Good for the soul, good for the soil
Organic farmers work to keep up with the demand
Alexis Koefoed poses on her farm off Pleasants Valley Road in Vacaville. Koefoed leads the Slow Food Convivium and grows olives, raises chickens and teaches cooking classes. (Reporter file photo)
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Product profile Organic in Solano: 28 farms on 2,187 acres in Solano County were organic in 2005 - an increase of three farms and 193 acres from the previous year Organically grown items include: Almonds, apples, apricots, barley, beans, cherries, cut flowers, edible flowers, endive, herbs, kiwi, mandarins, melons, microgreens, mushrooms, peaches, persimmons, plums, sprouts, tomatoes and walnuts According to the Organic Trade Association, www.ota.org, the U.S. organic industry grew 17 percent overall to reach $14.6 billion in sales in 2005. Organic foods grew 16.2 percent in 2005 and accounted for $13.8 billion in consumer sales. (Organic nonfoods include personal care products, nutritional supplements, fiber, household cleaners, flowers, and pet food.) Fruit and vegetables account for the largest portion of organic sales: 39 percent A 2004 survey found that 66 percent of U.S. consumers use organic products at least occasionally
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Koefoed grows vegetables, herbs and olives, and raises free-range chickens on her family's 55-acre certified organic farm in Pleasants Valley. Her seven breeds of heritage chickens, ranging from Rhode Island Reds to Delawares to Silver-Laced Wyandettes, produce eggs that sell out quickly at area farmers' markets
"I can't keep up with the demand," says Koefoed, who sells produce at the Vacaville Farmers Market on Saturdays and the Napa Farmers Market on Tuesdays.
This is the Soul Food Farm, home of Alexis Koefoed, her engineer husband, Eric, and their three children, ages 19, 16 and 13.
"Working with nature, farming with nature" is what it's all about. In keeping with her animal conservationist and sustainable food passions, Koefoed has led the slow food movement in Solano County for the past year. The Solano County chapter of Slow Food joined with the Morningsun Herb Farm to host "Tomato Day" in August, with proceeds going toward sending a farmer in a developing country to the international Slow Food movement conference later this year in Turin, Italy.
The Koefoed family bought the old Christopher Ranch four years ago, moving here from Vallejo. "We raised our family for 10 years in Vallejo," Koefoed said. "When I heard the old Christopher ranch was for sale, I gave my husband no peace until we bought it. We lived in a trailer until we built the house."
The farm is anchored by two original barns, built with first-growth redwood and dating to the late 1800s.
They now lease part of the property to Ted Fuller of Davis, owner of Highland Hills Farms, which specializes in grass-fed beef. He raises heritage animals, including Scottish Highland cattle, Dorset lambs and red wattle pigs, which he sells at San Francisco and Berkeley farmers' markets.
"It's a perfect relationship, farming with nature," Koefoed said. "The free-range chickens eat the bugs from the cattle droppings and aerate the soil."
Koefoed grew up in the Danville countryside. Her father, an engineer, and her mother, from Peru, instilled in her a passion for the land.
Now married to an engineer ("Eric helps out on the farm whenever he can, but I try not to ask too much of him"), Alexis is happier on the farm in rural Vacaville than in a city. Vacaville exudes a safe environment "and is a good place to raise the family. A farm calms you down and releases tension. I think we're a better family for living on the farm."
Thalassa Skinner, a partner in Common Greens of Napa, which operates farmers markets in Vacaville and Napa, praised Koefoed for her "passion for the land and locally grown, organic food."
"She is locally minded and environmentally driven," Skinner said. "Soul Food Farm is a farm with an absolutely true soul. Alexis lives and breathes her work, as she is dedicated to doing the right thing environmentally, ethically, flavor-fully inside and out. She and her family live on a stretch of land in Vacaville that allows her to raise happy organic chickens and the bulk of her work at this time (at the market) is in their egg-laying prowess."
Koufoed plans to expand her chicken project from 700 to 1,500, and launch an olive oil company, "Terra Sole," with her sister. They will begin harvesting olives next year. Other plans call for opening the farm for educational tours, lectures, dinners and chef demonstrations.
Right now, she's busy selling basil, heritage tomatoes and eggs at the farmers' markets.
Area residents also can buy eggs and other produce directly from her farm. She usually posts a sign welcoming business Thursdays through Sundays.
To get to the Soul Food Farm from east or west-bound Interstate 80, take the Pena Adobe exit, turn left on Cherry Glen Road and right on Pleasants Valley Road. The farm is about a mile from the Cherry Glen Road exit.
