Pastoral Ponderings:
A Shepherd's Blog

Amigo Bob

Given half a chance, anything will grow. The Sierra Mountains define our region with their golden foothills which parallel each other for the length of California. The rolling hills spawned communities such as ours, the nucleus of which are nineteenth-century gold mining towns. Outlaws and dancers, even scholars, were hatched in the tents and mining huts of the embryonic towns, and their shared pioneering spirit gave others the courage to become pioneers themselves.

“Nevada County is the fastest growing county in California,” declared Lance’s Uncle Cal in the mid-seventies. Cal Barginear had a sense about him, an innate barometer of the civilized pressures to inhabit little known hamlets, and an ability to identify those nascent settlements. He had been a fisherman in New Orleans and had moved his young family to Southern California to find work in the automobile repair business. Not content to remain in the confines of LA proper, Uncle Cal returned from a Sunday driving expedition and shocked the family with his new purchase, a gas station and auto parts store in the remote village of Malibu, California. So when we heard that my father had moved from his childhood home of San Francisco to a place in Nevada County, our visit to the now recognizable area was piqued with wide-eyed curiosity.

Cal was right; there was certainly room to grow. The vacant evergreen corridors directed us to Victorian laced towns that abounded with miners’ descendants sprinkled with hippie newcomers milling about the tiny streets. We visited an old gold mine whose grounds were graced with the owner’s stone and brick home amid gardens of antique roses and stately specimens. The era had provided the engineers and the financing for the infrastructure of the young towns, without which the area would not have germinated.

Our initial residence in the county was intended to be temporary but the appeal of new surroundings and friendly acceptance grew for us, too. The original hardware store that now sold dishes as well as dynamite co-existed seamlessly with emerging natural food stores and organic gardening supplies. Passive solar home designers and wine grape growers, both fields re-sprouting from venerable traditions, suffused the atmosphere with creativity and comfort. The pioneers hadn’t disappeared; they were just re-inventing themselves in this new frontier.

Amigo Bob didn’t make it easy to find him. How badly did I need fish emulsion, anyway? He operated his organic farming supply business out of a shed that was no bigger than an outhouse at the end of a hidden lane appropriately named Peaceful Valley Road. He and his wife and little babies were bagging seed mixes for a commercial farmer when we crossed the little shed’s threshold. Amigo Bob was no less serious about his duty to growers as is the architect to his builders. He paused for the two novice gardeners standing in front of him and his help was immediate. But it was his humor that eased the introduction.

Amigo Bob’s fledgling business was a goldmine of resources for anyone interested in growing, whether it be a sole potted tomato or fields of food. When he began Peaceful Valley Farm Supply, Amigo Bob was one of the very few across the country who offered such things as bulk rock phosphate, (yes, we purchased a boxcar load), or Smith & Hawken tree shovels or heirloom seeds. If he didn’t have an item, he would find it. And it wasn’t long before the expanding community found him.

The little outhouse grew into a 250 square foot shed. The customer line extended beyond the plywood walls onto the gravel outside and neither the hot sun nor pouring rain deterred the always exuberant crowd. Once inside we would find the raw wood shelves crammed with new books, Felco pruners, Italian rototiller pamphlets, and seeds for discussion among those waiting. Undoubtedly the charm of the business was outdone by the personality behind it. We were there to shoot the breeze with Bob.

As we transitioned from gardener to sheep farmer, Amigo Bob assisted with the purchase of tractor implements and the possibilities of marketing, the analysis of pasture mixes and the addition of organic bovine supplements. Our sheep business grew because of Amigo Bob. His other customers, too, mined him for his information and his ideas but his value lay in something even deeper. He did not dote on dogma. His clientele ranged from those enjoying communal lifestyles to those espousing conservative traditions. The common element of the crowd was the desire to work the soil, a need as old as humanity itself, and Bob understood this essential bond better than most. Homogeneity kills the health of a community as well as that of the plants that they plan to propogate. Peaceful Valley Farm Supply thrived because of this nugget of wisdom with which Amigo Bob approached his business.

Amigo Bob eventually sold Peaceful Valley Farm Supply which continues to be a nationally recognized business under local and very capable ownership. He wanted to return to being a grower himself and to consult other farmers and food-to-table organizations. His low profile belies the significance of his impact on individuals as well as an entire industry. He remains a local and an iconic pioneer. His humility and humor gained him credibility, his determination gave us courage, and his legacy has encouraged others to grow their own way.

copyright@2009.
Lance and Gay Columbel. All rights reserved.