Small Farm Helping Fill Growing Need in Santa Barbara 

Demand for food in Santa Barbara County has exploded, especially considering the Trump administration’s disdain for food stamps and the country’s high grocery prices. 

Sweet Wheel Farms in Summerland is stepping up to fill stomachs. Over the past seven years, they’ve already delivered fresh produce to doorsteps from Carpinteria to Goleta. But the need for deliveries has grown more than 600 percent in recent months, according to Leslie Person Ryan, who runs the farm and its associated nonprofit, the Santa Barbara Agriculture & Farm Education Foundation. 

Formerly a school, the small farm sits atop a hill, situated practically within residents’ backyards. But it’s home to chickens and bees and covered in a rainbow of fruits and vegetables. Ryan is growing and distributing as much produce as she can.

“It was kind of like an organic thing,” she said, pun intended. “The idea was to solve food insecurity with healthy food. We’re not giving out food that’s laden with preservatives and pesticides. A lot of our recipients are medically fragile — they need clean food, but they can’t afford it, especially after all these federal budget cuts or reduced food resources.”

A sign on the farm reads in big capital letters: “DO YOU KNOW CHILDREN OR A FAMILY THAT NEED FOOD?” After the sign went up, requests started pouring in.

This month, Ryan announced that the farm’s Food with Dignity program has expanded to deliver twice as many produce bags across South County each week. Each delivery feeds about 10 people and contains about $100 worth of food — usually harvested that morning. It’s all funded by private donations and the profits from their daily farmers’ market stand in Summerland.

Every Monday, the farm and its volunteers deliver food to more than 500 people. Now, they are adding more than 300 new deliveries weekly on Thursdays, making about 38,000 a year. On top of that, they are juggling numerous new requests for food every day. Dozens of new volunteers are coming out of the woodwork to help, as well, but they could always use more, Ryan said.

“There’s a whole lot more food insecurity in Santa Barbara. Yesterday, we got two more calls — both SNAP recipients,” she said. “One’s a senior who broke his hip, and he can’t walk. The other is a 90-year-old woman with cancer. It’s so urgent. Right now, there’s so many people that need this.” 

Uncertainty around whether food stamps will be distributed this month has been a major source of stress for people in Santa Barbara County, one in seven of whom rely on food stamps. Although a federal judge just ordered the Trump administration to fully fund food stamps for the millions of Americans who need them, food is anything but secure for these families. 

As demand for food grows, Sweet Wheel is also continuing to serve their longtime recipients, such as Moises Contreras. Contreras, now 22, became the legal guardian of his younger brother after his father passed away from stage four lung cancer three years ago. His father was connected to Ryan and her food delivery service when he was in hospice, but Sweet Wheel kept up the deliveries for the two boys after his passing. 

“Two growing boys definitely need their nutrition, especially with the rise of grocery prices and that sort of thing,” Contreras said. 

Contreras said he receives two to four bags of groceries a week for him and his brother, Jacob, now 14 and a student at Dos Pueblos. They each contain a cornucopia of produce — beans, lemons, tomatoes, beets, Brussels sprouts, kale, berries, and more.

“Sometimes, they make fresh loaves of bread and throw that in there,” he continued. “A dozen to two dozen eggs as well. The other week, she threw in a jar of honey that was really good. Muffins here and there…. I’d consider Leslie a far-away mother,” he said. 

Thankfully, he loves to cook, he said, and “there’s something about using those fresh vegetables and being creative with it that’s really nice.” 

Ryan called the program “a community asset,” and alongside other community groups stepping up to feed the county, it is much needed. 

Next, she’s thinking about including recipes. But right now, they’re “just trying to figure it all out, trying to get enough volunteers to take it all out, delivered to your doorstep. So, if you’re a working mom, you can just come home and there’s a bag of sweet little farm food. Like, here’s dinner, right?” 

For more information or to get involved, email sbafefoundation@gmail.com or contact Leslie Person Ryan at (805) 453-1465.