Coastal Roots Farm opens its Farm Stand to the public

Coastal Roots Farm — a nonprofit organization which helps foster a vibrant, healthy North County, supports diverse Jewish engagement and addresses gaps in the local food system — is making its locally grown, high-quality produce available to the public for the first time by opening the doors to its Farm Stand in Encinitas.

“We are so excited to share this amazing locally-grown produce with our community,” said Daron ‘Farmer D’ Joffe, director of Agricultural Innovation and Development at Leichtag Foundation and Founding Director of Coastal Roots Farm. “At our Farm Stand, no one should feel priced out of buying fresh food for themselves or their families.”

The Farm Stand is a new social enterprise that will support the Farm’s mission to ensure that the entire community has fair and equal access to local, sustainable food grown using only biodynamic and organic processes. It’s open every Thursday from 4 to 7 p.m. at 441 Saxony Road in Encinitas.

When buying produce from the Farm Stand, customers are directly supporting education and sustenance for the community, as all proceeds from the Farm Stand support the Farm’s vision to reduce food and nutrition insecurity in North County. This includes supporting the vibrant Jewish connection and providing hands-on, experiential learning opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds in the areas of farming, gardening, environmental stewardship and Jewish tradition.

Coastal Roots Farm currently donates over 50 percent of its harvests to local food banks and community organizations such as the Encinitas Community Resource Center, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church and the Jewish Family Service of San Diego’s Food Distribution at Camp Pendleton (through the Hand Up Youth Food Pantry program). Since becoming an independent nonprofit earlier this year, Coastal Roots Farm has donated tens of thousands of pounds of produce within the North County community.

To add to that community giving, the Farm Stand will accept Electronic Benefit Cards for food stamps (EBT) and is piloting an alternative, “pay what you can” system for produce sales.

“Our goal is to share our food with those who need it most,” Joffe said. “The Farm Stand is one of the many ways we plan on accomplishing that.”

To learn more about the Farm Stand and Coastal Roots Farm overall, please visit www.coastalrootsfarm.org or follow it on Facebook.

— Submitted press release