Farm Trail membership branching out

Photo by Michael Woodward, Reporter

Trenerry's Boysenberries: Happy Valley Farm Trail founder Johanna Trenerry said that harvest time for her berry crop is earlier than it used to be. She expects her boysenberries to be ready in late May.

A brochure that includes this year’s 10 new members of the Happy Valley Farm Trail will be available May 9. The brochure includes a map and lists the products available from all 42 members.

The new brochure will feature a graphic taken from a 1918 shipping label used on crates from a farm in Happy Valley.

The new brochures will be available at the Clear Creek Communities District at 5880 Oak St. in Happy Valley, The Valley Post at 2676 Gateway Drive in Anderson, the Graphic Emporium at 1965 Pine St. in Redding and from any Farm Trail member.

Now a diverse group, the Happy Valley Farm Trail began as a collection of 10 farmers in 1987 selling fruits and vegetables.

“It’s a good way to get fresh produce, I hear they even have meat now,” said member Bryn Evans of Happy Valley Nursery, a seller of plants and citrus trees.

“We started with just people who were farming. Now we have pig people, cow people and sheep people,” said Marilyn Cropper, a Farm Trail organizer and co-owner of M-T Nest. “There’s a bed and breakfast now, too.”

Members of the Farm Trail also feature fertilizers, miniature horses and a cat-fishing farm complete with grills and picnic tables.

Johanna Trenerry, the founder of the Happy Valley Farm Trail, has grown boysenberries for 35 years at her Happy Valley farm. She had about 100 visitors to her farm during berry season last year and has had to plant more this year so she doesn’t run out.

“I know this is dreaming, but I’d like to have 100 farmers,” Trenerry said about her hopes for the future of the Farm Trail.

Updates about the Happy Valley Farm Trail appear in Trenerry’s Valley Post column, “Happy Valley Pride.”

The next Farm Trail meeting will be the last of the season because farmers will be too busy for meetings during the summer. The topic will be grafting and the propagation of plants. The meeting takes place May 17, 7 p.m., at the Happy Valley Community Center, 5400 Happy Valley Road.

The meeting isn’t just for Farm Trail members. Trennery said that the meetings can educate people about farming.

“We’re trying to get people to farm. It’s open to everybody,” Trenerry said.