Return to the Farm

I recently returned to an incredible place I discovered last year. Exactly one year and four days after first finding Lisa’s eclectic farm, I came back to follow up on one woman’s adventures in farming over the last year, how the COVID-19 pandemic challenged her farm--and how it revealed an unexpected silver lining.

My second visit to Lisa’s farm was on a warm Friday afternoon similar to the sunny day when I first met Lisa. So much has changed in twelve months, but some things remain the same. And perhaps a farm is the ideal place to reflect on this duality, because plants keep growing, unaware of the pandemic. The sun rises and grows plants, the rain falls, the bees pollinate, the sun sets and Earth keeps spinning. Even when the whole world seemed to shut down, plants kept growing. Nature reminds us that life continues.

If you read my January 2020 post about Lisa’s farm, you know that I met her through her online post asking for volunteers to help set up her farm, which is an edible maze. Lisa’s farm is close to the US-Mexico border and only a few minutes from Interstate 5. It’s near the city and yet somehow a world away, with its dirt roads, horses and ranches.

When I visited a year ago, Lisa had been developing her farm for six months. At the time, she was seeking volunteers to help make raised garden beds. I love growing things and I wanted to learn about how one operates a farm, so I emailed to volunteer. I helped her for a few hours and peppered her with questions about how and why one starts a farm in retirement. If you missed the first post, you can read it here:

https://frecklefacedwordwoman.blogspot.com/2020/01/a-delightful-day-in-dirt-at-lisas-farm.html

When I left Lisa’s farm that day a year ago, I was pleasantly sore from hauling wheelbarrow loads of compost, I was intrigued by Lisa’s plans, and I looked forward to visiting again in six months to see her progress.

Fast forward two months and the world shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic. I sheltered in place, as most people did. Although I kept in touch with Lisa by email, I did not visit the farm because I was nervous about COVID and was taking seriously the orders to stay home. Months passed. And now it is a year later and I am following up with the farmer and her farm. We sat at the same table where we sat a year ago. It was a warm, breezy day, much like the day we met. We talked about her farm, and we watched farmers work in adjacent farms. In many ways our first and second visits felt similar.

Ah, but so many things have changed. This time we sat at least six feet apart, wearing masks. Now we have had almost a year of pandemic living under our belts. Last time, we did not know how much life was about to change all over the world. The virus we had heard about in January 2020 was overseas—it was troubling but seemed like a distant issue, literally. 

This visit was social, a check-in. I did not haul compost and my questions for Lisa were more conversational than they were during our interview last year. Still, some of Lisa’s answers surprised me, which goes to show that COVID has affected all of us in both universal and individual ways.

Artichoke

Calendula

When I arrived for my follow up visit, I said to Lisa, “I don’t know where to start. There is so much to see!” Lisa invited me to walk the perimeter of the farm and then investigate the middle. The perimeter is lined with artichoke plants, at least three different varieties. They are enormous—more than six feet in diameter. Their textured, silvery-green leaves overlap their neighboring plants, giving the border a lush, abundant feel. There are rows of broccoli, cauliflower, kale, beets and Swiss chard. Lisa says that in the summer, the tomatoes, sunflowers and corn were so tall that the farm became a secluded oasis for times when she wanted privacy. 

Lisa’s goal in starting the farm was to grow enough food to share with people who truly need it, volunteers and friends, and now front line workers. Her not-for-profit farm will be funded by patrons who subscribe to the numerous garden beds and individual plants. Patrons will be welcome to visit the farm for picnics, cooking demonstrations, exercise, birding or just relaxation and fresh air. 

This year Lisa grew a lot of vegetables, herbs and ornamental plants, including calendula, forget-me-nots, nasturtium and geraniums, some of which are edible. She is adding more fruit, too, including strawberries and raspberries.

Forget-Me-Nots.

