There are a handful of smells that hold a special place in my heart. Among them is the rich, musty fragrance emitted by dry soil getting its first drops of water. Another signature scent is the sweet aroma of carrots the hangs over a carrot field as it is being harvested and yet another favorite farm smell is the tomato smell transferred from a sticky tomato plant to your hands (which doesn’t wash off).
But the smell that holds the most special place in my heart, perhaps because it was first pointed out to me by my dear mother, is the perfume of the citrus blossom. It is intoxicating. The blossoms are long gone now. They have turned into little green marbles of fruit. In the spring, I watch the citrus trees like a hawk, waiting for the delicate clusters of white flowers to emerge from the tree so that I can bury my nose into them, breathing in the sweet smell, experiencing the beauty of our existence in nature.
In the cycle of a citrus tree’s life, the step that comes before that smell, in the heart of spring, is the planting of new citrus trees. This obviously only happens once in the course of the many years in a citrus tree’s life, but it is like our own day of birth. It must come before all the other things can happen.
We have added another satsuma mandarin orchard to our farm because each year we have seen the demand for these early mandarins grow so much that we are unable to get even our Farm Fresh To You customers enough of the fruit in the month of October.
As farmers, we face the issue that planting and caring for these orchards until they begin to yield fruit (5 years) is costly and often requires borrowing money. As such, several years ago our farm started a Green Loan Program, an innovative program that connects farmer and consumer by allowing our customers to participate in a mutually-beneficial investment partnership.
In simplified terms, qualified individuals can loan our farm money through our Green Loan Program. We then use the capital to bring new farm projects, like a new satsuma orchard, to reality. Investors can choose if they would like to receive a variable annual interest rate in cash or in Farm Fresh To You credits. Licensed through the California Department of Corporations as a DPO (direct private offering), our Green Loan Program is a legitimate way to invest in your food system. Through the DPO, we accept loans ranging from $2,000 to $50,000.
If you would like more information, please email my team at greenloan@farmfreshtoyou.com. We will get you information and coordinate a series of informational sessions about the program that I will host. This is a legitimate and secure way to let your money grow while enabling our genuine and sustainable farm to grow - let’s grow together!
