Peacocks and pumpkins populate Warren Creek Farms By Matt Kapko Eye Reporter The Arcata Eye July 15, 2003 In the Arcata Bottoms, tractors share the road with vehicles; tall roadside hedges and narrow roads come to reminisce of a distant place from a distant time (English countryside, perhaps). Cows await the slowly passing traffic, grazing on a land where animals and nature are the majority – humans the minority. Ignoring the distant traffic on Highway 101 and the more recent housing lurking in the hills above, time seems to have stopped. But it hasn’t. It is a rare day in the Arcata Bottoms when temperatures rise and the sun stays out all day. Paul Giuntoli made use of this beautiful day anticipating corn and potato sprouts and surveying the rapidly growing pumpkin patch. Here on the Pifferini Ranch at Warren Creek Farms, which he and his wife, Carla, run, Giuntoli grows potatoes, squashes, corn and pumpkins. The corn are just coming out, and with the interspersed sunflowers that will share the space, Giuntoli hopes to make a sunflower and corn maze. He intends to offer it for the public’s use during the annual pumpkin patch and produce stand that he holds every October on his farm. “It’s the most fun thing we do I think. I really like it,” he said. The Coop sponsors the seven-acre pumpkin patch and offers free pumpkins to kids during the early weeks of October. Giuntoli said, school buses full of kids will come to the pumpkin patch every morning. The farm in the Bottoms and another on Blue Lake’s Warren Creek Road comprise 73 acres that are certified organic. Giuntoli was certified organic in 1991. He’s been farming since 1987, coincidentally the year of the first Farmers’ Market in Arcata. But, the Giuntoli name should ring another bell. The family has a long history in the area, which is regionally signified by Giuntoli Lane. His grandfather grew vegetables in the area and served meals at a dinner house right on the farm. Other ancestors owned hotels and restaurants in the area. One relic from the past is the peacocks that reside on the Pifferini Ranch. The peacocks have been here since the early ‘70s. When Giuntoli first began farming, he grew potatoes. After the years he realized the crops needed to be rotated more regularly, so he eventually added more vegetables to his farm. A major problem for Giuntoli this year has been the weather, mainly the late summer. He can only remember one previous year, when the planting season came so late. “Mother nature has control of the thing at all times,” he jokingly explained. Because of the location in the Bottoms, only two acres need irrigation. The plants otherwise take on a lot of moisture from the dew at night. Plants tend to grow slower on the Bottoms, Giuntoli said, but they also tend to have more flavor. “Hopefully we’ll have one of those beautiful falls,” he added. With the winds usually blowing, “days like today really make a difference.” Produce from Warren Creek Farms is sold at the Farmers Market, local markets, and the Co-op. Giuntoli has really enjoyed watching the Farmers Market grow over the years. “It’s amazing how much more community support there is. I think it’s something the community can be really proud of too,” he said. What Giuntoli most enjoys of his experience at the Farmers Market is the interaction with veggie end-users. As he puts it, “Getting to talk to the people that are gonna eat the stuff we grow.” Home