Our Mission

Santa Cruz Local Foods seeks to provide a fresh outlet for the growing interest in and production of local foods in our area which is complete and convenient for shoppers and which is beneficial and sustainable for farmers and food producers. We also value the community-building aspect of farmers markets and CSA’s, and intend to foster the connection between all members, growers and eaters alike, by holding regular local foods potlucks and other events.

Eleanor Taylor

Eleanor Taylor grew up along the Humboldt county coast of northern California where she enjoyed visitng the redwoods, harvesting wild blackberries and huckleberries, baking, and being an older sister in her homeschooled family of seven. She always had a love for fresh fruits and vegetables and enjoyed the time spent planting vegetables and fruit trees in the backyard with her father. She began to develop a passion for local foods and nutrition following her exploration of healing diets in order to help her overcome health challenges in college. She has since become committed to eating and shopping locally and has worked on multiple small organic farms and in kitchens preparing local foods to further her participation in the farm-to-table process.

Noah Pinck

Noah Pinck grew up in San Jose, California. He was a total computer nerd as a teenager, overweight, inactive, and devoted to creating online community websites and building his hardware collection. His technologically-minded side helped to open new doors for him in his adult years, as his interest in healthier ways of living began to blossom, by helping him land a job as a systems adminstrator at the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op. This is where he learned more about organic food and began to tie two of his passions together.

Later, his interest transformed into a complete way of being when he moved to Ojai, CA and started working on organic farms and working and living in an organic grocery store. He experienced the full cycle of farm-to-table living: he got to grow the food, sell it in the store, and cook with it in the cafe. From Ojai he moved to Arcata, CA, where he worked on a 3 acre bio-intensive organic salad farm. This is where he met Eleanor and they became best friends. He now works for farmers markets for Happy Boy Farms and is looking for land to farm close to town.