Farm Visit: Coleman Family Farms

We’ve been sourcing from Coleman Family Farms (via the Santa Monica farmers market) twice per week since we opened in 2017; this week, we took a team field trip to the source — a combined 18 acres across two farms in Carpinteria and Ventura County.

The Coleman family has been farming the land since 1963, when Bill Coleman purchased the Carpinteria property and began planting a variety of herbs, vegetables and edible flowers that were borderline unknown at the time, like spigarello, snow peas, lemon basil and borage. His biodiverse, pesticide-free farming legacy is carried on by his son, Romeo Coleman.

In addition to farming his land without any pesticides, Bill founded what eventually became the Santa Barbara Farmers Market and was a beloved presence at the Santa Monica market for 30-plus years. Today, Romeo helms the operation with the same principles as his father.

We spent the day roaming the fields with Romeo, learning about how the drought has affected his business, the way tech has influenced agriculture, and much more. His mom, Delia, even cooked us lunch!

It was an incredible, educational day and an excellent way to connect the dots between who’s growing the food we put on your plates — and a strong reminder of why we do what we do: to support responsible stewards of the earth, like Romeo.