Growing up in Los Angeles, in the crazy 1970s, wasn’t an ideal place to be. I began spending summers at my grandparents, Valeriano and Guiseppina Jacuzzi’s farm in Oakley, California. There I developed a new respect for my elders as well as for the world that surrounded me. Farm work along with an environment rich in natural resources, fresh water, trees, chickens, and rabbits granted me a new interest in agriculture. Eventually I was directed to the University of California at Davis where I studied business and conventional agricultural practices and later earned my degree in Agriculture Management.

Upon graduation, I returned to my agricultural roots in Oakley where the first site of Cline Cellars was founded in 1982. Utilizing the conventional techniques acquired during my years at Davis, new vines were cultivated, old vines preserved and restored, and wine was produced. For many years, I, with the help of my wife, Nancy, built Cline Cellars and cultivated our lands with what I had learned about using fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides and herbicides; practices I would one day come to abandon.

Expanding my knowledge through research, and consulting with colleagues and other vintners and farmers, our company began to realize that there was another way to farm. Our interests evolved into creating a more synergistic relationship between our needs as humans and the needs of the land.

The concept of balance is the future of the land; in addition to taking its fruit, we give back many natural resources that are essential for it to thrive.

In 1998, our transformation included eliminating the use of toxic agricultural chemicals. We cemented our complete commitment to this natural process - this process that we call Green String Farming.

Today our practices have evolved through the trials of this transition.

Rosanne Nomone, Green String Farmer # CA 1002

Hello, I'm Roseanne Nomome, and I represent Rosie Acres #TN 1002. I spent my childhood on a farm in Tennessee with my two older brothers, my parents, and a few animals here and there. My father specialized in growing apples, but also took an interest in experimenting with many other fruits as well. The trees were beautiful- a true sight for sore eyes. As kids we would pick and eat the fruit of these young trees- truly the tastiest and most nutrient rich apples of the Rome and Mac varieties. Growing up with these orchards just a sprint away from our back porch, we had the luxury of “apple-everything.” My mother would bake award-winning pies and turnovers, and we would drizzle applesauce on just about anything you could fit between your teeth. Unfortunately, these were only short-lived memories, for as we got older and more ridden with the complications of everyday life, so did our apple trees. The once flawless apples soon became populated with insects that would mark the leaves and fruit with blemishes; blemishes that were too unbearable to steal the “best of show” ribbon at any state fair.

With this minor problem at hand, my father consulted with the extension advisor to find a quick solution. They concluded that chemicals would cure up the issue instantly. Sadly enough, at the time these chemicals were being administered freely to preserve the aesthetic quality of our produce, there had not been enough research done to seek out the possible side effects that may affect human physiology. Two hours after spraying the orchards with insect killing chemicals my father suffered from anaphylactic shock and took his last breaths only an hour later in his bedroom before the local doctor would arrive. I was so deeply affected by my father’s senseless passing that I soon vowed to spread awareness of the dangers of using chemicals in farming.

When I finally graduated from Brown University in 1973, where I received my Bachelor's Degree in Environmental Science, I met my husband Chris, who was also a farmer. We instantly hit it off because we had many of the same views about nature and how we as humans should learn to live in a more synergistic manner with it. He didn’t consider bugs to be our enemy, and he saw no viable reason for obliterating their existence with chemicals as previous generations of farmers had once practiced so prominently. Together we devised a plan of techniques that would provide us with fruits, vegetables, herbs, eggs, and meats, grown with the deepest of sincerity. We wanted not to flock with a society of takers and destroyers, but instead to be growers that could replenish our sources with the natural goodness that they needed to flourish and thrive.

We currently have about 200 apple trees, mostly heritage varieties, which Chris uses only pheromone traps and good nutrition to farm. In the meadow where the trees are located, chickens are pastured to control harmful worms. Vegetables are seasonally grown on 2-3 acres in rotation with pasture where the sheep graze. Most of our production is sold to our neighbors.

Last year Chris used some more topical antibiotics on the sheep and twice we have been unable to purchase organic feed to supplement the chickens.

We have been organic for twelve years but never registered due to the astronomical fees and the debilitating process that exists with organic certification. The concept of Green String Farms is very inviting to us, and seems to be a more practical approach to farming.

We want to be part of a long-lasting world that will not be changed due to our inconsiderate inflictions. A sustainable world is something that we strive for, and it begins one farmer at a time.

We accept responsibility for the purity of crops grown on the lands managed by the two of us.

Rosanne Nomome

Rosie Acres #TN 1002
Chris and Rosanne Nomone
1276 Signs Road
Norfolk, Tennessee