The Abridged verison:
- Farmers in the Capay Valley have joined together to promote the region as a unique agricultural destination worth visiting.
- Capay Valley Grown began almost 20 years ago as a collection of local farmers who would meet regularly to discuss how to carve out an identity for Capay Valley agriculture.
- Tourists and locals can enjoy the fruits of this effort at this weekend’s Rustic Ramble, a self-guided farm tour in the Capay Valley. The event is put on by a collective of small farmers in the region who will open their doors to visitors.
Lisa Leonard thinks farmers and consumers should know each other.
“I’m growing these tomatoes, and I know the people who are going to consume them,” said the owner of Wind Dancer Ranch in the Capay Valley. “I look in their faces at the farmer’s market, and I want to do the absolute best job that I can.”
That philosophy, which helped draw Leonard to the northwestern corner of Yolo County, where she raises heritage livestock, is one that she shares with many of her neighbors in the Capay Valley.
“The farmers here really were pioneers in the whole farm-to-consumer agriculture, which has now become popular across the country,” she said.
For decades, small and medium-sized farms in the Capay Valley have offered agriculture produce boxes and operated farmers market stands selling local products. The model, which relies on a relationship between farmers and customers, has become central to the region’s economy.
That’s thanks in part to the region’s hilly geography, which makes it more difficult to cultivate very large plots of land for mechanized farming. But local farmers say that it’s also the result of an intentional push in the valley to prioritize sustainable agriculture and connecting people to the land where their food comes from.
“It’s really hard to replace the relationship between people and the land,” said Paul Muller, founder of Full Belly Farm and longtime Capay Valley farmer.
That commitment is part of the reason why Leonard, Muller and a group of other farmers in the valley have come together to form Capay Valley Grown, a collective designed to promote the Capay Valley as a unique agricultural region worth visiting. This weekend, they will open their farms to visitors during the annual Rustic Ramble, a self-guided farm tour intended to introduce consumers to the people who grow their food.
“I don’t know a single farmer that isn’t happy to talk your ear off about what they do,” Leonard said.
Years in the making
Capay Valley Grown began almost 20 years ago as a collection of 10 local farmers who would meet regularly to discuss how to carve out an identity for Capay Valley agriculture.
Muller, who was one of the original members, said that the intent was to tell the story of the Capay Valley with the hopes of enticing people to visit and buy from local farmers.
Instead of everyone trying to figure out how to promote their products individually, they could organize their efforts.
“Instead of 50 farmers in 50 trucks, it’s 50 farmers in one truck,” he said.
At first, that translated to branded signs, farm maps and promotion at farmers markets. Then it evolved into seasonal events like a Mother’s Day garden tour.
Eventually, Muller said, the effort fizzled out as the original members turned their attention to other things.
But then a new generation of Capay Valley farmers came along and took up the mantle, bolstered by a renewed push to promote agritourism statewide.
Agritourism in the Capay Valley
Gisèle Herren, who runs a small orchard and duck farm in the Capay Valley with her parents and husband, said the collective has allowed her to build trust with customers.
Herren likes having visitors to Vitis & Ovis Farm. She says she believes in what they do and finds a lot of enjoyment out of showing people where their food comes from.
But the Capay Valley is remote, and people don’t often drop in for a quick visit.
“It’s very hard to get people to just randomly stop by,” she said.
And as a farmer who does everything from making jams to harvesting to printing labels, she doesn’t have much time for marketing.
That’s where the collective comes in.
By coordinating their efforts, the farmers in the Capay Valley make it more enticing for people to spend the day visiting small farms and learning about their operations.
Herren says that agritourism events like the Rustic Ramble, a ticketed event, bring in some income, but she doesn’t only see them as a way to sell products.
By having people come to the farm, they feel closer to the food they eat.
For her, it’s as much about the smile on a visitor’s face when they see apricots growing on a tree or watch ducks mill around the farm.
Seeing that, then wanting to do the absolute best job that she can.
Her farm is participating in the Rustic Ramble, alongside a dozen other sites, including Full Belly Farm. A picnic, serving locally grown and prepared food, will round out the festivities. Tickets are selling for between $5 and $70 and the event will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, April 26.
