Growing Garden Memories and Good Food At Red Gate Ranch

Two special events in Red Bluff happen each April: The Red Bluff Round-Up and temperatures favorable for summer garden planting. It took much trial and error in our family’s garden before we learned that it was safer to plant after the Round-Up. Our family’s learning and growing years were rich with garden memories. Your family might not be in the position to grow your own garden, but you can still create garden memories with your children.

Red Gate Ranch in Red Bluff offers their CSA members a chance to have their own slice of garden living. Farmers Kraig, Heather and Audrey would love to share their garden adventures with your family, and even better, the nutritious bounty that they manage to grow year round.

A delicious, healthful vision

Red Gate Ranch was homesteaded in 2012 and the founding farmers’ passion and vision is what makes the ranch a true treasure in our area. Kraig and Heather Austin and Audrey Pascone, who have been friends for decades, were housemates down in the Bay Area when their lives took a more delicious and healthful turn.

Audrey, who managed a naturopathic medical office at the time, started noticing the differences among patients who improved their health versus those who didn’t. The people with the most marked improvements were the ones who adopted a whole foods way of eating. Audrey, Kraig and Heather decided to incorporate more preservative-free and organic foods into their cooking. This change included fresh and colorful fruits and vegetables, ancient grains and grass-fed meats. They rarely ate out and made it an adventure to source most of their food locally.

Audrey’s favorite job on the farm is harvesting fresh herbs and teaching the customers how to use them.

A passion to share heath discoveries

Not only did they notice improved health, but this change fueled a new passion to contribute to the fresh food supply chain and to share their health discoveries with others. The three decided to homestead their own regenerative farm and Kraig started searching for a farm close to Interstate 5 . He found their dream farm on Dibble Creek just outside Red Bluff and the rest of the novice farm crew, along with Audrey’s son, Pharaoh,  followed him north. They knew the real work was ahead of them but could see the property would be perfect for the crop and herd rotation that is vital for healthy production.

It was years before they established a drove of heritage pigs, a herd of grass-fed cattle and a year-round garden that boasts a large variety of organic and non-GMO herbs and vegetables. In 2018 their vision came to fruition when they began offering their harvest through CSA boxes and at the Redding and Red Bluff farmers markets.

Jack Austin loves to help around the farm and now joins his mom, Heather, at Red Bluff’s Farmers Market

Children growing up in an industrious farm life

As Pharaoh grew against the beautiful backdrop of an industrious farm life, he was joined by Kraig and Heather’s son, Jack, who is now nine.

Jack’s regular farm chores include helping Kraig with the fermented pig feed, handling the garbage and recycling, organizing produce in the pack shed, and, more recently, helping his mom at the Red Bluff Farmer’s Market.

Audrey describes Jack as, “A confident, grounded, connected little person,” saying these traits come from his farm roots and responsibilities and being raised beside adults who are passionate about their work. Jack has watched the impact of changing seasons and helped solve problems through all the challenges inherent in life on a farm. All this culminates in the kitchen where Jack helps prepare delicious meals using fresh ingredients unfamiliar to many people.

Dillon, the three-year-old son of  Red Gate employee Branden and his wife, Julie, gets in on the action by donning his safety glasses and asking everyone, “Can I help you with your work?” Pharaoh, now 19, has recently taken his love of learning to Lassen College where he is studying gunsmithing.

Families can give their children a taste of this farm life

Families who join the Red Gate Ranch CSA program now can get their young children started with a taste of this farm life. The CSA gives members the opportunity to plant a variety of squash and melon seeds in late April. Families can also pick up a box of produce each Wednesday right at the farm. Kids will love meeting their farmer and seeing the thriving garden and livestock — a first step in developing their own “pride of ownership.” When the squash and melons mature, and show up in their boxes, they will feel a sense of accomplishment from having helped sow the seeds this April. Members also can take part in a Tomato U-Pick event and a fall potluck in October. In addition to their farm pick-up, Red Gate offers three other pick-up locations for weekly CSA boxes.

Say hello to your Farmer Heather at the market.

More benefits of CSA membership:

• Six or more varieties of seasonal vegetables & herbs in each box.
• Weekly emails with box contents, tips for use and storage, and recipes!
• Access to Red Gate Ranch’s private Facebook Group, launching this spring. The group gives easy access to recipes and storage tips.
• Priority reservations for seasonal meat shares and occasional promotions on pasture raised, heritage pork.
• Their commitment to build soil and grow food with the utmost integrity.
• A deeper sense of connection to the rhythms of nature by eating foods as they are in season.
• More time spent in the kitchen preparing and enjoying meals, and less time spent going to the grocery store!

A CSA membership offers so much, from improvements in your family’s physical health to the emotional and mental health benefits of educational visits to the farm. You will be like me, with priceless memories of overhearing your kids’ conversations and watching their little heads bob around and beneath the cherry tomato plants as they forage for their own afternoon snack.

Red Gate Ranch,
19020 State Highway 36 West,
Red Bluff.
(530) 727-8717,

audrey@redgateranchrb.com
heather@redgateranchrb.com
http://www.redgateranchrb.com

Kraig and Pharoah make a good team in the field.