Today we’d like to introduce you to Melinda Price.
We started Peace and Plenty Farm in 2017 fueled by the desire to make our living by working outdoors and by doing something meaningful. Simon was working as a field biologist for The Nature Conservancy and had a long history of work in wildlife preservation and land management, so he was already doing something very meaningful but was ready for a change. Melinda had worked in a variety of fields, from owning and operating a successful catering company in San Francisco to teaching high school and most recently, working as a program manager in tech. Neither had much farming experience, but lots of translatable skills. We searched for months for a niche crop to grow, thinking that we might not be able to make a living doing a market garden (it turns out the market garden is doing great and our farmstand feeds the local community with organic-method produce year round). Listening to NPR one day on a trip out to a bird survey location, Simon heard a story about the University of Vermont’s new program helping small farms in the New England area introduce saffron to their crop list. It was definitely an Ah HA moment.
After some research, we found that no one else was growing saffron commercially in California and that the plant, crocus sativus, was well-suited to our Mediterranean climate. Melinda immediately booked a ticket to Vermont to attend the workshops offered by UVM and while there, ordered their first batch of corms (saffron’s bulb). With no farm and no soil to put them in, it was a leap of faith, but we knew we had to jump on the moment or wait another whole year before being able to order and grow the crop. We had been searching for land for quite a while, but our search amplified in necessity and soon we found our farm in Lake County in Northern California. It had the perfect soil and temperatures for saffron and a great source of beautiful water. It also had a cathedral-like old barn from the 1850’s and a matching farmhouse and water tower. Soon we were busy preparing the land for the arrival of the corms. This was an epic undertaking as the land had sat untended for quite a while and the entire property was covered in 6-foot high star thistle and other growth. We planted our first field that fall, harvested a mere 25 grams that fall, and have worked every day since that first year at building up our little operation.
This last harvest, which ended mid-November, we gathered a total of a little over 2 kilos of dried saffron (this translates to approximately 447,135 flowers. Saffron is hand-planted, hand-weeded, hand-harvested, and hand-processed. We pick our flowers before dawn, by headlamp, to ensure that the UV rays do not have a chance to leech any of the potency from the saffron. Saffron is made up of the dried stigmas of the flowers. Each flower contains three stigmas, and these stigmas are separated from the flowers after the flowers have been harvested from the field. It is all very time-sensitive – the harvested and separating must happen on the same day as the flower blooms, which makes for very long days. On our biggest harvest day this year, we picked over 46,000 flowers in one day. Besides growing saffron and a variety of seasonal fruits and vegetables that are sold to the local community through our farmstand, we also have a remnant orchard of heirloom walnuts that are dry-farmed and certified organic. We make a cold-pressed, small-batch walnut oil that is very sought after and sell our walnuts in-shell as well.
We also have over 700 lavender plants, a small but growing fruit orchard, and a seasonal creek that runs thru the back of the property. We are bordered on either side by vineyards and have two farm-stay options on the farm here – one is a studio cottage and the other is a vintage Airstream that we gutted and converted. We plan to renovate the barn and use it as a community gathering spot as well as a venue for weddings and parties. In 2019, we formed the Big Valley, Small Farms tour even with some other farmers in the area and are excited to again offer tours once we are all back to being healthy and safe. We also hosted our first farm-to-table dinner, served under the walnut trees and featuring paella and a roast pig, both cooked over wood fires in the field. We also host a budding Waldorf Charter school’s playgroups during non-Covid times.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
We have had many challenges along the way. We started the farm with no capital- we didn’t have the funds to even purchase a garden hose the first months of owning the farm. We really had to duct-tape and salvage our way thru that first year but we are good at that and actually really enjoy re-purposing and being thrifty. It slowed us down a bit but that might be a good thing- not biting off more than we could chew, especially since I was still working full-time in tech for the first one and a half years of the farm and commuting to San Francisco. Those were tough months, really wanting to be out in the field doing anything, even pulling star thistle, instead of being on conference calls and staring at spreadsheets. We also have had our share of challenges from our friends in nature….rodents love saffron and ate 1/3 of our first planting. We had to dig up our then 40,000+ corms, store them, and rebuild the field with protection against their appetite for saffron corms. That same summer, we were evacuated from the Mendocino Complex wildfire and left with our pick-up truck full of saffron corms and chickens – leaving everything else behind.
It was so tough to think we might lose everything we had worked so hard for already…this was two years ago and I look back at all the things we have accomplished since then and wonder what it would be like to have to evacuate now…I am not sure that we would leave. Wildfires have never gotten as close as that year… (5 miles away), but they visit every fire season now, and fire season lasts longer and longer…reaching into December. We are well protected by vineyards and drenched pear orchards around us, but you know….embers fly…. It is a reality that most Californians have to live with now and a stress that is very visceral. We have seasonal help during the summer high months and during saffron harvest, but mostly, all the work on the farm is done by Simon and myself. This means no days off and little time for ourselves. We are tired at the end of this very big year, but we are doing what we love and see that the work is paying off- we are still in the building phase of the farm and the results already are great. I do miss my family and friends in San Francisco and miss the culture of the city, but I would not trade the ability of being able to get delicious gourmet food and see an independent movie with the joy I get from cuddling a chicken or waking up and seeing the mist over the lavender field.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
We have gained a small amount of fame because we are so unique in growing saffron, and we are quite proud of the quality of the saffron we produce (rated Grade One using the ISO standard measurements), but I think we are just so thrilled to be doing what we love and having it actually sustain us and support us. Simon with his background in ecology is focused on making the farm as rich and healthy an environment for the birds and other wildlife that we share it with (besides gophers). We have planted hundreds and hundreds of plants and trees (mostly native) to create a pollen and nectar rich environment. We are proud of our commitment to lowering our carbon footprint and creating a little corner of sustainable agriculture. (We use low-till methods and though only our saffron and walnuts are certified organic, we follow organic principles throughout the farm). I love being able to put my artistic and culinary passions to use on the farm- I love writing and though most often am too busy to blog, the words and images I post thru social media are a great outlet for me. I also make many value-added products, from saffron shortbread to mirabelle plum jam that we sell at the farmstand, and love making food for people, corny, but it feeds me. I also love tending the chickens, plants, trees, and guests…caring for them all and being a good steward gives me hope and gets me out of bed early every day (I am not a morning person)…even during the dark days of 2020, there is hope and happiness on the farm.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Oh boy. Simon is cracking walnuts so I can answer for him that like me, he was dreamy. We both had a very vivid and rich imagination and would spend time making ourselves at home in hedgerows and fields of mustard, reading lots of books and creating – arts and crafts for both of us, and for me, I loved to cook at a very early age. My happiest memories of childhood were spent at a family camp up in the Sierras operated by the city of Berkeley. Berkeley Toulumne Camp, I’ve realized, is a template for me for the farm- the feeling of being so close to nature and yet so surrounded by happy people is what I craved as a child and am replicating in a small way here on the farm. The camp burnt down in 2013 in the Rim fire… devastating to me. Simon grew up in the UK (hence the hedgerows) and traveled around the world multiple times as a young man. He was an art student and studied photography. Lying on his belly and studying moss was not an uncommon pass-time and is what led him eventually to biology and specifically, ornithology.
Pricing:
- 1/3 gram saffron $18
- Saffron-infused raw honey $20
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.peaceplentyfarm.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peaceandplentyfarmer/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/peaceplentyfarm
Image Credits
Photo Credits to: Karen Pavonne Photography Nathan Dehart
