Moonlighting: These SLO County workers strike a balance across careers
Story by Katy Budge
Photography by Lindsay Garner
When the clock strikes 4pm, teacher Milton Hambly becomes a farmer. And when the page of the calendar turns to September, radio DJ Neal Losey heads to the fields to harvest wine grapes. There are many people out there just like Milton and Neal — moonlighters. For some, it’s about the extra cash. Others are looking for a line of work that really strikes a chord. Dual interests and incomes are for these two hardworking men the perfect balance of challenge and intrigue.
Teaching On the Farm and Off
It’s actually a bit hard to figure out which of Milton’s jobs is his secondary gig. Since 2019, he and his wife, Gina, have owned and operated Hambly Farms, a picturesque lavender farm in the rolling hills of San Miguel. In addition to a busy calendar of U-pick workshops and on-the-farm events, Hambly Farms produces and sells all manner of their own lavender products.
Add to that the never ending maintenance of running a farm, and Milton already has a full plate. However, farming isn’t his primary career. He’s been a high school history teacher for 28 years.
He added nighttime community college classes to his schedule several years ago, but has worked the last 23 years at Chalone Peaks Middle School in King City. While many of us would wilt trying to focus a room full of eighth-graders, he’s still going strong, and was among a handful of educators recently honored with a Monterey County Teacher of the Year award.
“It’s just such a great career,” Milton says. “It’s fulfilling, engaging and something different every day. I really enjoy eighth-graders, and I just try to fill them with as much knowledge as I can.” As for choosing history in particular, “I always loved it, and I had a great history teacher at Atascadero High School — Mr. Barnes.”
That passion for teaching translates to Hambly Farms, where he gets to impart wisdom from the fields to farm visitors.
“Agritourism has really taken off,” Milton notes. “More and more people are interested about how plants are grown, about where their food comes from. We try to educate the public about what a small family farm really looks like,” he shares.
Putting a New Spin on Things
Many local radio listeners know of Neal Losey. He’s been a fixture at public radio station KCBX-FM since 1993 when he started volunteering as host of the Saturday evening “Night Train” program. In 1997, he added the weekday “Morning Cup” show to his on-air schedule, and was hired as the station’s music director.
Combined with a 30-plus year stint at beloved Boo Boo Records in Downtown San Luis Obispo, Neal has managed to turn his childhood love of music into a fulfilling career. Little did he know that it would also get him a B-side gig that he’s equally passionate about.
Neal got his start in radio at Cal Poly’s KCPR station. After graduating with a history major, he remained friends with another young student DJ he’d met at the station — Matt Trevisan. That name is very familiar to wine aficionados; Matt and his wife, Maureen, own Linne Calodo, an acclaimed Paso Robles winery known for its creatively balanced Rhône wine blends and zinfandels.
Neal recounts the night that he was drawn in. “I thought we were just going to a regular dinner at [the Trevisans’] house,” Neal recalls. However, it turned out to be a wine club event that included a vineyard tour. Neal was immediately intrigued with Matt’s connection to the vines and offered to help with the upcoming harvest.
“After we did 17 tons in a day and were at it until 3am, I think Matt thought I’d just do it once and quit, but I was hooked right away,” Neal recalls. That was in 2013, so evidently something about the wine industry was music to his ears. Maybe it has something to do with growing up on a farm in Tehachapi, “but I just love working harvests,” he says.
In the ensuing decade, Neal also spent time in the winery’s tasting room, but now “just” works that grueling harvest schedule and helps with crafting the inventive blends that put Linne Calodo on the map.
“I had absolutely no language in wine, but it’s inspiring working with Matt,” Neal shares. “He doesn’t just tell you to do something; he talks you through his process and explains why, what the reasoning behind it is.” And, Neal appreciates that due to how the Trevisans operate Linne Calodo, those reasons are pure. “It’s the right thing to do for the earth,” he says.
He’s also thankful for the chance to explore new interests. “To learn something new a little later in life that I have a passion for, being in that Linne Calodo cellar is one of my favorite places in the world,” he explains. Of course, being behind the microphone at KCBX is another.
Like wine and cheese, these men have found their career’s complements. What may appear a stark contrast to their day jobs is, in a sense, the spice that keeps life interesting.
