When David and Karen Dumars survey the peaceful landscape of their 50-acre property a few miles northwest of Woodland, not too far from the banks of Cache Creek, there’s a sense of contentment in their eyes. At this stage in their lives, they are grateful to be able to live each day by giving back to the land, their parish and their community.
The longtime members of Holy Rosary Parish have owned their property since 2002. They live in the house they designed and had built in 2010, surrounded by a beautiful garden and many acres of almond trees. Looking north from their back patio is a 300-year-old oak tree, so magnificent that they situated their house around it.
With great care they spent several years researching and planning before having their rice straw bale home constructed, which is a sustainable, eco-friendly, and energy-efficient option. The straw bale part of the house is only the wall system. The rest of the parts — the foundation, roof, doors, windows, plumbing and electrical— are all made with conventional building materials.
Their home reflects the same care with which they live out their married life. David speaks with pride about being the fourth generation of his family to farm rice. His father, Lee, who died in 2018, was a longtime parishioner of Holy Rosary. After serving in the U.S. Navy, Lee worked on farms in Europe before returning to Woodland for his lifelong career of more than 50 years in farming, forming Lenell Farms with Bernell Harlan.
Both Lee and Bernell joined their fathers and farmed as Harlan & Dumars. “When I was in kindergarden, my dad and Bernell were just starting off, and they leased land in Dixon, by Elkhorn, and wherever they could grow rice,” David recalls.
While growing up in Woodland and attending Holy Rosary School, David grabbed any chance to work with his dad after school and on weekends. He recalls fondly how he and his sister, Denise, would work with their dad during summers off from school. They loaded a small wagon with tomatoes and other vegetables grown on their ranch and went door to door selling them to their neighbors, under the watchful gaze of their mother, Louise, who still resides in Woodland and is a Holy Rosary parishioner.
“I loved working with my dad — anything related to farming or anything mechanical,” David recalls. “I always knew I wanted to be in the same profession as an adult. I remember how fun it was when we would go out with him and fill the rice fields with water for the first time — we would hear all the frogs making noise and being so happy, since they came out of hibernation.
“I decided early on I wanted to be a rice farmer — it was so interesting to me,” he adds. “It’s something different all the time. I’m a people person, but I also like being out on the land and the solitude it offers.”
David and Karen have been married for 35 years. After David graduated from Woodland High School, they met while students at Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo. One day at their apartment complex, Karen fell during a game of frisbee golf. He helped her back to his apartment and “healed her with a beer,” he laughs, recalling the incident.
Eventually they dated and later were married in St. Patrick Church in Larkspur, Karen’s home parish, where Karen graduated from St. Patrick School and later from Marin Catholic High School in Kentfield.
Dave earned a bachelor’s degree in crop science from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, while Karen finished her college studies at California State University, Chico, earning a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies.
After they were married, David and Karen traveled throughout 11 countries in Europe and worked on different farms, as David was inspired by his family experience over the years of hosting exchange students from Sweden and Denmark who wished to study agriculture in California.
Since 1988, David and his partner have owned Wilson Bend Farms and grow rice on 1,100 acres they lease on Wilson Bend Road in Colusa County. It’s the same land that David’s father Lee farmed. Karen is now retired after a 32-year career as an elementary school teacher at various schools in the Woodland Unified School District.
When Dave thinks of stewardship and environmental sustainability in relation to rice farming, it includes environmental, economic, and social issues that all farmers must consider today. But it begins with the values that his parents instilled in him as a young boy.
“My dad taught me that your word was your bond,” he notes. “My parents also instilled in me that the land is something that God gave to us, and we are to care for it always. We have to leave it better than we found it. They taught me to be a steward of the land and how I have to conserve it. That’s what I’ve always tried to do. Sustainability to me means not just surviving, but carrying on the tradition of keeping the land at its best.”
