Building Soil with Wool, Fish Scraps, and Molasses

What do sheep, local fishing boats, and a jar of molasses have in common? They’re the building blocks of a new generation of soil foods created here in Santa Barbara County!

Join the Santa Barbara County Horticultural Society at their November meeting where Victoria Voss will share how Marino Soil Foods is turning seafood scraps and low-grade wool into slow-release pellets and a fermented fish brew, and explain why feeding soil life matters more than feeding plants.

Come learn how to build what Victoria has coined “a local nutrientshed” by harvesting resources from a natural range and using them within that range for fertility and plant nutrition.

Victoria is co-founder and COO of Marino Soil Foods, a Santa Barbara public benefit corporation that converts seafood byproducts and waste wool into soil amendments and plant nutrients. The daughter of a local commercial fisherman, she co-founded Get Hooked Seafood, Santa Barbara’s community-supported fishery, and ran it for eight years before shifting her focus from the dock to the dirt. Her background spans food systems, circular agriculture, and operations.

Santa Barbara County Horticultural Society meetings are free and open to the public, and are on the first Wednesday of every month except January and July.