For Sale! Help Save David Blume’s World-Famous Whiskey Hill Farms

Farmer Dave here! I’m reaching out regarding a unique opportunity to purchase (or help save!) our world-class organic permaculture farm in Watsonville, California. As you already know, Whiskey Hill Farms has been at the forefront of regenerative farming practices, demonstrating the power of working in harmony with nature. Time is of the essence! We have until 2/15/25 to get into contract with potential buyers or else risk foreclosure.

Whiskey Hill Featured

Binge-Watch Our YouTube Channel

Thirty-three videos and counting on our YouTube channel. “Farmer Dave” Blume loves teaching and farming, and it shows as he takes you through little vignettes of what’s happening in the greenhouses at Whiskey Hill Farms. You can also see some interesting videos about alcohol fuel, its history, Dave’s global vision for clean fuel, and even a look at converting cars to run on alcohol with Daryl Hannah and Ed Begley.

Whiskey Hill Featured

Feb. 16: VALENTINE’S RISE UP SINGING VEG. POTLUCK AT WHF

Sunday, February 16, 2025, Noon – 3 PM • VALENTINE’S RISE UP SINGING VEG. POTLUCK & Celebrate Dave Blume’s Birthday at Whiskey Hill Farms & Science Center • 371 Calabasas Road, Watsonville, CA 95076 • Please bring “Rise Up Singing” & “Rise Again” songbooks & instruments (optional). We will sing love songs! Bring your Valentine or meet a new one there! Please bring “hearty” healthy food & drinks to share. Free Event / Donations Appreciated *VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED…

Events

David Blume’s Appearances on Coast to Coast A.M. Radio Show

Thirty appearances, so far. Check out the topics Dave talked about on this very popular show. “According to estimates by Talkers Magazine, Coast to Coast AM has a cumulative weekly audience of around 2.75 million unique listeners listening for at least five minutes, making it the most listened-to program in its time slot.”

Education & Outreach

Profitable Surplus: Sargassum Solutions

Mexicans may think it’s unlucky to have seaweed wash up on their beautiful beaches, but, looked at from the natural resource perspective, the country is truly fortunate to have a surplus of Sargassum seaweed! They just need to harvest it before it would ever reach the beach….

Alcohol Fuel

Alcohol as Marine Replacement Fuel

I attended a high-level think tank in Mexico some years ago.  We were there  to work on the world’s pressing problems.  There I met a board member of Maersk Shipping, the owner of the largest container ship fleet in the world.  I asked him what fuel he’s planning to use to replace bunker diesel since the world is ready to ban it.  He told me that his company was looking at Liquefied Natural Gas or Liquefied Hydrogen….

Alcohol Fuel

Edible Innovators: Still Farming: Organic vegetables and “the world’s second oldest profession” go hand in hand on Whiskey Hill

In this fascinating article in Edible Monterey Bay, Deborah Luhrman writes:
“What was once a giant packing shed now houses fermentation tanks and 12-foothigh distillation towers where Blume has been practicing what he calls “mankind’s second oldest profession”—making alcohol. The objective is to manufacture and sell distillation equipment that converts food wastes into alcohol, which can then be used for dozens of purposes from fuel to vodka….”

"Farmer Dave" Blume

2-Hour Farm Tours, Free at Whiskey Hill Farms & Science Center

Now open to the public for the first time! For years, the Whiskey Hill Farms & Science Center tour has amazed, informed, and delighted students — from grade school through post-graduate, including permaculture/landscape students — and visitors from the U.S. Senate and House and public agencies such as the USDA, the DOE, and NASA; from tribal governments; from the UN and numerous foreign governments; and from a wide range of non-profit development organizations. Now open to the public, unabridged, and full of excitement!

Education & Outreach

The Process & Benefits of Our Double Fermentation

As part of our zero waste ethos at David Blume’s Whiskey Hill Farms & Science Center, we use two fermentation processes to produce alcohol and fertilizer. Instead of the current practice of treating most agricultural byproduct from agricultural operations as waste, this process turns this “waste” biomass into fertilizer and alcohol and reduces the waste stream going to the county landfill.

