Green Valley Farm + Mill
Join us in Sebastopol, California for a week of farming, learning and building community, with a focus on small scale diversified farming systems. This week-long farm experience is part of the Climate Farm School learning program.
About the farm
The property
Green Valley Farm + Mill is a 172-acre property located on Southern Pomo, Kashia, and Coast Miwok ancestral lands. Its footprint comprises the majority of the headwaters of Green Valley Creek, where salmon still return to spawn, and a large part of what is considered the Green Valley. The farm is surrounded by neighbors that have lived on and stewarded this land for centuries. The current onsite community is committed to ecological stewardship, education, and vibrant, regenerative farm enterprises. It is a cooperatively owned farm with several on-farm businesses including a raw milk herdshare, a dry-farmed vineyard, a medicinal herb garden, specialty vegetable production, a forest-to-furniture business, and a children’s nature awareness program.
- Sebastopol, California (USA)
- Part of Terra.do's Climate Farm School
- gvfam.com
Farm team
Green Valley Farm + Mill’s co-founders bring a depth of experience to all aspects of management, from the built environment to beyond organic farming. Participants will interact directly with Aubrie Maze (Farm & Land Manager), Scott Kelley (Facilities Manager) and Scott Chang-Fleeman (owner of Shao Shan Farms). Aubrie has lived on the land for 7+ years and has a background in herbal medicine and animal husbandry. Scott comes from a long line of farmers and ranchers, has also lived on the farm for over 7 years and is continuing his heritage by raising cattle and milking cows on the land.
Glimpses from the farm
Hands-on activities
Prepare to get your hands dirty with a wide range of activities offered at the farm.
Farming and forestry
- No-till vegetable farming workshop at Singing Frogs Farm
- Vegetable cultivation in Community Garden (prepping vegetable beds, weeding, irrigation work, harvesting etc.)
- Herdshare work, including observe morning milking, moving animals with electric fencing
- Soil carbon workshop and on-farm ecological restoration with Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District and Point Blue Conservation Science
- Forestry work (preparing for prescribed burn, monitoring post-burn forest renewal, clearing overgrown trees)
- Small scale mechanization and seed saving workshop with Shao Shan Farm
Food and cooking
- Cheesemaking and yogurt making demos
- Mushroom farm tour
- Biodynamic wine tasting at Porter Bass vineyard
- Group meal preparation and basic food preservation lessons with resident chef
- Special dinner prepared by Chez Panisse chefs for course participants and other invited guests from the local food + farming community
Hear from Climate Farm School fellows
Caroline Santinelli
"Climate Farm School should be required coursework for every generation.. I've learned that it doesn't matter if you work in the climate or agriculture industry; as humans, we are a part of, not apart from, the agro-ecosystem, and we owe it to ourselves and our planet to understand the complexity of our food systems."
Varsha Uthappa
"The week spent at Green Valley Farm + Mill was one of the greatest experiences I have ever had.. This course has given me so much knowledge, insight, perspective and hope.. The course material combined with all the people associated in making it what it is makes it so unique and like nothing else out there."
