Tales of Trips & Tours by Patty Gaffney … A tour of The Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano
The January T&T kick-started 2025 with an enthusiastic and curious crowd of 34 day-trippers touring The Ecology Center under the auspices of Johnny Wilson, Farm Manager. Many thanks to all our carpool drivers, some of whom are new members.
Located in San Juan Capistrano on a historic agricultural property, we walked the pathways of the Market Garden, a two acre farm within the farm, employing a Parisienne farm growing emphasis focused on growing 6o chef driven ingredients everyday. We saw the rows of crisp greens and fennel, varieties of dormant peach trees in the Fruit Forest, sunflowers and other blooms, all in contrast to the urban sprawl surrounding the farm. Beyond the Market Garden were the tractor-style fields of larger volume, less diverse, crops, currently strawberries and brassicas.
We learned of the history of the land, the prior farming families of the area, the establishment and growth of The Ecology Center. We learned of their mission, their regenerative farming practices, their future plans for a bio-regional seed initiative launching soon with a seed lab and for a cut flower stand where half the Market Garden will become a flower garden in the March timeframe. We also had the opportunity to meet two graduates of the Apprenticeship Program who were so capable and successful that they were hired full-time by The Ecology Center and to hear about the vision of this apprenticeship program.
And after our tour, with the rich topsoil dust on our shoes, after hearing-seeing-smelling The Ecology Center ethos, we topped it off with a literal farm-to-table lunch at their Campesino Cafe rounding out the full sensory experience. We filled the cafe tables with orders of wood fired pizzas, salads, egg toasts and sandwiches and pesto quinoa bowls, all of it vibrant and delicious. At the Farm Stand, of course we shopped: cool tees, veggies and other ingredients from the Market Garden, pantry items such as strawberry jam, half loaves of sourdough focaccia, chocolate chip tahini sesame cookies. Yum!
Our last stop was Seaside Growers Nursery, a gem hidden down a driveway and across the train tracks. A unique aspect was that half the main area was reserved for shade plants and the other half for sun, and all well-curated. Our members were busy finding treasures to pot up for their Valentine’s planter creations and other unique specimens.
It was delightful to witness such a well attended T&T in the January sun, our daytrippers fully engaged in a dialogue with Johnny, feasting on nourishing food and then being creative designing their auction items. For our T&T tribe, it was an excellent start to 2025.
