CSA: Mountain Bounty Farms

Following the Produce:  A Tour of Mountain Bounty Farm

Joining a Community Supported Agriculture Program

 Last May, I joined a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) vegetable cooperative.  Basically, you pay upfront and receive boxes full of vegetables all summer long.  The vegetables are grown locally at Mountain Bounty Farm in Nevada City, CA and pick-up locations are available every Thursday in Truckee and Glenshire.

 Since the boxes of vegetables are quite large, I shared the program with some co-workers to reduce the expense and the amount of produce.  A large family could probably go through a box in a week, but it’s also fun to share with a group of friends or roommates.

 The vegetables are delicious and fresh.  Although this week is the last vegetable box of the season, I decided to go find out exactly where my vegetables were coming from and how they were grown. 

 Touring the Farm

 Down a winding road 10 miles north of Nevada City, I found Mountain Bounty Farms.  The area was rich with native trees and plant life.  Tucked away down a dirt path, the interns brushed their teeth in the outdoor kitchen.

 They greeted me with a friendly smile and showed me the fields.

 “We’re standing on two acres right here,” said farmer John Tecklin.  “We have ten acres total.  It’s a very small scale farm.”

 Twelve years ago, John decided he wanted to start his own Community Supported Agriculture farm.  He leased some land in Nevada City, California and got to work.  He was originally in a partnership on a CSA farm in Portland, Oregon.  He became very interested in gardening and moved on to farming from there.

 “A CSA type program is really the only way to go with a small farm like this,” he explains. 

 In 1998, there were 48 families participating in the program.  This year, 270 boxes went out to people around Nevada City and Truckee.  The farmers also participated in a farmer’s market in Nevada City once a week.

 This year there were 280 varieties of plants on the farm.  That’s a lot of vegetables!  Boxes were full of a variety of people’s very favorites to the slightly unusual. 

 What is this thing?  It’s amusing to participate in the CSA program because receiving each box is like opening a special gift, a fun surprise.  The vegetables vary weekly and remain seasonal and organic.  Most of the seeds are sprouted right on the farm in the greenhouses located in the back of the property. 

 “We have heirlooms, bred-varieties and hybrid crops,” said John.  “We have absolutely no genetically modified crops, and we don’t want them.”

 Fresh Produce 

Produce received in this summer’s vegetable boxes included red and green lettuces, carrots, broccoli, spinach, cilantro, kale, Tokyo turnips, beets, radishes, potatoes, tomatoes, bok choy, cabbage, basil, fennel, squash, onions, garlic, pumpkins and more.

 The farm now has fruit shares and citrus shares.  Fruit boxes included cherries, peaches, plums, nectarines, pears, grapes, apples and pomegranates.   

 Mountain Bounty Farm offers winter vegetable and citrus shares from November 24 through May 19.  Summer vegetables are offered from May through November and summer fruits from June to October.

 Sustainably Organic

 The farm is totally organic, although not certified organic.  They use all natural fertilizers, composting and alternative energy sources.  Big industrial farms use a lot of nitrogen or natural gas based products in their fertilizers.

 “These vegetables are cleaned right here at the farm,” notes farmer John.  “They are probably cleaner than the ones you buy at the store.”

 Beneficial plants that attract insects away from the vegetables are also used around the farm, instead of chemical pesticides.

 The choices of vegetables for the next season are based on experience of how the vegetables grew on the farm, as well as surveys of the customers.

 “We do what we can do, what we want to do, what we like, what we didn’t like and what tastes good,” explains John.

 One of the most popular crops is sweet corn, so the farm tries to maximize the numbers grown by using various sustainable techniques.  They also rotate the produce grown in each crop bed. 

 Working the Farm

 Interns live in tiny huts stacked next to one another down a tree-lined grassy pathway of the farm.  Although the houses were tiny, I wished I had worked on the farm for a summer in college, like many of my friends did.

 The farm also offers work exchange programs where customers can work 4 hours a week on the farm in order to receive their boxes.  John said that one of his best volunteers drives from Truckee to work on the farm.  The farm provides him with a great release, a hard working day on the farm.

 Find Out More 

Mountain Bounty Farms has a very useful and informative Web Site at www.mountainbountyfarms.com.  The site has numerous pictures of the farms produce with a weekly description of “What’s in my box this week?” with a photo of each box.  The site also enables people to sign up for the CSA online.  They can also be reached by phone at Mountain Bounty Farm at 530-292-3776 or by email at info@mountainbountyfarm.com.

