Petaluma Around the Clock: An afternoon on the farm

The low roar-rumble-crunch of a nearby tractor on the move can’t quite drown out the high, tired hubbub of happiness as an exuberant band of young Youth Ecology Corps workers conclude their work-ending meet-up - following several hours of nature-centric exertion on what has been a warm but pleasant day - and prepare to disband for the week.

“Good work everyone!” offers Alex Templeton, the crew coordinator. In response, a chorus of young folk, ranging 16 to 24 years old, echo the boss’s satisfaction with a job well done.

It’s a Thursday afternoon, just before 3 p.m., at Bounty Community Farm, a slightly off-the-beaten-track, 3-acre expanse of gardens, orchards, buildings and sheds just off Petaluma Boulevard. Everywhere you look, the view is a jigsaw-puzzle splash of the greens, browns and reds of nature, adorned with weathered farm gear of all types: wheelbarrows, plant pots, crates, umbrellas, stacks of lumber, tin pails, rolls of plastic, towers of lumber, tables loaded with shovels, spades, clippers and sheers. The farm is surrounded by a quartet of affordable-housing complexes, many residents of which are the beneficiaries of the fruits, herbs and vegetables grown and harvested here.

“Our crew has been weeding, seeding, harvesting, planting, thinning out orchards,” explains Templeton, waving an arm at a table covered with various implements of farming, and a shed several yards away where fresh garlic has just been hung up to dry. “We’ve been harvesting garlic. Then stringing it up to cure,” he says, “and we’ve also been helping with maintenance around here and learning about the soil nutrients, mixing compost, learning about how to fix irrigation – we’ve been doing lots, all kinds of things.”

The farm is the hub of activities around which Petaluma Bounty – a program of the Petaluma People Services Center – abundantly and colorfully revolves. Established in 2006 with a formal mission statement focused on creating “a thriving local food system with healthy food for everyone through collaboration, education and promoting self-reliance,” Bounty, and the farm it now operates, exists in order to help everyone in the community have access to healthy, organic food. The property on which the farm is located is owned by the Stontisch family (see this week’s “Toolin’ Around Town, below, for an interview with Liz Stonitsch), which has shared the land with Bounty for 12 years now. In addition to its food distribution programs, the farm also operates a popular produce stand, this year’s opening of which was delayed by the extended rains in April and May.

On the average day here in the summer, Templeton’s Youth Ecology crew – all paid workers engaged in the Sonoma County-funded work-training program – collaborate with the farm’s tiny staff, various local volunteers who enjoy helping out on the farm, and more organized group of volunteers who engage in specific tasks on certain days of the week, including Thursdays. The Thursday volunteer slot is from 3-6 p.m. As the Youth Ecology team disbands, Harlie Rankin, Bounty’s Education and Engagement Coordinator prepares for the afternoon’s regular volunteers, who should start arriving any moment.

One of their tasks for today will be to help get the produce stand ready for opening in July.

Raising his voice to be heard above the beep-beep-beep of the aforementioned tractor, now moving in reverse away from a small-but-fast-rising mountain where it has just deposited a fresh load of wood chips, Templeton walks over to the shed where the garlic is hanging. Not surprisingly, the whole shed smells like garlic, even from several feet away.

“Garlic is the second best seller at the Petaluma Bounty produce stand,” he says.

As Templeton stands breathing in the fruits of his crew’s labors, Rankin joins us. “We’ll cure the garlic for up to about three weeks,” she explains. “You can cure it longer, but three weeks is when all the layers of the garlic are paper thin.”

From where we stand, a number of other volunteers who’ve been working since noon can be seen in the distance, here and there around the farm.

“There are people who have specific projects they do,” Rankin points out, “and they come when they can. Those folks over there are weeding. We have to do a lot of weeding here, because it’s an organic farm. There are a lot of people who help out here year round, but just after school ends, we start establishing certain volunteer hours to encourage others to come out. A lot of students who need to log community service hours, they like to come out here. Wednesday and Saturday mornings are a little more active than Thursdays, but we’ll have plenty of work for anyone who shows up.”

According to Rankin, volunteers range from people who just love gardening to folks who are using the opportunity to pay off a parking ticket.

“We have all kinds of people at the farm,” she says, leading the way toward the orchard. As we walk, she points out where squash and pumpkins are coming up. “Wait, what’s that?” she asks, stopping and pointing. From out of the orchard sprints a baby turkey, then another, and another, followed by their mother, trying (somewhat unsuccessfully) to keep them close. “I know they’re not so good for the farm,” she says, as Templeton trots directly toward the turkeys, clapping his hands to chase them away, “but they are kind of cool to watch. Especially the babies.”

Rankin goes on to explain that the primary Bounty program is primarily aimed at low-income families struggling to provide healthy nutritional options on the dinner table, and the volunteers who make the farm work are vital to the daily functions of making that happen.

“We invite a lot of those families to come out here and work with us, too,” she says. “It’s mostly families with limited income, who usually don’t have a lot of experience or knowledge about nutrition, or the farm system. They come to learn about the farm and how it works, and we often have a nutritionist come and do a lesson with the parents around the nutrition levels of various foods. It’s super cool.”

In the fall, school field trips will bring even more young people out to the farm to learn about where our food comes from. Templeton points out small ornamental rectangles at the base of some of the orchard’s apples trees, explaining that they are dedications to loved ones, place there by many of the volunteers who work the farm.

And speaking of volunteers, a pair of cars are now rolling through the gates, their tires popping up gravel as they crunch into a spot near the barn, each vehicle bringing a few more of today’s helpers. That is Rankin’s cue to head over, greet them, and start assigning tasks.

“Some days are busier than others, and some days bring more volunteers than others,” she notes before sprinting over. “But this is a farm, so there’s always plenty to do here. The thing is, anyone who wants to come out and help will have no shortage of ways to lend a hand and be an important part of what’s going on here.”

(To learn more about Bounty Farm and its volunteer opportunities visit PetalumaBounty.org, call 364-4883 or drop by on weekends for a visit at 55 Shasta Dr.)