Double whammy for sod farm

Dan Gibson and his Tehachapi Sod farm on Cummings Valley Road are second in line to receive recycled waste water from the California Correctional Institution. The Horse Thief Country Club gets first dibs. In the meantime, Gibson keeps his crop growing through the natural and man-made drought with expensive State Water Project Water.

“They (CCI) told me the [wastewater] plant would be fully operational within a week,” Gibson told Forde Files on July 1. “That doesn’t mean I get water. When I see the water, then I know.”

Supervisor on site is Ralph Curiel, who began working in Tehachapi in 1968 with Jake Jacobsen on crops of potatoes and Kentucky blue grass seed. The Tehachapi Sod crop is a special blend of drought-resistant, commercial fescue. Curiel’s crew at the sod farm is Carlos Baldenegro, Hippolito Garcia and Rojelio Carrasco.