More Than organic fruit

There are reasons to support Coco Ranch in addition to the obvious glory of eating sweet, flavorful, mouth-watering fruit. Numerous organizations advocate supporting local organic farms for various ecological, social, and economic reasons. Here are some reasons that apply quite specifically to Coco Ranch.

Dust. Have you noticed how dusty Davis is? Dust, created by the wind erosion of soils, is very much a way of life here. Industrial agriculture is a dusty business. Conventional farmers use herbicides to maintain open fields that are completely devoid of vegetation for more months of the year than they are covered with crops. They must work the ground before planting with heavy, dust-inducing machinery because they previously compacted the soil with heavy harvesting and hauling machinery. Farmers also keep orchard rows bare with herbicides. Coco Ranch, organically managed with vegetative cover, is that much less acreage contributing to dust, right here where we live.

Water. Soil scientists have known for decades that water penetrates soil with vegetative cover much better than bare soil. Soils without the important top layer of organic matter are subject to erosion from water run-off, filling the creeks and waterways with harmful sediment (formerly topsoil). During the rainy season, Coco Ranch is covered with the beautiful growing green hair of the Earth and rain water absorbs easily into the soil, refreshing our aquifer. No water runs off the Coco Ranch, no sediments are washed into streams, and our topsoil stays put.

Plants. Native American elders, when asked, ``Why have all the plants gone?'' have responded, ``Because people don't use them anymore.'' It is hard to find the wild plants that were commonplace in this area just twenty-five years ago. Coco Ranch creates a landscape that welcomes and values our indigenous wild plants and our local quelites --- wild plants that have evolved alongside humans and depend on human-scaled agricultural activity for their continuation. We devote resources to the long-term project of restoring and caring for our much-neglected green inheritance.

Wildlife. The key paradigm for industrial agriculture is everything is dead but the crop plant; consequently conventionallt grown crop land can be nearly as lifeless as a moonscape. In contrast, our organic plant-filled landscape hums and vibrates with life: the great diversity of insects, the birds calling, nesting, hunting, flitting about, fat snakes underground and slim ones climbing in trees, lizards dashing, fat toads and singing frogs, and furry wild creatures --- all finding food, settling into homes, and making lives for themselves in the midst of nature's abundance.

Livestock. Animals bred over generations for efficiency in an industrial setting become little more than tragic objects unable to direct their own lives. Meanwhile, with the dominance of industrial animal agriculture, old heritage breeds of livestock have been neglected and are now in danger of extinction. At Coco Ranch, we are integrating a rare old breed of domestic goose into our farming operation and establishing a breeding flock to conserve the breed. These beautiful geese are intelligent, resourceful foragers, and good parents. They care for each other, have strong opinions, and are actively engaged in relationship with us.

Crop varieties. Globalization of agricultural markets continually narrows and homogenizes crop plant varieties. Locally adapted, locally appreciated heirloom varieties are lost. Before US apple production was centralized in Washington State, there were thousands of apple varieties grown all across the county. Each community had its own favorites. At Coco Ranch we are passionate about growing, propagating, and learning to care for and use heirloom fruits, most especially apples. With our sunshine, soils, long season, and dry climate we are able to grow especially high quality-apples.

Keeping the margins vital. Wendell Barry, in his essay entitled Margins, wrote about the necessity of margins --- their regenerative, protective, and healing power. He describes these as both the living, valued physical margins of cultivated crop land and the creative cultural margins of agricultural thought. It was out of the margins that organic agriculture arose, and today, sanctioned by the National Organic Program against all odds, organic is being rapidly mainstreamed into our very industrialized, very chemically-dependant culture and economy. In supporting small farms like Coco Ranch that function outside the mainstream, we are nurturing possibilities for the the future.

This site is Linux-based.