On January 1, 2021 Spade & Plow turned a new page in the history book of Santa Clara County, as we planted our very first crop on a new, long-term lease property in Gilroy. The 107 acre block belongs to the Van Dyke family, a people deeply rooted in the rich history of California Organic Agriculture. Now, one full year later, we’re pausing to soak in the heritage and stories produced from this soil and admire how a property anchored in a legacy of family-run organic farming has completely transformed from orchard to row crops.

In the early 1900s, Betty Van Dyke’s father immigrated from Croatia alongside thousands of others to mine gold in Alaska and fish in the Pacific Northwest. Soon after, in the 1920s, he made his way south to purchase a few acres in Cupertino, CA. Before long, the Van Dyke family, along with many of their Swedish, Norwegian, and Spanish neighbors, were pushed out by newly-imposed high residential taxes. While it was fun to drive around and see the new houses with central heating, Betty, her family and neighbors agreed in county meetings that their farms needed to move elsewhere if they wanted to keep farming. Peter Van Dyke, Betty’s son, recalls what it was like to leave: “I remember as a child seeing my cathedral torn out by bulldozers. I watched my playground burn. But, I was a kid and so I was pretty resilient.”

Betty standing proud with her children and grandchildren.

Resilient they were. In 1968, the Van Dyke family sold their last piece of land in Cupertino and headed to Gilroy. They purchased a property (the one we’re on today!) that held a longstanding record of healthy soil: housing prune trees in the late 1800s then strawberry fields during the war. There, facing the foothills, the Van Dyke ranch was planted with its first 40 acres of Blenheim apricots and 20 acres of Bing cherries. The family shares decades of fond memories working from sunrise to sunset picking the sweetest apricots off the ground, sending them off to canneries or drying them on handmade wooden trays. These are the same trays that Dust Bowl migrants from Arkansas and Oklahoma (“Okie and Arkie friends”) would make their temporary summer homes out of when they came to help with peak summer harvest. Late into the night, Betty remembers the hard day of work often ended in singing songs and telling stories by the fire, sitting on wooden apricot crates in their tent village between rows of fruit trees. These are the same rows that the Thorps began walking only 2 years ago as farmer Mike and Peter began discussing transitioning the ranch.

Peter Van Dyke recognizes what a special way it was to grow up as he helped his grandfather and mom on the Gilroy orchard from age 6. He has a distinct memory of when his mom, a thriving matriarch in a man’s farming world, took over summer operations. “I’ll never forget my mom one summer asking my grandfather, ‘Why don’t you let me run the farm this summer. You raised me and I've been doing it all my life. I can do it.’” Before the summer ended, Betty was running a smooth and successful season of harvest and sales. And just like that, the ranch was hers.

Grandfather Nick showing off his trees on the new Gilroy property.

Betty Van Dyke ran a tight-ship all the way until 1999, officially certifying the farm as one of the first California certified organic growers in 1986. Though they were nearly always farming organically beforehand, they jumped on the opportunity to seal the deal just a few years after CCOF emerged. Taking care of the fruit and soil was a priority for Betty’s dad, and he knew that pesticides and fertilizers wouldn’t help. Peter recalls, “My grandfather never liked using chemicals back then, anyways. It was his personal preference, and he was always very limited in what he used. Never fertilizer, always cover crops.”

Betty was relentless in ensuring that the property remained organic until her passing in 2021. “A true glass ceiling breaker,” Peter dubs his mom, she was far ahead of her time. The long-lived apricot trees were beginning to wane and it was time to pass along the property. “I knew immediately when Mike contacted us that it was the perfect match. A family farm with kids that are my kid’s age but want to keep farming. It was like God sent them to us.”

Van Dyke ranch was on of the first farms in California to organically grow and dry fruit.

While it was hard for Peter to see the trees being ripped up and the soil built into new beds for S&P veggies, he’s assured and grateful that the land is being used for farming, not development. He’s especially excited about our recent fig tree planting. “Maybe they’ll even let me prune them!” Peter, you’ve got yourself a job!

From the hands of a risk-taking Croatian immigrant to the planning of a strong-willed organic enthusiast, to the faithful boy who watched his first farm home bulldozed- the Van Dyke ranch has been passed down through generations of hard working farmers. We’re grateful to be the next page in this property’s story, and are hopeful to carry on the rich soil’s legacy one seed at a time.

The Van Dyke Ranch: Farming on History-Rich Soil