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| The farm was founded by Kathleen Barsotti and Martin Barnes in 1976.
Graduate students at UC Davis, Kathy and Martin borrowed money from
their parents to buy 20 acres of property in Capay Valley. |
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Kathleen Barsotti was born in Belmont, CA in 1949
and attended UC Riverside where she earned her B.S. in Agriculture,
with a minor in statistics. She went on to earn her master’s
degree in Ecology at UC Davis. In 1979 she and her husband Martin
moved to Capay and built a house on 20 acres of land where Capay Fruits
and Vegetables was founded. She worked part-time at the UC Davis Plant
Pathology Department and then in 1982 began work full time with the
farm. In 1992 she and Martin divorced and Kathy continued as sole
proprietor and manager of the farm. In late 1992 she began the successful
home delivery service Farm Fresh To You. Kathleen is beloved by all
who knew her as a devoted student to ecological sciences, an excellent
farmer, and loving mother of four sons. In June of 2000, Kathy wrote
her last farm news and the following month ended her courageous battle
with breast cancer on July 2, 2000: |
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Martin Barnes was born in Riverside, CA in 1949 he
attended UC Riverside where he met and married Kathy. He earned a
degree in Psychology at UCR and at Davis he received his master’s
degree in Community Development. At Davis, he played an active role
in founding the Davis Farmers’ Market, one of the first farmers'
markets in the state of California and also played a role in the beginning
years of the Davis Food Co-op and Eco Farm Conference, both continuing
successful enterprises. Martin’s pioneering spirit was instrumental
in forming an early vision of a successful small-scale organic farm.
In 1976 he moved with Kathy to Capay and began full-time farming and
helped caring for the couple’s twin sons, Che and Noah and two
later sons, Thaddeus and Freeman. After fifteen years on the farm,
Kathy and Martin divorced and Martin spent extensive time traveling.
He purchased a home in Vers, Provence France in 1992, where he currently
lives. He also spent many years again in Davis, where he founded a
small community newspaper. Learn more about visiting his home in Provence
at www.maisondemartin.com. |
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Che Barnes was born in Davis, CA in 1974, one of two twins out of Kathy and Martin's four sons. As a child he spent many hours selling at farmers’ markets, moving irrigation pipe, and harvesting and tilling the soil. From an early age he was fascinated with flight. He soloed an airplane on his sixteenth birthday - before even getting a driver's license. After graduating high school, he was accepted into the US Coast Guard Academy where he graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Che served as a Lieutenant Commander in the Coast Guard and flew both fixed-wing aircraft and search and rescue helicopters. Che departed this life on Thursday, October 29, 2009. He was the pilot in command of a Coast Guard C-130 that was on a search and rescue mission off the coast of San Diego. Throughout his piloting career, Che continued to play an active role as an advisor to the farm and company board member. His level-headed advice, thoughtful encouragement and friendship will be missed. Che’s Memorial Page |
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Noah Barnes was born in Davis, CA in 1974. Like Che he spent many of his childhood years selling at farmers’ markets and working on the farm. In 1991 he spent his sophomore year in high school living on a farm in Germany as an exchange student. He graduated from UC Davis in 1996 with a degree in Agriculture Economics and German. Interested in agriculture, but drawn to the international arena, Noah moved to San Francisco after college and began working in the field of international commodities, specializing in dry beans, peas and lentils. Noah maintained during this time an active role with the farm, supervising accounting and sharing his business experience. In 2004 he joined the farm full-time and is currently managing sales and marketing. In 2007 he married his wife, Camille. Their first child, Jonah, was born in 2007. Their second child, Kathleen, was born in early 2009. |
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Thaddeus Barsotti was born in 1980, a home birth, on the farm in Capay. Thaddeus also spent many hours working on the farm, in what was then an enterprise just beginning to show signs of promise. Thaddeus showed early proficiency in the machine shop and is responsible for designing some of the tools used today on the farm. In 2002 Thaddeus took a year away from college to manage the farm’s new project, the opening of the Capay Organic store in the San Francisco Ferry Building. Thaddeus graduated with a degree in Agriculture Engineering from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo and in 2003 he returned to San Francisco to continue running the store in the Ferry Building and pursued part-time his interest in cuisine at chef school. In 2004 Thaddeus returned to the farm as farm manager where he is active growing and maintaining over 40 different fruit and vegetable crops. He is also editor of the weekly farm news, which many Farm Fresh To You customers look forward to reading each week. In 2007 he married his wife, Moyra. Thaddeus and Moyra welcomed their first child, Lola Ché, on January 1, 2010. |
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Freeman Barsotti was born in 1983. Freeman was a senior in high school when Kathy passed away. He spent his senior year in high school living on the farm, going to school, and helping the new farm manager run the farm. He graduated high school as the valedictorian and attended Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. He graduated in 2005 with a degree in Bio-resource and Agricultural Engineering. In 2006 he married his high school sweet-heart, Carol, in a wedding on the farm. Together, they managed the opening of the Farm Fresh To You Store in the San Francisco Ferry Building. Freeman currently manages the farm’s accounting department and Farm Fresh To You. In 2008 Freeman and Carol welcomed their first child, Imogen Kathleen. |
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