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Land Stewardship
We consider ourselves blessed stewards of Betsy Caughlin Donnelly Park- at the base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains- knowing that the wild roses, Mulberry trees, bees, creeks, coyote family, occasional curious bear, bald eagles and hawks- who also call this land home-
will be here in perpetuity.
We formally call our 5 acre flagship program, 'Park Farm,' because we envision it being the first of many ‘Park Farms’ in our community. Literally a farm at a park, Park Farm is home to a heritage orchard, farm animals, food forest, and dynamic production farm. It serves as a magnet for community members interested in local food and sustainable agriculture and is a demonstration of what can be done with a piece of underutilized public parkland, a model of public and community partnership that can be replicated throughout our region.
Park Farm is part vegetable market garden, part parkland, part thriving historic ranchland and part food forest. It’s a place where plants, people and animals enjoy sun, water and air together. Full of diverse plantings blooming and fruiting throughout the seasons, it is a living library of plants and animals that produce food and resources useful to humans and native wildlife.
At Park Farm we grow 100+ different types of vegetables, herbs, fruits and cut flowers that are sold to the public at our Farm Stand, harvested by our neighbors at our U-Pick events and donated to the community.
Park Farm Stand is a three-season outdoor market for produce and nursery items.
Farm Stand sales provide a critical source of revenue that enables us to pursue our mission. From April to June we offer locally-grown and high desert adapted annual and perennial seedlings.
And from ~June to November, we transition into fresh fruits and vegetables as the fields begin to produce.
For the current plant list, please click here.
Support Your Local Farm & Nursery and buy Neonicotinoid free!
(Neonicotinoids kill bees but many big box stores use it to kill pests)
Nursery
We sell a variety of cool and warm season fruits, vegetables, herbs and perennial plants and trees all adapted to our high desert region. We provide these beautiful food, herb, and medicine plants from our nursery to contribute to your edible wildlife habitat landscape and to help empower you to Grow Your Own Food!
Seedling sales usually start in mid April and a wide variety of locally grown & adapted plants are available depending on when in the season.
We accept all forms of payment at Park Farm, cash, card, SNAP (food stamps) benefits, Double Up Food Bucks, Senior and WIC farmers market vouchers to ensure that members of our community of all ages and demographics can have access to fresh, healthy and organic food.
Growing Practices
Our intention is to both protect public health and promote wildlife habitat
through our farm operations at Park Farm.
Ecosystem stewardship and sustainability play a fundamental role in our operations. Not only are we a bio-cide free operation, but also integrated into our production systems are soil conservation strategies, extensive pollinator habitat plantings and hedgerows, and areas devoted to native plants.
At its core regenerative agriculture is farming and ranching in harmony with nature. The practices, such as cover cropping, composting and not tilling the soil; increase soil health and fertility as evidenced by healthier crops, increased yields, improved soil test results, and vibrant microbial communities.
Maintaining livestock is a fundamental aspect of regenerative agriculture, and RFS believes it is a priority to demonstrate raising them in a peri-urban setting. We incorporate livestock into our farm operations, who help us with our soil cultivation, weed and pest management plus help take ourselves less seriously!! We currently have two, goats (June & Oliver); 19 chickens; & 4 rodent loving barn cats.
We are honored to steward a county park where the public can stroll through diverse plantings of annuals and perennials, blooming and fruiting throughout the seasons. By integrating windbreaks of heirloom and locally adapted fruit trees, hedgerows of tender berries and grapes, and understory plantings of flowering herbs and spices; we are creating a future Food Forest that both supports our vegetable growing operations with pollinators and integrative pest management as well as creating habitat for farm animals and local wildlife, particularly birds, bees, and butterflies.
We thank our generous In Kind Donors
who have helped Park Farm grow throughout the years!
Support Us
Donations and civic engagement through volunteerism are a crucial reason why Reno Food Systems is able to continue our important work.
Please click below for information on how you can support us!
Reno Food Systems is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. EIN:81-1021982.
All donations are tax deductible.