What would you do if you were a young woman recently out of college with an established 6,500 acre conventional farm? Maybe you'd cash out and go live the high life. Maybe you'd keep doing things the same old way. Or maybe, if you're Torie Borrelli of Black Dog Farms, you'd carve out 32 acres to run an organic farm on.

Torie's grandfather immigrated from India and figured out how to grow crops in the salty soil of the Imperial Valley. He grew the farm to 6,500 acres. Torie went off to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to study nutrition and agriculture. While there, she worked on a 12 acre organic farm that supplied food to students, restaurants, and a CSA. When she came back, she worked at her late uncle's resort/spa in Tecate (Rancho La Puerta), helping them open their cooking school and run the garden that supplies its food. In early 2010, Torie came back to her family's farm to carve out a niche for herself.

She drew on her family's experience with conventional agriculture, as well as the equipment, laborers, and cooling facilities already being used day-to-day on the rest of the farm. But she also relies on her own hard work, driving to the farmers markets and selling food with just the help of a friend. Three months ago, Erica Wood moved here from the east coast to help with sales, but other than that, this has been pretty much a one woman show.

I was inspired talking to her about the path she's taken. It takes people with courage and the ability to stomach the risk of failure to change the world. And it may take a new generation of people who have grown up in this age where we are more conscious than ever of our impact on the environment to make this happen. So visit them at a farmers market, or contact Erica (erica@blackdogfarms.com) if you're a restaurant wanting to buy directly from them.

Take a stroll around the farm with the photos below.

Mid-century modern office!

Corn

Asparagus

Peppers

Burning the fields to till ash and nutrients back into the ground.