05/02/2026
After this season, our time farming in South Orange County will come to an end. We face some liabilities that we’ll need to resolve, and after that, we plan to move to Healdsburg in Sonoma County—where Rebecca’s youngest son, Sammy, is farming for his own community.
Sammy has been part of my life for 28 years, since he was two. He always wanted to be a farmer, and despite my urging to pursue research or teaching after earning his B.S. in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems from UC Davis, he chose to farm. Now he understands how difficult it is to make a living farming independently, but there’s hope in places like Healdsburg.
Rebecca and I plan to bring our specialized farming equipment north to help Sammy expand his 40-acre operation. He could never afford the tractors and implements on his own, so we’ll do all we can to support him and help create a new chapter of community farming there.
A longtime friend and customer recently organized a GoFundMe to help with our move. We’re deeply touched and grateful for that generosity. I hesitated to accept help—it’s hard not to feel like we failed when we couldn’t keep the farm going despite giving everything we had.
But the truth is, farming in inland Southern California proved too harsh—hot summers and cold winters made it nearly impossible to sustain vegetable and strawberry production profitably. We are leaving with little more than our farming equipment and little else.
The GoFundMe will be used for paying off our considerable debts. Hopefully, we can avoid the need to sell the equipment to cover our liabilities and instead pass the farmer life on to Sammy and his soon-to-be bride, Isabella. Sammy is CCOF-certified organic, of course, and we hope we can help this next generation of organic farmers succeed in a very difficult business landscape.
As Rebecca and I prepare for this next chapter, we’re reflecting on what truly matters: family, friends, and community. We carry with us the love and memories we’ve shared with all of you.
With heartfelt thanks,
George & Rebecca