Meet the Farmer
Rainwater Ranch
Lauren McNees & Lee Millon
Established In 2014
Location Winters, CA
Acreage 20
What they sell Citrus and flowers
When they began working with KTA 2022
Advising focus Bookkeeping & financial management
Support our ongoing advising work with Rainwater Ranch by giving to KTA.
Since purchasing Rainwater Ranch in 2014, Lauren McNees and Lee Millon have maintained a sprawling citrus orchard and a blossoming cut flower business within the Yolo County community. Neither Lauren nor Lee set out to be farmers; initially, Lauren and Lee maintained the farm while working at UC Davis and UC ANR respectively. Soon, however, they were drawn to the practice by the care and passion with which the ranch’s previous owners had tended the land, orchard, and equipment. Eventually, their passion fueled them to make the transition to run their business full-time.
Throughout their eight years of work, Lauren and Lee have carried forth the legacy of honoring and caring for the land by implementing organic practices that focus on soil health.
Where to Find
Davis Farmers Market, Sat 8am-1pm
Napa Farmers Market, Sat 9am-1pm
St. Helena Farmers Market, Fri 7:30am-12pm
Davis Food Co-op
Advising Snapshot: 2022
As a new client in KTA’s 2022 cohort, Lauren and Lee have been working with farm business advisor Federica Beatrice to move from manual bookkeeping to Quickbooks, an online financial management system. In preparation, Lauren also joined California FarmLink’s Resilerator program and completed Quickbooks’ online accounting crash course.
Thus far, the transition allowed Rainwater to establish a cash flow budget and financial projections for the year. They now have a stronger financial picture of their business, offering them the opportunity to budget out raises for their hard-working employees, build new infrastructure, and leverage managerial tools for upcoming business decisions.
