Tenfold Farmstand
Catherine Clark started Tenfold Farmstand in 2019 on the Petaluma property she owns with her husband, Ben Jacobs. Catherine wanted to grow healthy food for her family that was free of any harmful chemicals, was grown in harmony with nature, and was more flavorful and healthful than what she could find at the grocery store. She set up a small farm stand on the property just as the COVID-19 pandemic hit and soon had loyal customers looking for a safe way to buy fresh food.
Before too long the farm stand had outgrown its tiny space. It was suggested by a couple of friends that she look into Union Elementary School, which had been closed for several years. After many meetings with the school board, many sleepless nights, and lots of hard work, Tenfold Farmstand opened in its new home in a historic two room schoolhouse surrounded by the picturesque rolling hills of Petaluma.
In this Member Spotlight, we visit with Catherine during an open farm stand day, and chat with her about how Tenfold has become a hub of community and collaboration, and of course, delicious, nourishing food.
Tenfold Farmstand, 5300 Red Hill Road, Petaluma; tenfoldfarmstand.com
How did you get interested in farming?
My decision to grow food was based on wanting the purest, cleanest produce I could get, with no chance of pesticide contamination. My mother was raised on a farm in the Midwest where her father farmed using pesticides the government deemed safe after World War II, and she has Parkinson’s disease. Once I got the gardening bug, I kept expanding my growing space and quite quickly realized there was no way my husband and I could possibly eat all that I was growing! I opened a small honor-system farm stand in the field next to our house right as Covid was hitting our area. People were out riding bikes and walking, so they discovered my tiny stand. It didn’t feel safe to go to the grocery store, so people were looking for alternate ways to shop, and soon my business took off. I moved into a larger location in the old Union Schoolhouse two years ago.
What do you do/grow?
When I started my farm stand I was trying to grow some of everything I thought would do well and be of interest to my customers: heirloom tomatoes and peppers, berries, potatoes, artichokes, specialty squashes, sugar snap peas, beans, flowers, lavender and fifty other things. My husband and I planted lots of fruit trees for future crops. I quickly became overwhelmed, and when I expanded and relocated my farm stand I began buying from several small, local farmers who have the same values about sustainability as I do. Now I can narrow the focus of what I’m growing to produce that I haven’t been able to easily source.
What do you find most rewarding about your work?
To have a small role in the success of good people doing good things brings me a lot of joy. My farm stand provides a place for farmers/bakers/makers to sell their goods. These are producers who are doing it on a small scale, who care about the health of the environment and the health of our bodies (it really is all tied together, isn’t it?) and just want to put their excellent products out into our community.
What do you value about being a member of Farm Trails?
Farm Trails has actually been instrumental in leading me to where I am now, in both my choice of career and of where I live. When I moved to California almost twenty-five years ago I lived in Marin County, but I found I was spending all my free time exploring Sonoma County and West Marin where I could see open space and agriculture. I don’t remember how I found out about Farm Trails, but for many, many years I went to every farm I could on Farm Trails weekends. Learning what farmers were growing, or what animals they were raising, or the difficulties they faced, deepened my desire to be supportive of the amazing agricultural network we have here in our community. It is so much more rewarding to me to visit a farm and buy produce directly from the farmer than to shop at a grocery store.
When my husband and I decided to buy a house in Sonoma County, I realized I knew the area in which we were house-hunting from all those Farm Trails weekends. The house we bought is a stone’s throw from one of the farms I enjoyed visiting.
I appreciate that Farm Trails helps to raise awareness about the uniqueness and specialness of our farming community. The growers I have met in the Farm Trails community care deeply about the health of the land, the health and happiness of their animals, and the quality of the products they’re growing/raising. We farm differently here than many other parts of the country, and I like to see our ways recognized and supported.
What are your hopes for the future of your business and/or Sonoma County ag?
There are many crops I’d like to provide our customers that I have a hard time sourcing from our local farmers, so I’d love to have a small farm with a team dedicated to growing these particular varieties of produce for Tenfold Farmstand. I have no idea how I’m going to make that happen, but I can see it very clearly in my mind, even down to knowing who I want to manage the farm (I haven’t told her yet!), what the infrastructure will look like, and what specific crops we’ll be growing. I’m trying not to focus on the exorbitant cost of land in Sonoma County or how a small farmer/business owner like me could ever afford it!
What advice would you give a new farmer/someone starting out in your line of business?
Two things I have found to be crucial for survival in this business:
1) In addition to being a good farmer, you’ll need to be able to market what you grow. Network with chefs, farmer’s market managers, caterers, shop owners, etc. Have a social media presence. Have a website that tells about your farm and directs customers how or where to purchase your products. If you sell at a farmer’s market or a farm stand, ensure your displays are presentable enough that people will want to take photos of them and tag you on social media.
2) Have a secondary plan for your products that don’t sell at their peak. Sell slightly bruised fruit at a lower cost for jam making. Turn fresh herbs into packaged dry herbs. Get a cottage kitchen license and use unsold produce to make other products (i.e. basil becomes pesto, fresh tomatoes become sun dried tomatoes, kale becomes kale chips). Make an agreement with a local chef who will buy your unsold produce at a discount.
Of course this all just adds to our already-heavy workload! I wish all of our local farmers much success!
Photos by Lisa Rose / The Farmers Photographer