Alcohol Fuel

Blume Industries & Whiskey Hill Farms Receive Another USDA / SARE Grant

April 22, 2022. “In 2021, biotech company Blume Industries and Whiskey Hill Farms became recipients of The Farmer Rancher Grant, a major grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Western Division of Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE). “The grant aims to support farmers and ranchers who are striving for sustainability; since 2009, BI…

Read More “Blume Industries & Whiskey Hill Farms Receive Another USDA / SARE Grant” »

Education & Outreach

Top Ways to Add Fresh Wasabi to Your Diet

Real wasabi flavor is like nothing else, so delicious and so good for you. Here are some ideas and recipes for incorporating fresh wasabi in your meals and snacks. Be sure to see further below for info on using wasabi leaves to expand your world. Grating wasabi root fresh for sushi is just the beginning.

Wasabi

Dangers of Hand Sanitizers

Sanitizers are products we use to kill or neutralize harmful bacteria, viruses, and (in some cases) fungi from our skin and surfaces. By definition they are toxic to these microbes. Our goal is to use sanitizers to stay healthy and safe. But could it be that the cure is worse than the disease? It doesn’t have to be so, but most sanitizers on the market have harmful chemicals in them. Some are astonishingly harmful, or even deadly.

Articles

Premiums for Donations to Whiskey Hill Farms

Whiskey Hill Farms & Science Center will make good use of your tax-deductible donation in any amount — thank you for helping us help the planet. If you’re thinking of donating $400 or more, you may be interested in these premiums we are pleased to be able to offer you.

Donations are received on our behalf by our sponsor, the nonprofit Buckminster Fuller Institute.

Donate

Aerial View of Whiskey Hill Farms

Here’s an aerial view of the Whiskey Hill Farms & Science Center, on 14 acres in Freedom, California, near Santa Cruz. The video also provides a quick look at some of our offices and our event spaces that may be available for rent. We also have some nice rooms in the main house and campsites available. Come stay with us!

Whiskey Hill

Where Did the Name “Whiskey Hill” Come From?

In the late 1800s, getting to the “Wickedest Town in the West” was a full day’s dusty ride from Santa Cruz, California. The coastal town of Whiskey Hill was home to bars, brothels, fistfights, gunfights, and bull-versus-bear fights — until they ran out of bears and started havin’ plain old bullfights.

Whiskey Hill

Real vs. Fake Wasabi

We love the spicy kick of wasabi with our sushi, but did you know that most wasabi served in restaurants is actually fake? That’s right, the green paste that we’ve come to associate with wasabi is usually made from a mixture of horseradish, mustard, and food coloring.

Wasabi

Farmer Dave Answers: Why Does a Tobacco Plant Make Nicotine?

In this short video, regenerative farming expert David Blume gives us a close look at a tobacco plant he grew in the tropical forest at Whiskey Hill Farms near Santa Cruz, California. He demonstrates how hummingbirds interact with its funnel-shaped flowers — and answers the question, “Why does a tobacco plant make nicotine?” — that dangerous chemical that so many people are so addicted to.

Whiskey Hill

Sustainable Agriculture’s Role in Climate Change

I am often asked how I first learned about alcohol’s ability to run vehicles? I can still remember, as clear as a bell, talking about brewing beer (which was still illegal in 1974) with Doc Sweeney, one of my ecological biology professors at San Francisco State. He was infamous for telling students outrageous tall tales with a straight face just to see their reaction, or better yet, to see if he could get away with it.

Articles

Alcohol Fuel: The Key to Solving Climate Change

By David Blume — The overwhelming consensus in the scientific community is that global warming is causing rapid climate change, and that the cause of global warming is the burning of fossil fuels (and, to a lesser degree, deforestation). When we burn fossil fuels, we are combining hydrocarbons with oxygen. The carbon part of the fuel becomes carbon dioxide, the commonly recognized greenhouse gas; but the hydro part becomes water vapor, a greenhouse gas 20 times as potent as carbon dioxide.

Articles