 

So much is flourishing, but still, 2020 was a year of unpredictable difficulties. Given this, I asked Lisa what the biggest challenges have been for her and the farm in the last year. A mix of physical and mental ones, she says. The pandemic has shaken all of us, of course. Feeling worried about the virus and feeling isolated are some of the mental challenges. But running a farm has no shortage of physical challenges, too. Sometimes the weather is a giant challenge if frost kills plants overnight or when the warm wind dries out the farm faster than she can water it. An injured shoulder slowed Lisa down for a while but she says it is much better now. Farming is full of the unknown, like life itself. Sometimes Lisa has to slow down for a while, or implement Plan B, C, D or E. Flexibility is key. Lisa postponed her patron subscription program, but hopes to introduce it by this spring. Hit a roadblock? Don’t give up. Forge a new route. 

I asked Lisa what the biggest surprise was for her as a farmer in 2020. Two thoughts came to her mind. 

The biggest surprise was cats. Months ago, Lisa noticed a calico cat darting around her farm and neighboring farms, hunting. The cat looked very malnourished, so Lisa began to feed her. Contrary to popular belief, there is such a thing as a free lunch, so the cat stayed. Lisa named her “Cali” because of her calico coat. Lisa soon realized that having an animal around not only gave her someone to talk to, but it also helped with the rodent problem. Cali caught rats, mice, rabbits and gophers, uninvited guests who chomped on Lisa’s plants as if at a midnight all-you-can-eat salad bar. One morning, Cali emerged from under a huge volunteer tomato plant, followed by a tiny crew of four adorable kittens. “The cats saved my farm,” Lisa says with wonder. 

These unexpected mascots helped curb the rat population and soon set up a den in Lisa’s heart. As we chatted, two of the kittens timidly tiptoed toward me. I held out a hand, hoping they would let me pet them. One finally did—for a microsecond—before darting off to walk the grounds. “I love talking to and watching the cats. They bring smiles to my face,” Lisa says, and they love farm life. Lisa has made a cozy home for them in a greenhouse she ordered online and set up with the help of two volunteers. 

Lisa says the second biggest surprise are her volunteers. Yes, the shelter in place order slowed the flow of volunteers at times in the last year. But other times, she had loads of volunteers. She sees her farm as an outdoor gym, and when traditional gyms were closed, people came to the farm to get a full-body workout, shoveling compost to distribute to raised beds, weeding, transplanting, and harvesting. Lisa loves the energy that volunteers bring, and the conversation. Making and sharing gourmet meals with volunteers is also important to her, and her dishes range from vegan to venison. When so many places were closed during the spring of 2020, the farm was open and welcomed volunteers. It gave them something positive to do during a time when many of us felt helpless. The outdoor setting allowed visitors to be active and productive while maintaining social distance and wearing masks when close to one another. Lisa adapted to the COVID guidelines and her volunteers follow safety measures. COVID-19 has been no picnic, but it did not end Lisa’s farm—in fact, it provided an unexpected silver lining: a growing volunteer crew and new friends. 

During my second visit, a frequent volunteer named Lala arrived. The three of us sat and talked as the bamboo wind chimes provided background music. I chatted with Lala about her experience at Lisa’s farm. Lala first visited the farm with a friend, a woman who frequently came with several family members to work at the farm. When I ask Lala what her favorite thing to do at the farm is, she enthusiastically says, "Everything!" She does it all, from schlepping compost to harvesting seeds. It feels good to get out of the house, Lala says. She loves the change of scenery and being outdoors. Lala is from the West Samoan Islands and Lisa's farm is a connection to her island plantation, where her family still grows all of their own vegetables and fruits. The produce Lala's family cultivates includes bananas, coconuts, taros, tamu taro roots, avoka (avovados), sugar cane, pineapples, peas and various greens. 

For Lala, a vegan and an animal lover, a visit to Lisa's farm is like hitting the jackpot. The farm brings together her favorite things in life. She enjoys the organic greens, the volunteer work and smiling at Cali and her fur babies as they play or peek out from under vegetable shrubs. Lala says the dynamics of the farm are "a beautiful surprise, a breath of fresh air and an added value to the peaceful, amazing, sustainable, ever-growing farm!"

