Our Story

It all started with the desire to raise our own meat, following 11 years of eating as vegetarians. Pastured poultry fed our bellies and our souls and we quickly built a business to supply fresh poultry meat and eggs to our community. But as they say, chicken is the gateway meat to all other meat and, as it turns out for us, for all other agriculture production too.

Since 2005, we've raised and hand processed hundreds of poultry, grown a variety of fruit and vegetables, milked several dozen dairy goats (and made delicious cheese!), sheared many fiber goats (and spun yarn), collected thousands of eggs, raised pastured pork, planted an orchard, grown cut flowers, and developed a farm education program .

As it turns out, we're still just getting started! 

Over the years, we've tested, built, and run our farming operations in a handful of "temporary" locations. But in 2013 we bought our dream farm, in Fieldbrook, CA, and immediately began to sink our roots into the place we plan to forever grow and thrive.

Our farm is our place to work, live, and play. It's where we not only grow animals and crops, but also raise our family of four. Today we continue to grow and produce a diverse array of food and fiber, but our flower operation has taken center stage for year-round availability. 

Sarah

“Born in the city, raised in the suburbs, and now living my dream in the country.”

I grew up with an appreciation of quality over quantity and valuing natural interaction over the artificial. From a young age I relished in the satisfaction of playing outdoors and connecting with wild animals. In college when my interests matured with the love of science and the natural world, so did my inner desire to be a part of it and cultivate life itself.

My passion is rooted in agriculture, particularly with producing sustainable and healthy food systems. I love everything about agriculture and the intimate ways it touches all aspects of my life. Growing food is the most common gateway to becoming a farmer, as it’s the most basic need we have. However, the creative side of me was also drawn to fiber production because I love to knit and wanted to produce my own yarn. The love of flowers came much later when I realized how much they feed the soul. It is so much fun for me to strike a balance between all three, food, flowers, and fiber on our farm.

To us, the most important aspect of a permaculture food system is the balance between animal and plant communities. On our farm, we raise diverse groups of animals, in numbers that the land can support. Manure distribution, grazing rotation, and pest control greatly benefit our plant production, while pasture management, crop rotation, and nutritional health benefits our livestock.

Matt

Matt grew up in southern California, but his family tree is rooted in the pastoral hills of the Swiss Alps, where cows graze with giant bells and every family homestead has a herd of goats and an endless supply of farmstead cheese in the cupboard. On a trip to visit his ancestors' homeland, Matt discovered the origin of his family name; Brunner. Apparently, it originates from the word "Brunne", which is the name for the artesian wells found in every home there. Water. Can't grow anything without that! 

Besides providing the name for the source of life, Matt is also an accomplished musician, printmaster, and resident engineer/mechanical wiz. Things often break (or need to be built fast!) on a farm and we would be up "s*it" creek many a day if it wasn't for Matt's ability to build and fix just about anything.

On the days he's able to break away from work, Matt can be found playing music. With a great passion for Old Time string music, Matt is a member of two bands named "Cider Mill String Band" and “Rise and Bloom” who both provide the tunes for local weddings, farmers markets, festivals and barn dances. You can usually hear them play at our farm parties too!