It's All About Community

So we recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to help with the next phase of growth here at the farm.  The first 6 months here, we just didn't have the funds for needed equipment and materials and are still paying the price for that (pun) in out of control weeds in our saffron field and a gopher problem.  

At the start of the year, we received a generous investment from a friend and have used it to make improvements to our cottage studio we hope to use as a vacation rental, purchase over a hundred native trees and plants for hedgerows and food, and keep generally everything chugging along.  

We feel so lucky to have received a ton of emotional and physical support our first few months as well.  Many visits from hard-working friends kept our spirits and hopes up during those daunting first months of 6-foot tall weeds and a list of to-dos that seemed insurmountable.  We are really looking forward to the upcoming "guest season," once the weather warms up for good and folks' have a little spare time to come visit again.  It will be so great to show off all our hard work in person and get another layer of work done on the farm together.  

On our recently posted Kickstarter page, a friend of a friend commented on how funny it was that our goal is bringing community together and growing organic food because our opening photo is me standing out alone in the field holding some baskets (he couldn't see they were full of walnuts we'd just picked).  It would be a sad thing if that photo was the reality, that we were alone out here trying to do this all with no support.  The truth is, we couldn't.  We might be able to somehow scrape by and slowly build the farm with our own funds, but more importantly, without this amazing ability to share our progress via social media, and get the positive feedback from it that we do, I wonder how our spirits would fare when we face destruction by gophers or many of the other challenges I know we will face.  

So thank you all for listening, watching, reading, and participating in your own way in our dream here of making this farm.  It means a lot.