A BARN DANCE, AND A NEW BREED

Guess where we're goin' tonight?  I've been hearing about these dances for a while now, and keep saying we're gonna go check them out.  I think tonight is the night.  For one thing, my curiosity is killing me.  Not just about the dances, but about Montesino Ranch and Farm, and all the people involved in the running of it.

You see, I've been thinking about farming and ranching a lot lately, and about who on earth, other than someone who was born to it and who had inherited their own property, would be crazy/brave enough to sink everything they had into buying a farm or ranch these days, knowing what a crapshoot it would be to make a decent living, what with the ever more bizarre vagaries of nature they'd be up against?  I've been thinking about this new breed of young farmer I keep reading and hearing about -- all the young, college-educated people who are chucking the fast-track career paths their parents had mapped out for them, and going off to take unpaid internships on organic farms, to learn the trade "from the ground up", so to speak.

Knowing how my mind works, you probably won't be surprised to learn that it hopped from mulling over this form of mentorship, all the way back to the Renaissance period -- to all the artists who had wealthy patrons of the arts supporting them.  It got me to thinkin' that, maybe, what we need now is some patrons of the art of farming.  What if there were some nice, comfortably off, retired people who owned good, arable pieces of land (not solid rock hillsides like ours) who didn't really need to make a living from this land, but who could really use that agricultural tax exemption, and who would appreciate a steady supply of fresh, organic food, without having to do all the back-breaking work themselves?  And what if you could match them up with some young people who were just dying to live the farming/ranching life, who had learned all they possibly could by interning with experts "in the field", but who just can't figure out a way to get any land of their own?  Could be a match made in heaven, no?

Which brings us back to Montesino and my cat-killing curiosity.  You see, when I first started seeing young David and Melody at the farmers markets around these parts, selling their gorgeous produce and flowers, I couldn't help but wonder how on earth they did it.  They were so young to be doing so well, outshining the older, more experienced farmers, weathering the droughts, the freezes, the pests, and continuing to expand and improve their operation.  Building barns, pavilions and guest houses.  Having other interns working for them.  Hosting events and giving tours.  How on earth did they manage?

Then I discovered that "their farm" was just the front nine acres, on a gently sloping plane of deep soil, of a 172 acre ranch owned by another, older couple, and the light bulb went off.  Perhaps there are some patrons of the art of farming already out there!  But I'm still curious, and want to see it all for myself.