Sarah White, owner and operator of Raven’s Eye Farm known for its signature garlic braids, started her micro farm in 2022. Raven’s Eye is located on Wet Hill Road in Nevada City, a parcel which has been farmed by locals since 2008.
Originally from Colorado, White spent a couple of years at the University of Colorado studying Spanish and Portuguese language and culture. White’s interests changed, and she ended up leaving school to move to Tahoe to live with a friend in 2015. Job opportunities were scarce and she ultimately moved to Nevada County for agricultural work in the cannabis industry, where she worked for about 5 years.
When Covid started ramping up in the spring of 2020, White described starting an “apocalypse garden” by tilling a small area on the property where she worked, starting lots of seeds, and having both great successes and of course some failures. White had no experience gardening, but discovered her love of growing food and flowers.
At the end of 2020 White left her job in Nevada County and went home to Colorado for a few months to contemplate her next occupation. During that time, a friend sent her First Rain Farms Instagram post about a job opportunity farming, and because White was passionate about gardening, she decided to explore growing veggies as a profession. In January of 2021, White applied for the farming position at First Rain Farm and a couple weeks later was selected for a phone interview, and was later offered the job.
White moved to Nevada City in early March 2021 and fell in love with the First Rain property, having her hands in the soil, and the farm crew (amongst whom she met the love of her life Nico Callahan). In 2022, First Rain Farm began to simplify their farming program and focus more on land management with their goats. This gave White the idea and opportunity to manage a small farm, and grow some of the vegetables that First Rain was dropping from their farm program. White decided to name her farm endeavor “Raven’s Eye”, inspired by the birds eye view and her affinity for ravens.
White was introduced to the farm plot on Wet Hill by Tim Van Wagner of First Rain Farm. In 2008, Van Wagner was living in a small barn on the neighboring property and worked out a handshake agreement to cultivate the plot for produce. Since then, there have been handfuls of locals who have farmed and passed on the plot to other farmers.
The Wet Hill plot is owned by Suuzi and Spencer Seim, who purchased the property from Seim’s father in 2015. They continue to operate with handshake agreements and have no desire to charge rent because they want to provide opportunities for farmers, they only require growers to cover half of the NID water bill. The Seim’s view this agreement as mutually beneficial and enjoy the improvements to the soil, the additional pollinators and birds, and some produce offerings.
White faced many challenges in starting her micro farm, the first, finding someone to share the plot with. White did not need the entire plot because she was still working full-time at First Rain as a farm manager, and wanted a farmer friend to share the land with. That is how Sophie Larsen, who currently works at Sweet Roots Farm, became involved. Larsen was not looking to get into production farming, but wanted to expand her garden and so the term “farden” was born, a word Larsen coined to describe their collaboration of the land.
White faced additional hurdles like not having farm equipment or infrastructure, she had never created a crop plan and planned plantings, and she had to familiarize herself with the microclimate of the Wet Hill property compared to that of First Rain. White also had to become comfortable with tractor work, she had very little prior tractor experience. This is where the help and support of First Rain and her farming community was essential.
“Basically, there’s no way I could have done this plot in any way and be able to sell it at the market and everything without the support of Tim, he super encouraged me to do this, helped me with using the tractor, all the farm equipment, I bought compost from First Rain my first year doing Raven’s Eye, using the cooler… everything, it would have not even remotely been possible without Tim’s support and help” said White.
White emphasized the many people who have made this dream possible, farmer friends, the Seim’s who own the Wet Hill plot, and her partner Nico (who she lovingly described as “bean boy of the year” for all the bean harvesting he did).“I definitely don’t want to make it seem like I do this all myself because I don’t at all. Like, it’s fully with the support of all the people in my life” White said.
One of White’s favorite things about farming is “having my hands in the dirt and watching things grow. It seems so cheesy, but to be able to plant a little seed in the ground and see it turn into a whole entire plant that’s producing fruit or veggies… Yeah, it’s just so fulfilling to do something that you are seeing the results of and eating it yourself, or giving it to friends, or selling it at the farmer’s market, it feels like I’m actually doing something important.”
White is trying to balance working multiple farm jobs and avoid burnout (one of the challenges a lot of farmers face). White is at First Rain two days a week in the slower winter season and as many as four days a week during the busy summer season.
White’s favorite crop to grow is flowers, and what makes it even more fun she says, “Is the collaboration with Sophie”. They grow the flowers together and make bouquets to take to market. You can find Raven’s Eye produce at the Nevada City Farmers Market on Saturdays, White uses a section of First Rain’s booth as a second seller certified producer, and occasionally you can enjoy some Raven’s Eye produce at Three Forks and Heartwood.
This year Raven’s Eye is planning to grow soft neck garlic, flowers, herbs, peppers, squash, and beans. White is continuously learning from every growing season, farming has taught her that there are many things out of the farmers control, that the financial components of farming can be challenging, and to expect the unexpected, farming has humbled her plenty.
“I’m coming to realize that yes, we [farmers] want to be as sustainable as possible and regenerative and all these things, but you can’t be any of that if it’s not sustainable for the people that work there, and sustainable financially.” White hopes to continue doing Raven’s Eye indefinitely, in some iteration.
Sophie Larsen, White’s farden companion at Wet Hill has been farming since 2017 and has been in Nevada County since 2018. Larsen has worked at a handful of local farms, those being Sierra Harvest Food Love Farm, Starbright Acres Family Farm, Super Tuber Farm, she also managed the Collaborative CSA, and currently farms at Sweet Roots Flower Farm. In the winter when the farming season slows down, Larsen has a fruit tree pruning business, and also works on the Force of Nature forestry crew, a small woman led crew based on the San Juan Ridge.
At the Wet Hill plot, Larsen grows things she thinks are fun and don’t require cold storage, she has grown corn, squash and gourds, dry beans, which she makes earrings with, and loofa among others. Larsen sells some of her crop goods to offset the expenses, but primarily grows for the joy of gardening. This year she is looking forward to growing more flowers of varying texture, shapes, and colors for bouquets. If you have any fruit tree pruning needs, she can be reached via email at sophielarsen1992@gmail.com.