ñcñcñcñc ment a drought, i knew enou to be rlly sced. woman: i defitely thght that we were gonna lose our home. man: i h many ofy friend anpeers ca me and xt me and y, "johnyou needelp mong youanimal" ther would beowhere tgo with that mananimals. fferent man: yea copthat. man: [sis] differenman: cmate cnge. you ve to fe it. youave to s it. y have smell it. you ve to li it. you haveo touch .

woma i belonhere. it releasesll my ress a my pa, and makes mstronger agai [thuer] man:e're conantly baling the weatr. we we so dry, anwe wanterain, annow it n't quitaining. won: i'm hing thate helpeople fi theiroy and realize at, "h, maybe isn'so bad. can get through this." is a ha life, b yeit is a nderful fe. dot give u keep gog. amera clking] malennounc: "ear focus is me possib in party a grant fr anne ra foundation--a margaret a.

cargill philanthropy and the orange county community foundation. femalennouer: hasas a prd sponsoof "eartfocus." attle wing] man: we' awoken a lightng stm, and wrarely g that here. [thunder saw these vein ghtning bolts all through e sky, a it was-- i'd actually never en anythinlike thabefore e oneshat land actuay stard firewithin aisual distan of our nch. [rumbling]

man: theire alst seeme like it s almostike a tenn match or something cause it would kd of bounce bk down t valley and th it uld go bk again, a this isver a series odaysit's liki just dn't wanto go to eep becae i didn know wh was going be haening wh i woke up. my pents hou burned wn when i was in high school. we came home to a burning house. i definily thoug that weere goa lose o home. john: i me up tohe house d she wapacking e car, you knowall yourortant pers, evything. e goes "ok, jn. readywe're rey to go." i sai "diane,'m not leavin" she loed at meike i had,ou know, t heads.

[insec buzzi] diane: my husbd john a i live here in healdsburg. john manages our family dairy farm and vineyard, and i run our faly winbusinessanother winemakewith a vt. jo: we're agrilture-bad communy. 're partf sonomaounty. 're abouan hour,our and ha nor of san ancisco. our ecomy real, reallys primily an aicultura tourisarea--wi tasting vineyas, hospility. my pants arted th farm in thlate fifti. my momould joke tt she hato tracke wn the fst day o kinderrten becse i w holdg tools r my d fing fence ha ha! diane: he unces ouof bed evermorning excitedo go down tthe farmhe lovest, so that'a very gd thing, but i dot ink i cod do it. i ink atome pot, i wod probab say, "eugh." jo: this h been myhole

li, livi on th farm. the ranch self is 0 acres. have 40creslanted i pinot noir and chardonnay grape vines, a then threst iin the rm buildgs and oanic paste for our dairanimals. die: agricture is t easy. animal aicultures even haer. it's 24/7 thing... dian and at mes, it n be

a ttle bitverwhelmg beuse it jt never rns off. hn: yeahyeah. diane: we'ren anothedrought here in e westerunited ates, sohere's presses for literally finding ough feed f the anils. therare soany streors on h right no hn: you n do theest job, be tmartest rson out ther but motr natureeally has e final y, and tt's a litt bit--th's what haened witthese fires, too at we reallyidn't ha-- yocan't corol thatall you can dos work acontrollg what you c control [cattle wing] we saw aot of chges in t calirnia dai busines and th's when decideds a familyo diversy into we gres.

yoknow, thgrapes hped pulls roug which ione the rsons whyou look diversifying your business opation. he we aren augustf 2020 ithe midd of a rldwide ndemic, d we ve thifire. die: the fst fire at we had, lar fire, w in 2017 itas quitehocking.t was a majofire. i lieve ov 000 ructuresere burn 000 homehere in noma coun, so eveone was imcted by . we've d more firesince th. in 201 ere was fire, e camp fire in parase, calirnia. at was fther awafrom us, buthe smokand everhing it was, u know, l throug sonomaounty, a the wayown tohe bay aa. then kind of

came unstling beuse it h happed two yrs in a row, th with mo fires, d, viously,ur fire st year 2020as vy closto us. jo: therwas diffent leve of strs and anety as tse res evold over t last fe year the waldridge fire wa literally burning on the property behind our ranch. that time of the year--in aust, septber, octer--is en we ha all of r listock he on thisroperty. l the grses are ied, and were feedi everydyere. we he 600 co to milkwice a da another00 anima, the younr animal that ne to be d. i had many ofy friend and ers call me and text me and say, "jo, you ne help moving your animals?" there would be nowhere to go with that

ny animals, ev if weould movthem. it just wasmpossibl diane:s a faer, yourirst inclation iso protecyour anims, prote your emoyees, ptect you buildis or facity, you nd. jo: with t mandato evuation, actually become an iand, so 're supped to be ge. evething's blockad. our bgest challee was geing thin inwe have delivees, you knowevery daof the wk. it was ke fish imming upream. wee fighti a situatn that'sompletel opsite of what eryone el isoing. wh you'rin the middlef it, it almost ke you' on autolot. die: i wasn the pao, a i was wahing easside roa ich is, viously,ast of us're on wt side rd

