FARMING IS COOL, baby, really cool! That's the bumper sticker I'm going to design after an eye-opening weekend at the 16th annual Hoes Down Harvest Celebration at the organic Full Belly Farm grounds in Capay Valley, just about 45 minutes north of Davis. Organized entirely by volunteers, Hoes Down is a two-day festival promoting the knowledge of sustainable rural living through inspiration and education.

Turning off I-505 and onto scenic Highway 16 toward Guinda, I became aware of my own misconceptions about the California heartland: expecting the rank smells of chemical fertilizer and industrial farms that I've come to associate with it from trips down I-5, I was blown away by the idyllic backdrop of old barns and rural cemeteries. Shannon, my travel buddy and an organic farmer herself, got out to take some black-and-white pictures, documenting our journey into the heart of family farm country.

We arrived at Full Belly Farm long after sunset and pulled into a wide-open almond orchard, a designated camping area we'd be sharing with companions from all over California for the next couple of nights. Being used to the usual crop (no pun) of outdoor festivals where boom boxes blast all night and you have to hide your cookies from red-eyed neighbors, the silence in this orchard came as a welcome surprise. We rolled out our pads and got with the farmers' sleeping schedule, dreaming of juicy roots, bulbs, and tubers.

The next morning we headed over to the farmyard, where we were greeted with fair-trade coffee and homegrown cantaloupe. There was hustle and bustle everywhere – people setting up a stage made entirely out of hay bales, others pushing wheelbarrows of food and textiles to their respective vending and exhibit shacks, and kids running around frantically in anticipation of pumpkin carving, ice-cream churning, and climbing on the towering hay fort. At around 11, the place started to fill up, and the Hoes Down was on its merry way.

Shannon and I wandered around for a while, just taking in the down-to-earth vibe of the event, but then remembered we wanted to check out some of the workshops offered throughout the day. You can get familiar with tree pruning, cow milking, draft horses, herbs, gardening, and small-farm equipment. But that's not all – Shannon wanted to check out "How to start your own organic farm (and how not to)," and we were both curious about a presentation by the People's Grocery, a West Oakland cooperative that provides access to locally produced foods for its members.

After the two workshops, we took a tour of Full Belly Farm. Andrew Brait, one of the co-owners, told us how it is integrating production with longer-term environmental goals by providing year-round employment for farm laborers and using cover crops that fix nitrogen and provide organic matter for the soil.

It simply boggles the mind how much effort and dedication goes into the cycle of growing food. Picking the broccoli off the shelf at the grocery store signals the end of a long and illustrious journey. And in the world of organic produce, it is also just the beginning – all the food scraps will eventually end up in the compost pile.

With a tractor-load of new information, we walked down to Cache Creek and took a dip. Yes, it's the same Cache Creek the Indian casino down the road is named after. It's a sad reminder that it's become almost impossible for native people to live off the land. But maybe, just maybe, events like Hoes Down and its spirited participants can show us how to reenter the great cycle of sustainable living. With that in mind, we joined a hooting crowd over by the hay bale stage where we all danced the night away to the slamming sounds of the Hot Buttered Rum String Band.

Although it took Hoes Down to bring me out to farm country, you can go anytime and visit the local farms on your own.

If you go