We Grow Community
Noyo Food Forest, with its signature Learning Garden—a small climate-smart production farm spread out over roughly an acre on the Fort Bragg High School campus—was founded in 2006 by three coastal women who first envisioned accessible garden spaces for the community to use. From their initial work, the Learning Garden evolved into a thriving production farm dedicated to growing good food for the Fort Bragg Unified School District farm-to-cafeteria program. Our 18 years of experience has taught us that children are more likely to eat nutritious food if they are involved in growing it. Fresh produce, grown with regenerative, sustainable practices by students, community volunteers, and Noyo Food Forest staff, is walked weekly from our farm to the school cafeteria, less than a block away.
Noyo Food Forest is also a center for education in community-based agriculture, nutrition, sustainable pest management, developing increased biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and other climate-resilient practices. We offer free and low-cost workshops, paid internships, and classes in organic, community-based agriculture to train new local farmers and gardeners to feed the community. We host the North Coast’s largest annual Earth Day Festival, and work in close partnership with a number of organizations in our community including Noyo Center for Marine Science, Mendocino Land Trust, Latino Coalition, and Friends and Families.
Noyo Food Forest works to cultivate a healthy local food system by creating opportunities for Mendocino Coast youth and community to learn about, grow, and access sustainably grown, garden-fresh foods.
Noyo Food Forest is supported financially by plant and produce sales plus donations and grants, and operated by staff, board of directors, students and volunteers.