Combining wildlife habitat and healthful living, creating good food and a diverse biological system has been the life's work of Dru Rivers and Paul Muller, who for 15 years have managed a successful small, organic farm in the Capay Valley. Small Farm Program honored the husband and wife team with the 1999 Pedro Ilic Agriculture Award for outstanding farmers. They each possess the ability to envision what can be done, and the imagination, energy and intellect to translate that vision into a reality. Rivers and Muller established Full Belly Farm in 1984. The CSA, in which consumers pay in advance to receive a weekly box of fresh, organically grown food year round, has been the stabilizing factor for Full Belly Farm.
People enjoy it and it's a good idea for family farms.
It creates a very stable relationship. Rivers and Muller owe their success to long hours, persistence and dedication. They paid off the farm within 10 years and are raising their four children, now aged 7 to 15, in a healthy environment. Muller is a member and first president of the Yolo Chapter of California Certified Organic Farmers and currently is on the board of directors for the Yolo Land Trust, an organization dedicated to the preservation of agricultural land. The couple share their commitment to organic farming with interns and entrepreneurs who are interested in agriculture but lack on-farm experience.