Our Story

Sweet Wheel Summerland Farm is now owned and operated by the local nonprofit Santa Barbara Agriculture and Farm Education Foundation. 

Sweet Wheel Farm & Flowers was created to fill a need for fresh food in our community. Summerland's lack of grocery stores and farmer’s markets leave the citizens of Summerland with few options for fresh produce and healthy food. During the tragic mudslides of 2018, Summerland was cut off from the rest of the world, and cut off from the food supply chain. The devastating effects of the tragedy and the consequences of no grocery stores in Summerland reached a turning point when one customer told our CEO Leslie Person Ryan of how, in a moment of desperation, she ended up in a fight over the liquor store’s “last stale sandwich”. “What should I have done?” she asked us, “I have three children.” Summerland needed a supplier of farm-fresh produce and we sprang into action to create Sweet Wheel Farms.

We are a pesticide free, locally sourced produce stand offering a beautiful selection of flowers, fresh-out-of-the-oven baked goods, and a variety of local artisan products. In response to COVID-19, we are a “no touch” cart - we believe it is important to offer a place to get fresh food without having to stand in long lines, and without having the food compromised by too many handlers. We invite our customers to take a look around, pick out their favorite veggies and fruit, and one of our Farm Cart Educators will be happy to assist in putting together your order!
Sweet Wheel Farm & Flowers Farm Cart is located in the heart of Summerland on Lillie Avenue. We have two farms, one located in Summerland and the other in Orcutt.

Since we opened, Sweet Wheel Farms has donated thousands of boxes, bags, and pounds of food; and given away approximately 2,000 meals to medically and financially food fragile individuals and families now from Carpinteria to Goleta.

Our food programs are simple. You can personally ask for food, anonymously nominate a person or family at the Sweet Wheel Summerland Farmer’s Market Stand; or email us at sweetwheelfarms@gmail.com. We deliver free weekly fresh fruits and vegetables. You can also volunteer to pick up weekly, pesticide-free food for medically or financially food fragile families.
Santa Barbara Agriculture & Farm Education Foundation’s mission is to provide food security, increase awareness and educate how our food is grown, propagated and distributed. The Foundation's farm (Sweet Wheel Farms) donates chemical free food to minors, food fragile and unrecognized or labeled under-served populations particularly in Santa Barbara County. SBAFE Foundation donates chemical free food to medically struggling individuals, as well as single parent household families and other non profits.

The farm is to be a community asset to solve the absence of food, to expand farm education to our next generation on chemical-free farming, ecology and food as medicine, bio dynamics in both plants and soil, and eco-utilities. We should be a community pillar of purity in farmed fruits, flowers, vegetables and private farm labeled products.

The Santa Barbara Agriculture and Farm Education Foundation mission is to safeguard seeds, food and community health through pure growing techniques, farm education, and use of innovative natural resources. The non-profit owns the urban Sweet Wheel Farm that grows chemical free crops, solves the food desert in Summerland, and ends hunger with nutritious food to underserved populations.

To learn more about the foundation, please visit sbafefoundation.com