First Days of Fall and Freshman Farmer

The first days of fall have brought something different this year; we went to the Autumn Moon Festival in San Francisco’s Chinatown which marks the end of the summer harvest and gives thanks to the bounty of the land. We missed the opening parade but did get to see some of the dragons, musicians, and other festivities.

This coincided perfectly with an Email I got from Autumn that my blog was set up on the Freshman Farmer site. I am excited and thankful that Peaceful Valley has this program available for new farmers, and chose me to be one this year. I have wanted to start a blog to share some of the things we do here and help encourage people to grow more of their own food, buy more local food, and create relationships with their local farmers.

This should be a great addition to my page on Facebook (CA Gold Country Gardening and Cooking), my volunteering as a Placer County Master Gardener and in a local food group, working as a certified Permaculturist, and teaching in my children’s school garden. We have focused on more sustainable living for a few years with a big garden, fruit trees, and animals, and are taking the next step. Producing food, animals and plants for others, along with teaching classes on Permaculture, how to grow or raise their own food, and similar topics will be a fulfilling adventure.

Living in California, the beginning of fall this year brought something that I hope brings a great deal of opportunity to many communities. Governor Brown approved the Cottage Food Bill AB1616.  It won’t go into effect until January but we need to get folks informed on what they can do, what they will need, and how it can help them and their local communities.

I have felt that one of the best ways to get local economies going is to look at local food, we all have to eat and as research from Sonoma State University for Oliver’s Market in “The Economics of Going Local” has shown for every dollar spent on local food you create money locally, where that same dollar spent on non local food at non local businesses usually leaves half of the dollar or less in the local economy. When a community looks at buying local the money not only stays in the local economy it generates money, knowing that it is wise for them to encourage people to start changing their buying habits. What could happen if just a small change of 10-20% more locally grown/produced items are purchased?

In the year to come I hope you plan to share in our ups and downs at Laughing Duck Farm. Learning as we are learning, enjoying the successes, and cultivating in your own life a desire to grow more food, to get to know your local farmers, to eat healthier, to share with friends and neighbors, and maybe if you haven’t — to think about being the next Freshman Farmer. 

(Picture of Dottie by Heather)