The Fable of Beginnings

I am turning toward my fourth decade in life. The older I get, the more I understand the cyclical nature of things. I've been through more than one beginning and ending now. Citrus fruit, ripening in the winter just as the world sets its gaze on a new year, is a perfect fruit of fresh starts, a bright offering of health and vitality in the midst of a cold season.

I moved to Fable Farms in the late summer of 2025 for many reasons: land to keep horses, trails to hike, connection to nature, space to grow food, proximity to family, potential to run my own business, and ultimately, a space to write and process the world. Because the world has changed many times in my lifetime. There have been so many beginnings and endings.

I remember the world before and after the internet. Before and after 9/11. Before and after I worked with horses. Before and after the recession of 2008. Before and after I attended graduate school. Before and after the pandemic. Before and after I dedicated myself to caring for a family member. Before and after I chose to move to Loomis, CA and manage an orchard. We all have hundreds of beginnings and endings in our life.

This is not my first time in Loomis, either. I worked at a stables a mile from the center of town for years. I attended Sierra College for an associate's degree. I remember Sierra College Boulevard before and after the bridge construction that changed a two-lane overpass to a major multi-lane bridge, and the oak trees that were cut down in the middle of the night to make way for the asphalt parking lots. I knew the town before and after the real estate boom.

I feel it is important to remember what came before, even when change is inevitable. The citrus trees at Fable Farms were planted, grown, and managed organically by a couple who moved here in their late thirties after purchasing it from a Vietnam veteran. At that time, the orchard was called "Rock & Horse". The road at the bottom of the hill is called 'Prospector' and dates back to the late 1800's. According to one local resident, shards of Chinese blue and white porcelain can still be found on occasion in the ground, left behind by Chinese workers. Because of the many water-diverting canals dug by the miners, the land was attractive to fruit growers, who saw the sunny, western-facing slopes, water access, and mild climate as ideal for orchards. But before any prospectors or land owners staked out the land, the Nisenan native people lived and traveled through this area. Several gray pines, wild Klamath plum, and buckeye trees remain standing in this place, all once cultivated as food sources. Several long-term residents even say that there were grinding stones on the far side of Prospector road, where a large housing development now stands. I live on land that has had many eras, and been cultivated and developed for centuries by people far more knowledgeable than I claim to be.

I'm incredibly grateful to be starting this journey at Fable Farms as the orchard's caretaker. The moment I stepped into the shady canopy, I felt peaceful. I hope to maintain the land's beauty and bounty, and leave it better than I found it, for generations to come.

Sincerely,

Sara K.