OUR STORY
WHO WE ARE
We are a working family micro-farm & seasonal gardens. We cultivate the senses through nourishing food, beauty from our regional landscape, crackling campfires, and the scent of freshly picked blooms. We savor moments in their season, supporting our community based regenerative apple orchard and agricultural learning space.
Situated in the foothills of east Oak Glen, California lies Stone Soup Farm & Heritage Orchard, our family farmland dedicated to sustainability and seasonality. What began as a seed idea is steadily growing into a diverse landscape; combining regenerative farming practices with the joys of pastoral living to provide wholesome food that nourishes our community. Stone Soup’s working agricultural model and practice of artisan skills inform our approach to u-pick offerings, farm tours, and organic marketplace. Follow our journey as we build on the corner stone of this ideal, we call farmaculture.
What is in a Name?
The timeless folk story of Stone Soup slightly varies in the telling from the many cultures that have adopted it in their oral tradition but the maxim remains alike: Many hands makes light work…through cooperation and a bit of imagination, a people may thrive and the self prosper. Our Stone Soup story inspires us to share a passion of regenerative farming through living agricultural experiences in our expression of an American West landscape. This journey has taken a few turns, much like the gentle country road that leads you to our doorstep. Starting with a meager table and scale set amongst the Winesap orchard to sell that season's harvest, we are steadily growing our heirloom apple orchard and agricultural operations to extend our farm's bounty. Like all meaningful stories, we have found need to refine and change course, not only for the purpose of our work but so too how we tend the land by wisdom gleaned along the way. Through ongoing research, we are establishing a permaculture based working farm to restore our health while revitalizing the soil and food web systems. As sure as the seasons evolve, so will our crops and programs. It’s a rewarding life and we welcome the occasion to share this cultivated wilderness we call home.
This is Tim and Faith. Affectionate couple and best friends that built Stone Soup Farm & Heritage Orchard. Adventurers at heart, curators of the good things in life with a healthy dash of earthy grit. Their hands show proof of time spent tilling the soil, a labor of love, deeply rooted in naturalistic living. This is a part of our story. Time will nurture the remaining to be accomplished.
Our Family
TIM
FAITH
ANSON
Tim recalls formative years in Oak Glen working and playing amid the apple and alder trees. There was an apprenticeship of necessity governed by the demands of each respective season. Music, being always an influence, led from the farm to labors in other locales; through young adulthood, resolving back again to origins. Tim brings intellectual and artistic insight into every project on the farm. He is the lead in all crop productions, onsite manager, and overall go to guy. A resilient man who plays a huge role in feeding our growing farm needs. He truly can move mountains with his work ethic and is the backbone of our family.
Faith spent much of her childhood at her grandparent’s trout ranch in Whitewater, California. Early morning walks with Mimi through the canyon were followed up with a breakfast of freshly canned fruit and homemade bread. Her grandpa John would show her how to take great care for the trout they raised, along with the glorious fruit grove and rose garden he so dearly prized. Faith is head of events, designs and helps build our themed gardens, manages retail, and a host of other farm tasks. She grows the farm's flowers and vegetables, incorporating their natural beauty into pastoral still-life arrangements. She is our guide and takes great care with the work we do.
Anson is our farmer in training, adventurer extraordinaire, animal lover, and the reason behind why we are building local food systems. For all the generations to come, we will continue to actively pursue a permaculture model that supports healthy living. Anson can be seen helping us plant fruit and vegetable seeds throughout the woods. He is growing a fruit tree guild that will feed families and native wildlife. Here's to all tree climbers; may they never want for lush forests.