Farming with Flower Power in Laytonville by Ree Slocum It was a wet spring morning when I met Irene Engber, owner of Irene’s Garden, at her 10-acre, organic certified vegetable farm located at Black Oak Ranch outside of Laytonville. Just prior to our interview, she gave some last minute instructions to her employees. Beka was [...]
Anderson Valley Community Farm Six years ago Tim Ward moved to Boonville to fulfill a pair of dreams he’d cherished for over a decade: to farm for a living and to move to Anderson Valley. A close friend had relocated to the valley in 1998, and in 2011 this same friend made the necessary [...]
It was in March 2006 that the Anderson Valley Foodshed group convened the first Steps Toward a Local Food Economy gathering. It was an invigorating day, bringing together the first "wave" of local food economy leaders from all over Mendocino County. Not surprisingly, the farmers, gardeners, chefs, restaurant owners, and eaters identified locally-grown staple grains [...]
Life on Lovers Lane Farm is hard but good work. In between the farmers markets & beekeeping, chicken & goat tending, mushroom foraging & compost tilling, veggie raising and hive wrangling, there are moments when the evening comes around and the Feigin family can enjoy good conversations beside their little pond. From there they can [...]
A few months after moving to Anderson Valley, we got a call. The grass in our back field was too high. A neighbor had complained. The firemarshall was polite and adament. Something had to be done. We could spend $400 on a couple of cows or over $1000 on a heavy duty ride-on mower. Money [...]
