Spring 2022 Sonoma County Farm Tour

Farmers Elizabeth and Paul Kaiser have operated Singing Frogs Farm in Sebastopol, California since 2007 as a regenerative, intensive, ecological no-till vegetable and flower farm. With a background in tropical agroforestry, natural resources management and public health in the Sahel of West Africa, Central America and Northern California, they had fresh insights into farming and as such developed Singing Frogs Farm’s innovative model. Paul and Elizabeth live on, and are raising their family on, Singing Frogs Farm. They work with the Farm Crew to feed their community while making Singing Frogs Farm more ecologically diverse, robust and resilient. Elizabeth and Paul focus much of their energy on outreach, teaching and advocacy for small-scale, regenerative farming via their own farm tours, workshops and consulting, as well as speaking engagements around the world and acting on the boards of several local, state and international agricultural non-profits.

Pandora Thomas is a passionate global citizen who works as a caregiver for her mother and globally as a teacher, writer, designer, and speaker with over 25 years of experience. Pandora’s work emphasizes the benefits of applying ecological principles to social design.  She is currently a designer, teacher, and facilitator at several permaculture and ecological design schools and programs. Black-led and operated, the EARTHseed Permaculture Center and Farm serves as a working farm and retreat/educational center to allow respite and earth centered relaxation for our beloved Black Community while also reconnecting communities to Afro-Indigenous principles and practices for living in our world today.

Timothy Bowles is an Assistant Professor of Agroecology and Sustainable Agricultural Systems in the UC Berkeley Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management. His research focuses on how increasing reliance on biodiversity can create productive, healthy and resilient agricultural systems, drawing on agroecology, soil ecology, and biogeochemistry. Among other projects, he co-leads a NSF-funded research project called “The Influence of Conflicting Policies and Supply-Chain Pressures on Farmers’ Decisions and Tradeoffs with Respect to Biodiversity, Profitability, and Sustainability.”