malts. Brewmasters from regional breweries like Dr. Jekyll’s Brewing Company, O’Meara Brothers, and Bear Republic come share their wares on special Pint Nights. To round out the drinks list, local wines are always on offer, with nine options on tap at all times from Mendocino, Lake, and Sonoma counties.
While some come for the bar, others come for the food. Cynthia loves to try new ingredients, new flavor combinations. “Hardly anyone in Ukiah knew what burrata was when I first added it to the menu. Now it’s one of the most popular items we serve.” She’s cautious not to get stuck in a rut. “I get bored fast, so I’m constantly changing things up,” she says. The Flying Saucy is her biggest change yet, and with it, she can take Saucy’s cheeky style of food and fun to an even wider audience.
When asked what she likes best about her work, Cynthia says, “People are generally happy to see you. They love going out to eat.” Yet The Flying Saucy is not just a means of indulging Cynthia’s penchant for feeding people. There are some hard realities California restaurant owners are facing. “I spend a premium on ingredients, and people will only pay so much for pizza,” Cynthia says. Yet with political pressure mounting for a hike in minimum wage, payroll costs threaten to increase to a point where she can’t compete. Ukiah isn’t growing, and the fast-casual chains that have opened are luring away customers. The mobile pizza oven allows Saucy to break into new territories, and, by doing planned events only, both the amount of food to prepare and the money made are known quantities—better for the bottom line than the understaffed-on-a-packed-night/overstaffed-on-a-dead-night predicament restaurants can face.
The mobile pizza oven will bring both predictability and versatility to the business, allowing it to weather the challenges that disproportionately affect small, independent restaurants. It’s a creative solution for a small town restaurant devoted to using quality ingredients that are locally grown. Between the benefits to our farmers, our community, and our tastebuds, this is one show we’ll want to keep on the road.
Saucy / The Flying Saucy
108 West Standley, Ukiah / (707) 462-7007 / saucyukiah.com
Organic Heirlooms at Oz Farm
story & photos by Mary Charlebois
Cover image: Samantha LeVine with carrots for CSA boxes and farmer’s market.
There’s a big S-curve about a quarter of the way down the gravel road. A few chuck-holes, a downhill ride, a deep, quiet valley, and you’re in utopia. Redwoods and conifers circle the basin. The Garcia River rolls by. Seventeen acres of fruit and vegetables buzz and hum with bees and pollinators.
My first instinct was to pick an apple from the fence where they were trained to grow. A thousand shades of green, an earthy sweet smell, the soundtrack of birdsong echoing slightly in the woods. All were punctuated by saws sawing, hammers hammering and muted conversation—people at work, building and growing this off-grid farm that relies on solar and wind for electricity and propane for cooking.
Oz Farm has been a part of the Point Arena/Manchester community since the ‘70s. First known as Village Oz, it was the location of a ‘back to the land’ endeavor. The villagers built dwellings, barns and gardens, most notably a double-geodesic dome that sleeps ten.
In the early ‘90s, John Hooper bought the property, changed the name to Oz Farm, and met the requirements needed for organic farm certification (Oz is certified 100% organic by the California Certified Organic Farmers). Current owner, Dean Fernandez, has an evolved business model for the 240-acre farm, cidery, farm-stay site, retreat center, event venue and forest.
Seventeen acres are dedicated to fruit and vegetable gardens. Oz grows fifty heirloom varieties of eating and cider apples with names like Arkansas Black, King of Tomkins and Cinnamon Spice. Pear orchards produce unique varieties. Everything is organically raised and processed. Vegetable gardens produce salad mix, potatoes, beans, peppers, garlic, onions, brassicas, tomatoes, herbs, strawberries and more. Fifteen varieties of cut flowers decorate the flower gardens.
New crops are always being tested. The quinoa was about 3-feet tall during my visit and just starting to make flowers. This fall, it’ll be over 5-feet with golden seed-heads. Fernandez hopes to find a variety that will flourish on the coast and provide local alternative grain.
Oz distributes their bounty to Point Arena and Gualala through a Community Supported Agriculture program, as well as through farmers’ markets, Point Arena Co-op, local chefs and eateries. A farm stand is planned for next season.
The Dome house is available for farmstay and events| Margaret Grace, Administrative Director and Events Manager| Cut flower garden at Oz Farm
A new barn is almost complete. It will be home to Oz Farm Cidery and Tasting Room. The picturesque building will also be available for events and celebrations in its 1,800-square-foot main room. The barn siding was milled on-site from fallen redwood. Hardwoods used in the barn came from Lake County trees that were felled as burn stops during the 2016 wildfires. The grand opening for the barn is October 7, during the Oz Farm Harvest Celebration. The annual community event will host picnicking, live music, dancing, apple juice, apple pies, apple cider, French fries and homemade catsup.
