Proprietors of French Garden

Sorrel Smith, Dan Smith and Joan Marler.
Photo credit: Harvey Henningsen

Dan Smith and Joan Marler met over 40 years ago in Mendocino while Joan was still in high school and Dan was working in a lumber mill. Joan earned a BA in dance at Mills College while Dan completed his duty as a conscientious objector in lieu of fighting in Viet Nam. In 1975 they were married in Sebastopol where they have lived ever since in the house that Dan built. Here, they raised their daughter, Sorrel, and a foster son, Bruce, and began a long tradition of organic gardening. About 20 years ago, they purchased a 30 acre farm nearby where they now grow much of the produce for French Garden.

Our home garden and greenhouse in Sebastopol

For twenty-six years, Joan taught dance at Santa Rosa Junior College while Dan ran his construction company before creating The Master Builder software for contractors. Over a twenty year period, The Master Builder, now owned by Intuit, became the most popular software for smaller general and subcontractors in the US. Meanwhile, Joan became known for her radio work on KPFA FM in Berkeley where she produced and hosted her own programs in the humanities for 15 years. She also worked closely for 7 years with the well-known archaeologist Marija Gimbutas and edited Gimbutas' magnum opus The Civilization of the Goddess (1991). Joan later edited From the Realm of the Ancestors: An Anthology in Honor of Marija Gimbutas (1997) while earning a Masters in Archaeomythology at Sonoma State University. She has been an Executive Editor of ReVision Journal and is the founder and Executive Director of The Institute of Archaeomythology. Joan lectures internationally and is an adjunct faculty member of the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. She is currently writing the biography of Marija Gimbutas.

Today, Dan is active in non-profits as well as serving on corporate boards. He is past president of the Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation which is working to create a 10,000 acre wetlands preserve in the heart of Sonoma County. Dan is also the president of The Monastery Project, which is building a monastery in Kalimpong, India for the Sedgyued lineage of Tibetan Buddhism.

Both Dan and Joan are active in French Garden on a daily basis. Dan focuses on growing produce, fruit, herbs and flowers while Joan manages the bookkeeping and helps in the garden. They can often be found hosting guests after a busy day at the farm. Their daughter, Sorrel, whose paintings grace the walls at French Garden, is a full-time artist living in Paris.