Interview with a Bear

While living in or visiting the mountainous region of the Sierra Nevada, humans must learn to share our environment with a variety of wildlife, including coyotes, raccoons, mice and bears.  As bears search for food, they sometimes find residential and commercial dumpsters which can turn a wild bear into a trash bear.  This is a serious issue, and the bears sometimes will break into cars, garages and houses in search of their addiction to trash and their instinctual hunger.  It is important for humans to strive to be bear aware to protect themselves and the wildlife that inhabit this area.

Betty Bear is a female black bear.  Despite the name black bear, Betty’s fur is actually dark brown in color, and she has a brown muzzle.  Betty weighs just over 200 pounds.  (Adult female black bears generally weigh between 100 and 200 pounds; adult males typically weigh between 150 and 350 pounds, but they can be larger).  Betty enjoys living in the Lake Tahoe area as it provides her and her cubs with abundant sources of water and food and dense forested mountainous terrain, which offers certain elements of protection from weather and prey.  Her favorite foods include ants and other insects, nuts, acorns and Manzanita berries.  However, black bears are omnivores (like humans), which means they may eat whatever appears to be edible.  Like her fellow bears, when Betty cannot find natural food, she’s drawn to the houses and campgrounds of humans, drawn by the powerful aroma of human garbage.

Understanding that living with wildlife is an important part of living at Lake Tahoe, I decided to hear what the bears have to say about sharing their environment with humans.

Ta-Haps: Why have so many black bears been in and around the human population of Lake Tahoe this year?

Betty Bear:  The last couple of years have been difficult for us due to the dry conditions in our area.  Our instinct is for survival, which brings us into contact with humans and their garbage as we search for food.

Ta-Haps:  Is it okay for people to give you and your cubs food?

Betty Bear:  Lake Tahoe is not a zoo.  It’s our home too.  When people leave their food or garbage out, we can quickly become reliant on this as a source of food.  It’s very bad for us to eat what isn’t natural.  We forget about foraging in the forest and expect humans to provide our lunch.  The more we interact with humans, the more we lose our instincts for fear and caution.  We return to your sources of food.  If we don’t find food in your house, we will check with your neighbors

Ta-Haps:  What should people do if they see you or another black bear?

Betty Bear:  When you see a bear, you should raise your arms high and growl.  Try to look big and tough.  By nature, bears are afraid of humans.  Don’t overdo the aggression, however, as we are protective of our cubs.

Ta-Haps:  Do you think that bears and humans can live in harmony at Lake Tahoe?

Betty Bear:  Yes, but we need to respect each other.  The best thing that humans can do to protect bears is to make sure they never leave food or garbage out where it may attract us.  Eating and becoming reliant on humans for our food is typically a death sentence for bears.  If you care about us and want to ensure our survival, bear proof your house and garbage system.  We can live in harmony, but the less direct interaction we have, the better.  We are not here for human entertainment.  We are a part of the delicate balance of Lake Tahoe’s natural ecosystem.  Humans who live and visit here should try to be a part of that harmonious balance.

Interview with a Bear was created with the help of publications written by the BEAR League, (530)525-PAWS (7297) and savebears.org and the California Department of Fish and Game, keepmewild.org. 

LINKS: savebears.org, keepmewild.org

Everything is Connected

Everything is connected from time to space,

As we move forward, we always leave a trace.

Must we always leave a trace?

Behind our paths in the shape of a spiral

Oh this whole earth is going viral,

And as I speak and write these words,

A billion voices can be heard –

In lands and cities all around this sphere,

Oh we have to love, but we innately fear –

the future, the unknown – what lies ahead?

Will we have homes?  Will we be fed?

Is it too late to compensate for how we’ve destroyed our ecosystem-

this very important prism of right and wrong,

the weak and the strong –

can we continue to belong in the great equation of the universe?

No, we can’t go back, no we can’t rehearse.

We can’t turn back to another day,

We can’t just stop – we can’t just stay.

We capture memories inside our brains,

So even when it all feels insane –

we can hold onto another place,

another realm of all this space.

I can close my eyes and see your smile,

and hold onto that just for a while,

And if I try I can see your skin,

And then if I’m lucky my dreams will spin

and realign on a parallel line with the sweet dreams

taking place in your mind,

and then despite all that’s true,

we’ll be together if only for a few

milliseconds of this great divide

where the tides will roll and the guilty confide

and it’s not all just black and white,

but all these shades of gray.

Would you like to hear this poem as an original song?  CLICK HERE!