The two kindergarten classes piled into big yellow buses at Brook Knoll Elementary School on Friday, May 12, and headed north to another world.
There was no sign at the turnoff from Lockhart Gulch Road, just outside of the Scotts Valley city limits, down a winding asphalt drive into a wide field in a bend of Bean Creek, past wild rock roses to a storybook cottage.
Quail scurried across the road, birds sang in the trees, rabbits scurried for cover and a neighbor’s rooster responded to the echo of his own voice.
Over the next couple of hours, the kindergarteners would climb rocks, dance in the grass, stand at the edge of a cool, spring-fed mountain stream, walk along wooded path, plant sunflower seedlings, and witness the marvels of a small self-contained ecosystem – Bee Fruitful Farms, the eco-friendly home of the Learning Center.
All of it, from the rented buses to the snacks to the guided tours, was courtesy of the Draper Family – Matt Draper, his wife Mandy, and his mom, Sue.
When they aren’t managing their successful family real estate firm, Community Real Estate, the Drapers are giving back – to their community and to their environment – from the site of what for decades had been the largest trout hatchery in California.
Sue and her late husband, Lee Draper bought the seven-acre property in 2002. Lee died in 2009, but Sue and Matt continued developing and clearing the land, remodeling the main building and several outbuildings, creating a fertile 1.5-acre garden plot, and planting 300 redwoods along Bean Creek. Along the way, drawing inspiration from places like Camp Joy in Boulder Creek, they built their dream, a dream of a “learning farm” that would serve inspire others, “ to create an outdoor forum for improving health, relationships, and environmental awareness through education.”
“We want to inspire children to connect with the food they eat, and feel empowered by those health choices,” the Drapers wrote on their website. Matt and Mandy also are enjoying the farm with their two children, ages, 2 and 4. There are no pesticides, herbicides or chemical fertilizers anywhere at Bee Fruitful Farms.
Thomas Herzog was the first to use the large garden as “farming training wheels” to develop his skills and business concept rent-free. All he had to do was commit to farm organically and share some of his crops with the Drapers. In return, he got use of the plot for three years.
This spring he moved his Stone Meal Farm to his own land, where he will grow specialty vegetables, flowers and herbs. The field has been planted with rye and other cover crops, to replenish the soil, before another young farmer plows it next spring.
For more information, visit http://communityrealestate.biz/building.com
