Petaluma farm part of sustainable foodshed

Patrick Krier and Bree Bagnaschi met and fell in love while working at First Light Farm and when the opportunity came to take it over, they dove right in. The pair renamed it Suncatcher Farm and have poured their hearts and souls into their beloved 10 acres.

It was Bagnaschi who came up with the name.

“Suncatchers symbolically represent the multifacetedness of this Earth we live on and all the beings that inhabit it,” she said, adding that it perfectly captures the way they approach their lives and work, as committed stewards of the land.

Bagnaschi explained that they work without a crew, which means they need to be able to do all of the jobs on the farm themselves, like tractor work, setting up irrigation, greenhouse management, seeding and more.

“We’ve gone from planting almost all of our crops by hand and weeding with hand tools to mechanically transplanting and cultivating,” she said.

It’s a lot of work, but it’s a labor of love. Presently, they are excited about a set of chicks they’ve recently brought in.

“We are hoping that by keeping chickens that we will see a decrease in pest infestations as well as an increase in fertility and biology,” Krier said.

There are bee hives on the farm and a neighbor helps with the beekeeping.

“We both have a deep appreciation for pollinators and do the best we can to provide adequate bee forage,” Krier said. “Last season we grew almost two acres of sunflowers and buckwheat as a cover crop, to provide plenty of food for the bees, as well as temporary habitat for birds and other animals as well. Our relationship with the bees is mutually beneficial. If we can provide enough food for them, then they will thrive and pollinate our crops better allowing for higher yields and a healthier farm ecosystem.”

Kiser creek runs directly through the farm and is flanked by an old eucalyptus tree line.

“This creek is an incredible part of the biodiversity of our farm,” Krier said. “It acts as a wildlife corridor, allows habitat for beneficial insects, hawks, owls, weasels and many other animals that play into our farm’s ecosystem.”

There are herbs growing wild along the creek. Bagnaschi, who is a doula and herbalist, said it’s been a dream of hers to grow and offer medicinal herbs. Until she has the investment needed to make her herbal medicines to sell, she crafts small amounts of herbs to make medicine for personal use.

“Eventually I’d love to offer healing balms, nutritive, calming teas, and herbal vinegars with herbs grown or wildcrafted from our farm,” Bagnaschi said. “My intention with wanting to grow medicinal herbs is to create more biodiversity within our farming ecosystem while also being able to offer the community locally grown herbs. They’re great insectaries, attracting many beneficials while also generously healing and providing nourishment to us.”

She grows and sells fresh chamomile, tulsi, and calendula. The farm also produces a variety of vegetables.

“We grow a wide array of different vegetables, mostly annuals,” Krier said. “We grow a lot of lettuce. We’ve been observing our sales over the last few years to really dial in what crops sell best and where. We try to balance our production between wholesale and retail crops.”

Their farmstand is open Saturdays and works on the honor system where customers leave money for the produce they take. The contactless system is also a safety precaution against the coronavirus.

They’ve sold at the Larkspur Landing Farmers Market and have been selling produce through FEED Sonoma.

“Tim at FEED Sonoma was more than ready to help us sell our produce and allowed us the ability to expand production, knowing that our produce was going to be sold to grocery stores and restaurants all over the Bay Area,” Krier said.

They’ve been meeting with other local growers to talk about FEED Sonoma’s transition into a farmer-owned cooperative.

“For people who want to live in a community abundant in local agriculture then they have to actively go and support the local farmers,” Bagnaschi said. “It’s a relationship and just as anything else in life, there needs to be reciprocity. We can’t continue to grow food and manage this land without the support of our community.”