Book Family Farm

The Book Fam­i­ly Farm grows grass-fed beef, pas­tured pork, and pas­tured poul­try. Besides grow­ing healthy food, they use their farm to pro­vide edu­ca­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ties to both chil­dren and adults: ​“It mat­ters what you eat and what you eat, eats too!”

All of their prod­ucts are avail­able for sale exclu­sive­ly on their farm. Learn more about all their prod­ucts and grow­ing practices.

Con­tact the Book Fam­i­ly to sched­ule a fun and edu­ca­tion­al tour for your fam­i­ly, group or school.

The Pump­kin Patch

The pump­kin patch is open to the pub­lic through­out Octo­ber, Tues­days through Sat­ur­days, 9am to 6pm.

Vis­i­tors to the Book Fam­i­ly Far­m’s pump­kin patch will find the day-to-day oper­a­tion of farm life — feed­ing the chick­ens, gath­er­ing eggs, milk­ing the cows, and grow­ing the family’s sup­ply of organ­ic veg­eta­bles — for a more authen­tic farm experience.

About Book Fam­i­ly Farm

In 1985, Grand­ma Bea Book asked her hus­band to grow a hill of pump­kins in the plot of land behind their Chico home, con­vinced that, in addi­tion to the vari­ety of farm ani­mals they raised, they would cre­ate a safer des­ti­na­tion for farm field trips than oth­er farms they had vis­it­ed. And she was right. 

By 1987, their at-home pump­kin patch, fea­tur­ing fun horse-drawn wag­on rides, grew too pop­u­lar for that loca­tion, and they relo­cat­ed to their present 245-acre loca­tion in Durham. The new­ly appoint­ed Book Fam­i­ly Farm was a true fam­i­ly affair, fea­tur­ing eight adults and 11 chil­dren work­ing togeth­er every Octo­ber to run the pop­u­lar pump­kin patch.

After a brief clo­sure in the late-2000s, Kei­th and Joy reopened the farm to field­trips in 2010 for both the fam­i­ly favorite pump­kin patch in Octo­ber but for year-round field trips so that chil­dren and kids can get a taste of the farm life.

Learn more about the his­to­ry of the Book Fam­i­ly Farm.