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Yes, a political hotbed. I’m sure of it! Half-an-hour into talking with Mike McDonald, I began thinking that farming was just a front from which he could discuss politics. I’m still not completely sure if I was mistaken. Sitting on his back deck, however, facing a beautiful orchard, rooster crowing nearby, McDonald the Farmer ultimately took center stage.
A robust fellow, well-spoken, bedecked in the requisite coveralls, a brown cap, and bushy white eyebrows, McDonald is the epitome of a California farmer; perhaps a farmer in any state. He and his wife, Anne, own 28 acres in the Capay Valley, also leasing a walnut orchard and an almond orchard, increasing their farming to about 70 acres. They’ve been on this land since 1994.
McDonald knows farming, though not all of his 63 years have been on the farm. Raised in a somewhat rural part of Oregon, he earned a B.A. in history from the University of Oregon. Always self-employed, his businesses included a couple of office equipment companies, a trucking company, and a rag company (used clothing; in conjunction with the trucking). Then farming came along. “My brother-in-law, Bill Chace, was more into agriculture since he was the director for the USDA Agriculture Research Service, Pacific West Area. He wanted to get into farming. When we bought the property, we took out an orchard and put in another orchard. I was trucking at the same time. It was just one of those things that evolved. Somehow or other I got into it. That was back in ’87.”
A robust fellow, well-spoken, bedecked in the requisite coveralls, a brown cap, and bushy white eyebrows, McDonald is the epitome of a California farmer; perhaps a farmer in any state. He and his wife, Anne, own 28 acres in the Capay Valley, also leasing a walnut orchard and an almond orchard, increasing their farming to about 70 acres. They’ve been on this land since 1994.
McDonald knows farming, though not all of his 63 years have been on the farm. Raised in a somewhat rural part of Oregon, he earned a B.A. in history from the University of Oregon. Always self-employed, his businesses included a couple of office equipment companies, a trucking company, and a rag company (used clothing; in conjunction with the trucking). Then farming came along. “My brother-in-law, Bill Chace, was more into agriculture since he was the director for the USDA Agriculture Research Service, Pacific West Area. He wanted to get into farming. When we bought the property, we took out an orchard and put in another orchard. I was trucking at the same time. It was just one of those things that evolved. Somehow or other I got into it. That was back in ’87.”