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All farming is done under a sustainable agriculture/organic farming model, and Oak Hill Farm of Sonoma is registered with the state of California as an organic farm. No chemical pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers are used, nor have they been used since the Tellers bought the property in the 1950’s. The rest of the property is steep oak and manzanita woodland rising 800 feet above the valley toward the Mayacamas Ridge.
This land is the domain of a great many wild creatures, including deer, mountain lion, coyote, fox, bobcat, as well as many species of bird, mammal, reptile, and amphibian too numerous to mention. There are several fresh water springs and two significant watersheds feeding Sonoma Creek that originate on the property.
Otto and Anne Teller founding members of the Sonoma Land Trust, donated a conservation easement covering the entire property to the trust in 1984, insuring that the farm would remain essentially as it is in perpetuity. The Oak Hill of Farm Sonoma conservation easement to the Sonoma Land Trust was the first of what has grown into several thousand acres of Sonoma County lands protected under conservation easements held by the Sonoma Land Trust.
Otto Teller purchased Oak Hill Farm Sonoma in 1957, and for some years raised sheep. Upon the recommendation of a florist friend, Teller planted some perennial greens, myrtle and eucalyptus, for sale to florists. What began as a favor to a friend has evolved into what is now the wholesale flower business that is a major part of Oak Hill Farm Sonoma business activities. In the mid-60’s, the Tellers enlarged the farm by purchasing a neighbor’s dairy farm, the Johnson Ranch, which included The Red Barn Store. By then the sheep operation had been phased out.
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