I asked Lisa what her plans are for the coming year. To keep growing, she says. Like anyone with a newish endeavor, she is learning as she goes. Lisa has learned that the plastic netting she first used for fencing on the perimeter of her farm was not a good idea. Animals got stuck in it. She replaced that with chicken wire, but it is rusting away. She plans to install a more expensive and durable steel fencing material next. Lisa also has plans to add more cylindrical vertical gardens around three sides of her farm, like the one below, which supports gourds:

Lisa has dozens of varieties of vegetables, flowers and herbs but wants to try new ones, too. She plans to plant cardoon, plants similar in taste to artichokes but with edible stems. 

Sitting in the shade of an umbrella, I saw a hawk circling overhead and a hyper hummingbird zooming through the farm. Lisa told the story of a brief spell of fame on her farm last autumn. Birders love the nature reserve in which Lisa’s farm is located. This preserve is where 340 native and migrating bird species can be found. One day a famous birder told Lisa that she has a rare bird at her farm, the tiniest known hummingbird in North America, called Calliope. Soon, many birders flocked to her farm to see this hummingbird that had flown off course heading south for the winter.

As we talked, Lisa mentioned red-winged blackbirds, roadrunners, magpie jays and crows. She loves birds and being within the nature preserve is another benefit of having her farm. Last year, a giant great horned owl was caught upside down in the netting next to artichoke plants. With the help of a neighbor, Lisa freed the bird and sent it on its way. Lisa also has rescued more than a dozen huge gopher snakes who became trapped in the original netting. Every day presents new wonders as well as new challenges. No two days of farming are alike.

During my brief visit to the farm, I feel like I am transported to a different world. The leaves rustle in the breeze and a cat rests in the shade. Lizards scuttle underfoot while bees dart into the cabbages. It’s quiet and I’m surrounded by things that are growing. Here, my worries drift away, at least for a while. The farm is a living, changing kaleidoscope of green. 

As Lisa sends me off with a large harvest of fresh vegetables, I tell her I will be back again to see how the farm continues to change. There is hope on the horizon, with the arrival of vaccines for COVID. And when you are on a farm, you feel hope all around you. Growing something involves planning and work—but also hope. So perhaps it’s no surprise that Lisa’s farm endured and flourished in 2020. While other parts of society slowed down, the farm continued to grow. Surviving the stress of 2020 means one can survive almost anything. Both the farmer and her farm have triumphed.

I can’t wait to see how this dream of Lisa’s continues to grow.

A Delightful Day in the Dirt at Lisa's Farm

If you see three emus, you are almost there.

I’m not talking about a zoo. I’m talking about something amazing in the land just north of the US-Mexican border: ranches and farm land.

Over the weekend I worked at Lisa’s farm for half a day. I found Lisa through the Craigslist ad she posted to find locals who want to volunteer at her farm.

My gardening passion is growing and has become a fascination with farms. Lisa’s need for help and my interest in learning about farming came together on a clear, sunny morning.

Lisa’s is the fourth farm I’ve visited and the second farm where I’ve volunteered my help (I will blog about helping on the other farm soon).

Lisa’s South Bay farm is one-quarter of an acre. The farm sits on land that is part of the Tijuana River Valley Regional Park, which includes a huge community garden, the largest in the county. The handful of farm plots like Lisa’s were designated in 2018 as an experiment overseen by RCD (Resource Conservation District). The farms may be relatively new but the 201 garden plots on the land date back decades. Each garden plot is 30’ x 30’ and the effect is a beautiful patchwork quilt of green wonderland. As I drove toward the farm, I noticed the variety in each garden plot. Some have hand-painted art or signs, many have garden sheds and bird feeders and one has a French door as the entrance. I saw sugarcane, flowers, berries, sweet peas, sunflowers, dragon fruit, banana trees, tomatoes, gourds, roses and lots of vines in the garden plots near Lisa’s farm.

