Devoto Gardens & Orchards Tour
On September 6, 2013, CUESA visited Devoto Gardens & Orchards, the second stop on “Flowers and Apples: A Sebastopol Farm Tour.” Photos by CUESA and Barry Jan.
Founded by Stan and Susan Devoto in 1976, the farm grows heirloom organic apples, cut flowers, and wine grapes on 27 acres across several plots in Western Sonoma County. Their three daughters, Christina, Jolie, and Cecily, help with the business.
A couple years ago, Jolie and her husband, Hunter, moved back to the family farm. To carve out a livelihood for themselves within the farm's limited resources, they have expanded the business by developing a line of hard apple cider.
Sebastopol's climate combined with the Goldridge sandy loam soil create the perfect conditions for apple growing. The Devotos grow close to 100 heirloom varieties—all of them planted by Stan—with colorful names like Arkansas Black, Mutsu, Ashmead's Kernel, Gravenstein, and Hubbardston Nonesuch.
Jolie showed us around the Devotos' main 20-acre property at the height of the apple harvest. Apple season usually runs August through December, and each variety has its own harvest period, usually ranging from one to five weeks.
Many of the tree branches become so laden with apples that they must be propped up. This Golden Delicious tree produces about 500 to 1,000 pounds of fruit, according to Jolie.
Since Sebastopol is prone to drought, all of the orchards are dry-farmed, which means that the trees are not irrigated. Trees absorb moisture through the water table (which is replenished every year by winter rains), and the fog that rolls in every night. While dry farming produces smaller fruit and lower yields, "the flavor is amazing," said Jolie.
No apples go to waste. The highest-quality (#1) fruit are sold fresh at the farmers market, while those that are a bit too ripe or blemished to sell fresh (#2) are made into hard cider. Apples that have fallen to the ground (#3), shown here, are processed for vinegar.
Jolie and Hunter launched their apple cider business in 2012, highlighting the Gravenstein apple, an heirloom variety with a long history in Sebastopol, which used to have a robust apple processing industry. "The trees were originally planted for juice, but we wanted to reintroduce the variety to a new market: people who want cider but with a little kick," said Jolie.
These home fermenters contain test batches of apple cider. When ready to brew and bottle for market, Jolie and Hunter process their apples at Manzana, the last apple processor in Sebastopol, then take the juice to a winery down the road. They rent the equipment at the winery but do everything themselves, a cost-saving arrangement for their fledgling business.
Cheers! Our tour group enjoyed an apple cider tasting. The cider is fermented similarly to a Sauvignon Blanc, using a Champagne yeast, giving it a dry (low-sugar) taste. This cider has a bit of raspberry juice added, recalling a traditional pie pairing of Gravensteins and raspberries.
The Devotos also grow wine grapes for three boutique wineries. The winemakers provide specific instructions based on the style of wine they'll be making, and they visit the vineyards often to check on how the grapes are developing. The Devotos grow Pinot Noir grapes at their home plot, plus a couple acres of Chardonnay at another site across the street.
The skins are wrinkly when sugars are at their highest. The grapes are clipped when they measure about 24 to 26 on the Brix scale of sweetness. Because the Devotos and their workers are also juggling apple and flower harvests in the fall, the grape harvest usually happens at 2 am. Harvesting at night also prevents the grapes from fermenting too quickly.
The Devotos are in the process of transitioning their vineyards to certified organic. The grapes are covered in netting to protect them from the birds. Birds are part of the farm's diverse ecosystem, which also includes raccoons, bobcats, mountain lions, wild turkeys, and other creatures.
Cut flowers are the other important piece of the Devotos' business. About a third of the farm's flowers are grown at this location, and the rest at another plot in Santa Rosa. Having two locations with different climates has helped them diversify their offerings and extend the growing season.
All of the flower seedlings are started in the greenhouse and planted out when they reach three inches high. Newly grafted apple trees also get their start in the greenhouse before being planted in the orchards.
All of the seedlings are planted by hand. Jolie shows us a flower bed recently prepped with gypsum, bone meal, and compost, ready for planting.
The Devotos grow more than 20 varieties of flowers, including cosmos, saponaria, sunflowers, bachelor's buttons, ammobium, marigolds, calliopsis, quince blossoms, and others. Statice is shown here.
Harvesting flowers is a constant dance, as the growing times vary by variety. Sunflowers have the shortest growing period, about 90 days to harvest.
Our tour was on a Friday, and workers were packing apples and flowers for the Saturday market. Fall is the busiest time on the farm, when apples, grapes, and flowers are all being harvested simultaneously. The farm employs about 10 full-time workers, some of whom have been working there for 20 years. "They're like family," says Jolie.
Thank you to Jolie and the Devoto family!
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CUESA (Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture) is dedicated to growing thriving communities through the power and joy of local food. Learn More »