CSA Farm Spotlight: Riverdog Farm

Oct 7, 2019

By Sustainable Solano

This is an ongoing series profiling local farms that have Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs) available in Solano County. CSAs create a way for community members to buy a share of the harvest directly from local farmers. Customers pay a set amount and receive a box of seasonal produce or other farm products in return. Such arrangements help farmers receive a greater share of the money paid, bring customers fresh, local produce and promote health, community and the local economy.

Riverdog Farm chickens forage in the farm’s organic pasture

 

Riverdog Farm owners Tim Mueller and Trini Campbell started the farm on two acres in Napa in 1990 before moving to Capay Valley a few years later.

The certified-organic farm grows vegetables, fruit, nuts and chickens and pigs. It uses a systems approach to farming with compost, crop rotation, cover cropping, hedgerows and integrating animals into the system, providing natural fertilizer for the orchards and fields.

“[Tim and Trini] hoped to provide a stable livelihood for themselves and their employees while practicing good land stewardship and producing high quality food for their community,” Riverdog CSA Manager Lola Quasebarth said.

The farm began offering a CSA a few years after it started and was one of the first organic farms at the Berkeley farmers markets.

Below is a Q&A with Lola about Riverdog Farm:

 

  • Riverdog Farm
  • Capay Valley
  • 450 acres
  • Established 1990

 

When did you start offering a CSA? Why was it important to offer?

We first started offering a CSA in Napa in 1994. The Napa farmers markets would close for the winter and many of our customers wanted to keep getting our produce, so we started delivering veggie boxes to the home of one of our longest-running customers (who still hosts a pick-up site at her house now, 25 years later). These days the CSA is central to leveling out the ups and downs in veggie production. The consistent customer base provides year-round stability for our core crew of 50 employees, and allows us to provide healthcare for them. 

Are there special perks for CSA members? Why do people tend to subscribe?

Through surveying and talking with our CSA members, we’ve realized that a huge amount of our customers have been members for quite a long time. They’ve been to the farm for our annual Pumpkin Party in October, come visit us at our farmers markets in Berkeley and Sacramento, and many follow the farm day-to-day on Instagram. Members of our CSA have the opportunity to directly support the many families who work to grow, harvest, pack and deliver high-quality Riverdog meat and eggs, and produce. In addition, our CSA customers can add pastured meat and eggs to their weekly veggie box delivery, and we even partner with a fruit farm to offer their weekly fruit CSA boxes to our customers.

What’s something that makes your farm stand out?

One thing that makes Riverdog so special is our dedication to integrating animals into our cropping system. We farm 450 acres but only 90 acres or so is in vegetables at any given time. We give our land much-needed recuperation time, rotating vegetables with grain and pasture for our animals. Even our orchards get chickens running through them at least every couple of years, helping relieve pest pressure and adding nutrients that our trees will utilize for years. By carefully managing animals on our land, we keep the soil healthy and get to provide incredibly nutritious, delicious pastured meat and eggs to our customers. We’re excited to be offering pork shares so that our customers can get our delicious pork cuts and sausage in bulk. The pork share is a variety of pork cuts, cured meat (bacon!) and sausages, perfect for stocking the freezer.

Anything exciting on the horizon? What do you see happening and what do you want to see happen with interest in local food?

We’re excited to continue selling at our favorite farmers markets in Sacramento and Berkeley and love for our customers to come visit us there. We’ve also been happy to see restaurants in Sacramento and the Bay Area buy more and more from local farms, so now you can find Riverdog produce at many restaurants. You can find a full list of grocers and restaurants who carry our products at: www.riverdogfarm.com/markets

Anything else you’d like to add?

Customers can find more information about our markets and CSA and sign up at www.riverdogfarm.com/csa 

Riverdog Farm has Solano County CSA drop sites in Benicia, Vallejo and Vacaville. Learn more about how to sign up here.

Find out more about local CSAs here.

Garden Tools: A Resource for Building Community

Sep 5, 2019

By Nicole Newell, Sustainable Landscaping Program Manager

One of the things we love to see in the neighborhoods where we have projects and programs are our community partners each contributing their own efforts to strengthen and grow these communities.

And when there are ways we can support other organizations with goals that complement ours toward building a just, equitable and sustainable environment, we are happy for the opportunity to do so. One such opportunity arose this summer.

Richard Fisher serves on the Vallejo Commission for the Future and Sustainable Solano’s Resilient Neighborhoods Advisory Board. He contacted us about a beautification project that he has spearheaded on the corner of Curtola Parkway and Solano Avenue. This corner has become a dumping ground for trash, furniture and other items, which gives a poor first impression of Vallejo.

