They live on a one-acre plot of land in Novato, but the bounty they bring in feels abundant beyond the square footage they occupy.
Inside the home of Donna and Gary Rich, the kitchen table is strewn with a variety of fresh, ripe tomatoes in shades of red, orange and yellow. Alongside the tomatoes are boxes of beans for eating and drying out as seeds. Front and center sits a pile of vibrant, green and unreasonably shiny poblano peppers, ready to be made into a delicious chile relleno dish for dinner.
In the kitchen, the smell of brine permeates the air, and mason jars filled with pickles, sauerkraut and other tasty tidbits fill the countertops. To the side, even more empty mason jars await their fate (i.e., to be filled up and to preserve whatever else the Rich garden produces throughout harvest season).
But the kitchen is only the beginning of this abundant single-acre home farm; the rest of the work and magic happens just outside the back door. Past the outside sitting area and its table piled high with perfectly orange pumpkins of the Cinderella variety is the Rich homestead.
Chickens free-range their way throughout the day, scratching at the dirt and eating whatever they can find: bugs, leftover bits from the kitchen, and, if they’re lucky, some fallen fruit from the multitude of trees lining the property. They get along surprisingly well with the two cats and two family dogs, all of whom intermingled amicably during a recent farm tour.
And then there’s the newest addition to the Rich family: Quackers, an all-black duck less than four months old. It’s easy to see that this animal has earned itself a special place in the farm and its farmers’ hearts. And, given this lucky duck’s origin story, it’s even easier to understand why that is.
Quacker’s tale started a few months ago when the Rich couple decided to give a nesting chicken of theirs some viable, fertilized eggs to sit on. This was apparently because the chicken had an attitude about its eggs always being stolen (understandable). So, the chicken was given two chicken eggs and one duck egg. Of the three eggs, two hatched. First came a baby chick, and then, a week later, an all-black duckling.
But the duckling was rejected by its chicken foster and almost lost its life very early on. When the Rich couple found their fledgling duckling nearly dead, they rushed it inside at the first sign of life and spent all day warming it up and nursing it back to health.
Now, Quackers is not only healthy but also full of personality and not at all people-shy. In fact, she seems to quite enjoy being a part of the immediate family. Her webbed feet slap out a beat as she waddles alongside her people, participating in the farm’s day-to-day goings on. She doesn’t do much more than quack, but Quackers is doing an objectively stellar job for a personality-hire and farm mascot. So much so, in fact, that the farm has recently been renamed in an obvious homage to its newest member and the inspiration behind Laughing Duck Farm.
Backing up a bit, it’s important to note that this acre wasn’t always so prolific. When the Rich couple moved into their home over a decade ago, their now cultivated land was more or less a bare plot. After wrangling and removing an old, gnarled plum tree and renovating the house enough to live in, they turned their sights to developing a garden.
“The backyard was a bit of a clean easel,” said Donna Rich. “I knew I wanted a garden, though. And, at first, we did that by building hay bale beds.”
She went on to explain that hay bale beds are a great, effective and fast method for building above-ground garden beds. All anyone has to do is buy the hay bales, place them where they want them and fill the center with soil. Of course, these are more temporary than other forms of garden beds, but they are fantastic for those who want to garden but do not yet have access to a full, built-in bed setup.
“People come to Donna ’cause she’s got a green thumb, but it’s the research she does, too,” explained Gary Rich. “She knows that a soggy-bottomed tomato, for instance, is because of low calcium…and it’s because of her experience she knows how to fix it.”
Of course, the Rich family has more than hay bale beds, including a greenhouse and a fence-enclosed garden area with a handy dandy drip system to help water everything. This space, which is surprisingly small in perspective to the rest of the property, is where much of the harvest grows. Gargantuan tomato plants tower over whatever expectation one has for what size a tomato plant can or should be able to reach. Then there’s the zucchini, trellises filled with beans and the last bits of an end-of-season cucumber plant.
On the far end of the property, corn stalks wave in the wind. And there’s the entirely unique raspberry patch, too. But listing out all of this farm’s produce, which includes around 40 fruit trees, would take quite a while. Then there wouldn’t be enough space to highlight Donna Rich’s countless-seeming, county fair award-winning collection of preserves, all of which line the shelves of a temperature-resistant shed on the far side of the property. Shelves upon shelves are piled high with the most delicious, homemade and homegrown preserves, spreads, jams, pickles, tomato sauces and much more.
Alongside gardening, cooking, preserving their crops and caring for the animals on their land, the Rich family also makes time to create via hands-on hobbies. Gary Rich, for instance, keeps himself busy in the colder months with his bonsai garden, passion for leatherworking and impressive miniature train setup. And Donna Rich is sewing slip-on coasters for wine glasses, though her entire craft room is piled high with fabrics and projects.
Harvest is all about reaping what one sows, and the Rich family’s Laughing Duck Farm serves as a heartwarming reminder to remember what makes life feel abundant and rich—being outdoors, playing in the dirt, planting some seeds/ideas and seeing what sort of growth one can nurture, harvest and process, given hard work and time. After all that, one can bask in the abundance of their efforts and share their bounty with those they love. Such is the spirit of harvest and maybe even a seasonal lesson in living a fulfilling, joyful life. Just like Quackers.
Laughing Duck Farm’s business card describes the Rich family as, “purveyors of jams, jellies, pickles, relishes, fruits, vegetables, handicrafts and leather goods.” To learn more, call the couple at 415.250.8525.
