What is Belle and Bug Farms?

The beginning of Belle and Bug Farms (2016)

Hello,

we figured our first blog post should be a short introduction and description of what Belle and Bug Farms is. The easiest way is probably to just answer a few questions first—sort of a FAQ.

Who are you?

Belle and Bug Farms is owned and operated by Patrick and Kate Smith. You can read more about us on the About page.

Where is the farm located?

We are just a few miles outside of the town of Orland, California—about 90 minutes north of Sacramento and 25 minutes west of Chico.

Are you certified organic?

At this time it is cost-prohibitive for us to obtain organic certification, however, we do use organic growing methods but our main focus is regenerative agriculture practices. You can read more about that here.

Do you offer farm tours?

Not officially. Between work, kids, and school we don’t have a lot of extra time. However, if arranged ahead of time, during an on-farm pickup of your order we might be able to make something work.

How big is the farm?

Belle and Bug Farms is just shy of 9 acres. We are fortunate in that we live in an area that is zoned AE-20 meaning that none of the farms or ranches around us can be subdivided into anything smaller than 20 acre pieces.

How long have you had it?

We bought the property in 2016. There were no buildings or improvements; at the time, it was referred to as ‘the jungle’ by the neighbors. Originally it had been a navel orange orchard with a perimeter of olive trees. However, in the twenty years before we purchased it the land had been abandoned and was so overgrown we couldn’t step more than ten feet onto the property. Fifteen feet tall blackberry bushes, wild fig trees, oak trees, pecans, mulberries, and a fair bit of poison oak had choked out all but about a dozen of the navel orange trees. As we began clearing the property we saved as many of the orange trees as we could and kept the oak trees, a handful of fig trees, and nearly forty of the volunteer pecan trees.

When did you move onto the property?

We finished building our house and moved in in the spring of 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. After four years of dreaming about living on our land, it finally happened and we couldn’t have been happier to be quarantined on our little slice of heaven.

What do you grow?

Everything? Seriously, we have tried growing almost everything you can think of out here. Our climate, our soil, and dependable water source from the Orland Water Users Association, which comes from the eastern slopes of the coastal range and the Mendocino National Forest, together provide a near-perfect growing environment. Our climate is classified as Mediterranean which is part of the reason why olives do so well here. However, we also grow figs, walnuts, pecans, peaches, plums, apricots, cherries, blueberries, strawberries, boysenberries, grapes, saffron, and a plethora of flowers.

Do you have a farmstand?

We do not at the moment, however, it is on the to-do list for 2024. Stay tuned!

As I think of more questions to answer I will periodically come back and update this post. Happy eating!