Faith Food Fridays is located on this corner and provides an important service to the Vallejo community. The organization supplies food, clothes, household supplies and so much more to families in need. Beautifying this area would create a significant positive impact by giving a new face to Vallejo for people driving into the city and for the hundreds of families that visit Faith Food Fridays.

The vision of this project is to create an open-air art gallery and native plant garden to tell a positive story about the culture and love of the Vallejo community. The first part of the project was to clean up the corner and begin to rehab the soil by adding mulch. That’s where we were able to help.

Generous funding from the Solano County Water Agency and PG&E has allowed us to purchase garden tools used in various workshops and installations. When we are not using them for our own projects, rather than have those tools sit unused, we’re happy to offer them to community organizations as a resource.

Richard approached us about borrowing the tools for this beautification project so a large group of volunteers could get the work done in less time with more tools available. Angel’s Tree Care dropped off a load of free wood chips, and volunteers showed up with energy to clean up the corner and spread wood chips. The next step for the corner is still in the planning stages. Anyone from the community that has ideas or is willing to donate art, please contact Richard Fisher at: vallejocommissionforthefuture@gmail.com

As we enter into our busy season of landscaping projects and planting gardens, our tools will go back into regular use for our projects. But we still want to be a resource for community projects when those tools aren’t in use. If you are part of a community organization planning a project that needs garden tools, check with us for availability!

Talking Local Food: SolanoFit Interviews Sustainable Solano’s Local Food Program Manager

Aug 29, 2019

By Sustainable Solano

Sustainable Solano Local Food Program Manager Stephanie Oelsligle Jordan  serves up sauces at a cooking class in Benicia.

Our Local Food Program manager, Stephanie Oelsligle Jordan, recently spoke with O. Johnson on his SolanoFit podcast about the importance of healthy food, local food and supporting a local food system.

She discussed the value placed on food and the need to shift public perception about where our food comes from to build a strong market for good quality, nutrient-dense food that was grown sustainably — and the health and economic benefits of paying a little more now for healthy food to avoid health costs down the road.

Stephanie and O. talked about Sustainable Solano’s mission to create an environmentally sustainable, economically viable and socially just food system in the county and region in a conversation that ranged from the demand for convenience and snack foods to farms that create diverse ecosystems that build healthier soil and healthier food. They also discussed how to get involved and the power of planting a backyard garden for access to food and building community.

Listen in to learn a bit about Stephanie, her background, how she became a chef, joining Sustainable Solano and her passion for building a local food system.

Check out SolanoFit’s post on the podcast here.

Sustainable Solano Offers Classes on Sustainable Landscaping in Dixon

Aug 26, 2019

 

Sustainable Solano is expanding its Sustainable Backyards program, which creates waterwise, edible food forest gardens, to Dixon. We welcome coverage of this program and what it will bring to Dixon.

In September, Sustainable Solano is inviting those interested in the program and community members to join us for two informational workshops:

 

Building Sustainable Yards in Dixon

6 – 7 pm, September 19
The Barn & Pantry
125 West A St., Dixon

Are you a Dixon homeowner interested in transforming your yard into a thriving,
edible ecosystem fed by secondary water? Or do you manage a public site that could
benefit from sustainable landscaping for the greater community? We are looking for
a site to install a demonstration food forest in the spring of 2020 that will serve as
an educational resource for local residents to learn about sustainable landscaping
and wise water use through an annual public tour. Come learn about Sustainable
Solano’s Dixon Sustainable Backyard Program at this informative talk about building
a sustainable yard!

For more information and to register for this FREE event, visit sustainablesolano.org/events
Direct link here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/building-sustainable-yards-tickets-70505765643

 

Sustainable Landscaping Class in Dixon

6 – 7 pm, September 26
The Barn & Pantry
125 West A St., Dixon

Learn about sustainable landscaping: beautiful, productive, life-supporting
ecosystems featuring trees and a variety of perennials fed by “secondary water”
(greywater and rainwater). Davis-based lead designer/engineer of Whole System
Designs, Derek Downey, will explore how to make a sustainable yard a reality. This
class is for homeowners interested in replacing their lawns or who would like to
make their current yards resource-wise, but open to anyone interested in
sustainable landscaping techniques.

For more information and to register for this FREE event, visit sustainablesolano.org/events
Direct link here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sustainable-landscaping-class-tickets-70509486773

 

The Solano Sustainable Backyards program is made possible through the generous support of the Solano County Water Agency.

