About Shepherd Farms 

Yule Lake, Carpinteria

Located on Highway 192 at the base of Shepherd Mesa, this forty acre farm sits on the richest alluvial soil in all of the Carpinteria Valley. The mild climate is perfect for tender salad greens, sweet strawberries, root vegetables, and all row crops. It also includes an avocado and persimmon orchard, and a greenhouse for winter tomatoes and peppers.

Sedgwick Ranch

This majestic six thousand acre ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley was willed to UCSB by Francis Sedgwick. I was fortunate to obtain a long term lease to farm forty acres of it from the University. The climate of the Sedgwick is very different from that of coastal Carpinteria, with much hotter days and much colder nights. This has allowed me to plant a diversified orchard including fifteen varieties of apples, many stone fruits including cherries, apricots, plums, peaches, and nectarines, and fifteen varieties of table grapes including Muscat.  

About Tom Shepherd 

A fifth-generation Santa Barbara resident, Tom Shepherd began farming organically in the Santa Barbara area in 1973, spurred by a desire to grow healthy food for his community. One of the earliest members of the Santa Barbara Certified Farmers Market Association, where he still personally sells his produce at least twice a week, Tom was one of the original salad mix producers in California. His crops are featured on the menus of twenty-five of Santa Barbara's finest restaurants, including: Downey's, Bouchon, and Blue Agave.