There is a forestry undertaking at Oz, but not one with high-impact logging. Second-growth redwood and fir are being slowly harvested to remove defective and suppressed trees, retain riparian areas, minimize roads, replant redwoods, and improve the trail system for recreational purposes. Taking this managed approach has improved tree growth, wildlife and habitat.
Oz Farm has lodging available. From yurts to a doubledomed, riverside house, each is unique and fits perfectly within the landscape. You can rent an individual cabin or the entire camp for retreats and celebrations. Groups are kept to a small size to minimize the impact on the land. Reserve early, as the schedule fills quickly for spring and summer.
Oz also grows farmers. Each year they take applications for apprentice positions. From March to November, apprentices are paid a modest stipend while living and working on the farm. They receive hands-on education in communal living, farming and land stewardship. Apprentice work covers running the organic farm with wide-ranging fruit and vegetable production, manufacturing and marketing. Applications for apprentices are open from November through January. All are invited to apply; only four spots are filled each year.
A trip to Oz Farm can include a farm tour or a farm-stay. For an immersive Oz experience, have a meal of their organic fruits and vegetables. It will stay with you forever.
www.ozfarm.com or call Margaret at (707) 882-3046.
41601 Mountain View Road, Point Arena.
Rusty 10 Penny by Germain-Robin
Local Germain-Robin was the original craft distillery, started in 1982, and the first distillery to make brandy from premium wine grapes. Using an antique cognac still so they could do everything by hand, they used centuries-old artisan methods. Did it work? When they released the Select Barrel XO in 1996, a panel of experts picked it as the world’s best liquor, ahead of a $1500 Hennessy cognac.
Starting in 2010, Crispin Cain, who had apprenticed with Germain-Robin, used the Redwood Valley distillery to create an astonishing range of beautiful, hand-distilled spirits. His Rose Liqueur has been named “Best of the Best” by Robb Report Magazine. Crispin’s Low Gap whiskey was named Artisan Whiskey of the Year by Whiskey Advocate Magazine. When it comes to spirits, the man knows what he’s doing. The international acclaim earned by these spirits is testimony to the exceptional care, knowledge, and experience he applies to their production.
Now you can experience these spirits yourself at the Museum of Encountered Objects and Caddell & Williams/Germain-Robin Tasting Room, located just south of Alex Thomas Plaza in Ukiah. This distillery tasting room is housed amongst a collection of treasures from around the globe, curated by Ansley Coale, co-founder of Germain-Robin. Call ahead for the full experience. They do not want to miss anyone.
Rusty 10 Penny
by American Craft Whiskey ambassador, Hoolis C. Nation
Build on the rocks:
- 2 oz. Low Gap Bourbon
- ½ oz Drambuie*
- 1 dash Greenway Absinthe
- Garnish with a lemon twist.
* liqueur blend of scotch whisky, heather honey, spices and herbs
Caddell & Williams Tasting Room
108 West Clay Street, Ukiah, CA
(800) 575-9997 | caddellwilliams.com
Note: close to print time we learned that E. & J. Gallo Winery of Modesto has purchased Germain-Robin. Congratulations and be sure to stay true to your Mendocino County roots!
Fire Devastates Floodgate Farm in Redwood Valley
Floodgate Farm on Heart Mountain has been known for overflowing bounty and a salad mix that boasts over 50 types of greens. “Floodgate Farm was a botanical tangle, with edible surprises wherever you turn,” says Ukiah Farmers Market Manager, Scott Cratty. Bill Taylor and Jaye Moscariello tend this wild paradise on Bakers Creek Road in Redwood Valley. On July 16, 2017, the Grade Fire roared up the mountain to their farm and burned one hundred percent of the orchard and nearly all the berries, grapes and exotic fruit trees in the garden area. “CalFire was amazing and quick to keep our home and outbuildings safe,” Bill adds.
“We calculated that we’d earned twenty percent less from last year at the farmers markets due to the wet winter and spring reducing production and buyers at the Farmers’ Markets,” says Bill. “We were counting on the heavily laden fruit trees to help us make up for it. In addition to the loss of this year’s harvest, we do not know how many years of lost production to expect as we will need to regraft any resprouting rootstocks and replant those that do not come back, but for many trees it is likely to be a five year setback.“
The couple’s insurance covers only a fraction of the damage. Friends and neighbors have been supportive, coming to help, and have encouraged Jaye and Bill to set up a Go Fund Me campaign. The two are also tapping into their other resources.“Jaye is an artist with lots of art for sale, a fire sale if you will. We’re grateful they survived. See paintings of our landscape “Before the Fire” at: www.jayesite.com .
In a community known for supporting others, here’s to helping Bill and Jay get back on their feet so that the bounty of Floodgate Farm can rise again.