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.