SBC Food Rescue builds relationships between donors with excess food and charitable organizations throughout the County to help address food insecurity and keep good food out of the landfill.
Quail Springs is a leading environmental educational nonprofit that helps advance the food production systems and program offerings by farming and teaching. Brenton Kelly, Watershed Stewardship and Advocacy Director for Quail Springs has been an integral member of both the Food Action Network as well as the Cuyama Valley Groundwater Sustainability Agency. In 2008 Brenton and his wife, Jan Smith, moved to Quail Spring to help advance the food production systems and program offerings, by farming and teaching. He brings to his teachings over 30 years of experience in soil building, gardening, non-toxic land management, and animal husbandry.
“It’s our responsibility to understand and mimic the patterns and the processes of the natural world and to integrate this into our ethics and behavior.” –Brenton Kelly
As the climate changes and more areas of the planet desertify, the farming techniques Quail Springs practice and demonstrate in the Cuyama Valley will become increasingly relevant. For 15 years they have been offering farm tours and farm workshops, inspiring thousands of people from around the world to make gardens, grow food, honor their local foodsheds, and support regenerative agriculture. Additionally, Quail Springs staff have been the leading advocates and enrichment providers for our youth in the Cuyama Valley through watershed stewardship. Our Cuyama Valley has one of the most critically overdrafted groundwater basins in California. Almost three times the sustainable yield of water is pumped from the basin each year, which is enough to supply six cities the size of Santa Barbara. Quail Springs staff have been advocating for and shaping sustainable groundwater policy locally for the past six years while doing outreach and education to encourage Cuyama residents to participate in the process. Over the past 15 years at the Quail Springs site Brenton and staff have had the honor of stewarding one of Cuyama’s last remaining spring-fed wetlands and to witness and participate in its truly remarkable regeneration.
CONTACT
(805) 886-7239
35070 Highway 33 , Maricopa CA 93252
