Our guiding principles

We believe in “authentically grown food”.  For us, this means that we treat our soil and livestock in an old world manner that embraces the love and deep appreciation for the food we grow and ground we tend.  We know we are responsible for developing a legacy for our children’s future, we must revive a tradition of preserving unique seeds, livestock breeds and a family agricultural heritage.

It is our goal to provide a full diversity of arid-lands adapted heirloom crops throughout the year for our family and community.  Although we are not certified organic, our growing practices exceed the standards for certification.  We never use commercial fertilizers or pesticides.  Our soils are nourished as in the natural world with farm-derived organic matter. Green manures and cover crops are used along with crop rotations to maintain biological diversity and to ensure that our crops and soil maintain enough essential nutrients.  We practice a Zuni influenced style of sunken bed gardening with ample cover material in attempt to collect and preserve our precious rainwater.

Most importantly, we treat your food with the same care and concern in which we provide to our own children. We take great pride in what we offer and always make every effort to ensure your satisfaction.

La Buena Vida Farms’ Story

Our farm had its origins in our young adult imaginations while working in the fashion industry in Los Angeles. We both felt the call to work the land after the birth of our first child. Since an agrarian life made the most sense for us, we set out looking for a place in 2007.  We traveled cross-country in search of our dream and landed in Portal, Arizona. Here in between the Chiricahua and Pelonchillo mountains we began La Buena Vida (the good life).

Our farming dream began in 2008 with some borrowed land and two books, “The New Organic Grower” (Coleman) and “How to Grow More Vegetables” (John Jeavons). In hind site, it would have been a lot easier to WWOOF and learn from someone else’s mistakes and successes. But, we persevered and ended up with being blessed with our own land in 2012. This began our real journey of farming and raising animals.

Our new land consisted of 22 acres, one of which is cultivated for food production. We are building our infrastructure around the tiny house movement, where buildings are smaller, purposeful and intentional. We have had the opportunity to add to our land and La Buena Vida Farm is now just shy of 100 acres.

La Buena Vida Farm is entirely off grid. We are limited to consuming only the energy that we can produce. At first, this seemed like a daunting task, but it turned out to be a simple lifestyle adjustment.

We love to dabble

Our passion for self sufficiency and biodiversity means we end up dabbling in quite a few things. Below is just a taste of what we do at La Buena Vida Farm: