I farm eighteen acres of lemons in Southern California. It's a rich life that I want to share with you but its future is uncertain. This land will always be green because it is in the middle of the greenbelt between two towns and cannot be developed. But what is its future in agriculture? Will it continue to yield crops whose value is uncertain in global markets or will it become a rich man’s weekend hobby?
Around here a place like mine is called a ranch. A farm is where row crops (lettuce, onions, strawberries) are grown. Tree crops grow on ranches. I am called a grower, not a farmer. But somehow this still grates against my Texas upbringing where ranch only means cattle, sheep, horses. So I have named these writings “Susan’s Farm” in deference to all of you who believe that all vegetative crops grow on farms.
posted by Susan @ 7:23 PM
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I’m Susan, or that’s what most people call me and it’s the name I like best. For the last twenty years I have lived on a lemon ranch up the coast from Los Angeles, ten miles inland. Before that I practiced law in Texas. By nature I would be a hermit if I allowed myself to be. Sometimes I can go two weeks without leaving the farm. That’s how I like it. But I know it’s not good for me so I do civic things like serve on museum boards and capital campaign committees and county government boards, air quality control and health care, and I’m an officer in a statewide special interest group. I see friends and I travel. I also sell antique maps and prints. The dog in the picture is Farley. He’s a Chesapeake Bay Retriever, two years old now. I have two other dogs, Amie and Claire, both old Brittanys. There’s also a tortoise shell calico barn cat named Frost and five nameless peacocks.
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