Started in the Fall of 2022, The Farm at Worman Mill is a small, family-run farm producing flower and vegetable starts, fresh produce, and microgreens for the mountain community. We are located in Ahwahnee, California in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Our 2.5 acres was once the homestead of Dan and Ruby Worman who farmed, had an orchard, and long-operated a saw mill powered by a pel
ton wheel. About the Farm
Our mission is to increase access to locally grown food. While the Sierra Foothills are home to America's Backyard, Yosemite National Park, and its 5 million annual visitors, access to fresh, locally grown food is a persistent challenge for many residents. Healthy food is expensive and many households regularly drive more than 50 miles to Fresno or Merced to grocery shop. We want to be part of a solution to that problem in our community by encouraging more backyard gardening-- we think everyone can grow something to eat-- and helping increase availability of affordable produce with our market garden and microgreens. It's all about nutrition, nutrition, nutrition! Though we have not received that certification yet, everything we're doing is using organic practices, using organically certified seeds, soil, and amendments wherever required and/or possible. What We Grow
Nursery Starts
We originally started by focusing on flower and vegetable starts. In 2024, we will build on our first-year success and have plans to offer much more quantity of our nursery starts, many of whom have successfully graduated from trialing here at our farm. Fresh Produce
Mountain residents know that fresh, locally grown produce can be hard to come by. And when it is available it's often not accessible to everyone. Our goal with our market garden is to grow a variety of produce items and make them more and more accessible in our community. In 2023, we grew a wide variety of crops. In 2024, we plan to narrow that down a bit more so we can grow more of the varieties we're focusing on. This year we plan to increase our growing grounds by more than 200%. Microgreens
We currently grow about 20 varieties of microgreens. Whereas most consumers recognize them from high-end eateries, often used as a garnish, our aim is to make microgreens available year-round as part of a healthy diet. Animals
If you drive by or visit the farm you'll see that we are also building out our ability to have animals. We currently have rabbits, goats, and chickens. In the future we hope to also make available eggs, broilers, market lambs, and market goats. Our Story - Written in January 2023
We're new to the mountains but not new to gardening. About 10 years ago, as we were raising our family in San Diego, we started to dream a little bigger about what it meant to be backyard gardeners. "What if we replaced our traditional lawn with a native plant garden or a food forest? What if we had some chickens?"
Those questions set us off on a journey we're still on. Minivan-load by minivan-load of compost, mulch, rock, and even more mulch we transformed our city yard into an urban oasis. When we started sheet composting our lawn, the neighbors thought we'd lost our minds. "Who covers their grass in newspaper, cardboard, compost, and 6 inches of mulch? And then they watered it?"
Yeah, we are those people. From there we turned our backyard into an urban mini farm. Before long we had more than 50 fruit trees, giant garden beds, aquaponics, and 5 chickens. It was insane and we loved every second of it. The Pandemic Wrecked Us
When the pandemic hit... well... we got lucky. Adam had always started seedlings, usually a few too many, and he sold them to friends to pay for more soil. It just so happened that in early 2020 we started a lot of plants. Like a lot. Just as everything shut down we had hundreds of tomato, cucumber, and other starts ready. When the office closed well-- you can't give a gardener that kind of time. With the world shut down we got to work, eventually selling a whole mountain of spring starts from our driveway farm stand. Along the way we grew and donated several thousand more seed starts that were distributed all over San Diego County. With every neighbor who stopped by to buy some plants, take some photos of our garden, and share with her friends... our dreams were ignited more and more. That success was the beginning of something bigger than our little city lot in San Diego could contain. Flash forward a few years and we decided to take our dream born during the dark days of the pandemic and try it here in our new home in Mariposa County, California. (We are about 70 minutes from the Yosemite Valley in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.) What will we offer? Well... if it's a fruit, vegetable, herb, flower, native plant... we want to grow it for you and set you up for success in your garden. We have a pretty good idea what people like to grow but we also want to introduce area gardeners to new stuff, too. We'll also offer gardening-related advice, classes, tips... anything that helps you succeed at growing! As new residents two things that we quickly realized which we think we can help with:
We basically live in a food desert! It's really hard to find a good variety of high quality, affordable produce close to home. (see USDA Definition of Food Desert)
What you find is expensive! Like many people here in the mountains we often have to drive to the valley to save money on produce. Our hope with The Farm at Worman Mill is to help solve those problems by igniting locals to grow healthy, delicious, and organic food at home year-round. We're crazy enough to believe that the land we live on can provide everything we need and we want to bring you along on that journey! Got an idea for us? Let us know. We might be new to farming but we are not new to business. We've learned to listen well. If there's something you want to grow in your garden that we don't have or something you want to try... ask us! Your idea might not fit with what we're doing but we'll gladly set you on the right path. We want to see you succeed with your garden. Whether you're growing on 5 acres or a patio we want to help you succeed.
