Photo Credit: Ella Galaty
It’s a bit of a joke that farmers always chat about the weather, but it’s true. At any gathering, farmers will inevitably turn to chatting about, and likely complaining about, the weather. We did have a surprise thunderstorm on Tuesday, plus more rain on Wednesday and Thursday (we ended up getting 1.5” in all), and as tempting as it is to just talk about the rain, or the upcoming hot weather, we can save that for another day.
The weather was a topic of discussion this Saturday during the Celebration of Life for David Scheuring, a neighbor and friend of the farm who several guests credited with pulling some divine strings to arrange beautiful weather for his celebration day. Importantly for CSA members, he founded Gold Oak Ranch, the farm behind the amazingly delicious mandarin oranges you’ve been receiving the past few months. A meticulous farmer, at age 89 he was still actively involved in the daily nuts and bolts of the operation along with his business partner Luis Melendez. Their mandarins are the only items that we don’t grow ourselves that we include in your boxes, because of how good they are, which anyone who has tried one can attest to. According to his son-in-law, David loved the mandarins so much that he would start off each day with six or seven of them. The tomatoes you enjoyed last summer, and the ones coming this summer, are grown on land that we rent from David and his family, plus the asparagus and the bulk of our olives are on property that he stewarded as well. He loved planting trees, and we all benefit today from that love.
David and his wife Anne moved to the Capay Valley in the 1980s, not long after after Full Belly owners Dru and Paul. They were important members of the community, including advocating and fundraising for our local Esparto library and organizing various cultural activities. David was a founding member of the Yolo Land Trust, a group dedicated to preserving farmland and protecting it from development; he served on the board of the Yolo County Flood Control & Water Conservation District, and helped found Capay Valley Vison, a forum to bring community members together in respectful forums to talk over the future of the Capay Valley with focus on economic development, roads, agriculture, housing, and more. He did all of this in addition to creating a successful farm business, raising a family, and enjoying other hobbies.
Those of us who are newer to the Capay Valley, like me, can take the current landscape (and not just the physical one) for granted. Due to intrepid farmers and community members like David who’ve brought people together, pushed for change, worked hard, been careful stewards of the land, and planted lots of trees, today we have good things like mandarin oranges, a library, protected farmland, and much more. His commitment to the Capay Valley has left a lasting positive mark, even if you never got a chance to meet him.
Help Save Market Match!
One of California’s most effective food safety net programs is in danger! Funding for Market Match, which doubles CalFresh EBT participants’ benefits at many farmers markets (including the three that we attend), was cut from Governor Newsom’s proposed 2026-27 budget. If Market Match is not reinstated in California’s budget, funding will run out in early 2027, and the program will end. Market Match helps stretch food dollars, which is especially crucial at a time of quickly-rising food costs and impending reduced federal nutrition benefits.
Under the Market Match program, when a customer spends their CalFresh EBT at a participating farmers market, the customer’s benefit is “matched” up to $15 in additional Market Match funds to be spent on fruits and vegetables at the market, doubling the amount of money they have for produce. In 2025, the program served 660,000 CalFresh shoppers, providing nearly 50 million servings of produce.
Market Match is a triple win for farmers, low-income shoppers, and local communities. Last year, it directed $25 million to small and medium California farms and every dollar going to local farmers has been found to have a three-to-one multiplier effect in local communities, keeping food money local.
What you can do: contact your state representative TODAY and urge them to fund California Nutrition Incentive Program in the state budget and Save Market Match.
Email your legislators (1 minute or less).
Call your legislators (3-5 minutes). This takes a little more time but has a much higher impact! The tool on the website makes it easy.
Sign on to the Save Market Match Coalition’s letter.
