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I’m super excited to introduce my guest today Julia Henderson from Confluence Farm who is not just a gardener but a chef who is going to share their garden journey from restaurants to organic farming and more! Sorry folks show notes to be completed in the future! Enjoy the audio! Rockstar Millennials Confluence Farm is an organic vegetable and flower farm located in Sebastopol, CA along the picturesque Green Valley & Purrington creeks. Julia and Andy are chefs turned farmers who truly understand high quality products and making people happy. We focus on generating the healthiest soil we can in order to grow the most nutrient dense and healthy vegetables possible. A confluence is when two entities come together, be it water or people. Our food and flowers bring people together, whether it be at on our farm, self grown and catered events, or nurturing our own community and family through markets. Our motto is “Come Together, Eat Well”. Tell us a little about yourself. My name is Julia I own a 3 acre farm an hour north of SF certified organic vegetables I used to be a pastry chef my husband we met in San Francisco always had a garden only a small amount about 4 years ago we were both looking to transition away from the restaurant world we still wanted to do something with food the property where I grew up it had been bought to be a farm when my flimsy original moved there saw the potential for it to be a farm we decided to move back having worked in the food industry committed to working with local growers for the ingredients we used in the food husband especially had the green thumb out of the two of us inspired by what he saw dove in headfirst neither of 3rd year exciting backstory farmers mart Tell me about your first gardening experience? my mom has quite a green thumb always had a garden some vegetables still has a garden to this day right next to the farm flowers perennials least cherry tomatoes lettuce swiss chard what ever else she was interested in can’t say I had a super green thumb interested later in life learned a lot love for plants first ex How did you learn how to garden organically? her garden was always pretty small when we decided to start the farm it was important to be organic getting certified from day one Tell us about something that grew well this year. I was happy with was our carrots Is there something you would do different next year or want to try/new? bringing someone on full time needed more help to be productive bringing on hands and help Tell me about something that didn’t work so well this season. biggest pest pressure are flea beetles love baby greens brassicas Which activity is your least favorite activity to do in the garden? moving materials moving plant material out tarps row cover feels a little bit like straight manual labor What is your favorite activity to do in the garden? I really love greenhouse work seeding tending to the baby plants one of my specialization on the farm love the harvesting flowers we don’t have as much flowers as vegetables What is the best gardening advice you have ever received? Um, I think well one thing I think is the idea that there is a difference between dirt and soil you really want to keep your soil alive and active A favorite tool that you like to use? If you had to move and could only take one tool with you what would it be? greens harvester baby greens lettuce mix cuts it extremely fast A favorite recipe you like to cook from the garden? we do is kind of an easier go to rice bowl grain bowl veggies on top one of my favorite things he make is incredible tomatoes sauce A favorite internet resource? youtube is really great a lot that we have learned from youtube Curtis stone learned a lot from his videos about growing is really helpful A favorite reading... Support this podcast