When I first moved to the quaint town of Carpinteria, CA in 2019 I couldn’t help but explore and go on walks whenever I had the chance. Each store I passed had a rustic charm, the beach breeze blew throughout the downtown area and the cutest little farm cart sat across the street from my favorite coffee shop — Lucky Llama. That little farm cart is none other than the lovely Farm Cart Organics, a Carpinteria staple owned by Katherine and Jason. Read my interview with the founders below to see exactly why I fell in love with supporting them and their mission to bring local + organic goodies to the people!
1. What's the story behind Farm Cart Organics and how it came to be?
Katherine and I were gifted the opportunity to open the Farm Cart from her father, Tom Shepherd in 2012. Tom is one of this areas original Organic farmers. He has been growing vegetables and his famous Shepherd Salad mix since 1973, and he gave us his Farm Cart and the opportunity to harvest and sell directly from his Carpinteria farm to the community. Katherine and I had just returned from traveling in Asia and were looking for a spiritually fulfilling business to dive into. The Farm Cart fit that bill perfectly, as there is nothing more fulfilling as a business than providing affordable, nutritious food to your community. It is so rare to be able to do something for money that you completely believe in.While it has been super fulfilling, it has also been super hard. Farming is tough, Tom’s farm moved out of town quickly, and The Farm Cart required long hours and years of commitment to get momentum going while we learned how to farm ourselves and built relationships with the growers around us, but after 5 years we were able to come out the other side and were stable enough to build an awesome team around us. Nowadays, we are raising two small children, farming a couple of small plots in Carpinteria, working with a super inspiring crew of local growers that have our same intentions, and are looking to the future where are able to bring affordable, awesome truly organic food to the greatest community possible. Oh yeah, and we are opening a restaurant in Carpinteria this December as well!! :)
2. As a Carpinteria local I get so happy every time I see the farm cart in town. It's become a staple for many and also a big part of the Patagonia community at my job. Why is supporting local farmers so important and how does it help people improve their environmental footprint?
Thanks Leah, we really appreciate the love and the fact that you see us as a community entity, because that is what we are striving to be! We are striving to be a hub for our local community to access the best of what the local growers are working so hard to grow.
As for your question about supporting local farmers and how it helps people improve their environmental footprint. It's a simple question and a complicated one in the same breathe.
On the simple side of things, by buying from local growers at the farmer’s markets, through a local CSA like ours, or through a place like our Farm Cart immediately reduces fuel usage from long distance shipping and cuts out the majority of the packaging that would head to the landfill after delivery. Outlets like ours re-use and return the Farmer’s boxes and strive to eliminate waste and re-use everything possible in the distribution channel. It is a challenge, as we are forced to break many of the bureaucratic rules in place in these areas. The farmers and ourselves see our environmental responsibilities as a precedent above the restrictions placed upon us.
On the more complicated side, supporting our local organic farmers eliminates the distribution of out-of-season crops from far away places such as Mexico and Central America where large Agri-business takes disgusting advantage of low wages, horrible living conditions, and what we consider to be modern slavery to produce “organic certified” fruits and vegetables in huge quantities to fulfill large scale organic demand. These businesses are supporting and facilitating large scale poverty by continuing to hold absurd profit margins above human and environmental integrity. As we all know, gross poverty and environmental destruction go hand in hand. Which is the case in these areas.
Not to get on my soapbox too much, but local Organic farming is tough right now. Huge farms have gotten into the business and have developed huge farms in Mexico. Prices are low for local growers and labor prices are high. International produce crosses over the borders virtually tariff free, while international producers pay less for 7 days of labor than domestic growers pay for 1 day.
So, local knowledgeable for our people is that buying from the good regional farmers is making a HUGE, unseen impact on fuel consumption, landfill packaging, environmental destruction, and the exploitation of poor working peoples. So, THANK YOU!
3. How does Farm Cart Organics incorporate regenerative, bio-dynamic and organic agriculture practices into the business?
So, this is a tough topic for the organic farmers that are farming for their livelihoods right now. I am fortunate to operate both a non-profit type of farm for a local University and a for profit farm that I grow a portion of our CSA’s produce for. On the non-profit farm, I farm minimum till, Bio-Dynamic, permanent beds, and incorporate a large chicken flock into our compost production system. My practice at the Pacifica Farm is as regenerative as possible in this zoning area, as I am breaking the rules deeply for the amount of animals I am allowed to have on the farm. On my CSA farm, I am striving to bridge the gap between the non-profit farm and the farm that must be profitable or as close as possible, by following these practices with a Tractor. It is really fun developing systems to bridge this gap with the idea that we can share and inspire others to do the same.
And this is where I find real farmers, in the middle, wanting to create the perfect, regenerative, bio-dynamic "Biggest Little Farm." But, none of them have been given 10 million dollars to do it as they were, and they all are being put in a spot where they must compete with $80 dollar a week labor “organic” farms from Mexico or die trying. It is a tough place to be, and unfortunately it is getting tougher for our local farmers to compete in the organic marketplace.
So, I do what is sensible for our business, I seek out the growers that care about their soil health, the growers that have robust compost programs, and that cover crop their field rotations. These are the guys that let crops go to flower and maintain informal hedge rows for their native pollinators, and they are the guys that don’t grow stupid things out of season, and the ones that have insect bites in their arugula when it gets hot. This is why we have come to love farms like Something Good and Cuyama Orchards. They care, they compost, and they are looking to do better all of the time. Their soil is alive, and their produce reflects that.
In the long term, I will continue to push my farming to be as completely traditional as a modern farmer with an efficient little tractor can be. And that is what I see regenerative, and bio-dynamics to be. A return to what farming was. A utilization and an appreciation of nature in its complexities. However, to create this beautiful food in scale, I am striving to bridge that gap with technology.
My dream is to convert a large conventional Oxnard farm into a Bio-Dynamic, almost no-till, permanent bed, crazy diverse, beautiful, pollinator friendly example of what the modern tractor farm can be.
We will see, maybe Patagonia wants to do this too.
4. How can people find you or sign up for a farm box?
People can sign up at our website http://www.farmcartorganics.com/
Sign up, choose a box size, utilize our online resources, eat good, and be stoked!