About

Our farm and homestead is entirely off the grid and continuously strives towards being self sustaining. We’re set on 80 acres of stunning land in the Sierra national forest and overlook the San Joaquin river. We farm regionally appropriate vegetables, fruit, flowers, and herbs on three acres of land comprising over 40 terraced fields, 7 hoophouses, and two acres of orchards and vines. We raise chickens and goats, and practice holistic grazing of our land with our goat herd and chicken flock, as well as regenerative forest management using animals, tools, and fire. We also offer a 9-month herbal medicine program and host an internship program here on the farm.

Our vision

Our vision is to promote and participate in the transition towards local, sustainable food systems and regenerative farming and ecological practices.  We do this by managing our farm using agroecology and permaculture methodologies to not only produce nutrient dense food but to improve health of the land, the air, the water and the community for current and future generations. Our farm serves as a venue where we can inspire, educate and empower people to grow their own food, manifest their own paths in respect to the 5 elements necessary to life: food, water, shelter, energy and community and experience first hand how regenerative agriculture and social involvement is a viable solution to some of our biggest social, economic and ecological problems.

our mission

Dedicated to cultivating connections between people, their food systems, and our mother earth, while engaging the community to develop and share practices that promote regenerative agriculture and holistic lifestyles by inspiring, educating and empowering people through life experiences, community involvement, on-farm education, and school garden projects.

farming model

All of our farming and land management practices are aimed at creating the greatest positive impact on the environment, the health of our soils, and nutrition of our food. We strive towards economic sustainability by using low cost, hand powered production methods, re-purposing/reusing materials, and by following holistic sales and marketing practices.

Our Guiding Values

We measure our operation using the Triple Bottom Line principle, taking into account the social, ecological and economic impacts of our operating practices and procedures.

Holistic Management

Holistic management is a whole farm planning system that helps farmers and land stewards better manage environmental systems in order to reap sustainable environmental, economic and social benefits.

Education and Outreach

Education and Outreach is at the forefront of what we do and we believe it needs to be if we are to transition to more sustainable, local food systems. We run the School Garden at North Fork Elementary and inspire the next generation of regenerative farmers through our apprenticeship and internship programs. We’re always involved in local events, and regularly speak at conferences such as Eco-Farm.

Local

Everything we do on the farm is with our immediate community in mind. When sourcing products from outside the farm we strive to always do so within a 50-100 mile radius. The products and produce sold in our store are sourced with proximity in mind and we only deliver our produce to the closest towns of North Fork and Oakhurst, and now Fresno Food Commons.

Farming Practices

We believe that with the situation we’re in ecologically and environmentally in the USA, merely farming sustainably is not enough to solve the problems we’re facing. Regenerative farming practices and principles are at the heart of how we operate at Kern Family Farm.

Agroecology

In keeping with agro-ecological principles we understand that in order to create the most nutrient dense produce and a thriving eco-system on our farm, the health of our soils is key. Our motto is ‘Soil First’ and we farm using ‘no-till’ practices. We don’t use herbicides or pesticides of any kind, ever. We’re certified organic and plan our crops with the soil in mind, preferring human power to machine power. We strive for a fully closed-loop system and have a sizeable compost operation made using farm based plant and animal manure. When we do need to bring external inputs onto the farm, we do so as locally as possible.

Polyculture

We aim to replicate the natural conditions of an ecosystem for plants and animals. Our fields are dedicated to a diverse range of plant varieties and our crops are grown and planned using crop rotation, intercropping and companion planting. We incorporate native plants and wildflowers into our fields and hedgerows and use our goats and chickens to graze the land.

Holistic Management

Holistic Management is a value-based decision-making framework that integrates all aspects of planning for social, economic, and environmental considerations. We strive to solve problems with a whole systems approach, going upstream to tackle root causes. In all of our practices, we put nature and our ecosystem first. We practice holistic land planning through the holistic grazing of the land, forest management and biological monitoring. We run our businesses and operation using holistic goal setting, sales, marketing and financial planning.

