Forever Farms for the Future

Forever Farms for the Future

Special to The Vine by Bear Yuba Land Trust and Sierra Harvest

Month-to-month leases, unaffordable housing and insufficient infrastructure are barriers to success to small, organic farmers, especially in Nevada County where the real estate market is highly competitive and land values are higher than many rural places throughout the country.

This was the impetus for creating Forever Farms, collaborative partnership between Sierra Harvest, Bear Yuba Land Trust (BYLT), Tahoe Food Hub, BriarPatch Food Co-op and Mountain Bounty Farm.

The goal of the program is to protect local farmland and prime soils in order to provide farmers with a sense of permanence in our community through affordable land access.

In 2020, with community support, BYLT acquired 37-acres of land on Birchville Road on the San Juan Ridge, permanently saving an established site of Mountain Bounty Farm from the imminent threat of a land sale. With the first massive community-supported project under their belts, the partners are looking forward to their next project.

“We heard the community loud and clear during our campaign to raise money for this first project. Nevada County believes in and relies on our farmers to provide us with healthy, local food. Providing land security for farmers is one way the Forever Farms program can ensure this legacy will continue,” says Land Trust Executive Director Erin Tarr.

To ensure that future Forever Farms projects are relevant and serve the community equitably, the partners have created the Forever Farms Advisory Committee. Comprised of farmers, ranchers and community members, the Advisory Committee will meet regularly to help determine future projects and conservation strategies.

“The Advisory Committee will meet regularly to provide critical feedback to the Forever Farms program,” says Molly Nakahara, Farm Institute Director at Sierra Harvest. “We want to make sure that our future conservation projects are accessible to all of the farmers in our community, not just a select few.”

What’s in store for Forever Farms? The partnership is currently pursuing some big-impact projects. “The hope is that by protecting some of the larger tracts of open farmland in the region, Forever Farms will both honor the commitment that generations of Nevada County farmers have made to growing food and not houses, and provide land-security to the beginning farmers currently stewarding these working lands,” says Nakahara. “We always welcome any input from the community. If there is farmland under threat of development, we want to know about it. With continued community support, we can create a Forever Farm every year!”

If you are interested in learning more about the Advisory Committee, or if you’ve got farmland at risk of conversion or are a farmer looking to buy land, reach out to Molly Nakahara, Farm Institute Director at Sierra Harvest or Erin Tarr, Executive Director at Bear Yuba Land Trust.

Learn more: sierraharvest.org • bylt.org

• In 2020, Forever Farms raised $780,000 to protect critical farmland in Nevada County

• Mountain Bounty Farm was the first local farm protected by the program

• Mountain Bounty Farm feeds 950 people each week through its CSA

• Mountain Bounty Farm grows 40 different crops on 10 cultivated acres

• 20 acres of adjacent woodlands is now protected by Bear Yuba Land Trust for habitat restoration & trails

Forever Stewards of the Land — Life at Mountain Bounty Farm

Last spring, Farmer Grace Debbeler shared with BriarPatch what it’s like to work on the farm and her thoughts about the recent lease agreement signed with Bear Yuba Land Trust and the Forever Farms campaign.

BY GRACE DEBBELER

Spring on the farm is full of potential. It’s an opportunity for renewal as you take everything you learned from the season prior and simply try to improve. There is palpable energy as you place your first plants in the ground and wait for the magic to happen.

This spring, I was filled with the same feeling of possibility. With our lease on our Birchville property through Forever Farms, we’ve also been able to make some other big changes throughout the winter. We’re taking this opportunity to add new infrastructure to shift our entire operation to one site, which has been a goal for many years. We’re developing the barn to allow for coolers and ample space to pack out 950 CSA shares each week. Since good produce comes from healthy and happy plant starts, we’re building a propagation house for all of our baby plants. We’re tearing down old fences and removing invasive species. It’s been a busy winter full of important projects and the season is only beginning!

We’re exceptionally grateful for the lease at Birchville to allow us to feel like forever-stewards of the land. We look forward to sharing this space with the community, through farm tours for learners of all ages, farm dinners in the field, and harvest festivals full of all the bounty of the season.

As a young farmer, the equitable access to farmland for the next generation of farmers is an issue many farmers face starting their careers. The lease and development of Mountain Bounty Farm as a Forever Farm has allowed me to feel secure in my job and my future in this community as a farmer. Young farmers have tremendous potential to continue the local food movement, yet also expand on how to grow food sustainably in this ever-changing world. I look forward to the next Forever Farms project as an innovative model of land ownership and stewardship.

Grace was born and raised in Ohio and is proud of it! Following a degree in Environmental Engineering from Ohio State University, Grace worked as an Environmental Scientist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In 2017, she moved to Taos, New Mexico to work as a farming apprentice on a small CSA farm. She fell in love with farming and the mountains and then found her way to Mountain Bounty Farm. This is her fourth year with Mountain Bounty Farm where she manages the CSA and wholesale produce sales. Outside of farming, she's usually walking her two pups, kayaking or reading.