re; it'sn the otr side o the vall floor--d there,t was st full cars, a i ke thinkg, "oh, ere must be aaccidentr somethg. why e there many ca?" and turned arod and sa thisuge plumof smokend ames behd us andealized l those rs were oking at usthey werlooking our house.he strs of themoke everywre and tn not seng thsun and the fire so closand the ise, it' ki of ovwhelming john: d so t stress r me i ink it mifested self later for . maybe 's part of my a or juspart of at i do as farmer bause you just ighs] ane: it'hard at e end, d so manof our neibors ha lost souch, andhen it becos very s becau sometime then,e'd lose

ose neigors. thechoose t ave. john: the's a loof folks th lost thr homes,ll their longingsand havi to start ov. i meanthat's game cnger. man: aut 3:00 4:00 inhe afternn, ias the lt one re. i ju saw a hug chugng smokerain of own, orangeyellow hes dem hell-loong skyape that was cong rig at us, and i realed, "wel now i kw where thfire is d wher it'somg"... so at th point, 's a "on way , one waout" roa i ju got out

's the o ivers place. me back o days ler to fd the ple still smokg and treeon fire,ut o place was go. pshologicay, it's sing erythingou own a everytng that minded y of who yowere andust e ardus task orebuilding. it's a b of a mathon. it all-couming, and is not so much iit burnsown agai it kind,ell en will it be? it beefore orfter i e? hopefly, afte came her5 years o, just afr my dauter was rn with my fe and daughteand to be oser to e grandpent anbeen creing defeible spacand trng to event

fires anprepare r an evenal fire r about years unl one filly hit. [rumbling] n: back , you gu. just pulled mengines ck hard. grout: i w and still am a wildlifeiologisti'm a consvationis i taugh stry andildlife,o i knewnough abt bioly and the fore ecosyst to know en we mod in herthat a fi had notit here about 60 years, anit wasrobably only aatter ofime befo it did, so got tive in e fost pr--n preveion as ch as prarednessommunity doze and dozs of us ving in theills on ese spre-out homesteadsot togher and crted a re-proction plan. hundred ars of cmate ange, loing, ando forest managent and dught and tn a twweek heaave, you ow, was bound to hi us sooneor laterso i knewnougto be rely scare

th... scary. ndred-yearld woshed, 50year-old tanoa orchard hoe, fire.t was a magil place the ente fami. all thgrandkidwould come uhere forll the lidays or the rir and rough e woods d granother's use and ways ll of frt. this mestead we back a ndred years. there werewo-man ss and coyo trapsndear traps and old-- evything w ha-forged rend built by herrandfath and great-grdfather, so there was a lot of historic buildings, the old 140-year-old, one-room schoolhouse that my wife's mother and sister and

grandmother went to, so, like, then covid kind of took away our community and our ability to gather, and en the fire took our community and just sttered us allver the unty, alover thstate, a somhave lef e state becausof it soall of maslos needs re gone 24 hrs. we lt our ho, the ean air,ater, see of mmunity, neighrs, sensof ple, you kw, theonnectio to theand and e beauty and e hundre of uit treeand erry tre and wilife and akes, anwalking here and ju seeing l the de rds and er and skes and charred trees, it was a bit of a gut-wrenching trip followed by 9 months of continual cleanuand reliving the losses. you kick arnd andind an o

chard trinkeremindin you of another thing. "oh, yeah. we lo that, t." [caking] [birds chirping and squawking] won: what grandpased y was, o hair reesented the thunrstorm.. and we we alwaysold to never er cutur hair,nd a lot of theavajos, nes cut eir hairthat's w we got

no rain.hat do y mean, tt dirty, r one? girl: ohyeah. ybelle: en i w a littl gi, it wou rain fo like, 5 da straigh and had to imb our y out the mudust to g to some sulies and the asses we as talls a horss belly.hat's ho tall they were. you couldn't see me walking after the sheep when i was, like, 5 years old. weidn't ha to go ttown to get ter. the winr, we on hauled ter, le,nce a we. in the summer, it'seally ba we have thaul wer, li, twice

day to o sheep cp. ma everythg revolv arnd water just surval. thas it. ople calus the forgottepeople. girl: yes. ybelle: . n: [indiinct] thisommunitys callededar ridg we're uer the najo tion. thnavajo nion is hu. it's bger thanome states. ing nava is very verymportant to us. have a strongistory.

