This is an interview with Kadee Imenuwat, a graduate of the San Diego temple, who is living with her husband in Santa Rosa, CA on a ranch, and is beginning the journey to planting and growing their own food on the land.

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What made you want to live the ranch life?

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I grew up in a small agricultural town in Northern California famous for growing enormous pumpkins. It’s the pumpkin capital of the world and every year, they host a Pumpkin Festival to see who will grow the largest pumpkin. This October 9th, the largest pumpkin ever weighed, weighed in at 2,749 pounds, setting a new record. Growing up I didn’t have much of an interest in growing pumpkins, but I did love the country life and I loved animals, particularly horses. 

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My elder sister was given a pony and didn’t find out until several months later that the pony was pregnant, so I ended up with my first pony at five years old. I have been owning and riding horses my whole life after graduating from my first pony.  My first job was at a dude ranch and all of my social skills were developed around the ranch life. I’ve wrangled, worked with horse trainers, given riding lessons, and showed horses. I would say that horses have kept me having at least one foot in the ranch life. I’m currently 100% committed to living the ranch life with my horses, cattle, goats, chickens, dogs and cats which is like being in my own little ecosystem. I really love the ranch life. I wouldn’t want to live any other way!

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What do you notice about the local farming in your area - are there certain crops that thrive in the environment, and what do you see in terms of accessibility of fresh, local produce in your area?

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Where I live in Northern California there are a lot of small ranches and farms that produce fresh organic products that are accessible to the public. People raise their own beef, sheep, goats, chickens, eggs, fruits, and vegetables which they take to the local farmers market or sell to local distributors. Local produce, meat, eggs, and dairy are very easy to find. 

I would say that the biggest industry here is the viticulture industry. Wineries have taken over all of the apple orchards, grazing land, and dairy farms. Also, the cannabis industry has moved in here in a big way but from what I hear the industry is very challenging and costly making it a very difficult industry to get a foothold.  Many crops grow well in this area, including artichokes, brussel sprouts, beans, onions, tomatoes, greens, figs, pears, plums, etc. All grow well here and historically this area is known for being a Gravenstein Apple growing area. The soil and climate makes for a long growing season with a large variety of food production.

How do you think local farms can stand up to big industrial farming?

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I think that there will always be a market for the small farmer and rancher. People want quality food to eat that is grown by the hands of real people.  The big industrial farmer finds his market in the cities where there is no farmland. Rising food costs force people to produce their own food. There really is no logic in growing food and transporting it 10,000 miles away when you can grow food and sell it right in your community. I think that in the future there will be a return to farming and ranching. People will give up being ‘doctors and lawyers and such’ and return to being Cowboys, that’s what I see happening.