Marigold Farms: Growing Community One Seedling at a Time

Marigold Farms started with a dream: to teach people how to grow organic food in their own yards, emphasizing the native flora and fauna of Ventura County. When the nonprofit organization really got going in fall 2019, they were well on their way to offering several free workshops and events that would promote food over lawns, connect people with their food through regenerative gardening and teaching about living soil. And then, just like that, everything was closed.

Like every other business in 2020, Ojai-based Marigold Farms had to be creative to continue their program goals during the COVID-19 crisis.

“It was really hard when we had to stop our workshops,” says Sophie Seeholzer, board treasurer. “Hands-on education and community building are the two elements that started the organization; we needed to stop and see what our community needed.”

Within days, Sophie and her sister Gisa Seeholzer, board president and program director, came up with a new plan to offer seedlings to the community at large. They were able to receive donations for spring seedlings from Native Seeds in Arizona and used all the containers they had on hand to grow in.

“We started the seeds indoors under a grow light and would do about 144 seedlings at a time,” says Gisa. “The best thing that could have happened was the boom in gardening at home. We were able to provide seedlings to the community and eventually produce as well. The seedling giveaway worked out so well that we now offer three giveaways a year: fall, spring and early summer. We are very excited to get more workshops going, as well as documentary screenings!”

The nonprofit was also able to give away seedling trays to schools and nonprofits in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Just recently, they received a grant from No Child Goes Hungry to produce seedlings for Ventura County school gardens and garden programs for 2021.

They’re currently working on expanding their growing beds, building their food forest and setting up a community farm cart that will allow families to drive up on the weekend to pick up farm goods. “We hope that our programs will help address some of the economic issues our community faces, including food insecurity,” says Brent Haggin, board secretary and farm manager.

Just recently, Marigold Farms has partnered with Make Soil to help create healthy living soil through composting with the goal of giving it away to the community.

To learn how to drop off compostable items for the Worm World composting station or otherwise participate with Marigold Farms’ programs, visit Marigold-Farms.org.