Eastside Ranch
Raising Happy, Healthy Animals for Local Meat
by Melissa Arana
Every morning I wake up in the most beautiful place on earth. The sun-kissed mountains peer through the wispy fog in the quiet Willits valley. This idyllic haven is where my partner, Paul, and I rise each day and look out over our beautiful ranch that we, along with upwards of three hundred animals, call home.
I was born and raised in the heart of Mendocino County, in the quaint town of Willits. Home-birthed, I was a feral “hill kid” with acres to roam and a beautiful garden that was my mother’s labor of love. Though we only had chickens and dogs, I always had a love for pigs and dreamed of having some one day. Paul grew up in the city of San Jose. Always a lover of animals, he was ecstatic when his mom would take him to fairs where he could see the livestock. He would beg his mom to let him buy a cow or a horse to take home, but that wouldn’t have been suitable in their suburban neighborhood. One of his favorite parts about his childhood was a trip to Portugal, when he would wake up with the sunrise to go milk the cows with his uncle. He was always a big dreamer with ambition, and when work brought him to the Willits area, he fell in love with the landscape and people. After months in a hotel, he put down some roots and purchased agricultural land.
When we started dating, Paul and I talked about all of our dreams, including having the opportunity to grow our own food and live off the land. We decided to start with a few pigs to see how that would go. After hog paneling the existing fence and installing water lines, Paul set off to find some piglets for sale. I can’t say I was surprised, as nothing Paul does is in small gesture, but more than a few pigs came home to the ranch that day—18 to be exact, running around in their large open pasture, squealing and rooting away. We were in hog heaven.
Shortly after the pigs came the goats, followed by sheep, cows, and chickens. Several litters of piglets and many lambs have been born and nursed in our pastures as Eastside Ranch has blossomed. The spacious, inclined landscape provides the perfect drainage as well as room to roam, resulting in not just healthy animals, but happy ones.
Our evenings turned into self-taught classes as we read up on what each animal requires and the different approaches to raising them. Friends were the best of teachers, giving insight and advice to our newfound farm life. From castrating to roping cattle, we learn something new every day.
Paul has taught himself the art of cutting and harvesting the hay from our field—an energy- and time-consuming process that few farmers still do. We find the effort worthwhile, though, because preserving grass feed has allowed us to nourish our animals from the land all year round, especially in the winter months when the fields are dormant. Our friends at Kemmy’s Pies have been giving us their fruit and vegetable scraps, which the pigs gobble up with joy. All other GMO-free feed and supplements we purchase locally in Willits, Laytonville, or Ukiah to support the community as they support us. Our goal is to utilize the land we have and all the by-products from it, from making our own lard and tallow, to using the organ tissue from every animal to make nutrient rich capsules.
Paul has taught himself the art of cutting and harvesting the hay from our field—an energy- and time-consuming process that few farmers still do. We find the effort worthwhile, though, because preserving grass feed has allowed us to nourish our animals from the land all year round, especially in the winter months when the fields are dormant. Our friends at Kemmy’s Pies have been giving us their fruit and vegetable scraps, which the pigs gobble up with joy. All other GMO-free feed and supplements we purchase locally in Willits, Laytonville, or Ukiah to support the community as they support us. Our goal is to utilize the land we have and all the by-products from it, from making our own lard and tallow, to using the organ tissue from every animal to make nutrient rich capsules.
As the Ranch grew, so did the aspiration to share what we were raising with the community. We started by looking into the regulations to sell at the farmers market, at which point we discovered the lack of local USDA-certified slaughterhouses in close proximity. To minimize trips on the road, we settled with a certified slaughter and butcher in Sonoma County. We started selling pork, lamb, and eggs at the Fort Bragg, Willits, and Ukiah markets, and then to a few local restaurants. We currently sell meat to the Willits TNT Indian food market (where they make a phenomenal curry), and occasionally to the up and coming Munchery. It was a dream come true when we started having regular orders coming in, and that made all of the hard work feel worth it.
After many trips back and forth to Sonoma, Paul got the idea to have a facility more local, for ourselves and others in our neck of the woods. The next in our list of many goals is to open a USDA-inspected slaughterhouse and butcher shop in Mendocino County for local ranchers and hunters, so they can raise and process their own animals from start to finish. This will not only strengthen our community’s food supply, but also provide new career opportunities for residents. Our goal is to help ranchers make their products marketable and obtainable to the patrons of this beautiful place we call home.
Meat from Eastside Ranch is sold at the Laytonville feed store, Fort Bragg and Willits farmers markets, and occasionally at the Ukiah Natural Foods Coop. Check our website for online sales.
EastsideRanchWillits.com | Insta: @eastsideranchwillits
Paul and Melissa are up and coming ranchers managing and growing a sustainable ranch, while utilizing the land and each animal to its full potential.
Photos courtesy of Eastside Ranch.