Our Family

Hansel Kern

Hansel Kern operates the Kern Family Farm in North Fork, CA in the Sierra Foothills. The farm provides produce to families in the area through the Kern Family’s local market, the Gnarly Carrot. The farm also supplies produce to several local restaurants and participates in a small local farmer’s market during the summer. In 1999, Hansel started a school garden at the local elementary school where he shares his enthusiasm for growing food with the children. He provides healthy fruits and vegetables for the kids to eat while they work in the garden, and the school cafeteria includes produce from the garden in the school lunches. Hansel represents EcoFarm at several local Central Valley farm festivals, including the Organic Stone Fruit Jubilee Festival in Clovis, CA.

Sue Kern

Sue Kern helps operate the Kern Family Farm in North Fork, CA along with her husband, Hansel and adult children, Rebecca and Aaron. She helps daughter Rebecca run the family’s natural food market, the Gnarly Carrot. She’s also the Family Law Information Center Attorney at Fresno Superior Court’s Self-Help Center. Before moving to North Fork, she spent thirteen years organizing farm workers and home care workers in New York and California, and is on the board of directors of Centro La Familia Advocacy in Fresno, Madera Coalition for Community Justice in Madera, and KFCF radio in Central California, and now serves, along with Hansel, on the Board of the Ecological Farming Association.

Aaron Kern

“Aaron is the youngest of the Kern siblings and manages much of the day to day operations of the farm, as well as spearheading our transitions into no-till farming and holistic management. He also keeps meticulous records of all inputs and outputs on the farm for our own records and to maintain our CCOF certification. He is always looking for new ideas to make our operation more productive while also lowering our carbon footprint and maintaining good stewardship of the land.” - Rebecca Kern

Rebecca (Becca) Kern

Becca Kern is a newer addition to the Kern Family Farm. She moved to the farm November 2019 with her son Ezra and married Aaron Kern joining the family shortly thereafter. Becca previously ran a small diverse farm specializing in herbal medicine, taught an on-farm herbal medicine 9-month program, and served her community as a home birth midwife. Becca also teaches a two year graduate program in botanical medicine at Bastyr University. She brought her love and knowledge of herbal medicine with her when she joined Kern Family Farm and has transitioned multiple fields into perennial herbal fields including her favorite of lavender. Additionally, she makes herbal products such as teas, tinctures, salves and bouquets and teaches on-farm classes in herbal medicine to the public. On top of all that she also helps Aaron run the day to day operations of the rest of the farm.

Rebecca (Becky) Kern

"Rebecca Kern is the older of the two Kern siblings that manage the Kern Family Farm, and personally operates our store, The Gnarly Carrot. She is a dedicated member of the family that oversees all store operations, maintains most of the family's business finances, processes most of our value added goods, coordinates much of the farms efforts in local events, and generally holds down the family's capacity for organization, punctual processes, financial analysis, food safety, public relations and sales in town. another essential element and member in the function of The Kern Family Farm" - Aaron Kern

Ezra Kern

Ezra Kern moved to the farm with Becca his mother back in November 2019, and has integrated into the farm life in all the ways a boy can. He helps out with chores and farm tasks when not in school, and always helps our interns cook community lunch after work when he can. He has a love for outdoor adventures, sports, video/board games, and social activities with friends and visiting with his grandparents Pam and Bob when they live in Oakhurst seasonally.

Yarrow Kern

Yarrow Kern is the newest addition to the Kern Family, born to Becca and Aaron on October 11, 2020 in the middle of the Creek Fire era and Covid 19. He has grown up quickly, being carried in a trusty 2nd hand baby carrier along for every day of farm tasks his whole life, from forestry to harvest days, planting to weeding. His favorite tasks currently are eating any fruit he can get his mouth on, especially peaches, crawling in the fields, getting hugs from all on the farm, pointing at interesting objects, and trying to put them in his mouth. He also garners the most attention at the farm work morning meeting with all that he has to say about everything.

 Our History