Yolo County farm cultivates seeds, ecological restoration

Julia Michaels, restoration specialist at Hedgerow Farms, stands in a field of milkweed grown for seed at the Yolo County farm. The operation produces some 400 varieties of native grasses and wildflowers. Many are used for ecological restoration, including after wildfires.
Photo/Fred Greaves

In Yolo County, nestled among sprawling orchards and field crops, is a one-of-a-kind farm.

Each spring and summer, Hedgerow Farms turns into a patchwork of yellows, greens and violets as its fields of native wildflowers come into bloom. For more than three decades, the farm has cultivated native plants for seed production, supplying land managers working to restore wildlife preserves and other nature areas.

“We basically create our own superbloom,” said Julia Michaels, restoration ecologist at Hedgerow Farms. “We go out into the wild and, with permission, find big blooms of native wildflowers and collect a small amount of the seed.” Hedgerow Farms uses the wild seed to plant a field of the native species at its 300-acre farm near Winters, “turning a handful of wild-collected seed into thousands of pounds of seed.”

…we’re … amplifying the amount of seed that eventually goes back into the wild.

Julia Michaels, restoration ecologist

The farm was founded in the 1980s by John Anderson, a veterinarian, environmentalist and farmer credited with pioneering sustainable agriculture methods such as hedgerows, rows of native trees and shrubs planted between fields.

“He just started planting natives because he saw a need for it, learning along the way, and it became so valuable for the restoration community,” Michaels said. Anderson died in 2020 at the age of 77.

Hedgerow Farms produces around 400 species of native grasses and wildflowers, which it sells to government agencies and other land managers for use in ecological restoration projects, often after wildfires, floods or other disasters. “What we’re doing is amplifying the amount of seed that eventually goes back into the wild,” Michaels said.

She likens the farm to captive breeding programs that help endangered animal species reproduce in captivity before releasing them back into nature.

The farm harvests plants for seed from April through October, using machines similar to wheat or rice harvesters. The plants are then dried on tarps and put through combines to separate the seeds from the plant material. The seeds are cleaned and shipped to a warehouse in San Joaquin County.

Native plants grown at the farm include blue-eyed grass, poppies, lupine, sage and many others. Over the years, the farm has built an inventory of millions of […]

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