Farm History

Live Power Community Farm is unique among small organic farms in a number of ways that stem from its history and the people who founded it.  Sheltered by surrounding mountains, the Covelo area is known as “Round Valley.” In 1972 organic farming pioneer Alan Chadwick was invited to Round Valley to establish the Round Valley Garden Project. Stephen Decater, who had studied under Chadwick at UC Santa Cruz and was an aspiring farmer, soon joined him.

Stephen felt at home in the beautiful, fertile valley and after two years of assisting with the Round Valley Garden Project, began caretaking the land that would become LPCF. Four years later, Gloria Gillespie, recently trained as a Waldorf teacher, also came to Covelo in a quest for a more rural life and a desire to learn about biodynamics. Together, Gloria and Stephen Decater established LPCF in 1977. The name Live Power reflects their choice to cultivate the soil with the renewable energy of draft horses rather than the nonrenewable fossil energy of machinery, and their commitment to biodynamic farming.

The presence of the word “community” in the name of the farm reflects a choice and a vision. The early years on the farm were rich with effort — the old farmhouse and barn were in need of major repairs and the water system and fencing required extensive development and rebuilding.  Apprentices have been an integral part of the farm since the beginning.  Overall, the greatest challenge was finding a marketing path that would allow them to do the type of diversified farming on the human scale that they wanted. After spending a number of years selling their produce through local markets, the Decaters realized they wanted to change more than the way food is grown; they also wanted to change the way it is distributed to and perceived by its consumers.  So in 1988, the Decaters established one of the first Community Sustained Agriculture (CSA) farms in California.