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CapitalPress.com
February 13, 2015
People & Places
Marin County farmer an organic pioneer
Peter Martinelli
established one of
first certified farms
in California
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Courtesy of Michael Woolsey
Peter Martinelli started one of the first certified organic farms in California. He sells to high-end restaurants and specialty stores.
Western Innovator
Peter Martinelli
Occupation: Organic grower
Education: University of Califor-
nia-Berkeley
Hometown: Kentfield, Calif.
Quote: “I look forward to each day on the farm. Within a day I’ll
often encounter a problem I’ve never seen before, celebrate some
sort of triumph and learn something new in the process.”
waste from local horse ranches,
adds yard and garden waste for
“green manure” and plows un-
der his cover crops in the spring
for added nitrogen.
“I grow tomatoes, which is
almost unheard of on the coast,
but the farm is protected by
large trees that create a warmer
climate,” he said.
He also grows other, more
unusual plants.
“I bought 100-year-old daf-
fodil bulbs from a Northern Cal-
ifornia farm to sell as cut flow-
ers,” he said. “They produce
varieties that are not seen in this
century.”
Martinelli also harvests
wild nettle that he sells to a lo-
cal cheese creamery. The nettle
is part of an ancient method of
curing cheese. He saves most of
his crop seed that does not cross
pollinate in the field.
“For example, the squash
family is very promiscuous,” he
said. “A pumpkin can cross with
a zucchini and you have no idea
what you will get.”
Jamison Watts, executive di-
rector of the Marin Agricultural
Land Trust, said Martinelli is a
pioneer in organic farming.
“Peter has a true understand-
ing and appreciation for the art
and science of producing food
in balance with nature,” he said.
“He owns and operates one of
California’s oldest certified or-
ganic farms.”
Martinelli’s Fresh Run Farm
has recently been protected with
an agricultural conservation
easement from MALT.
“Peter is also an active care-
taker of the land that supports
his farm,” Watts said. “He and
his family have worked exten-
sively with the National Park
Service and other agencies to
protect the coho and steelhead
in Pine Gulch Creek, which runs
through the farm.
Martinelli has been on
MALT’s board of directors since
2008, and currently chairs its
stewardship committee.
Hair and gone: Taking the challenge, supporting a friend
By RYAN M. TAYLOR
For the Capital Press
Cowboy
Logic
T
Ryan Taylor
OWNER, N.D. — I’ve
always kept my hair
pretty short. I was even
born with short hair. Well,
there was that one period of
time, immortalized in my sec-
ond grade school photo, when
I let my hair grow so long that
it went over my ears. Hey, it
was the ’70s. Wild times.
Actually, I didn’t start life
with short hair. When I look
at baby photos, I’d say I was
plain old bald. While my hair
has been growing as best it
can for the last 44 years, it’s
a safe bet to make that I’ll re-
turn to my original baldness at
some point in the future.
As of last week, I gave
baldness a try with the help of
a friend and a hair clipper. Not
long before that, I went to a bar-
ber and got my usual cut with
the half-inch guard and the ex-
tra care it takes to leave a little
something on my forehead to
part and comb off to the side.
So going down to the scalp
was only a half-inch trip, plus
chopping off that cow lick that
dangled off my widow’s peak.
Clipper time
I went from the half-inch
trim to a zero-inch buzz to sup-
port a friend and accept a chal-
lenge within a circle of mutual
friends who want her to know
we’re there to help her through
the chemotherapy she is taking
for stage four melanoma.
Our children thought it
was pretty entertaining when
they got a look at my new
hairless-do. Our six-year-old
daughter, never at a loss for
words, says, “I think those tiny
little hairs on the back of your
head look nice … and I’m sure
you’ll get a lot of compliments
on your humongous forehead!”
She really emphasized “hu-
mongous,” waited for me to
laugh, then giggled uncontrol-
lably and worked “humongous
forehead” into the conversation
three or four more times while
we drove home from town.
She asked if I had my hair
cut for the “Locks of Love” pro-
gram that she had heard about
from a friend in school. I told
her that the hair they cut off of
my head was probably too short
and had too much gray in it for
the children who are helped by
Locks of Love. “But maybe
some old, bald guy would like
to have it,” she countered. OK,
maybe. Ouch.
