The self-described farmer’s daughter at Bianchi Flowers & Pumpkins in Pescadero shares the dirt on growing crops, cultivating relationships and her deep family roots.
How did the Bianchi farm get its start?
My great-grandfather grew cabbage for the U.S. Army. He and my grandfather moved on to artichokes, beans and cut flowers. I grew up here, on this same farm where my mom and my grandfather and great-grandfather lived. I am the fourth generation and my sons are fifth. We currently grow several cut flowers, pumpkins and oat hay.
Do you have a favorite childhood memory?
Riding on the tractor with my dad.
What’s your favorite thing that you grow?
Pumpkins! I love the flowers that we grow, but there’s something about watching pumpkins develop over the five-month period … They are forever changing from the moment they emerge from the soil—and so fast! We recently began a U-pick pumpkin patch that is unique—everyone gets to come out to the farm to pick their own pumpkins right from the vines.
What time of year do you love the most?
Crisp fall mornings on the coast.
What do you find most rewarding about farming?
How hard it is! It is definitely not an easy life, with long hours. And sometimes the hard work you put into something doesn’t work out and you have to pick back up and start again. I like the challenge of trying to create something more each time.
Do you have advice for the next generation of farmers?
Stay involved with legislation as much as you can. In today’s world, it is not just tilling your soil and growing—you have to till and grow relationships with leaders too.
What’s a song you could listen to over and over?
Troubadour by George Strait.
How do you sustain the farm during difficult times?
We continuously have to diversify. In 1998, the final year that we had strawflowers (eight acres), it took us one year to sell an amount that, in prior years, we could not grow fast enough.
What is the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?
Pigs’ feet.
Is there something about Coastside farming that surprises people?
The climate is special here. Beans, pumpkins, artichokes and sprouts grow great on the Coast.
Do you collect anything?
Spoons from everywhere that I have traveled to.
What’s the last thing you do before you go to sleep?
Pray. Some nights may be short and sweet, but I thank the Lord for what I have.