YORKVILLE, Calif. — Nikki Ausschnitt says her decision to switch from working as an artist in New York City to farming in Northern California was a philosophical and political choice.

“When my paintings became progressively darker and darker in response to the human created climate disasters I decided I had to switch to something more proactive and real,” she said. “And I couldn’t think of anything more real than digging in the dirt and creating food.”

In 2004, she bought 350 acres of rangeland in Mendocino County, Calif., that she and her partner, Steve Krieg, named Petit Teton Farm after the nearby small, pointy peak.

“In 2011, we built a commercial kitchen on the property in which we process and preserve nearly everything we grow,” she said. “It grew out of the frustration of taking produce to market and not selling it all.”

Their motto became “We grow it. We can it.”

California requires that all the main ingredients in canned goods be grown by the farmer to be allowed into in a farmers market. Otherwise, they are relegated to the craft section of the market.

The list of crops they grow is extensive since the climate is Mediterranean and they are always experimenting with new plants. The kitchen is centrally located on the farm so all fruit, berries and produce are brought directly to the kitchen for sorting, cleaning, processing or freezing, if necessary. The kitchen is managed by a chef and a prep cook. Together they process, produce and test the jams and jellies.

Currently the farm is allowed to sell sweet jams and jellies — strawberry, blackberry, apple, apricot, grape, peach, pear, plum, quince, fig, pomegranate, prickly pear, raspberry, elderberry, rhubarb, tomato, guava and nectarine — using state-approved recipes.

Nikki says uniqueness is in the eye of the beholder.

“But people do comment on the odd things we grow and the unique combinations in our canned goods — turmeric, shiso, Szechuan peppercorns, cactus fruits, ghost peppers, black raspberries, marionberries, capers, rau ram, loquat, pineapple guava, kiwi and jujube.

For annual crops, the farm raises cabbage, Napa cabbage, tomatoes, peppers, escarole, endive, fennel, bok choy, eggplant, broccoli, onion, carrot, pea, kale, cucumbers, winter squash, summer squash, beans, garlic, beets, dandelion and many varieties of herbs.

“We have transformed about 10 acres into farmland,” she said. “When both of my sons — Cameron and Wynne Crisman — joined my venture in around 2008 we became a family farm.”

Nikki points out there are no subsidies for small farms, no crop insurance “nobody having our backs.” Having the skills to do almost everything for ourselves has been a farm saver, she added.

“I can’t speak for ‘California farmers’ but in our opinion farming in the entire country is only encouraged on a corporate scale which is environmentally, health-wise and emotionally unhealthy,” Nikki said.

“Often the fees, rules and requirements are not scaled in any way, so we wind up paying proportionally more, spending more farming time on book work and having to meet requirements that are onerous for a small operation,” she said.