Bilateral baldness
My sons came up with
some new names for the bilat-
eral bareness that defines the
widow’s peak on my humon-
gous forehead (now she’s got
me saying it). My eight-year-
old said, “I can really see that
‘tipi’ on your head now, Dad.”
Tagging on to the theme of
ancient lodging on the plains
and the tools of the people
who built them, my 10-year-
old came up with, “Yeah, it
kind of looks like an arrow-
head.”
While the kids have had
some fun with my new look,
I remind them, and everyone,
it’s not about me or my hair,
it’s about our friend, Ashley,
and the battle she is waging
against a serious and aggres-
sive cancer. We’re “Cheering
for Ashley,” which happens to
be the name of the Facebook
page we use to support her, if
you want to give it a “like.”
I saw Ashley at church last
Sunday with her family, and
she smiled and said, “I like
your hairdo, Ryan!” I told her
I liked hers, too, but mostly I
liked seeing her smile.
As her brother has told all
of us, the four things that will
get his sister through this chal-
lenge are love, support, prayer
and laughter. Our family is of-
fering up the first three every
day, and if my haircut will add
something to the fourth, I’m
glad to add my subtracted hair
as a means to help.
First lady says ‘cheese dust is not food’
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Mi-
chelle Obama says she
dropped boxed macaroni and
cheese from her family’s diet
after her daughter couldn’t
turn a block of cheese into
cheese powder.
In an interview in the
March issue of Cooking Light
magazine, Mrs. Obama says
Sam Kass, the family’s for-
mer personal chef, had taken
a stand against the boxed vari-
ety, which includes processed
cheese powder among the in-
gredients.
“He said there’s nothing
wrong with mac and cheese,
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By JULIA HOLLISTER
BOLINAS, Calif. — Organ-
ic grower Peter Martinelli ad-
mits it took him about 10 years
to discover his love of the land
was a career.
“When I attended college
at the University of Califor-
nia-Berkeley I was discouraged
to go into agriculture,” he said.
“I worked at a local farm after
leaving Cal and learned most
of the regulations regarding or-
ganic farming. So I convinced
my grandmother that ag was not
such a bad occupation.”
The timing was perfect. His
family owned 20 acres of rich
bottomland in Marin County
and the organic movement was
just taking off. His farm was one
of the first certified organic op-
erations in California.
Martinelli discovered quick-
ly that farming is a tough busi-
ness, and he had to figure out
the marketing to make money.
The farm, which is about one
hour from San Francisco, sells
to high-end restaurants there, in
Berkeley and in Marin County.
“There is a robust tourist
trade here and a huge demand
for organic products on the
coast, so I don’t have trouble
selling,” he said. “The rules for
growing organic are simple —
no herbicides or toxic substanc-
es and I think the most important
is maintaining a living soil for
healthy plants that are suitable
for this zone.”
Compost is the key to his
successful operation. He collects
Capital Press
but it’s got to be real food,”
she said, crediting him with
helping to eliminate processed
food from their diet.
Kass gave her daugh-
ter Malia, who was about 8
years old at the time, a block
of cheese and challenged her
to turn the fresh cheese into
powder.
“She sat there for 30 min-
utes trying to pulverize a
block of cheese into dust,”
Mrs. Obama says. “She was
really focused on it and it just
didn’t work, so she had to
give up. And from then on, we
stopped eating macaroni and
cheese out of a box because
cheese dust is not food, as was
the moral of the story.”
As she marks the fifth an-
niversary of her anti-child-
hood-obesity initiative, the
first lady says it feels like
there’s “a new norm” in how
families think about food and
what’s healthy.
Because food is personal
and people are obsessed with
it, Mrs. Obama said she’s try-
ing to deliver “a message of
change” that doesn’t assign
blame but provides informa-
tion needed to make better
choices. “And starting with
kids has been an important
first step because, as I’ve al-
ways said, parents will do for
their kids what they won’t do
for themselves.”
She plans to spend time
this year encouraging people
to prepare and eat more of
their meals at home.
“What we do know is that
the food you cook is healthier,
and it can be more affordable,
but it takes some skills,” such
as learning how to cut a chicken
into its parts, Mrs. Obama said.
