initials are carved into a pillar within the farm’s walnut dryer, along with those of many still-remembered ranch employees. As he settled into farm management in the 1950s looking after the ranch with his own father, James combined the historical knowl- edge of his predecessors with his education in soil science and entomology to cultivate prolif- ic crops of avocados, lemons, and other fruits. His father’s studies “kept his mind open,” Tom says. “He understood the importance of healthy soil and was curious about balanced ecosystems and insect populations.” But when James decided to manage the ranch full-time in the late 1970s, the pressures of running a business ran counter to what he had learned. Farming is a business, after all, and the need to increase yields and expand acreage in the 1970s and 1980s led to more chemical-based farming and to the removal of hedgerows impinging on the lemon groves. This was common for a lot of farmers in the area who shifted their focus to monocrops and emphasized yields and volume production. The unintended consequences showed up years later. When it came to fruit, Tom says, “quality was reduced by wind damage, an unbalanced insect population resulted in greater pesticide use, and an explosion in rodent populations came as a result of not having raptors to eat them.” And below ground, soil health was dilapidated. Where a lot of
RIVE THROUGH THE GATES OF Rancho Santa Clara del Norte, just 10 miles from California’s Ventura coastline, and you’ll feel like you’ve traveled back in time. A bright-white, 19th-century farmhouse commands the center of a half- circular gravel driveway. Towering palm trees rise from a verdant, well-manicured lawn, dwarfing a carefully curated assortment of cacti growing on the left and a meticulously maintained English garden with radiant roses on the right. Every corner of the property tells a story, and it’s easy to see that the land is very much alive. Thomas Lloyd-Butler, a descendant of the family that started the ranch and a part owner of the land today, tells The Rooted Journal that his grandmother’s ancestors founded it in around 1864, building upon a grazing operation that had been part of the 14,000-acre Mexican land grant dating to 1837. Before that, the area sustained a large population of Native Americans; its fertile lands were the original home of a Chumash settlement occupied by the Ventureño tribe. “You can imagine how vibrant it was and what it was able to support,” Thomas, who goes by Tom, says, speaking of the area. Tom honors the connection between the area and its Native American legacy with respect, as each generation of farmers at Rancho Santa Clara del Norte integrated learnings from those before them to honor the diversity of the land. He witnessed
Previous page: (Clockwise from top left) Jamie and Weiler Shafer with Thomas Lloyd-Butler along with ranch dogs, Pete and Scout. “My grandfather raised Belgian draft horses and mules well into the 1930s. At one point, there were about 120 heads of those on the property used to harvest and haul the lima bean crop,” Tom says. James Lloyd-Butler lived long enough to see the rancho return to regenerative roots. Weiler Shafer in front of the old almond processing facility. The farmhouse circa 1895; it was built upon an old adobe. The rare jelly palm planted at the time suggests a “thoughtfulness and intention about the way they built the garden with limited plant material,” Tom says.
The Catholic chapel that was once a card room. Opposite page: (from top to bottom) Tom in front of the stumpery, a Victorian concept that encourages wood to decay adding fungal support to the soil. A young James Lloyd- Butler with several family members, including a brother who is now over 100 years old. The sprawling lawns and historical farmhouse as they are today.
his father’s efforts to do that firsthand; James Lloyd-Butler was as much a part of the land as the crops themselves, picking walnuts — a product Ventura County was well-known for at the time — from an early age. As proof, his
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