Welcome!
Welcome to the Butler Cherry Ranch Project. The Butler Cherry Ranch Project is a community-based project that commemorates the lives of Ukiah cherry ranchers George and Ella Butler and celebrates their decades-long tradition of sharing the fruits of their labor with their neighbors, the people of Mendocino County.
The Butler Cherry Ranch Project focuses on these programming areas:
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maintenance of the Butler Community Orchard as a local far food source and as a tool to educate the public, especially children about how to grow food crops organically "in our back yard"
historical documentation of the Butler Ranch and its historic cherry-picking tradition, primarily through the collection of stories
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educational programs and opportunities in the names of George and Ella Butler
Since
its inception in 2000, the Butler Cherry Ranch Project has achieved one
of its goals: the creation of a community orchard. The Butler Cherry
Orchard, located at the beautiful and historic Ridgewood Ranch south of
Willits, is thriving with more than 50 young cherry trees planted amidst
a variety of mature apples. The Butler Cherry Orchard
provides all of us a way to remember the cherry-picking tradition and acknowledge George and Ella Butler and their contributions to life in Mendocino County. The Project invites us to build a future for our community that includes learning about, growing, harvesting, and sharing local food crops.