The first lady said her initia-
tive and her husband’s health
care law will, in the long run,
save the country money by im-
proving people’s health.
“You don’t have to be an
Olympic athlete to be healthy,
but you do need to walk your
dog or take your kids to the
park periodically and throw a
football around,” she said.
Her goal as an 80- or
90-year-old is to still be mo-
bile.
“I want to be able to walk
up a temple or a ruin on my
own and see the world. And I
can only do that if I’ve been
investing in my health now,”
the first lady said. “And just
imagine, if we’ve got kids 20,
30, 40 years younger than we
are doing that now, they’re
going to be some of the stron-
gest 80- and 90-year-olds
we’ve ever seen. And that’s
our dream.”
The magazine features Mrs.
Obama on the cover, the first
time in the publication’s 28-
year history that food was not
the cover subject. The issue is
due on newsstands Friday.
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Index
California ................................ 9
Dairy .................................... 14
Idaho .................................... 10
Livestock ............................. 14
Opinion .................................. 6
Calendar
FEBRUARY
NATIONAL
Feb. 19-20 — Family Farm Alli-
ance annual meeting, Monte Carlo
Resort and Casino, Las Vegas, 707-
998-9487 or ffameeting@aol.com
Feb. 23-26 — Potato D.C. Fly-
In, sponsored by the National Potato
Council, Mayflower Renaissance
Hotel, 1127 Connecticut Ave. NW,
Washington, D.C., www.nationalpo-
tatocouncil.org
OREGON
Feb. 19-21 — Oregon Logging
Conference, Lane County Fair-
grounds and Convention Center,
Eugene, 541-686-9191, www.ore-
gonloggingconference.com
Feb. 24-25 — Oregon Dairy
Farmers Annual Convention, Salem
Conference Center, www.dairyfarm-
ersor.com/101-convention-general
CALIFORNIA
Feb. 25 — Sutter-Yuba-Colu-
sa-Yolo-Solano-Sacramento Walnut
Day, Veterans Hall, Yuba City, 530-
822-7515, http://cesutter.ucanr.edu
IDAHO
Feb. 26-27 — Idaho Hay and
Forage Conference, Best Western
Burley Inn, www.idahohay.com,
208-888-0988 or cindy@amgidaho.
com
Feb. 27 — Drones for Forestry
workshop, 1:15-4:30 p.m., University
of Idaho Extension, 1808 N. Third Ave.,
Coeur d’Alene, $15, 208-446-1680
MARCH
OREGON
March 16-17 — Oregon State
University Blueberry School, LaSells
Stewart Center and CH2M Hill Alum-
ni Center, OSU campus, Corvallis,
http://osublueberryschool.org/
March 20-23 — Oregon FFA
State Convention, Silverton, www.
oregonffa.com
March 20-22 — Northwest
Horse Fair & Expo, Linn County
Fair and Expo Center, Albany, www.
equinepromotions.net
CALIFORNIA
March 3 — Walnut (7-year-olds)
No Pruning-Pruning Comparison
Field Meeting, morning, Nickels Soil
Lab, Arbuckle, 530-822-7515, http://
cesutter.ucanr.edu
March 3 — Walnut (2-year-olds)
No Pruning-Pruning Comparison
Field Meeting, afternoon, Nickels
Soil Lab, Arbuckle, 530-822-7515,
http://cesutter.ucanr.edu
March 17-18 — Fruit Ripening
& Retail Handling Workshop, Uni-
versity of California-Davis, http://
postharvest.ucdavis.edu/Education/
fruitripening/
March 22-24 — California Fresh
Fruit Association Annual Meeting,
The Grand Del Mar , San Diego,
www.CAFreshFruit.com
APRIL
OREGON
April 18 — Oregon Women for
Agriculture Auction and Dinner, Linn
County Fair and Expo Center, Al-
bany, 503-243-FARM (3276), http://
owaonline.org/
CALIFORNIA
April 18-21 — California State
FFA Conference, Selland Arena,
Fresno, www.calaged.org/statecon-
vention
IDAHO
April 8-11 — State FFA Leader-
ship Conference, College of South-
ern Idaho, Twin Falls, www.idffafoun-
dation.org/
Oregon .................................. 8
Washington ..........................11
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