With 2022 in the rear view and the rains that have arrived, we wanted to start the year off with gratitude for the folks and organizations who make up part of our resilience as a rural land-based project. They include:
Bramble Tail Homestead, Bridget & Josho Somine, Castelli Vineyards, the Climate Farm School, Cotton Flower, Dashboard Earth, Forestree Collective, Kelsi Anderson, Land & Local, LifeWays, the Mendelsohn Family, Nancy Schaub, Rich Robinson, Russell Wood Cabinetry, Shao Shan Farm, Sherwood, The Temple of the Vine & the Bee, Terra.do, Three Branches, Weaving Earth, West County Partner Dance, Wilderness Torah, Yama Craft, and our wonderful landmates, neighbors and extended community.
Thank you to all of these people and organizations and the land that we have the honor to steward. It’s going to be a good year! Keep reading below for updates from various projects and upcoming events.
LAND UPDATES
BRAMBLE TAIL HOMESTEAD
Bramble Tail has been busy this year expanding our program offerings!
Our long standing Herdshare Program has been maintaining a steady fullness throughout the year to a local membership group of 140 families., email us to sign up!
And, our u-pick membership based Apothecary Garden has been a new project this year, and has proven to be a deeply satisfying relational farming experience. Members join for the calendar year, and have open access to come harvest plants as they are ready throughout the year. We also offered various tending days, and hosted several workshops. We just completed our winter root dig! Email to sign up for 2023 membership or inquire about our apprenticeship opportunity.
THE COMMUNITY GARDEN
At the start of 2022, landmates broke ground on a previously fallow hillside, forming permanent no-till beds on contour, to grow food for and by the residents here. For 2023, we are exploring opening up membership to the community garden to folks in our extended community! There will be a nominal annual fee to formalize your participation, regular monthly work days to tend to the beds, and open harvesting year round. Fill out this form if you're interesting in applying!
FORESTREE COLLECTIVE + REGENERATIVE FOREST SOLUTIONS
Forestree Collective is winding up as their new small diameter timber mill arrived at the West Mill here at Green Valley. The Woodlandia 200xp creates multiple boards from small diameter logs (6" - 12" DBH) in a single pass. Once installed, the mill enables Forestree to cost effectively utilize wood from fuel load reduction and forest restoration projects. Using this type of wood is generally speaking good for the climate and local economy as this material is often chipped or burned. Both of these standard practices release carbon into the atmosphere and/or add to surface fuel loads.
Forestree Collective is the only small diameter value add product business in the state and is answering the call for win/win climate solutions. Traditionally viewed as “non-merchantable” wood by the lumber industry, our goal is to also ensure that wood that needs to stay onsite can do so for onsite restoration. Wood that is destined for a chipper will instead be transported to our mill and woodshop at Green Valley to help create more carbon stable home goods. We're aiming to grow into mass timber over the next two years with ample feedstock supply in Sonoma County to fuel our work for many decades.
Beyond wood utilization, there is much more that is needed to close the carbon economy on regenerative forest and land stewardship. To this end, a few members of Forestree have formed a nonprofit Regenerative Forest Solutions as a fiscally sponsored project of Inquiring Systems Inc. to fill in these gaps. With a niche on wood utilization research and education, our efforts will well-compliment the robust ecosystem of organizations, many of whom have been working for over a decade, to address forest stewardship and community resilience goals in Sonoma County. These include: the Sonoma County Forest Conservation Working Group, Sonoma Ecology Center, Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, Fire Forward, UC Cooperative Extension, Sonoma County Ag + Open Space District, Fire Safe Sonoma, Safer West County, and Shone Farm to name a few!
CLIMATE FARM SCHOOL 2023
The Climate Farm School program will be offering its 4-week course, including 1 week on the farm at Green Valley Farm + Mill several times in the upcoming year. This course is perfect for anyone looking to take a deeper dive into climate solutions within farming and food systems, especially if you are looking to transition careers in this direction. On-farm weeks will be: April 10-16, June 10-17, July 29-August 5, and September 16-23. Head to the course website for more information and to send in your application for one of those courses. Scholarships are available.
During previous courses here on the land, participants have harvested from the community garden, toured local farms including Shao Shan Farm here onsite, attended a no-till vegetable farming workshop at Singing Frogs Farm, learned the ins and outs of soil health, explored regenerative grazing management and small scale dairy operations with Brambletail Homestead, and cooked delicious meals together led by a fabulous cast of rotating Bay Area chefs. Climate Farm School is also open to designing custom short courses for mission-aligned companies and teams within organizations. For more information about the courses and custom offerings, send an email to Course Director and Green Valley landmate Laney Siegner at laney@terra.do.
JOIN OUR GROWING COMMUNITY OF BUILDERS, MAKERS, FARMERS AND LAND TENDERS
ONE ACRE OPEN FARM LEASE
Join our growing collective of agricultural ventures here on the land! We have 1 acre available in the heart of our shared cropland. Complete with shared barn and greenhouse. We are looking for a small CSA, practicing low to no till, who wants to fit into this mosiac of farmers within our 10-acres of deer-fenced cropland: a medicinal herb farm, vineyard, community garden, veg farm specializing in storage crops and seed saving. A diversified CSA would round us out! Email if you're interested!