Chalice Farm Story
Surrounded by forested wildlife corridors, where we stood, was a gorgeous open bowl of sunshine, rolling downward to the east, with the craggy remains of a long-neglected apple orchard…
Perfect for Permaculture!
We scrambled up the slope through coyote bush, poison oak, and brambles to a rough promontory—one of the terraces carved out in the middle of the last century, about a third-way to the top…Breathless, we surveyed the view east: a magnificent grove of gigantic, ancient Monterey Cypress lined the year-round creek that bordered the land below; just beyond, the view was dotted by giant specimen redwood trees, including the spectacular, deciduous Dawn Redwood; above and beyond them a picturesque barn on a neighboring grassy hillside among more steep wooded slopes; a beautiful windbreak of Eucalyptus in the middle distance, a mountain range on the horizon… A mix of depths, colors, and textures that stilled the heart!
A Doug fir forest climbed the Eastern boundary to due-south, the highest point on the land: 175 feet above us; from there, a majestic white oak forest crested the south-west boundary till it met a seasonal creek of mixed hard- and soft-wood forest with a dense understory of hazelnuts, salmon berries, ferns, and currants forming the Western boundary that plunged back down to the year-round creek and road below.
Surrounded by these forested wildlife corridors, where we stood, was a gorgeous open bowl of sunshine, rolling downward to the east, with the craggy remains here and there of a long-neglected Gravenstein apple orchard…
Perfect for Permaculture!
After seven years of non-stop activism for social justice and ecology—including several cross-country roadshows with a giant redwood stump!—in 2004, we were ready to recharge, to be rejuvenated by Nature…and the world was ready too: We felt the global economy was heading for collapse and the environment spiraling into climate chaos… Creating a sustainable refuge—a carbon sponge of nourishment and regeneration for wildlife and people—seemed the best thing for us to do, for ourselves, the immediate community, and the world at large… and that’s what we did.
We immediately set about refining the deer paths in the forested areas and creating our own food forest sectors with plenty of forage for wildlife in the open area, each of which we named after the fabulous birds that we found there: Flicker in the east, Vulture in the north, Red Tail in the south. Where the herd of 20 exquisite deer gathered was Deer Dell, and so on…
We repaired the old bridge over the year-round creek, and sustainably built the infrastructure and a three-story, staw-bale tower with a small footprint, using reclaimed materials…
You can peruse the Gallery, read the Farm Stories, and scan our Seasonal Offerings to get an idea of what followed… We have been on this incomparable journey for many years now and warmly invite you to join us!
Relationship with the wild
The farm is surrounded by wildlife corridors: creeks on two sides, forested ridges on two sides, and a bowl of sunshine in the middle, where we grow the crops: fruit and nut trees, perennial veggies like artichokes and asparagus, a parade of annual veggies year-round, all interlaced with flowering shrubs for pollinators and other foragers—making the farm beautiful as well as functional.
A major goal was not to further rob wildlife of habitat. We use minimal fencing, allowing animals to roam freely. We plant flowering shrubs and ground cover, specifically for wildlife food and protection, gradually replacing exotic-invasive species, like brambles, with natives, like coffee berry. We allow annuals, such as celery and our signature savory greens to bolt, becoming great clouds and towers of seeds that feed the huge songbird population.
We respect and nurture all wildlife, including many species of rodents, who provide essential food to animals further up the chain. Our dry-stacked stone walls not only hold up the hillside but provide habitat for a variety of reptiles, and our three ponds are beloved by frogs, dragonflies, and birds. Nesting boxes abound housing bluebirds, screech owls, and barn owls.
A different kind of CSA
Community Supported Agriculture is another name for subscription farming. We interviewed people who had participated in CSAs, and found out that their biggest complaint was that they had little control over what came in their produce boxes or how often they got them—often the same thing, week after week—causing spoilage and waste.
The model we chose sought to eliminate that waste: We send out a produce list, and subscribers choose only what they want—or nothing at all—during that delivery cycle. We deliver our super-fresh produce at least bi-monthly to San Francisco, the East Bay, and locales en route, while locals stop by the farm to pick up theirs weekly.
Chalice Farm
Chalice, as in the bountiful bowl, Holy Grail, The Chalice and the Blade. Icon of the eternal feminine, the nurturing womb.
Chalice, as beautiful as it is productive.
The adventure continues!
Mary & Roberto