It started with a sign asking a question that changed the trajectory of Summerland and its food crisis:
“Do you know children or a family that needs food?”
Leslie Person Ryan is not the type to sit around and watch destruction happen. In fact, when I met her for a tour of Sweet Wheel Farms, she rarely stopped working–picking up plastic, tending to the vegetables, or petting Gracie, the farm’s cat–all while educating me about the fresh, chemical-free, regenerative, and sustainable farm she owns just miles from the beach.
A farmer by birth, Ryan wasn’t thinking much about irrigation systems and non-GMO wheat during the devastating 2018 debris flow. Everything changed when she spoke to a mother who’d fought for the last stale sandwich available in Summerland’s lone liquor store. For ten days, the community was closed off from goods; without a grocery store or convenience market, landlocked residents had little means to eat.
As a result, Sweet Wheel Farm Stand was born, offering organic produce, farm products, and homemade baked goods seven days a week. In its first year in business, more than 1800 meals were given to local veterans, and fresh produce was donated to locals in need. So Leslie put up a sign asking neighbors if there was a need for food.
The response was overwhelming. Almost immediately, dozens of local families signed up for the Sweet Wheel Farms community farm box. “What I’ve learned is that people walking by, young to old, learn that we’re giving away food and want to help,” says Lisa Mabie, Operations Coordinator.
Eventually, the food program grew too big for just a farm stand. “I realized we weren’t just Sweet Wheel Farms, a cute farm cart,” Ryan says. “My goal was to solve food security and teach people how you can be organic, and have higher aspirations.” So the organization shifted away from the name inspired by the e-bike it had been powered by to Santa Barbara Agriculture and Farm Education Foundation (SBAFE). “Step by step, we’re growing into that name,” Ryan says.
Obtaining non-profit status served as the guiding path toward securing the 7-acre plot they now own in Summerland, which complements their land in Orcutt.
The Food Fragile project is one arm of the nonprofit which provides chemical, herbicide, and pesticide free food. But it's also the most time-intensive. Volunteers deliver boxes of food every week and also work on the farm in Summerland that overlooks the ocean.
They have dozens of families signed up for the Food Fragile Program. “The fruits and vegetables [from Sweet Wheel Farms] have enhanced my health,” says Food Fragile recipient Teketa Bellamy. “I have more options to blend, juice, and heal myself. I really appreciate them for supporting and nourishing me with organic food that's safe to eat.”
A working farm never sleeps and Ryan doesn’t either. “We are always doing something unusual and experimental,” she adds, mentioning partnerships with CATE, Laguna Blanca, and UCSB. Everything from cooking up tortilla chips to lobbying to reforming Santa Barbara County’s bee restrictions, the SBAFE Foundation is involved.
With hope for new irrigation systems, a tractor, and more chickens, the SBAFE will continue developing programs to keep the community healthy and fed. “We need people to help us,” adds Ryan. “Sometimes we’re so busy farming it’s hard to ask everyone for money.”
Learn more or volunteer at sbafefoundation.com.