GRUBBED Up

On a recent sunny morning, against the background sounds of little kids playing, roosters crowing and chickens clucking, Monica Bell explained the plight the community organization known as the GRUB Cooperative is currently facing.

The property that GRUB has leased for the past seven years is up for sale, which means the future of the 7-year-old endeavor off Dayton Road is up in the air. The property owners—Dave Rush, a retired attorney, and Virginia Moon, his ex-spouse—divorced 20 years ago but are still co-owners and have found themselves in a position where they have to sell the land, Bell said.

GRUB, which stands for Growing Resourcefully Uniting Bellies, was launched with an initial three-year lease in 2008 on a spot of land once referred to as “The Palms,” just southwest of the Chico city limits. Its website defines the collective’s goals, at least in part, as: “We are exploring solutions; learning how to be stewards of the land that we inhabit; conserving the resources we have; consuming less, wasting less, and living more.”

In other words, it is a modern-day commune currently populated by 17 adults and six children and dedicated to raising and sharing healthful food through sustainable practices and offering family education classes such as the seven-week series that launches next month called “How to Talk so Kids Will Listen.”

Bell said she first learned of GRUB in 2010 while visiting Chico—where her father lives—en route to work at a vegetable farm in Nevada City after working on a chicken farm in Vacaville. “I didn’t know anybody in town, and was bored out of my mind watching TV,” she said.

Bell found GRUB during an Internet search to see if there was a community-supported agricultural (CSA) farm in the Chico area.

“I started looking for a CSA farm and wondering if somebody would let me volunteer and get my hands dirty while I was waiting to move on to Nevada City,” she said.

She ended up volunteering with Francine Stuelpnagel and Lee Callender, the married couple who founded GRUB. Two years ago, realizing that losing the lease would mean losing the farm, Stuelpnagel and Callender set up a separate 10-acre garden along with farmer Michael Shaw off West Sacramento Avenue and kept the name GRUB CSA.

Bell, who stuck with the original GRUB Cooperative, said there are three primary structures on that property—a main house, a guest house and a building with stables. There is also the bike shop called Old Spokes Home, which is operated by co-op member Ron Toppi.

Crops currently growing on the 40-acre property—which is also home to the Heartseed Farm CSA—include lettuce, garlic, onions, tomatoes and peppers. There is also a fruit orchard. The produce that isn’t consumed by the residents is sold to Chico Natural Foods, local restaurants and individual buyers.

The property leases for $4,000 a month and Bell said she wants the public to be aware of GRUB’s situation as well as its potential.

“We don’t have fancy branding and we’ve neglected our website,” she said. “We’d much rather be out here farming or raising children or building community. But we’ve been in this awkward lease situation for a number of years. If we had security we could really start investing in programs and infrastructure.”

They are hoping to find someone to help them buy the land or a buyer who will allow the co-op to remain where it is.

“We did have potential buyers come out yesterday and as they were leaving I walked up to them and said, ‘Hey, this is an awkward situation, but human to human, I wondered if we could just chat?’

“They said that while walking around they really felt the sorrow and the grief of the people living here,” she said. “They go from being ag-land buyers to these men in a nice shirt and nice watch taking a moment to pause and say, ‘We don’t want to displace a bunch of people. We don’t want to ruin your project here.’”

Bell remains positive. “Overall, this has given us some energy and unity and motivation,” she said. “It’s lit a little flame under our asses.”