Located outside Esparto in the beautiful Capay Valley in central California, Brian and Gretchen Paddock operate a small family farm primarily consisting of organic almonds. The original orchard was planted over 100 years ago. In 2009 and 2010, their six children, many friends, and extended family gathered to plant a new, 1400-tree orchard. Each child has a role on the farm. Kyle and Bailey manage the website, Nicholas keeps rodents under control, Alicia writes their newsletter, Jessica create
Located outside Esparto in the beautiful Capay Valley in central California, Brian and Gretchen Paddock operate a small family farm primarily consisting of organic almonds. The original orchard was planted over 100 years ago. In 2009 and 2010, their six children, many friends, and extended family gathered to plant a new, 1400-tree orchard. Each child has a role on the farm. Kyle and Bailey manage the website, Nicholas keeps rodents under control, Alicia writes their newsletter, Jessica created their logo (Brian and their two dogs, Roxy and Travis, are in the logo), Joshua also does rodent control, and everyone harvests, sorts, and packs. Brian is the operations and sales manager and Gretchen runs the nut house.
They choose to farm organically because their home is situated in the middle of our orchard, they drink the same water as our trees, and they do not want to subject their family to health concerns that “conventional” farming operations can present. They also strongly believe in being good stewards of the land, and therefore they grow our almonds using sustainable processes following national organic certification criteria. They also practice regenerative agriculture, an approach to food and farming systems which aims to regenerate topsoil, increase biodiversity, improve water cycles, enhance the ecosystem, support biosequestration and recycling as much farm waste as possible.