Once I arrived, Lisa showed me around and I asked her if I could write about the farm in my blog. Milliseconds after she agreed, the questions began, and we talked while I worked. I helped at Lisa’s farm for four hours, creating garden beds along her fence line. I shoveled approximately twenty wheelbarrow loads of horse manure compost and dumped it into long, two-foot wide beds before raking it smooth. By the time I finished I had a very good upper and lower body workout and I’d enjoyed hours of peaceful time outdoors. As I told Lisa, it feels good to work my muscles, and I like falling into bed at night knowing that I worked hard. I also like seeing evidence of my effort, and seeing a garden bed that wasn’t there before is satisfying.

Not the most scenic photo ever taken, but these are some my my compost hauls.
I'm not some china doll, watching from the sidelines. I'm there to make a difference! 

The farm is within earshot of ranches, so we heard horses whinnying and a rooster crowing. We saw an egret on the hunt, and a ruby-throated hummingbird whizzing toward Lisa’s bird feeder again and again.

As I shoveled I asked Lisa whether she came from a family of farmers and why she moved to San Diego. Here are a few of my questions and her answers:

Sarah: When did you start farming on this land? 

Lisa: I started this project six months ago, in July of 2019. By this coming July, this will be a jungle!

Sarah: What’s your vision for the farm? 

Lisa: I have ten foot by four foot garden beds, and I envision vining produce growing eight feet tall. There will be eighteen circular garden "rooms" around the perimeter of the farm. Each room will be twelve feet across and will have curved walls, with produce growing up the walls and onto the chicken wire ceiling. You will be able to walk through each room to the next one. 
Each room will have its own mix of produce. 

Sarah: What are you growing right now?

Lisa: Presently there are tomatoes, spaghetti squash, artichokes, red chard, kale, papaya, parsley, oregano, thyme, chives, tarragon and guavas growing.

Sarah: You’re retired, but you’re not interested in slowing down. What made you decide to gear up for a really full future, including building a farm from scratch?

Lisa: This is a not-for-profit CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm. People are invited to experience the farm with field trips, picnics, cooking demonstrations and volunteering to maintain the farm. I want to feed people who are struggling due to food shortages in San Diego County. I want to provide them with high-nutrient foods so that they can be healthy and build a positive future. The walkways I have marked throughout the farm are wide, and so people using wheelchairs can come into the farm and experience it, too.

Sarah: What are some of the reasons people have given for wanting to come volunteer on your farm?

Lisa: They all just like to help. Many want to learn about farming. Some do it to get some fresh air and exercise. At least two volunteers were new to town and wanted to connect with others.

Sarah: Your farm is still in the beginning stages, but it already has such a creative and personal feel to it. Among other things, you’ve created a patio “room” in the middle, bordered by potted trees and plants of all kinds.

Lisa: Yes, I wanted to create a private area to sit and the trees help with privacy. My walls include potted Norfolk Island Pines, which I brought with me when I moved from Seattle years ago. Surrounding the garden “room” I have ornamental plants.  

Sarah: This farm is not large but it still is a lot of land to nurture. It takes courage to do this.

Lisa: Well, I come from a very entrepreneurial family. I was born in upstate New York, where my family had a horse and Christmas tree farm. My dad was a professional artist and when I was two years old we moved to Cape Cod, where my parents opened the largest art gallery on Cape Cod.

Sarah: One common thread in your family’s endeavors is risk. Being a farmer is risky. There’s a lot that is out of your hands. Being an artist is hard. Opening a gallery was another chance your parents took. They were not afraid to try something others would label as too uncertain. I like that you absorbed from your family that taking a chance was allowed. I think it led you to where you are now, dreaming big, rather than counting reasons not to build this farm.

