Ethan Pearah shows Arugula at Barron Creek Farm in Oceanside on Tuesday, February. 17, 2026. (Kristian Carreon / The San Diego Union-Tribune) A regenerative, organic farm is taking root in Oceanside behind a church, growing fruits and vegetables to give out to folks in need in the community. The n onprofit Barron Creek Farm has begun rehabbing a half-acre community garden at 1501 Kelly St. that was established 15 years ago by the congregation of North Coast United Methodist Church together with the community. Along with producing food, the farm serves as a living classroom where the community can learn about sustainable farming and environmental stewardship and practice what they learn. On the first Saturday of the month for the past four months, the farm has hosted a free Community Farming Day they call “Growing Good Saturday.” Participants in a Community Farming Day, "Growing Good Saturday" at the nonprofit Barron Creek Farm in Oceanside. Courtesy of Barron Creek Farm. This month’s event drew 60 community members, who volunteered to weed, mulch and plant fruit trees after having a “breakfast and learn session” that included a micro-lecture about tree carbon capture and agroforestry. The nonprofit partnered with Tree San Diego, which donated 20 fruit trees to plant at the farm and 100 shade trees for the community. The farm is partnering with Feeding San Diego and its distribution sites within three miles to offer their produce for free to Lincoln Middle School, the North County LGBTQ Resource Center and Brother Bennos, which serves the area’s working poor, seniors and homeless community members. Ethan Pearah pulls a wheelbarrow of compost at Barron Creek Farm in Oceanside on Tuesday, February. 17, 2026. (Kristian Carreon / The San Diego Union-Tribune) The mission of Barron Creek Farm is to donate all of the food grown to people who need it. The farm will have some leftovers from the donations to share with the community at a pay-what-you-can farmstand when the harvest increases. The nonprofit is set on creating a space where community members can get fresh, nutrient-rich produce and also learn how to take care of the land. “The problem we are solving is that extractive farming techniques are degrading our planet and still leave people without food. The way we are solving the problem is through regenerative farming that builds soil health, restores biodiversity and mitigates climate change,” said Meg Ferrigno, Barron Creek Farm’s executive director. “We’re trying to do something good for the planet and humanity,” Ferrigno said. Zach Orlando-Milbauer pushes a walk-behind tractor to help prepare a bed at Barron Creek Farm in Oceanside on Tuesday, February. 17, 2026. (Kristian Carreon / The San Diego Union-Tribune) The farm is managed by two recent UC Davis graduates in Sustainable Agriculture Food Systems. “We’re building community around growing healthy food. Working with the land brings things back to what’s important. Nature reminds us how interconnected we all are,” said Ethan Pearah, 22, an Encinitas native who manages the farm with fellow UC Davis alum Zach Orlando-Milbauer, 22. So far, Pearah, Orlando-Milbauer and Ferrigno cleared out the old community garden and planted 25 garden beds with onions, carrots, spinach, collards and bok choy, which are starting to grow. Next, they’re planting tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. Eggplant seedlings inside the nursery at Barron Creek Farm in Oceanside on Tuesday, February. 17, 2026. (Kristian Carreon / The San Diego Union-Tribune) “We’re excited to use the garden in this way; it’s just been sitting there,” said Jan DesRosiers, facilities trustee at North Coast United Methodist Church, which is not charging the farm for the use of the land. “We’re trying to help the farm; it is one of our missions,” DesRosiers said. The church is working with the City of Oceanside to get a conditional-use permit so the farm can expand its agricultural activities on the remaining acreage of residentially zoned property in the rest of the backyard of the church. “Our shared commitment to justice, sustainability and helping neighbors has brought us together with Barron Creek Farm, and as a church, we also recognize the Spirit’s hand in the timing and connection. We believe this partnership will benefit area residents who are food-insecure,” said the Rev. Sylina Kidd, pastor of North Coast United Methodist Church. Volunteers participate in a Community Farming Day, “Growing Good Saturday” at the nonprofit Barron Creek Farm in Oceanside. Far left is Rev. Sylina Kidd, pastor of North Coast United Methodist Church. Courtesy of Barron Creek Farm The farm is a joint effort that is intended to bring the community together. “The most rewarding part of the work is being able to do something I love, growing food, and sharing the fruits of my labor with my local community, especially those who might not otherwise have access to fresh fruits and vegetables,” said Orlando-Milbauer, who lives in Oceanside. The organic farm is a transplant from the Bay area, where it was established as a nonprofit regenerative, organic farm in 2023 on an acre of land in the Los Altos Hills area where Barron Creek originates. The farm has donated more than 14,000 pounds of fresh produce to food insecure folks in the Peninsula and South Bay since it started. But the farm had to move off the Bay Area property because of a number of issues with a neighbor. Zach Orlando-Milbauer weeds out a Bermuda buttercup at Barron Creek Farm in Oceanside on Tuesday, February. 17, 2026. (Kristian Carreon / The San Diego Union-Tribune) Pearah and Orlando-Milbauer got farming jobs at the Barron Creek Farm through the Plant Futures network at UC Davis during summer break in 2024. Both had experience building gardens on a community farm at UC Davis, experimenting with regenerative practices. Pearah got his first experience growing food during the COVID pandemic, when he helped his family grow vegetables in the backyard of their Encinitas home. That experience sparked a deeper interest in agriculture. The nonprofit farm is run by three employees, Ferrigno, Pearah and Orlando-Milbauer with the help of community volunteers and seven volunteer board of directors, including the nonprofit’s founder and president of the board, Gen Lawrence, who lives in the Bay area. “Our move to Oceanside marks a new chapter for our farm, but our core purpose remains unshakeable. Having donated every harvest in the Bay Area to those in need, we are eager to continue that work here,” Lawrence said. The nonprofit, which is funded by private donations, keeps costs down through partnerships that provide farming supplies such as seeds, organic compost and mulch. The farm practices regenerative farming in collaboration with Indigenous partners to grow food in ways that restore the land and strengthen community relationships. Seedlings inside the nursery at Barron Creek Farm in Oceanside on Tuesday, February. 17, 2026. (Kristian Carreon / The San Diego Union-Tribune) “Barron Creek Farm sits on the ancestral and unceded lands of the Luiseno people, and we honor their enduring connection to this land through practices of stewardship, reciprocity and care,” Ferrigno said. The farm is hosting representatives from the Luiseno, Kumeyaay, Assiniboine and a number of other nations who will plant a native garden at the farm during an upcoming Growing Good Saturday. The next Growing Good Saturday Community Farming Day is from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 7 at 1501 Kelly St. A plant fundraiser is slated for April 18. Visit https://www.barroncreekfarm.org/ ...read more read less