Bringing Food Back to Saticoy

It’s hard to spot from the highways 126 and 118 that almost encircle it, but back behind the fields and new housing lies the small unincorporated community of Old Town Saticoy, where people struggle to find good, fresh food within walking distance. Calling Saticoy a “USDA-designated food desert,” Sierra Doehr created the nonprofit Saticoy Food Hub to try to alleviate some of the food insecurity in the community where there is no nearby access to fresh produce.

“That’s the reason we wanted to create a food hub,” Doehr says. “Our mission has been to create equitable opportunities. Saticoy is a food desert with no grocery store within the community. A lot of folks are elderly or otherwise can’t make it to the grocery store.”

Growing up in the eastern part of Ventura, Doehr feels a strong connection with the Saticoy community, which she adopted over a decade ago. “I was raised in East Ventura. I went to elementary school at Sacred Heart school. I’ve always been familiar with Saticoy,” she says. “My partner is Daniel Chavez. We met in college. He and his family took me in and I moved to Old Town Saticoy in 2011. I felt so accepted by his family. I felt connected to the community. That house was finally condemned and we took the place where the house stood and turned it into a micro farm.”

The first order of business for the Saticoy Food Hub was to earn nonprofit status. Chavez is the food bank coordinator, and one of a three-member board of directors that oversees the project.

The other two members are Katee Gustavson (recycling and compost coordinator at University of California, Santa Barbara) and Leann Guzik of Ventura, who is a landscape designer by trade. Guzik says she lived in the Saticoy area on Jazmin Avenue, explaining that much of the traditional Saticoy area has been swallowed up by the city of Ventura.

It has been a nightmare to open the Saticoy farmers’ market that the Saticoy Food Hub hopes to establish, Doehr says. “Finding a location has been the most difficult,” she says. Initially they were hoping to block off Violeta Street, visible from the 118 highway. But the zoning regulations were too onerous, and there was also a stipulation that the California Highway Patrol would need to be involved.

Doehr asked for help from the Social Justice Fund for Ventura County, which is a nonprofit that offers fellowships to community members to support them as they become leaders. The Social Justice Fund has provided some funding for the project, and currently pays Doehr a small stipend for her to work, “one-quarter time, which I never do. I do much, much more.”

“They also provide mentors. They set up connection with [Ventura County Supervisor] Matt LaVere, and they identified Saticoy Park as a likely site. We obtained a special use permit through Ventura County Parks and Recreation, and thought we were good to go. But then, Ventura County Planning [Division] said Saticoy Park is not zoned for a farmers’ market so we need a conditional use permit, which is still processing,” says Doehr, who hopes to open the farmers’ market once a month starting in August.

According to Doehr, the Saticoy farmers market will provide more than local farmers bringing fresh produce to the community. “It will be a community event!”

Board member Guzik says she is exploring ways to tap into the backyard produce available in many of the area properties. “I’ve reached out to the ag commissioner. We’re looking into the process to be a certified producer,” she says. “In alignment with our mission, we are working with individuals to create economic opportunities via their vegetable and fruit gardens. There are so many who have avocado trees or something on the properties around here with excess produce, and food and economics go hand in hand.”

Plans for the Saticoy farmers’ market include offering information to residents in Spanish and English about becoming cottage food providers, making food at home kitchens that have been approved by Ventura County. Doehr says she also wants to provide a mobile hot food facility and kids’ activities, including a program where the youngsters can complete activities to earn tokens and then use those to make their own food choices at the market. She is looking into grants to both enable the hub to offer electronic benefits transfers (EBT) to residents who receive assistance and to be able to add matching donations to EBT users to stretch their monthly food allocations.

In the meantime, she is reaching out to residents virtually, walking them through the various licensing requirements to be food providers.

For information about the Saticoy farmers’ market, to make a virtual appointment or to learn ways you can help, visit SaticoyFoodHub.org.