Karen, as one of five children in her family, says her parents instilled in her a deep love of her Catholic faith and to have respect for others. “My dad would always say treat others as you would like to be treated,” she recalls. “God is going to give you a boat and oars, but he’s not going to row the boat for you — you can figure that out. I remember all these things from my youth that influenced the rest of my life. My parents instilled in us a belief that you are going to be OK as long as you have your faith and your family.”
She admits she had to adapt to the farming way of life, which often involves long hours of work by David during growing season and other times of the year. “We adjusted our schedule to attend Mass at 7 a.m. on Sundays,” she notes. David adds: “My faith was not the reason why I chose my profession, but I like to think that it helps me in my profession. Many times during the year my job is 24-7, but I know I’m doing God’s work in the rice fields, and it’s where I’m supposed to be.”
Family is at the heart of rice growing, David reflects. This is evident from the farms and mills that have grown and processed rice for generations to the communities and allied businesses throughout the Sacramento Valley. “We are immersed in family, community, and farming, and our days are filled with hard work, but the rewards are well worth it,” he says.
David, who is involved with the California Rice Commission, notes “we have very deliberate efforts around conservation, stewardship of the land, and sustainability.” He says some key environmental issues are land use and soil conservation, water use and quality, energy use and air quality, and biodiversity.
In addition to their conservation practices, rice farmers are also recognized for improving and enhancing vital wildlife habitats, especially in the Sacramento Valley. Working rice lands provide millions of acres of life-sustaining resources for migrating waterbirds along the Pacific Flyway, along with countless other animals that call the fields their home. Among the wintering birds seen in the valley are herons, egrets, ducks, geese, swans, and raptors. The Rice Commission notes that nearly 230 wildlife species rely on Sacramento Valley rice fields for food and a resting place.
Rice in the Sacramento Valley is a water-dependent crop, but looks can be deceiving. Flooded rice fields can often appear to be “small lakes,” when in reality, the water is just a few inches deep and serves multiple purposes — like preventing soil erosion, creating wildlife habitat, and naturally controlling weeds.
“When people fly into Sacramento airport, many ask what’s all the water out there in the fields,” David notes. “Many people in California have no idea how much rice growing takes place here. We make very deliberate efforts around water conservation, stewardship of the land, and sustainability. Growing rice gives us an opportunity to fill the need of a much-needed niche of wetlands in our valley. Especially during the recent drought, the few wetland areas where rice was allowed to be grown were so beneficial, as it was a desert everywhere else. We’ve been lucky as a rice industry to fill this niche, otherwise much of the wildlife preservation would go away.”
During 2022, because of the prolonged drought, David and his partner were only able to plant on 10 percent of the acres that normally grow rice. Although many farmers who do not run large-scale operations face uncertainty at times, David continues to encourage young people to choose the profession. “I’m proud of being part of a multi-generation farming family and I don’t want to see that go away in future years,” he says.
David is also an active member of the Woodland Rotary for the past 30 years, in order to interact with a cross-section of the community’s business and professional people who work together on many area service projects.
During the past few years, David and Karen have been involved in preparing engaged couples at Holy Rosary Parish for the sacrament of marriage, encouraging them to be faith-filled persons capable of knowing and loving each other and God.
They have worked with nine couples so far in their ministry. “The couple comes to our home for four evening sessions, and we discuss essential aspects of married life, such as lifestyle and expectations, communication, finances, the actual sacrament and what it means to be married in the Catholic Church,” Karen says. “After they leave us, I feel that they have a better understanding of marriage and what it takes for a lifelong relationship. The more couples we have worked with, the more we have learned and gotten better at it.”
“It’s important to bring the couple to our house and not to meet them at church or at a restaurant,” David adds. “That way they can see how we live daily. They can see our wedding photos and family history, and how we’ve grown as a married couple. Most of the time we stay on as a mentor couple to them, and this brings us a lot of joy.”
“My dream is to be an old couple that still gets along well with each other,” Karen concludes. “Relationships always need growth and rejuvenation. Relationships aren’t always easy, but one where a couple is working together with God at its center — what can go wrong?”
To read the digital edition of the July/August magazine, visit /herald.