CREATIVE SOLUTIONS FOR THRIVING ON PLANET EARTH
Located on a historic agricultural property that is today surrounded by urban sprawl, The Ecology Center is a 28-acre Regenerative Organic Certified™ farm and education center that serves as a hub for southern California’s ecological movement.
We are in business to shift culture. By curating ecological experiences for everyone, we provide creative yet achievable solutions for thriving on planet Earth.
We believe everyone should have access to the tools, knowledge, and skills that promote healthy communities in the 21st century. This continues to drive our environmental, experiential and instructional design across our facilities, activations and curricula. We are recognized as educators, connectors and community builders that are leading the charge around the conversation about better, healthy living. It is our contribution to an abundant future.
The 4 core pillars of our modern village
Our holistic approach integrates the incubation of the next generation of agricultural, culinary, and educational leaders with the creation of a vibrant community resource and gathering place to inspire all. We recognize and honor the interdependence among the functions of these four pillars within our village. The way Grow, Eat, Make and Peace touches all that happens here is part of the magic.
The 4 core pillars of our modern village
Our holistic approach integrates the incubation of the next generation of agricultural, culinary, and educational leaders with the creation of a vibrant community resource and gathering place to inspire all. We recognize and honor the interdependence among the functions of these four pillars within our village. The way Grow, Eat, Make and Peace touches all that happens here is part of the magic.
We’ve transformed a one-acre dirt lot into a thriving community ecosystem.
We’ve created an ecosystem to gather and build a community of creatives, self-starters, architects, makers, farmers, culinary leaders, visionaries, educators, and organizers. Together, we are building a more abundant future. One that the next generations will be proud to inherit.
IN OUR 15 YEAR HISTORY
We’ve made great progress toward a better understanding of our shared roles in the world around us.
We have imagined and successfully conveyed a vision for a culture that gives more than it takes—ideals that have been demonstrated daily through the Center’s onsite and outreach programs. Today, we are a destination where people from across the region come to plant seeds, tend the garden, create with their hands, and share a meal in celebration.
250,000 Children Engaged
300,000 On-Site Visitors
150 Culinary Leaders Trained
150 Farmers Trained
2,500 Households Reached
100,000 lb Food Donated
A REGENERATIVE ORGANIC CERTIFIED™ FARM
For more than 100 years, industrial agriculture has promised us more food at greater convenience and lower cost—but the true cost was the health of people, animals, and the planet we all call home. Synthetic fertilizers and pesticides that destroy the soil biome, pollute oceans, and leave toxic residue on our food are only the beginning. The practices of industrial agriculture lead to loss of genetic diversity in our crops and foodways, foster dangerous and inequitable conditions for workers, and contribute significantly to climate change.
We have seen a better way. Our farm’s Regenerative Organic
Certification™ represents the set of agricultural and business practices we follow based on traditional principles of collective land stewardship, using the mutually supportive relationships found in nature to nourish humans, plants, and soil. This rigorous model focuses on the long-term health of the land rather than short-term profits, giving us an opportunity to prove the power of giving more than we take to cultivate sustainable abundance for all.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The Ecology Center acknowledges that this 28-acre Regenerative Organic Certified™ farm rests on the traditional and unceded sacred lands of the Juaneño Band of Mission Indians known as the Acjachemen Nation.
We recognize that the Acjachemen Nation has thrived for over
12,000 years in what we know today as Orange County, California. This region has long been a center for the Acjachemen people to gather, trade and maintain kinship ties. Today, the Juaneño Band of Mission Indians/Acjachemen Nation continues to contribute to the life of this region by celebrating their heritage, practicing their traditions, and caring for their ancestral lands, ocean, and waterways.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The Ecology Center acknowledges that this 28-acre Regenerative Organic Certified™ farm rests on the traditional and unceded sacred lands of the Juaneño Band of Mission Indians known as the Acjachemen Nation.