Lisa: My family always had a garden. Many years ago, I decided to move to San Diego. My son was leaving for college and I was ready for a change. San Diego is the ideal place to live, year-round. I like this farm. I love watching all the birds fly overhead. This area has a huge variety of birds because it is adjacent to the Tijuana River Estuary, a protected wetland where migratory and wintering birds make their homes.

Sarah: Can I come back in a few months and see how the farm has continued to change and grow?

Lisa: Yes. There is going to be a lot of growth in the coming months. I’m excited about the future of this farm: growing food, sharing with others and eventually bringing the community together for events at the farm.

Farm Fresh Fun

Llamas and tires and berries, oh my!

(Did you catch the reference? Lately we’ve been watching The Wizard of Oz a lot at our house.)

We visited a farm today and there were llamas and tires and berries (oh my).

Well, one llama. (But this is more llamas than I usually see each day/week/month.)
We saw big tires. These tractor tires were probably four feet across.
Berries? Fields of them. Blackberries, blueberries and strawberries.
Welcome to Stehly Farms Organic in Valley Center, CA, north of San Diego.

I was giddy with glee at the farm. It’s always fun to go somewhere different, and to learn about how they do what they do. I had tons of questions for the owners. Why do they do this? When do they pick that? Do they use machines for picking? How many acres are there? David, who oversees the vegetable growing at Stehly, laughed and called me a questionsaholic, which I accepted as the compliment he clearly intended it as. Yep, I have a thirsty mind and I drank in all the sights, smells and sounds at the farm. I grew up in Los Angeles, so it’s safe to say I wasn’t nose to snout with pigs. There were no tractors or rows of corn. So farms fascinate me.

These days I participate in a local community garden, and it gives me a lot of satisfaction to grow a few tomatoes and to watch in wonder as friends grow vegetables and flowers from A to Z. I find it challenging to deal with the weeds in my garden bed, and to know how much water the plants need or which soil amendments to try. And this is in a 5’ x 10’ garden bed! I can’t imagine how much work (both physical and mental) goes into running an organic farm. I was happy as a pig in muck. How often does a suburban gal like me get to see goats and sheep? Or pick her own oranges and blueberries?

This was a school field trip, a day of fun mixed with a few lessons about farming. The kiddos watched co-owner Noel Stehly demonstrate Hass avocado grafting. He showed how to graft a piece of bud wood onto the seed tree to turn a non-producing avocado tree into one that produces. It was science meets live theater: we learned something and it was entertaining, too. Moments like this bring science lessons to life. I love the passion you see and hear when the Stehlys are talking about what they grow.

Wherever I go, I have lots of questions about why things are done as they are, and about who, what, when and where. So before co-owner Jerome Stehly had taken his first breath I was throwing questions at him about the farm. How big is it? It’s approximately 278 acres, with 200 of them being used to grow crops. I asked about what their biggest crop is (it’s avocado) and how many people work full-time at the farm. I had questions about the berries and critters and coyotes and what it takes to get a lemon to market. We sampled fresh squeezed Valencia orange juice (delish) and watched a boxing machine fold and hot glue cardboard rectangles into boxes, lightning fast. We watched animals and learned techniques for picking oranges and how they water 200 acres of crops. (Not with a watering can.) Each tree has its own sprinkler head. There are wells at Stehly Farm (1200 feet deep) as well as springs. There are plenty of machines at the farm but every single crop is picked by hand. The animals on the farm help out a lot. It was a science lesson in practice. The owl boxes at the farm house owls, who keep the gopher and rat population down, which allow the crops to grow. The sheep graze on weeds. Good insects eat bad insects who otherwise would eat up all the crops. (Boy, there’s a lot to this farming biz!)

Want to know what they grow there? This is not a complete list but here are some of their crops: asparagus, avocados, blackberries, blueberries, chard, corn, dragon fruit, garlic, grapefruits, kale, lemons, limes, onions, oranges, pomegranates and strawberries.

