About

I’m a fifth generation farmer in Ventura County California. The blog’s name comes from the town of Saticoy, near the site of the family farm. Saticoy is slowly fading into neighboring Ventura, and we now find ourselves close to the urban-rural boundary. We grow citrus fruits and avocados at the home ranch and another near Santa Paula. Are we sustainable? After 130 years on the same piece of ground, I think so, but the word means different things to different people.

For those who are interested, we are “conventional” farmers for the most part: most of our lemons go into the Sunkist system, and our avocados may be in your local supermarket. (Or Chipotle!)

But if you are in the Southern California area, you might have sampled our Meyer Lemons or figs at Paradise Pantry in Ventura, or on the menu at a Totally Local VC dinner. We are not organic certified, and I don’t know that we ever will be. However, we have employed beneficial insects, mulching, cover-cropping, and careful water usage for a long time, and are always looking at new techniques. In addition to the Meyer Lemons, we have 8 other varieties of fruit that we are evaluating, including figs, apples, persimmons, apricots and pears. Most of this fruit is destined to go to local consumers.

Thanks for reading!

Chris Sayer

9 thoughts on “About”

  1. I had no idea you did this! I will subscribe, and would love to twitter about your work as you make new postings. I always enjoy chatting with you, but we never seem to have adequate time to explore this kind of policy stuff. Let’s make some time! I will also add a link to this as we revise our UCCE website. People need to hear local farming voices!

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  3. Thanks for your comment on our blog (www.pensci.wordpress.com). I would love to have your voice in our discussions more often – it would be an amazing resource for my students to correspond and talk with a “real” farmer.

    I hope that by educating the youth of today (and tomorrow), we can shift a few people into motion in order to create that big change that Joel Salatin promotes. As Ghandi said, it is up to us “to be the change we want to see in the world.”

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    • Happy to be a part of ther discussion. Here’s a link to my take on the same basis question. (Hard for me to believe it’s been 2.5 years already… feels like I just wrote it.) Thanks for bringing this topic into the classroom!

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  4. Hi Chris… I follow your twitter account – great stuff 3rd generation Almond/Peach farmer in Merced County and a civilian pilot… How can i reach you as I have a Hass avocado growing in the family orchard and have a question…Much appriciated

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  5. Hey Chris!

    I’m an (extremely) amateur grower, and currently only grow herbs and non-edibles on my windowsill, however I think I make have driven my hobby beyond what I am knowledgeable about.
    I am currently growing a two year old lemon sapling in my apartment(that I grew from a seed in a store lemon I bought), however it’s leaves are falling off. The pot has no drainage, and I’m afraid that it has root rot. Should I repot it?

    I just wanted to talk to a real expert on it. As a teenager and a new urban grower, I wanted to see what wisdom I could try to get.

    Thank you so much!

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    • Hi Raymond. Growing lemons indoors is not my area, but I think you are correct to be concerned about root rot. Drainage is definitely your friend. Good luck!

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