For more information on the program, contact Sustainable Landscaping Program Manager Nicole Newell at nicole@sustainablesolano.org

For interviews or photos, contact Communications Manager Allison Nagel at allison@sustainablesolano.org

 

About Sustainable Solano
Sustainable Solano is a countywide nonprofit organization that is dedicated to “Nurturing Initiatives for the Good of the Whole.” The organization, now in its second decade, brings together programs that support and sustain one another and the Solano County community. Initiatives include sustainable landscaping, local food, resilient neighborhoods, sustaining conversations and community gardens.
For more information, email info@sustainablesolano.org or visit sustainablesolano.org

CSA Farm Spotlight: Lockewood Acres

Aug 20, 2019

By Sustainable Solano

This is an ongoing series profiling local farms that have Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs) available in Solano County. CSAs create a way for community members to buy a share of the harvest directly from local farmers. Customers pay a set amount and receive a box of seasonal produce or other farm products in return. Such arrangements help farmers receive a greater share of the money paid, bring customers fresh, local produce and promote health, community and the local economy.

Ben Lyons of Lockewood Acres

 

Ben and Denise Lyons started their family farm in Vacaville after facing the challenges of the 2010 downturn. Looking for work and afraid of going hungry, Ben Lyons started farming.
“It was more out of self-sustainability as opposed to being a farmer, and then it just grew into a whole lot more,” he said.

Ben, who had gone to school to be a veterinarian, had worked a range of jobs from construction and glass work to selling custom stuffed animals at state fairs and rodeos. Denise works in the Solano County District Attorney’s office as a criminalist supervisor. Inspired by a 1954 publication on the benefits of earthworms and farming for self-sustenance, they started the small organic farm and developed a passion for farming.

“We pretty much invested all we had and built the rest on Craigslist and garage sales,” Ben said. “The first piece of brand-new equipment I bought was a wagon, and it cost $150.”

Below is a Q&A with Ben about Lockewood Acres:

  • Lockewood Acres
  • Vacaville
  • 9 acres
  • Certified 2012

 

When did you start offering a CSA? Why was it important to offer?

In the beginning, that was the beauty of this business model: You got your money up-front, they [CSA members] invest in you. I didn’t have to go to the banks, which is what caused all the problems in 2009. That was the purpose and beauty of the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) business model.

Recently, because the corporations have gotten involved and deliver direct to your door, I really can’t compete with that. People don’t understand the difference. They say it’s local, but local is relative.

Are there special perks for CSA members? Why do people tend to subscribe?

The beauty about mine is everything you get in your basket, it’s grown here. We have fruit and vegetables, olive oil — they can add on eggs or flowers. Everything in our CSA is from the farm and it is organic. For people in Vacaville, you can’t get much closer. I am on the edge of the city limits.

What’s something that makes your farm stand out?

It’s truly a family farm. We do everything. I grow it, my wife manufactures the value-added and my daughter designs all the logos. Every once in awhile I get my grandson to help.

We have pomegranate jelly, shrubs and syrup: an award-winning pomegranate–merlot jelly, red and white wine vinegar, spiced elderberry herb syrup for the upcoming cold season made with local honey, and kombucha kits, just to name a few things we offer. We also make salts from the products we grow: We have a roasted garlic salt, a Brandywine tomato salt, garlic scape salt, our own Sriracha pepper salt, which is all combined with local Sonoma sea salt. Plus we are always adding new things!

Anything exciting on the horizon? What do you see happening and what do you want to see happen with interest in local food?

The state has passed a couple of cool bills. One is AB626. You can now cook out of your own kitchen and serve people without being shut down by public health.

Eventually we want to start a teaching kitchen, but we have to work with the county to navigate their roadblocks. They want everything perfect to start, but it takes money to make money.

We’re working on [regulation changes] with the Pleasants Valley Ag Association. There needs to be a stepping stone or graduated requirements in order for a small business to get started. The money hurdle that they put in order to do all these things is what really hinders people from proceeding legally. I understand what regulations are for, some of them … but there just needs to be a graduated permit standard in order to bring things in compliance without breaking the bank.

Anything else you’d like to add?

We have U-pick, we do the classes, we had an open farm event in May. We’re going to have a Harvest Dinner on Oct. 19 — we’re actually going to run that through The Barn & Pantry [in Dixon]. The cool thing about the Harvest Dinner is everything at the dinner is made from the farm — the meat, cheese, wine, everything. [Those interested in the Harvest Dinner can contact the farm for more details.]

Lockewood Acres has Solano County CSA drop sites at the farm, the Vacaville farmers market and Sweet Pea’s in Vacaville and at The Barn & Pantry in Dixon. Learn more about how to sign up here.

Lockewood Acres will host any other site to drop CSA boxes off at with a minimum of 20 paid members. The farm offers different sizes  and options to make it convenient for our customers,  full shares, half shares and skip shares. Call Farmer Ben for more details!

Find out more about local CSAs here.