I want to do paintings from the photos I took at Stehly Farms today. It was a fantastic experience: being out in nature, seeing things grow at this huge scale, and learning from the people who oversee it. It takes science to grow things but it also takes a lot of heart. It takes passion and commitment and energy. What a delight to spend part of a day on a real farm. I think this city girl actually may be part farmer. Now where are my overalls?

Farmtastic (Aug. 31, 2012)

As you know, gardening has been on my radar this year. I joined a community garden, and I’ve been fascinated as I’ve watched food—real, edible food!—grow on our plants. My friend Karmyn invited me to tour an organic farm today and I accepted. It was terrific.

First, let’s take a moment to marvel that a farm could be as close as fifteen miles from the city center. Who knew? We visited Suzie’s Farm in Imperial Beach, which is wedged into a space bordered by the Tijuana River Estuary, residential neighborhoods, freeways, and Mexico. Quite a varied intersection, but I find it charming that the farm has such different neighbors.

We arrived before ten and the sun already was strong. We threw on hats and grabbed our bags, as we’d been told we could pick our own vegetables. Our tour guide was a friendly woman named Leslie, who splits her time between the farm and the opera stage. Yes, that’s right. A natural combination! Well, why not? We all have different sides to our personalities, and having been a starving artist at one point, I can relate to the necessity of a side job. Leslie certainly has a passion for the many crops she showed us, and her enthusiasm made our adventure even more fun.

The farm, which was established four years ago, grows more than one hundred different crops each year. That includes forty different kinds of tomatoes. Just a sec. What? I didn’t know that forty kinds of tomatoes existed. (Yes, I’m new to all this. Be patient with me.) Wow. In addition to seeing all kinds of things growing, we also got to talk to some chickens. They lay eggs in their cute little hen houses, and when we approached their large fenced-in area, they bobbed toward us (convinced we were bearing edibles). We checked out all their different feathered outfits (some were white, some reddish-brown, some black-and-white). The kids in our group named them. These chickens are the most valuable employees of this farm, according to Leslie. They scratch the earth, breaking it up and aerating it. They also gobble up old plants, helping to prepare the ground for the next crop to be planted.

The number of plants we saw amazed me. The rows stretched out into the distance, meeting Eucalyptus trees and sunflowers. (The sunflowers are not merely decorative. The bees are attracted to the flowers, and they help pollinate tomato plants nearby. I love how much harmony there is in the natural world. Note to self: be more like bees.)

Although tractors turn the earth and prepare the land for crops, each plant is hand-planted. Many people are needed to hand-plant the farm, which was seventy acres until recently, when they acquired more land. Are you wondering which crops we saw? Of course you are. And I will tell you. We saw pumpkins, squash, eggplant, tomatoes, basil, cucumber, sweet peppers, hot peppers, kale, okra and others. We got to pick samples of most of these crops. I had never seen so many peppers before. I’m ecstatic when my little pepper plants at the community garden produce one pepper! Remember, I’m new to this. Seeing thousands upon thousands of peppers all at once is pretty exciting when your current yield can be counted on one hand. We picked tons of peppers, and a few of the kids found giant squashes the size and shape of the sturdy wooden club Fred Flintstone carried.

I love how plants sometimes throw us a curve ball. Most apples look the same, for example, but every once in a while you’ll get one that is an unusual twist on its usual form. Today’s surprise was an eggplant shaped like a gathered satin purse. I was in awe:

As our tour ended, we lugged our full bags back to our cars. I felt like I could start my own salsa-making company with the peppers and tomatoes I’d gathered. Instead, I gave some to our good friend Rosa. The rest may become pico de gallo to bring to our neighbors’get-together. Check out the bounty I collected:

Today’s visit is inspiring me to give more love to my plot at the community garden. I need to dig some coffee grounds and Epsom salt into the dirt. Maybe I’ll sing to it. Maybe I could get farmer Leslie to sing opera to my plants to help them grow. Either way, I’m excited. Seeing things grow just does this to me.

Happy planting…