What a beautiful weekend to welcome in spring! Thank you so much for coming out to kick off our 2026 season. We had gorgeous light and birdsongs all morning during both visits to Séka Hills in Brooks. It was a joy to see everyone reconnecting with each other and with our incredible landscape.
Shout out again to our host, Séka Hills and the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation for welcoming us onto their lands and sharing space with us.
In Patwin language, ‘Séka’ means ‘blue,’ and in selecting the name Séka Hills, the members of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation honor the blue hills that overlook Capay Valley and surround their beautiful groves. With longstanding practices of good environmental stewardship, and honoring the legacy of their ancestors, they are dedicated to preserving the natural balance in their environment.
Following these practices, they planted a new grove of Almond Trees off Hwy 16 in 2021. Today, with more than 25,000 total acres in production, they own one of the most diverse farming operations in Yolo County and are one of a few tribes with expanding agriculture in California. Of the 3,000 acres currently being farmed, 250 acres are certified organic, and more than 1,200 acres of the Tribe’s land are in permanent conservation easements.
The tribe conventionally farms 16 crops, including alfalfa, almonds, oat hay, olives, rye grass, safflower, garbanzo beans, sunflower, sorghum, walnuts, wheat and wine grapes. Yocha Dehe also runs a growing herd of 800 cattle in Capay Valley, following a sustainable grazing program on the Tribe’s 12,000 acres of rangeland.
Art & Ag artists had views and access to the Almond and Olive groves during their visit. One of the Almond groves was drivable, the other was accessible by foot. (Lucky artists might have had a sighting of Toby the Texas Longhorn during their visit!)
Learn more about Séka Hills+
Learn more about the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation+
