Happy Valley Farm

HOST FARMER: Bill Denevan | Happy Valley Farm

GUEST CHEFS: Jim Denevan & Friends | Brad Briske from HOME

Before becoming an organic pioneer, traveling the world to consult with orchardists across the USA and South America, Bill Denevan was a young hippie surfer with a dream of farming the forested coastal canyons above the town of Santa Cruz. In 1975 he found an old orchard of Newtown Pippins that looked perfect and put together a gaggle of twenty partners to buy the place. The orchard was originally planted by a colorful fellow known as Cowboy, who became an important and beloved mentor to Bill as he learned the ropes. Needless to say, the early years were a gauntlet of trial and error, with a ragtag crew of university students and Bill’s younger siblings – including a 14-year-old Jim Denevan – doing the fall harvest. 

Today, Happy Valley is home to six acres of apple trees, two acres of pears, one acre of various citrus and stone fruit, two acres of avocados and five acres of Pinot Noir.

Having spent his teenage years tending these rows and hauling apple crates under Bill’s exacting tutelage, and later refining his craft at Santa Cruz’s Gabriella Café, OITF founder Jim Denevan returns to his brother’s farm to create a menu that honors both the land’s history and the “Cowboy” who helped it thrive.

Join us beneath the heirloom canopy to toast the grit and intergenerational wisdom of farming, and the enduring beauty of a table set exactly where the story began.