If you’ve never heard of an experimental, urban organic farm, don’t feel badly. Laguna Beach residents Scott Tenney and his wife Mariella may have invented it. The two are currently working as busily as the bees in their onsite apiary to turn their 15-acre property in Bluebird Canyon into Bluebird Canyon Farm, a certified organic biodynamic urban farm. “We want to see this site as an example of what is possible,” says Scott. “We want to benefit and enjoy it as an urban homestead but also want to make it available to others in the community to also enjoy and benefit from the things we are learning.”
The couple has been working for more than a year to restore the site to an experimental farm that will provide their family and the community with local organic produce, and possibly in the future, support a field-to-table program with local restaurants. They also hope to eventually open the site to demonstrations showcasing the farm’s many projects, from composting and backyard poultry to solar power and rain water recovery. “We really want to be open about sharing the space,” says Mariella.
Coast spent a day finding out what goes into a typical day on the farm.
5:30 a.m. Early risers, the Tenneys are up with the sun.
7:30 a.m. Scott gets to the farm and meets with his foreman, Hal Herbert, to go over the plan for the day. “He has really helped us from the get-go,” Mariella says of Herbert, who is also a close friend of the family.
8 a.m. Scott and Herbert hold a safety meeting with the crew, which is made up of five people. Since most of the farm is still being built, there are a multitude of craftsmen that can be found on the property from one day to the next. “For example, right now we have a big erosion repair project going on, so there is a lot of interaction with those specialty craftsmen,” he says.
8:30 a.m. It’s feeding time for the chickens, which are being raised organically in a coop on the lower level of the farm. “We usually spend an hour every morning checking in, making sure the chickens are watered and fed and healthy,” Scott says.
9 a.m. The apiary full of bees on the upper part of the hill is also cared for in the morning. “We check to make sure all of the brood is healthy and that they have water and are safe from predators such as ants.”
10 a.m. “We spend the rest of the morning on a variety of scheduled tasks,” says Scott. That can range from turning over the compost to planting seedlings. “This week our upper fields are being heavily mulched and protected for erosion and re-planted for our winter production.”
12:30 p.m. Break time for the crew. The meal is very communal and sometimes they cook on site. “From time to time we’ll cook something, like stew, so we all eat the same thing together,” says Scott. It’s a foreshadowing of the farm dinners the Tenneys would like to eventually host at the farm.
2 p.m. Time to harvest. “Every Wednesday, we harvest whatever is fresh and ripe and that goes into our community supported agriculture baskets, which we deliver to a local school,” says Scott. “Whatever is left over we offer to a few different chefs that have been involved with the farm.”
3:30-5 p.m. There’s plenty of other work being done daily that doesn’t involve farming. “Of the 15 acres here, about an acre-and-a-half ultimately will be used for cultivation,” says Scott. The rest is planned as wild, open space. There are also ecological restoration activities going on, such as the restoration of oak woodlands at the front of the property. “It’s about an acre of oak woodland that we started with 25 oak trees and some companion plants that grow with the oak trees.” Restoring native plants not only creates a more natural landscape, but is also safer since invasive plant life, like the eucalyptus trees, can be a fire hazard.
7 p.m. Scott heads home, but takes his work with him. “We’re always working on this, whether we are here or not,” says Mariella, who has been hard at work on a website for the farm. Together they hope to have the farm complete by this time next year. “We are honoring this land,” Scott says.
