SIDEYARD FARMER SPOTLIGHT:

Welch Family, Windrose Farm

Meet the Welch Family, party of six (seven, if you include the fluffy dog included in the above portrait, and even bigger if you count the sheep and chickens). This outstanding farm family grew the fantastic plums in our Sideyard Plum Fruit-Infused Vinegar (ACV).

Farming is a labor of love for all six members of the Welch Family.

As regenerative farmers, ranchers and parents of four phenomenal kids, Catherine and Justin Welch are working hard all year long, showing us how to keep small farms alive and strong and training up the next generation of young agrarians to grow their own.

Tucked away in rolling foothills on a 50-acre stretch of countryside property in the Central Coast of California, Windrose Farm is a sustainable, regenerative and diversified-organic biodynamic family farm in Paso Robles. Here, the heat of the beaming sun in the spring and summer growing seasons turns the hills golden brown; the landscape is breathtakingly beautiful, all year long.

The Welch Family purchased Windrose Farm in the fall of 2020 from a farm family, Barbara and Bill Spencer, that pioneered small farming for over three decades and became mentors to Catherine and Justin in biodynamic agriculture practices.

Since the farm property changed hands and the Welches took over, Windrose Farm continues the farm’s legacy in regenerative agriculture and organic practices: the biodynamic calendar dictates when they seed crops on this diversified farm, compost is produced on the property, animals are humanely raised and rotationally grazed, and soil health is of the utmost importance.

We proudly source an abundance of peak season SANTA ROSA PLUMS from Windrose Farm. We’ve known and worked with the Welch Family for as long as we’ve been in business, and we can’t stay away. This family of growers, and the farm property, produces some of the best tasting plums we’ve ever tasted.

At Sideyard, we’re proud to work with farmers we know as friends and feel like family – the smallholders we work with are the real deal! They’re growing the good stuff, taking care of the land, and supporting our regional food system in Southern California.

We can’t pass up an occasion to sing the highest praises for Windrose Farm. Thank you, Welch Family, for supporting our small business and doing the Sideyard dance with us! We’re grateful for your continued friendship and partnership. The future is abundant, thanks to smallholder farmers like Catherine, Justin, Lauren, Natalie, Aiden and Bubba. Keep growing the good stuff!!!

Photo credit: Feast your eyes on these beautiful photos, by Colette Krey. Among her many talents, Colette is our friend, photographer and community village member at Sideyard.