Honey in the Heart Farm is a small step on the larger journey of creating a sustainable lifestyle. Our desire is to live in a way which benefits ourselves, the land, our community, and humanity in general. A large part of this equation for us is to provide for our own nourishment, rather than participate in the global food economy which is debilitating to the environment and often provides toxic and less nutritious food.

The farming practices we implement strive to actualy build the soil and place agriculture within the context of the living environmental systems that exist all around us. Rather than using chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides, we hope to utilize and increase the natural soil biology by applying compost and compost teas, increase the populations of beneficial insects that naturally prey on pests, and of course hand weed when the competition from weeds becomes to much for our cultivated plants to survive. The eventual goal for our farm is to create a closed-loop system in which we can generate all our own fertility from our own animal manures and cover crops, however this first year we have to amend the somewhat barren soil of the foothills and content ourselves with growing annual vegetables.

Honey in the Heart is a small-scale, diverse farm committed to the practices of sustainable agriculture and stewardship to the land. We are currently cultivating approximately one acre with a variety of crops on land that was once a hay field, and before that settled by the Maidu people of California, as evidenced by the deep acorn grinding holes that grace the large boulders surrounding the farm. The farm is located just outside Nevada City, CA in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains surrounded by tall pines and wild roses.

This farm is the outcome of a vision to grow nourishing food for ourselves and our community and to create a more sustainable lifestyle.

Willow Hein is a Nevada City native who has literally come back to her roots. She planted avocados in Ghana, and harvested brussel sprouts in the Pacific fogs, but always finds herself coming back to the rocky soils and clear rivers of the Sierras. She has been involved in other small-scale agriculture projects for several years, and is excited to bring that knowledge to Honey in the Heart.