Kendall Farms brings cousin's artistic abilities in creating new retail look

Karen Ossenfort

Special to the Village News

There lies a sprawling farm with breathtaking views across the Rice Canyon area of Rainbow off of White Lilac. Early morning haze with sun rays highlight the area. The afternoon sun casts its golden-colored blanket and warmness over the farm.

This is Kendall Farms, family-owned and operated. The family vision is continually growing and expanding. Currently, cousins Catharine Kendall-Hannoosh and Troy Conner are creating a giant painting capturing the sprawling splendor of the family farm. It will be used on the business’s displays in local markets, such as Ralph’s and Trader Joe’s.

The combination of Hannoosh’s artistic abilities and Conner’s management abilities as president of the farm meld their talents and experience. Though Hannoosh is in New York, and Conner here, they’ve managed to create a new look for the farm’s retail operation.

Additionally, the two have created a seasonal look with labels on bouquet mason jars. “We came up with the idea to make art for our arrangement jars. We decided to go seasonal and created labels featuring pincushion flowers for fall, proteas for winter, sunflowers for summer and wax flowers for spring,” Hannoosh said.

Hannoosh and Conner then came up with the idea of a giant painting of the farm scenery to become their artwork for their company displays in the retail locations.

“It is a large painting of the farm. It shows its breadth close-up to the hills in the distance,” Hannoosh said.

Hannoosh’s background is in art, as she studied photography at the University of Oregon. She also attended Carnegie-Mellon University in New York, and studied nonprofits. She then went to the International Center for Photography. She ended up running the New York Foundation of the Arts grant program, and various other administrative art roles. She and her husband decided to start a family and brought her home to focus on her own artwork.

“I think of how happy he (David Kendall) would be to see his family working so closely together on the farm and for the farm,” Hannoosh said.

David Kendall, the farm’s founder, moved his family from Los Angeles to Fallbrook in 1987 onto the first 50 acres he purchased. Farming was in his blood, as he originally was from farm country in Texas.

The family settled in and soon realized their passion for growing and farming California flowers. They grew flowers that could thrive in arid conditions. According to history on the farm’s website, David’s son Jason Kendall and nephew Troy Conner, continue to to build on David’s vision. Jason is the company’s CEO, and he’s also a Fallbrook Food Pantry Board member.

Together, Jason and Troy continued with David’s vision, while adding their own to grow the farm to its 500 acres today. “One thing that will never change here at Kendall Farms is our family. We have persevered through fires, floods, and recessions, and continue to thrive at what we do with everything we are given,” the site stated.

Additionally, the family has the Outreach Farm Project. It began as an answer to the crashing economy in spring 2009. “When the crashing economy overwhelmed the local outreach organizations that could no longer keep up with the demands for food, we converted several of our fields into a produce farm. We partnered with Community Mission of Hope and other local outreach programs to provide fresh produce to help those who are struggling to provide for themselves and their families,” the site stated.

The program is run by Kendall Farms and Conner’s family, and through the partnership with local businesses and thousands of volunteers, who work the fields.