PRESS
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Sonoma County’s small farm operators selling more foods directly to consumers
Front Porch’s . . . . direct-to-consumer sales increased 50% at area farmers markets. With no wholesale costs, overall revenue for the farm operation jumped 15% last year, he said.
“Our business shifted quite a bit. But it has shifted in ways that have worked out well,” Buckley said.
Front Porch got a boost last year when consumers flocked to farmers markets because they liked shopping outside for health reasons. And they bought bigger quantities of produce since they were typically staying at home.
HEALDSBURG TASTEMAKERS
In 2010, Peter and Mimi planted their agrarian roots in Healdsburg when they acquired Front Porch Farms. Guided by the principle that diversity is nature’s basic pattern, their organic farming yields an abundance of produce, flowers and wine.
WILLIAMS SONOMA
Wine Country Spotlight: Peter & Mimi Buckley of Front Porch Farm
Peter and Mimi Buckley founded Front Porch Farm in 2010 after years of life in the corporate world. Seeking a return to nature, and with a passionate dedication to organic farming and conservation, the Buckleys, together with a small farm staff, grow a variety of fruits and vegetables, as well as heirloom wheat and wine grapes. In 2012, they brought the first Cinta pigs into the US at their sister farm, Acorn Ranch. We talked to Peter and the Front Porch Farm farm manager, Johnny Wilson, about life at Front Porch Farm and all that it entails.
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Front Porch Farm produces rare varieties in Healdsburg
“When you’re developing an experimental property like Front Porch Farm, you can count on a lot of science, a bit of gamble and, maybe, a whole bunch of crazy luck. Cradled in a bend of the Russian River on the edge of east Healdsburg, the 110-acre organic farm has been producing obscure produce, grains and livestock since 2010, varieties that much of America has never seen before.”
DELICIOUS REVOLUTION
Front Porch Farm produces rare varieties in Healdsburg
“Embracing regenerative nature of farming, Peter and Mimi started building farms in Oregon and California. Riverbend Farm and Looking Glass Farm are organic blueberry operations in Oregon, and Front Porch Farm in Healdsburg is a highly diversified farm where Peter and Mimi currently live. Recently, he seems to have taken a great interest in blackberries. In this special summer episode, Devon talks with Peter about blackberries, and about the challenges and beauty of running a diverse farm. “
MARIN MAGAZINE
Meet the Farmer: Peter Buckley and Crew at Front Porch Farm
On Healdsburg’s Front Porch Farm, countless life-affirming patterns are interwoven, expressing life. The forty-acre farm is dedicated to a bounty of flowers, vegetables, fruit trees, livestock, and vines, which thrive in the warmth and sunlight of Sonoma’s Mediterranean climate.
SF GATE
Front Porch Farm - experiment in diversity
“Peter and Mimi Buckley had no previous farming experience when they started a 110-acre organic farm outside Healdsburg four years ago. ….
"I was one of those Michael Pollan farmers," says Peter Buckley. "I had a lot of opinions about farming." The Buckleys and their staff have had to test those against reality as they launched an organic farm that epitomizes biodiversity.”
COMMUNITY GRAINS
Partner Spotlight: A Visit To Front Porch Farm
“When the Buckleys bought the farm in 2010, it had been in production as a vineyard for the past 30 years. Prior to that, the land had mostly been planted with stone fruit orchards. But the Buckleys have a far different vision. Although still in its infancy, the plan from the very beginning has been to move away from the monoculture of vines or orchards and restore the land to a far more concentrated system with a high level of biodiversity.”
ENJOY MILL VALLEY
Mimi Buckley, co-founder, Greenwood School & Front Porch Farm
Over the years since, the couple has created the David Brower Center and the Center for Ecoliteracy and in Berkeley. They started farming in 2008 and settled at Front Porch Farm, a 110-acre organic farm along the Russian River on the eastern edge of Healdsburg.
“Mimi’s nature is pure kindness, and that finds its expression in pretty much every moment,” Peter Buckley says. “Specific stories don’t really capture her constant way of being. It’s the small things.”
SONOMA MAGAZINE
Front Porch Farm: Locally grown wheat in Healdsburg
It required a determined vision to rip out acres of valuable Russian River Valley vineyards. But replacing that land with wheat, heirloom vegetables and grazing area for heritage breed pigs? That required not only vision, but capital and chutzpah.
Front Porch Farm, owned by environmentalist, philanthropist and former Esprit-Europe CEO Peter Buckley and his wife, Mimi, is a 120-acre experiment in biodynamic farming at an idyllic spot called Diggers Bend, about 10 minutes east of Healdsburg.
SLOW WINE
Front Porch Farm
In 2010 Mimi and Peter Buckley bought property just east of Healdsburg as the next step in a line of conservationist endeavors. Wanting to successfully put into practice environmental and agricultural beliefs, the goal was to create a dynamic, organic, biodiverse, and multicultural farm that ultimately proved its economically viability. 100 acres of land, 12 acres of vineyards, 40 acres of extensive gardens, vegetable production, stone fruit and olive orchards, cut flowers, and turkey, chicken, and pig farming, all function together as a vertically integrated farm.