Tag archives: organic

SBC Food Action Network
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 10, 2023

It was back in 2011 that UCSB environmental studies professor Dr. David Cleveland published his white paper indicating that 99 percent of the produce grown in Santa Barbara County was being exported elsewhere. That statistic alone wouldn’t be so startling given that agriculture and food is the number one industry in Santa Barbara County. The […]

Summerland Farm Prevails
By Kelly Mahan Herrick   |   November 16, 2021

Escrow closed earlier this week on a 6.84-acre property at the top of Temple Street in Summerland; the property has been the subject of much community discussion over the years, as its fate was uncertain until about two months ago, when the Carpinteria/Summerland Unified School District, which has owned the property since 1955, accepted a […]

Farm to Cart – Fresh Food and No Long Lines
By Claudia Schou   |   August 27, 2020

Local food activist and Sweet Wheel Farm & Flowers owner Leslie Person Ryan is on a mission to solve the “food desert” of Summerland. The think-outside-the-box purveyor of all things grown from the earth offers fresh fruit, vegetables, herbs, baked goods, wildflowers, and specialty foods made with ingredients from her garden. Person Ryan operates two […]

Pilot Organic Agriculture Program
By Leslie Westbrook   |   June 11, 2020

The Carpinteria Unified School District at their May 12 board meeting approved the leasing of a portion of the Whitney acreage that has been in limbo as a potential new campus site for Summerland School for as long as I can remember. Leslie Person Ryan’s Organic Sweetwater Farms (OSF) will be planting four acres of […]

The Time to Plant Your COVID Victory Garden is Right Now
By Valerie Rice   |   May 28, 2020

“The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body, but the soul.” – Alfred Austin Couldn’t we all use some nurturing right now? Planting and harvesting your own food is rewarding and even more so now, with fewer […]

The Right Stuff: Santa Barbara’s Kate Farms is Changing Lives with Plant-Based Lightning in a Bottle
By Nick Schou   |   April 23, 2020

Plant-Based Nutrition with Personal Roots Perseverance must be all over the Laver family DNA. It was there for tennis giant Rod Laver when he won the Australian Open in five sets, four hours, and one-hundred-degree heat. It was there for Laver’s nephew Richard, who, with his wife Michelle spent years developing their own home-grown nutrition […]

Makes 3 Organics: Kristine Sperling
By Dalina Michaels   |   April 16, 2020

As we all sit in our homes, we still have local moms who are creating and running businesses. So we celebrate their stories – and if you have one, please pass it along! When Kristine Sperling’s daughter, Alice, was young, she developed asthma, allergies, and eczema. Her physician at the time recommended they detox her […]

Organic Soup Kitchen Expands Delivery Service During Coronavirus Scare
By Nick Schou   |   March 19, 2020

In the past several days, the so-called coronavirus or COVID-19 pandemic has spread into California and registered its first infection in Santa Barbara. On March 13, Santa Barbara’s Organic Soup Kitchen announced it is expanding its delivery service to help people stay in and stay healthy during the health scare. “We produce soup and deliver […]

Fragrant Cane Supper Club
By Dalina Michaels   |   February 27, 2020

There is a new supper club in town – but it’s not your granny’s get-together of the ‘50s. This is a chance to experience a meal on a new level… a “high”-er level, if you will. Just when you thought your Friday night couldn’t get more exciting, enter Melissa Petitto and Cynthia Abulafia. Both moms. […]

Sweet Wheel Farm & Flowers
By Kelly Mahan Herrick   |   June 13, 2019

Leslie Person Ryan, the owner of Letter Perfect on Coast Village Road for 35 years, ventured into Summerland at the end of 2018, opening the Summerland Center for the Arts, a shop, gallery, and gathering space on Lillie Avenue. Last week she added a mobile produce shop to the Center, called Sweet Wheel Farm & […]

Gaby Gaby Hey
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 8, 2018

Gaby Moreno moved from Guatemala to Los Angeles at 18 to pursue a career in music, and really never looked back. Not even musically, at least not for almost a decade. The singer-songwriter who blends blues, jazz, ’60s rock ‘n’ roll, and Latin American influences into something she calls “Spanish folk-soul” fell in love with […]