"Totem" a natural object or animal that is believed by a particular society to have spiritual significance and that is adopted by it as an emblem
The farm officially started operations in October of 2015 when Reynolds arrived to an old wooden farm house surrounded by orange trees and a farm infrastructure in need of restoration and reinvention.
Since that time the ranch has undergone many changes but we maintain the tenants of focused and conscious environmental stewardship; with an emphasis on ecologically oriented agricultural production.
Our plan from day one was to maintain the agricultural productivity necessary to fuel a more ecologically driven course and to learn from the cultural preeminence of the geographical horticultural traditions in order to build a bio dynamic orchard that was viable both economically and in the face of a changing environmental context.
The attributes of the type of farming we wanted to endeavor upon would support the citrus orchard with fewer chemical inputs but also strengthen interwoven native landscape and surrounding wild which embraces our groves.
Totem Ranch Co is a combined 62 acres that's farmed as biodynamics and certified organic citrus and also includes, animal livestock, diverse horticultural cultivation, aswell as natural wildlife habitat and riparian corridors. We are a garden-farm that comprehensively enables an overtone of diverse permaculture plants in the support the residents and participants of the ranch but also the overarching health of underlying soil conditions. We focus on biodynamic as well as organic methods in order to reduce as many harmful elements to our air and ground, because the ultimate cost of poisoning our natural resources was not an expense we could afford nor wanted to endeavor upon.
As farmers in the 21st century we are adapting to a new nature that is more fragile than ever before,
Since 2017 we have also housed the All Good Things Seed Co, operated by Quin Shakra and we are happy to have found a seed alliance for our cover crops aswell as for vegetable, herb, and flower varieties that we need regularly
Our goal, is to encourage the synergistic growing of food by doing true ecological farming; allowing for food production without soil depletion. With that goal has come the transition to new farming methods and system changes that lead us to the methods of biodynamics
Valencia oranges, Navel oranges, Pixie tangerines, Lisbon lemons, and Cara Cara oranges grown organically and biodynamically and are the mainstay of our farm activities.
Our continued vision o is to move toward cleaner energy sources, more local, more renewable inputs, and increased bio-integrity and diversity. We hope to shift the model of food production to one with embodied with integrity and ecological nuance.
Making habitat for animals has become a mainstay of our activity
Recent Stories
,
The farm officially started operations in October of 2015 when Reynolds arrived to an old wooden farm house surrounded by orange trees and a farm infrastructure in need of restoration and reinvention.
Since that time the ranch has undergone many changes but we maintain the tenants of focused and conscious environmental stewardship; with an emphasis on ecologically oriented agricultural production.
Our plan from day one was to maintain the agricultural productivity necessary to fuel a more ecologically driven course and to learn from the cultural preeminence of the geographical horticultural traditions in order to build a bio dynamic orchard that was viable both economically and in the face of a changing environmental context.
The attributes of the type of farming we wanted to endeavor upon would support the citrus orchard with fewer chemical inputs but also strengthen interwoven native landscape and surrounding wild which embraces our groves.
Totem Ranch Co is a combined 62 acres that's farmed as biodynamics and certified organic citrus and also includes, animal livestock, diverse horticultural cultivation, aswell as natural wildlife habitat and riparian corridors. We are a garden-farm that comprehensively enables an overtone of diverse permaculture plants in the support the residents and participants of the ranch but also the overarching health of underlying soil conditions. We focus on biodynamic as well as organic methods in order to reduce as many harmful elements to our air and ground, because the ultimate cost of poisoning our natural resources was not an expense we could afford nor wanted to endeavor upon.
As farmers in the 21st century we are adapting to a new nature that is more fragile than ever before,
Since 2017 we have also housed the All Good Things Seed Co, operated by Quin Shakra and we are happy to have found a seed alliance for our cover crops aswell as for vegetable, herb, and flower varieties that we need regularly
Our goal, is to encourage the synergistic growing of food by doing true ecological farming; allowing for food production without soil depletion. With that goal has come the transition to new farming methods and system changes that lead us to the methods of biodynamics
Valencia oranges, Navel oranges, Pixie tangerines, Lisbon lemons, and Cara Cara oranges grown organically and biodynamically and are the mainstay of our farm activities.
Our continued vision o is to move toward cleaner energy sources, more local, more renewable inputs, and increased bio-integrity and diversity. We hope to shift the model of food production to one with embodied with integrity and ecological nuance.
Making habitat for animals has become a mainstay of our activity
Recent Stories
,
"Totem" a natural subject that has spiritual significance and is adopted as an emblem
Totem Ranch is a historical orange orchard originally established as the Lismore ranch in 1810.
Since launching the Totem Ranch Company, it has become a continuation of the agriculture spirit alive and well in Ojai, and it remains a production focused citrus orchard in keeping with its historical roots and earliest plantings.
The farm maintains a biodynamic and organic certification and we practice agricultural production with an emphasis on holistic land management principles. We strive to improve the underlying conditions of the farm environment and work to promote the ecosystem which supports the farms biological diversity.
Our vision is to grow our produce with the fewest number of off farm inputs while creating self supporting nutrient cycle
feedback loops into our farm model and continue to enrich our products and the landscape.
The ranch is planted as diverse orchards, our primary crops being oranges, lemons, tangerines and avocados.
interplanted with many other varieties of edible Fruit trees.
As part of our commitment to biodynamic farming we are involved with animal livestock, diverse horticultural cultivation, natural wildlife habitat aswell as riparian corridor restoration. Our farm is an attempt to revision the citrus orchard by reducing ecologically harmful practices of input heavy regimes, break cycles of costly chemical inputs, and instead letting animal and plants work in symbiosis to grow our desired products. We are a garden-farm that comprehensively enables an overtone of diverse plants in the support the fertility needs of our crops while not unhinging the underlying soil conditions
.
As young farmers in a young century we are adapting to a natural world that is more fragile than ever before, our goals exist in the context of the delicate cradle called Ojai and preserve water and other natural resources for generations.
With our perennial fruit tree and subtropical orchards or goal is to encourage the synergistic growing of food by doing true ecological farming;
Our continued vision is to move toward cleaner energy sources and always increasing bio-integrity and diversity.
We've come to realize that a citrus orchard is highly controlled agroforestry model, Increasing the Diversity within the orchard context defies the normal parameters of efficiency however adds resilience and Flavor
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