COASTAL ROOTS FARM

The Environmental STEM, Nutrition & Workforce Development Programs provide San Diego youth and adults with “cradle-to-career,” barrier-free, outdoor environmental science and nutrition education, workforce development, and career pathway experiences. This includes Nature Play on the Farm (Toddler-3rd), School and Group Field Trips (Pre-K – 12th), Career Pathway Experiences (6th – 12th), an After-School program and seasonal Farm Camps (K – 5th), a Counselors-in-Training Program (6th – 8th), and Farm Internships (7th through college). Students engage in nature-based hands-on learning, gain leadership experience, and develop essential STEM skills for succeeding in tomorrow’s workforce.

To reduce inequities and achievement gaps, the Farm removes barriers to participation and makes outdoor environmental learning opportunities available to all youth by ensuring equal access, regardless of financial ability. The Farm actively collaborates with Title-I, Title-V, and other low-income schools.

Coastal Roots Farm nourishes its community while sustainably caring for the land it so deeply relies on. The Farm manages 17 acres of certified-organic farmland, consisting of 2.5 acres of vegetable production fields, Education Farm & Gardens, a large-scale Compost Operation, three chicken flocks, and an 8-acre agroforestry “Food Forest.” The Farm’s Food Forest is a strategic, symbiotic ecosystem of orchard trees, shrubs, vegetable crops, herbs, and foraging chickens that yields large harvests while supporting natural ecosystems and wildlife habitats (for example, more than 87 species of birds, including rare and endangered, have been observed in the Food Forest). The Farm’s regenerative agricultural practices build and restore top soils and enrich soil fertility, improve watersheds and conserve water, increase biodiversity, and sequester carbon from the atmosphere. These carbon-farming methods result in a myriad of co-benefits ranging from more fertile soil, more nutrient-dense foods, and overall climate resilience.

The Farm utilizes several agroforestry practices, including:
• Food Forestry: A strategic, symbiotic ecosystem of orchard trees, shrubs, vegetable crops, and herbs.
• Silvopasture: Integrated livestock pastures where, in the case of the Farm, chickens forage and rotationally graze between tree rows.
• Poultry: Chickens forage pests, help fertilize and improve soil health and biodiversity, combat erosion, and produce protein-rich eggs for distribution. Chicken manure also naturally integrates nitrogen into the soil, adding necessary nutrients.
• Alley cropping: After the chickens move through each pasture, the enriched soil is planted with crops to maximize Farm space and increase production yields.
• Swales and berms: A system of ditches built into the land’s contours slowing the flow of rainwater runoff, storing ground water for the trees and vegetable crops to access, and combating soil erosion.
• Wildlife corridors and habitats: Natural ecosystems are encouraged. Over 76 species of birds, including rare and endangered species, have been spotted in our Food Forest.

In addition, the Farm creates its own nutrient-dense soil through an extensive composting and waste diversion program. Since inception in 2014, the Farm has diverted over four million pounds of organic and green waste from the landfill, offsetting thousands of metric tons of CO2 emissions, creating biodiverse soil, and producing vitamin-rich food for its community.

Coastal Roots Farm was founded on ancient Jewish traditions that connect people to community, food, the land, and social justice. Ancient practices and values such as honoring the natural cycles of the earth, letting the land rest, sharing one’s harvest with those in need, and ethical consumption all inform how we grow and share food, care for plants and animals, and connect with our neighbors. While the Farm is a completely secular (i.e., not a religious) organization, we recognize how these values may be applied universally to benefit the land and community. Our programs have been built to be accessible, inclusive and to reach beneficiaries from all walks of life, and our diverse team is committed to a culture that welcomes people of all backgrounds, regardless of religious identity.

Responding to the needs of a dramatically increasing population of Jews in North San Diego County, in addition to a growing number of interfaith families and diverse communities, we seek to create and foster diverse and inclusive access points for North County families and people throughout the region to explore and engage with Jewish life and identity, sustainable agriculture, and food justice. We believe that through creating inclusive spaces that are open to people of all backgrounds and faiths, we can help catalyze a healthier, more vibrate and compassionate community as well as a radically welcoming place to celebrate Jewish life.

We are a living Jewish community farm that uses farming, gardening, and food as a way to teach about Jewish tradition and heritage, build Jewish identity and community, and make the world a more just and sustainable place. We seek to make practices that are thousands of years old relevant lessons for today. These practices inform how we grow produce, share belongings, treat neighbors, observe the passing of time, celebrate and improve, care for plants and animals, and create a vibrant, welcoming community.

The Farm offers seasonal Festivals based on Jewish agricultural holidays (Sukkot, Tu B’shvat, and Shavout), as well as many other public events that engage more than 5,000 community members annually and provide unique opportunities for people of all backgrounds to experience the intersection between sustainable agriculture, food justice, and Jewish tradition and culture. It is through these types of events that we are able to create vibrant, meaningful, and nourishing experiences for our community - experiences that reach across barriers of identity, culture, religion, and more, and connect our diverse neighbors back to one another, the land, and their food.

COVID-19 Update: Currently our community programs and Jewish Agricultural Festivals have moved to virtual platforms and/or drive-through formats in order to maintain safe social distancing. We look forward to welcoming our community back to the Farm for fun, educational, and engaging on-site events once conditions allow.