CC's Family Farm profile

This article first appeared in the August issue of The Briar Patch News and Review.

When Leon Cheney started farming chickens in the 1930s, he didn’t know he was beginning a four generation tradition. Since then, the Cheney family has gradually migrated north from southern California, to Loomis, and most recently to Penryn. Today the Cheney farm is operated by Leon’s grandson Tim and his wife Heidi. Ralph and Pat Cheney, the second generation, also live on the farm, and Ralph’s experience as a veterinarian is a treasured asset. The farm is known today as CC Family Farm. The “C”s are the initials of the fourth generation: Connor, age 10 and Carissa, age 2.

CC Family Farm generates at least 50 dozens eggs each day. Tim, Heidi, and Connor are the chief caretakers of the chickens, who are ushered out of their coop each morning at day break (usually Connor is the early riser). In the summer, the chickens scamper to a field of alfalfa, alsiki, and crimson, eating the clovers as well as the bugs. Meanwhile, nearby, the winter pasture is growing tall with rye grass. When the clover is gone, in late fall, the chickens will munch on rye (and bugs) while the summer field regenerates. The chickens’ grazing pastures total nearly three acres in all. In addition to the food available to them on the range, the chickens have continuous access to supplemental chicken food. They return each evening at dusk to protective houses that keep them safe from the chicken predators in Penryn: bobcats, coyote, raccoon, skunk, and possom.

Naked Farms profile

This article first appeared in the August issue of the Briar Patch News and Review.

Four years ago, a few miles north of Nevada City, Linda and Thomas Cofal started farming their land. They named their farm Naked Farms because their vegetables would be naked—no pesticides. They could also have named the farm Tiny Farm, because the land they work totals less than two acres. Once acre is cultivated in row crops, plus they have 1/4 acre blueberries and some jujubes. The Cofals have no tractor; they do all their work by hand. They have no farm hands, children, or interns; they alone take their crops from seed to market. And, since they both work off the land at “real jobs”, the forty hours they spend each week on the farm is not only their passion, but also their second job.

Because the Cofal’s farm is small, they cater to a niche market, providing specialty crops to gourmet restaurants and to Briar Patch. They grow Mediterranean cucumbers, for example, and they are experimenting with growing varieties of lettuce and broccoli that can thrive in the summer heat and sun. Rows of sweet basil, flowers, peppers, and tomatoes round out the majority of their crop. Their 1/4 acre greenhouse helps the Cofals extend their growing season as well as experiment with different varieties of vegetables. “Someone told us we couldn’t grow peppers here,” Linda Cofal said, waving her hand at the rows of peppers in her greenhouse. Experimenting with crops is a continuing pleasure for the Cofals, as is looking forward to the day they quit their other jobs and, as Utah Phillips once said, “call in well.”

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