m proud be dinemakes metrong onho i and wt i stanfor. peopley age no when th wereoung, the was rely no ought. [eine star] heep baag] therwould belikeabout 15 sheein one aa, and pple to care ofhem. gi: grandmsays, "ghome." attle long] leard: my fe here,he raisedbout 4 cves. there

athat age ere theye ving bies now.hat was woh it... [cattle wing] d that mes her aittle bi prour, stronr, and t will to gahead anca for her anals. sheants to carry on the trition th her momnd dad d, her gndpa, he grandma. tt's how rong of ladyhe is. ybelle: use it r food we d't profioff of i when get togher, we' butcher shp, and t cows, ie some to the mark, but i n't ofit offf that, ther. i ha to go bk and bu whatev they ne--protei salt, y. that'where it goes. 's our ctom thate ha livesto. takingare of

em, loing aftethem, to me, it'sery impoant becae it w from geration t generaon like is. we'rin no close t gate. is my responsibity nowi love bng ound anils, and hes me in many wa because tes, i'lltruggl miwise, i' struggl d it hel me pull throh day toay.

i dot know wse land is. i haveo idea. 's not me. i'just ling on i my grandpalways sd that tme. "thiis my ou. it's jt he for us.t's nobo's." he usedo say to us. t's nobody's." it's the cows, the sheep, all these little creatures running around. i think it's their land. that's what i think. [ratchet clicking] leard: setimes i get up, likeabout 4:, start e

truck, mbe havanother cup of coffee. then you take off go down to the watering point. n't be ly. got tbe up befo the sunwell, th ple is theife poin it's thlife poi of our commity's listock. is not only for our community. there's people that come out, like abou30, 40 mes all dictions, d i feelor the peoplehat liveay out therby the cyon. for whole rod trip, ey, theyo, like, out 60 mes just haul wateto their livesck. th have ks out there.hey have granids t there at herd sheep and ok afterhe ctle anall thatand they d't ha no runng water, no electricity. they have to haul water. it's hard to see them struggle.

in my days, we used to go to earth dams to load up water in wagons pulled byules or horsesthis is ere wate collec. you catell whe it ts with l these ainage fr little,ittle vaeys or little gorges. from way out there, they come and sit here. it ud to be full. maybelle: the last time we had water was back, oh, about 5, 4 arago, jusdrizzle, few drops, you know. you get all happy getting little drops of racall ally deceased faly and s, "help !" but still noain.

irds sawking] [tnder] woma everythg your cropng schede revolv around theeather. ifou have very wetpring, you dot get inhe field tillate. youan't geteeds anted inhe grod. the lar yoget in, the lat haest is gna be, a then you ruinto snow. [bds chirpg] it's jusso diffent from

wh we wereids. theummer wasn overly t. you dn't havehese torntial ras. on a farm, you know, the weather, it predicts everything for you. man: we' constany battling thweather. it's eier too t or toory, o warm otoo ld. we we so drynd we waedain, andow it n't qu raini, so ts is wha 'rdealing th, rkin ound the windowshat we have to ow the fd for ou cows my ne is ran roeckerand i'm third-geration fmer om loganlle, wisnsinwe have aut 300

pple iny ttle comnity her [ctle lowi] my paren are 81 d 82 yea ol they fa every d. they start eir morng at 3:3 my moloves mix fd, and s drives in the tracr, and s alwaysikes worng with e ws because, she sa, "cows don't ta back toou." it's tly a famy farm, d metimes really wder. therhas to ba betteray of fe out the someplace tha yodon't ha these pblems that y strugglwith allhe ti.

[cattllowing] statz: my name is brenda statz. well, my farming was my main ing. it ill is aot of my lifebut i doork fullime off my farm, also, so i probably lked her 30lus yeari milkedn this barn ani milkedor my dabefore th. i was,ike, 12 en i started lking co at his ba, so i've milked cowa lo time,o-- [ctle lowi] ansome of them, ye, you t special ws. you t pets, d me of th, you'reust like "n i don't want noing to do th her,"nd you wt for her too on theruck, yoknow to sl them o, but fothe most par i mean,armings-- go girl.

keep wahing. it a goodife. it s a good li. i seyou, cmen. ha ha! leon and i, weet actual, in reeburg at boing alley. was not person w went oumuch, ani we out witmy sister wah her bo, and th's when met, anhe had ge to schoolith myister,ho she's, le, 3 yea older tn me, and just stted dati d we both ca from farm backounds,nd we bo co from bifamiliesso ev ouredding w big. weid everhing togher. frothe timeou got uin the mning till theime you nt to be you work togethe that's just the way farming is. he had his chores. i did my chores. we never vacationed much. if we did, it was a weekend. once a ar, we go sowhere, but it ally wast far away bause he said, "cat go tooar." le wld say, "you kno can't too farut far eugh

that th can't call us back do chores tight." iwas just more mories oft than y think. you know, you always thought of that time, it was just a lot of work, but then when you look back now, you ow, it was probably some of the better times becse we spent souch timeogher then anjust worng, milkg cows d raisinyour famy. that what fa life is [cattle lowing] ecker: ian rememr my mom alwa had little ok for you ow, ery yearhat i wa inchool, a it alwa said on tre, you ow, "whawould yolike tbe?" andt always id, like, "firan liceman,octor," u know anyou wereupposed check what youanted, a then the was a ank lineand thenhe would alysrite in, "farmer,and i ju felt th my who life wakind of, like, id out bore me,