We recognize that the Acjachemen Nation has thrived for over
12,000 years in what we know today as Orange County, California. This region has long been a center for the Acjachemen people to gather, trade and maintain kinship ties. Today, the Juaneño Band of Mission Indians/Acjachemen Nation continues to contribute to the life of this region by celebrating their heritage, practicing their traditions, and caring for their ancestral lands, ocean, and waterways.
Our model for abundance and excellence.
Get inspired by our latest accomplishments and see what is possible when our community collaborates for change in our 2024 Impact Report.
LEADERSHIP
Founder
Evan Marks, Founder, Executive Director
From studying Agroecology to working in Indigenous and traditional agricultural systems around the world to founding The Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano in 2008, Evan has dedicated his life to finding creative solutions for the most urgent problems facing our food system.
leadership team
Jonathan Zaidman
Engagement
Gregory Foster
Education
Johnny Wilson
Farm
Jose Del Toro
People
Paul Corey
Finance & Operations
Colleen Culhane
Engagement & Development
Nereo Zago
Art & Design
Board of Directors
Joe Baird
Terena Eisner
Marco Guido
Randy Hild
Evan Marks
Scott Olivet
Jennifer Segerstrom
Adelia Sandoval
Dave Winslow
BOARD ADVISORS
Michael Cho
Honorary Board
Erin Browne
Katie Cooper
Adam Hiner
Karen Jaffe
Sara Lowell
Vicki Marks
Jimmy Peterson
Alice Waters
Caitlin Wege
The Ecology Center Family
CULINARY
Tyler Wells
Clari Alonso
Daisy Arios
JJ Bentzen
Brie Bush
Isabel Cervantes
Sophia Ciavarelli
Kate Cruse
Ricardo De Jesus
Brian Espindola
Ana Gomez
Sidney Harris
Maya Harrison
Bernardino Lopez
Gerardo Martinez
Joseph Messina
Nancy Montes
Claudia Najera
Thomas Oakes
Jack Oliver
Alfredo Palacios
Elle Park
Jesus Ramirez
Mauricio Bravo
Alberto Reyes Sosa
Veronica Reyes
Trenton Rivas
Areli Romero
Brittany Rovzar
Jose David Sanchez
Megan Schrader
Elizabeth Ukilis
Kamille Waller
Jennifer Wong
Irving Zarate
ENGAGEMENT
Kaila Dixon
Caitlyn McCall
Catherine Pearlman
Gabrielle Saupe
Adelia Sandoval
EDUCATION
Gregory Foster
Sunshine Banks
Megan Barnett
Joseph Galmich
Marce Ponce
Natalie Roby
Perla Rico
Jennifer Soto-Banks
Wendy Sheppard
Storm Spears
Paige Volk
Cedric Volk
FARM STAND
Jonathan Barnhill
Brigid Zarate
Jennifer Pardee
Noli Stark
Guadalupe Avila
Isabela Acosta
Joeseph Belardi
Chase Campbell
Jessica Chow
Anna Engler
Stacey Flores Nuno
Noah Foskett
Madelline Gastelo
Lola Hollibaugh
Rachel Hunt
Maddy Isbel
Greer Jacobs
Katherine Paciano
Ryan Pardee
FARM
Isela Chavarria
Ruben Delgado
Gerardo Lima Juarez
Agapo Medrano-Mendoza
Gil Molina
Augustin Morales
Alma Torres
Irma Torres
Jose Miguel Valadez
Alfredo Ramon Valencia
Mario Vallejo
Jose Valesco
Jonathan Wilson
FINANCE
Maryam Fesharaki
FLORAL
Sarah Matzinger
Bella Gniadek
Ernesto Gonzalez
FACILITIES
Stephen Allison
Francisco Galmich
Joel Martinez-Barreiros
MARKETING & CREATIVE
Katherine Hibbard
Andrew Sieger
Casey Walker Andrews
Nicole Weinberger