Somewhere, buried beneath the excitement and enthusiasm, fear existed. It sat under the weight of a project requiring many years of labor and many more hands. It bubbled below uncertainty and unpredictability and mundane discussions of liabilities.
But the fear—of failure, of risk, of challenges—never consumed Molly Chester. Passion never allowed it.
Working as a private chef in Southern California, Chester yearned to grow the food she wanted to cook with, a desire which manifested itself in a plan to purchase land and create a small farm filled with a carefully curated selection of produce and animals.
“Maybe 10 acres,” Chester thought.
Pursuing land alongside her husband, the Chesters found enthusiastic partners, and the scope of their “little farm” project swelled.
In 2011, Chester gazed upon a 130-acre parcel in Moorpark, California, a fast-growing community located about 45 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Dilapidated, hardened, and devoid of life, the land’s ramshackle condition could have compelled Chester to run the other way. Instead, she charged ahead.
“I had such a desire to do this work,” she says.
Over the last 11 years, Chester has spearheaded the growth and development of Apricot Lane Farms into a thriving agricultural ecosystem. Now consuming more than 240 acres, Apricot Lane Farms features cows, chickens, sheep, and pigs, 70 varieties of fruit trees, orchard and garden departments, a culinary program, a farmers’ market operation, and more.
“A team with many little teams inside of it,” Chester calls it. Life on the farm might seem an odd turn for a woman born in Pittsburgh, raised in Marietta, Ga., and educated in Atlanta. Chester, however, holds vivid, inspiring memories of visiting her grandmother’s rural Pennsylvania home.
“The images and smells of that land stick with me even today,” Chester says.
Some idealistic notion of farm life, however, did not lead Chester to Apricot Lane Farms and a LinkedIn profile that simply reads “farmer.” After graduating from Georgia Tech in 2000, Chester worked for a lawyer and then a production company in Baltimore, where she maintained a modest backyard garden at her home.
“That’s where I came alive and realized I’d rather be the person with the talent instead of the person managing the talent,” she says.
Chester enrolled in culinary school in New York City, graduated in 2006, and soon after moved with John to Southern California. Now “the person with the talent,” Chester crafted dishes high in flavor and nutritional value for private clients. Encountering difficulties sourcing the quality ingredients she sought for her meals, a reality she traced directly to the health of the soil, Chester charted plans to become a responsible producer.
Apricot Lane Farms’ initial 130-acre project quickly expanded—30 acres here and 54 acres there—while adding livestock and new varieties of fruits and vegetables. Governing it all was the painstaking effort of bringing life, nutrients, and biodiversity back to the battered land, which had been over-farmed for the previous five decades. John, in fact, likened the farm’s purchase to buying a bank that had been robbed.
Without any previous farming experience, the Chesters built a lively, biodynamic organic farm through heaps of patience and sweat equity, including using ecologically re-generative farming methods, such as planting cover crops, rotationally grazing animals, and creating compost to improve the soil. It’s a riveting story captured in John Chester’s award-winning documentary film The Biggest Little Farm.
“People were into what we were doing,” Chester says. “Because of the film, they were inspired to grow their own food at home and connect more with the natural world.”
While Chester could look upon a promise fulfilled, she acknowledges the effort’s cost. In regenerating the land, Chester admits she and John overlooked regenerating themselves.
“We were exhausted and overwhelmed,” Chester says.
Working with business coaches, counselors, and wellness coaches, the couple have since developed the infrastructure to cultivate health for themselves and their business. They introduced structure and systems to business operations like HR and communications and clearly articulated their vision to their swelling team.
“We needed to create health within ourselves to fulfill the goals and dreams we had for the land,” Chester says.
Today, Apricot Lane Farms—the land as much as its people—enjoys a fruitful existence. Chester relishes daily connections with the natural world, which enrich her life and stimulate her creativity, a reality evident in the recent publication of The Apricot Lane Farms Cookbook.
“When you’re in a place where you love what you do, there’s no question of quitting or failure,” she says. “You’re deeply committed because you love it.”
