Farm-to-Table comes to life at The Ecology Center with the opening of Campesino Café this month. Since its founding in 2008, the San Juan Capistrano nonprofit has been on a mission to nourish and inspire the community with the vision of an ecological food future.
Planned for a September opening, Campesino Café will be at the center of The Ecology Center's efforts to engage the community with a taste of the abundance that is possible through the creative collaboration for the health of people and the planet.
Organizers describe Campesino as a bright and welcoming environment where the community can gather over ethically sourced coffee drinks, hand-blended teas, juices pressed from fresh farm produce, and light breakfast and lunch fare that celebrates the center’s crop rotation.
Open to the public five days a week, the offering will be more than simply an inviting new point of entry in the community - it will serve as another arm of experiential education, showcasing the commercial viability of their regenerative ethos through a working demonstration of a zero-waste, closed-loop food and beverage model. As they put it, “learn by doing” never tasted so good.
The community invites you to join in building this public gathering place where individuals and families, locals and visitors, can connect over healthy food, experience the reality of a healthy village, and leave inspired to foster healthy change in their own lives.
Other culinary offerings at The Ecology Center include the return of Community Table in 2022. Guests experience a renowned chef at the farm to design an ecological meal around our four seasonal rotations (market garden, milpa, berries, cover crops).
The rustic, family-style feast in The Ecology Center courtyard features thoughtful courses crafted exclusively from ingredients grown on our 28-acre Regenerative Organic™ farm. With a guest list capped at just 60 people, this intimate gathering is designed to provide an authentic taste of the farm.
A Model Village Fully Realized
In many ways, the challenges of 2020 proved to be a blessing in disguise, pushing The Ecology Center to lean deeply into its values for ecology, economy, and equity in the local food system.
“Through focusing efforts and resources around growing food for our community, we’ve gained opportunities for an unprecedented expansion of both reach and programming.”
Today, with the annual participation of 150,000 community members and over 30 programs providing nourishment, education, and cultural enrichment, they find themselves ahead of schedule on the path to building a Village into a world-class destination for collaborative change, and a replicable model for communities around the world. The Ecology Center is located at 32701 Alipaz St in San Juan Capistrano. theecologycenter.org
