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Casitas Valley Growers

~ Design & Operation 2015-2017 ~

Casitas Valley Growers 2015- 2017

Location: Carpinteria, CA

Land & Climate Characteristics: Located on a 50 acre avocado farm in Poverty Canyon just outside Carpinteria, CA. Heavy clay soils in a narrow valley bottom with apple and avocado orchards upslope, persimmons adjacent. USDA Zone 8b/9a with long, hot, dry summers and cold winters. Rainfall between 9 – 21″ per annum, with hot seasonal offshore winds.

Contour beds in the CVG market garden planted with spicy greens ready to harvest and edged with perennial herbs.

About Casitas Valley Growers: Casitas Valley Growers was a nested enterprise within the larger Casitas Valley Farm while it existed (late 2013 to late 2018). CVG developed a 1/3rd acre regenerative market garden in an old barren field, ultimately totaling 72 raised beds on contour in 5 separate paddocks and a 2000 square foot high tunnel. CVG supplied local restaurants in Carpinteria, Ventura, Ojai and Santa Barbara with salad mixes, herbs, microgreens and mushrooms as well as seasonal fruit from Casitas Valley Farm. Casitas Valley Growers was built and operated by Casey Pfeifer (thats me) and Jesse Smith, now the head Land Steward at White Buffalo Land Trust.

Casitas Valley Growers market garden summer 2017.

Design Elements

  • Market garden design around a passive water harvesting earthworks systems consisting of three linked swales that served to divert and infiltrate run-off from an existing erosion gully and repattern it across the field. Swales were planted to a backbone of fruit trees and other perennial crops with annuals interspersed between them on a seasonal basis.

Casitas Valley Farm Earthworks Implementation

  • Field before earthworks implementation.
  • Middle swale being dug.
  • Middle swale east end completed.
  • 1.5% diversion drain from erosion gully to top swale.
  • Armoring the zuni bowl and diversion drain takeoff.
  • Original gully course left, 1.5% diversion drain right.
  • 1 week later – bottom swale is filling up after some early winter rains.
  • Swale after first rain event.
  • Swale filled almost to capacity just below armored level sill spillway.
  • Vehicle access around the perimeter and through the garden underneath the uppermost paddock and top swale in the system for efficient movement of material.
  • Produce was grown in 30″ wide raised beds laid out on contour following the three swale lines. Pathways varied in width from 18″ to 42″.
  • Automated irrigation system built to service the 5 paddocks, interstitial swale lines, hoophouse, nursery and mushroom propagation area.
  • 2000 square foot hoop house constructed and used to grow in-ground crops, microgreens and vegetable starts for the rest of the market garden.
  • New beds freshly untarped from stale seed bedding. Hoophouse under construction in background.
  • Half of hoope house planted to high-rotation baby leaf lettuce mix. Sugar snap peas and perennial herbs are being grown up the walls on the sides.
  • Salanova butter lettuce ready for its first cut.
  • Spicy mustard greens ready for an evening harvest.
  • Paddock 1 with half the beds being stale seed bedded.
  • Paddock 2 and hoophouse.
  • Paddock 2 with trellised crops on the swale mounds.

Early Rain Event Filling Swales Amongst Developing Market Garden