South Coast Farms

San Juan Capistranos' Organic Farm & Farmstand

Welcome to the Home Page of South Coast Farms, Orange Counties' Certified Organic growers of wholesome, organic fruits and vegetables. 

We are at 32701 Alipaz St., San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675 

Our telephone number is 949-661-9381.  For directions to the farm use the toolbar link "Directions to Farm". 

We have been farming certified organic fruits and vegetables in San Juan Capistrano for 10 years now.  When I first came back to Orange County in 1996, I had been away from the Orange County for a long time.  Now 2006, the change form rural to suburb to urban is final.  Orange County, a land of fertile vineyards, orchards and row crops is now The OC. Orange County is orange less.

Our farm is an anomaly.  In less than 10 years this could be the only farm left in Orange County. Not only is there soon to be nowhere to farm, there is really no one to left do the farming in Orange County.

Notice that we have a few new pages on our website. Please visit those pages to see what we are up too next.  I have expanded the scope of South Coast Farms.

.We have added a non-profit subsidy, the San Juan Family Farm Museum.  This museum is to be located in the Joel Congdon House located on our farm. We intend to celebrate the history of family farming in San Juan Capistrano and the history of the family farm in our country. Like our farm, the the Congdon House is owned by the City of San Juan Capistrano and is leased by us from them.  I applaud the City of San Juan Capistrano and it's citizens for having the foresight to preserve their past.   There is no other place like this in Orange County and it is only possible because the Citizens of San Juan Capistrano really do be believe in  Historic Preservation..

The other link is to Pure Prairie Organic Beef.  It is my plan to grow certified organic, grass fed beef in North Dakota.  Family farming is under pressure in North Dakota.  It is a story heard across the prairie countryside.   I am going to the prairie to grow grass.  Grass grows well there  and even I can probably do it. The grass we convert into certified organic, grass fed beef. Beef which is healthy for the earth and for us.  Just another choice in the omnivores dilemma. What do we choose to eat?  I hope to give us all another choice.

I hope you find this website informative. After 10 years of organic farming and quite few more years before that learning to farm I have some information stored up in my head.  I hope to pass it on and most of all I hope to give you a choice.  We are what we eat.  We can eat what we want.  We give you another choice.  That is my job, it is what we do.  We give you a choice and your support is what keeps us going!  Thank you so much.

Our Mission

Company Profile

  A Recent Article From  Natural Foods Merchandiser

This article is a brief history of how I, a suburban boy, ended up just like my ancestors from County Cork in the bottle, a poor dirt farmer!

by Mark Mulcahy
I recently called George Kibby, the farmer for this year's Natural Product's Expo West farm tour, to find out why he began farming.
"You know, an ag professor at Cal Poly once asked the same questionof a student" he said. "So he told him he dreamed of making a million dollars farming like his father. The professor inquired: 'Your father made a million dollars farming?' To which the student  replied, 'No, but he's still dreaming about it.' "
Right then I knew he was someone I wanted to meet. The real story, though, goes something like this:
It was there that he fell in love with the fields and the people who work those fields. Kibby, an enterprising high school student, began farming on a half acre in Orange County, Calif., in 1975, when orange groves, strawberry stands and truck farms were very much a part of the local landscape. It's hard to believe, looking at the area today. Kibby worked after school and peddled berries to the local Alpha Beta markets from Whittier to San Clemente, Calif. He would pick the fruit up at the fields, with workers hand delivering the trays of strawberries one by one. It was there that he fell in love with the fields and the people who work those fields.
Kibby headed off to college and studied life sciences and then agriculture business management at California Polytechnic University in Pomona. While at Cal Poly, he worked at a dairy and again realized how much he loved working on a farm. Because he worked at the dairy, he was able to buy calves and raise heifers on the side.
He sold the cows at auction and, in 1980, bought some old farm equipment with the proceeds and quit school. He had taken to heart the Cal Poly motto: Learn by doing. And learn he did!
He grew conventional strawberries in Santa Barbara, Calif., but became interested in organic farming by watching what the local organic growers were doing. It was through this observation that he became convinced that the future was in sustainable farming.
His next venture took him from Santa Barbara, Calif., to Mexico, where he learned Spanish (invaluable for anyone in agriculture today) and more about farming. He grew vegetables south of the border for 12 years before returning in 1996 to start South Coast Farms in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., with his 8-year-old daughter Bianca.
They started with 30 acres of conventional farmland, and then, as Kibby put it, they set out "to make things right." They planted cover crops to build the soil, grew a few crops and patiently waited the four difficult years—while the farm income was limited but rent and other fixed costs were high—required to transition from conventional to certified organic.
With the transition behind him, Kibby now loves the challenge of organic farming and providing great food to his San Juan Capistrano community. He grows produce selected for flavor and eye appeal, harvested at the peak of flavor, for his own farm store and community supported agriculture program.
If you're like me, you'll probably want to meet this man who considers growing food for a local community one of life's great callings and an important and noble endeavor.
March will be a beautiful time at South Coast Farms, with the harvesting of strawberries, cauliflower, lettuces, brasiccas, peas, flowers, chard and much more. So whether this is your first visit to Expo West or if you return as regularly as the swallows to Capistrano, make sure you join us Saturday, March 8, for a wonderful afternoon on one of the last remaining farms in the area. I look forward to seeing you there.
Mark Mulcahy runs an organic education and produce consulting firm. He can be reached at 707.939.8355 or by e-mail at markmulcahy@earthlink.net.

Telephone: 949-661-9381

Fax:     949-661-9349

 

Postal address:  32701 Alipaz St    San Juan Capistrano CA  92675

Please call us on the phone with any questions. Our email has been spammed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!