Grower Profile of BD Dautch
Ojai Produce: Blood Oranges

GROWER PROFILE OF BD DAUTCH

By Steve Fields

Five years ago, the ten-acre parcel just west of the Arbolada adjacent to Ojai’s original Nordhoff cemetery was in a sorry state. It was filled with dying citrus trees, a ramshackle farmhouse and a dilapidated barn. Today that same property is home to a thriving organic farm and an equally thriving family that has made it all happen.

Robert Dautch (or BD as he is known) is probably Ojai’s leading vegetable grower, producing over 100 different varieties of produce winter, spring, summer and fall. His stand at the Sunday Ojai Farmers’ Market is one of the market’s anchor tenants because of the unique variety of the greens, herbs, fruits and vegetables that are the bountiful harvest nurtured from that once derelict piece of land.

The Ojai property is the culmination of nearly 30 years of organic farming experience by BD, who started his farming career in 1973 in Isla Vista on some vacant land next to the UCSB. Following the creation of the Isla Vista homestead, BD and some friends moved north to the edge of the Central Valley near Chico. There he set up a farm that was part of the culinary revolution in Northern California that spawned the farmers’ market movement and the development of restaurants (led by Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse in Berkeley which his farm supplied) that focused on using locally-grown organic produce.

After leaving Chico, BD moved back down to the Santa Barbara area and purchased property near Carpinteria, which he still owns and uses to grow crops that augment his Ojai farm. Then he discovered the Ojai property and decided to transform it. Now less than five years later, BD and his very small team of workers have created a bustling organic farm, a beautiful home for his family and a tremendous resource for the community.

“I think people should view farmers’ markets like natural resources,î BD said recently as he strolled through his property. ìThey are gems for the entire community, like the mountains and the beaches.”

BD and his family seemed destined to be deeply rooted to the dirt. He, his wife and his first born son are born under the different Earth astrological signs. As a result they have named their farm Earthtrine Farm, an astrological term that connotes the power of the combination of the Earth signs coming together in a triangular or pyramid structure.

BD’s farm is the state of the art in an art that goes back thousands of years. He is growing food for the local community by recycling wastes created in that community. The main fertilizer source is compost that he makes by combining manure from the stables of the Ojai Valley School and the leftover hops from the Ojai Brew Pub. He plants what are called cover crops whenever a field is left fallow. The cover crops enrich the fertility of the soil by replacing the nitrogen, which is a key ingredient for most plant growth and development, that is absorbed by the previous crops that were planted in that field.

The goal of the farm is to supply, as many types of herbs and vegetables as will grow in either the Ojai or Carpinteria climate in the purest and freshest way possible. BD prides himself in offering some incredibly hard to find herbs and greens such as Papalo, a Mexican herb somewhat similar to cilantro, Stevia, a Paraguayan import that is 100 times sweeter than sugar and used as a sweetener for diabetics, and Huanxontles, a Mexican green similar to Lamb’s Quarters. He also grows many varieties of herbs (including 7 types of basil) so that people who have moved from almost anywhere around the world can recreate the foods of their culture.

BD is also focused on the entire process of growing, distribution and sales of locally-grown produce with the emphasis of encouraging people to buy as much locally-produced fruits and vegetables as possible in order to cut down on the expense and pollution caused by shipping and distribution.

In keeping with that philosophy and with his efforts to make sure that he has time for his four children and myriad of foster children who have come and gone through their home, Earthtrine Farm products have limited distribution. At the present time, he only sells at the farmers’ markets on Sunday in Ojai and Tuesday afternoon and Saturday morning in Santa Barbara as well as directly to ten or so restaurants in Santa Barbara.

But for all of the work and limited financial reward, you can see the pride and devotion to his work in the sparkle in his eyes as he talks of his family and how he hopes their lives, like his produce, will be enriched by growing up on the farm and being nourished by its bounty.

Author’s note: You can usually stop by and say hello to BD at his stand at the Ojai Farmers’ Market on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the parking lot on Matilija Road halfway between Signal and Montgomery. He is easy to pick out-he is the guy with the dreadlocks.

OJAI PRODUCE: BLOOD ORANGES

by Sims Brannon

I was a teenager the first time I encountered a blood orange. The moment occurred at breakfast in a hotel in Paris. I peeled what looked to be a normal orange and found the interior was a deep purple. In horror, I summoned the waiter, and insisted the orange was rotten. I was wrong, of course. And now, years later, I am a great fan of blood oranges.

Anyone who spends much time in Ojai knows that oranges are a major part of the agricultural economy here. You can't go very far without encountering a grove of orange trees. The East End in particular is filled with neat rows of the bushy trees, which produce an intense, sweet perfume every spring when they blossom.

The orange-growing business in Ojai dates to 1872, when the first groves were planted in the East End, near what is now Reeves Road. Those trees matured and produced the first commercial crop in 1880. In 1887, the owners of the groves hired Edward Thacher, formerly of New Haven, Connecticut, to manage the property. A few years later, Edward was joined by his brother Sherman, who went on to found the Thacher School.

The orange trees originally planted in Ojai were navel oranges, imported from Brazil. Orange cultivation in the New World had begun when Christopher Columbus brought orange trees to Haiti on his second voyage in 1493. The Florida citrus industry began in 1565 with Hernando de Soto. Oranges were not cultivated in modern-day California until 200 years later, when the missionary fathers brought trees from Mexico to the San Diego. Commercial production in California began in the 1870ís with the plantings in Ojai and elsewhere in the state.

Oranges originated in China and spread west with the development of trade, reaching the southern shores of the Mediterranean by the third century B.C. Roman legions carried oranges with them on military campaigns and took trees back to Rome for the emperorís gardens. After the fall of the Empire, the orange disappeared from Europe for a few centuries, until the Moors and Saracens reintroduced the fruit into Spain and Sicily in the 800ís. The popularity of the orange spread throughout Europe, primarily as a luxury good, often raised by royalty in elaborate greenhouses.

The blood orange developed in the seventeenth century in Sicily as a spontaneous mutation. A combination of cold winter nights and mild days caused the fruit to develop anthocyanins, which are the pigments, which give the fruit its distinctive red color.

Most of the oranges grown in Ojai today are sweet oranges, such as Valencias, used to make juice, or navel oranges, popular for eating as is. However, the climate of Ojai is similar to that of Sicily and hence is quite suitable to the blood oranges. There are two popular types of blood oranges, Moro and Tarocco, both of which are cultivated in Ojai today.

Blood oranges are well suited for eating as is for a snack or dessert, and are excellent squeezed for their deep-red juice. Those who find the blood orange juice too sweet can mix it in equal parts with grapefruit juice for a satisfying drink. Alternatively, perhaps at your Sunday brunch, mix the juice with sparkling wine for a crowd-pleasing blood orange mimosa.

Roman soldiers favored a simple salad of orange sections and fennel, seasoned with olive oil and pepper. This salad works equally well with sweet or blood oranges. In the second recipe below, I have taken that basic concept and made it into a salad more suited to a dining room than an army camp.

Blood oranges also make a great dessert, especially when dressed with another Ojai product, honey (more on the story of local honey cultivation in a later issue). The final recipe below is simple but tasty way to present blood oranges as a finale to an elegant dinner.

Blood oranges are available from several vendors at the Ojai Farmer's Market on Sunday mornings and can also be found in our locally owned groceries.

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