Organic Farming
La Puma Farms is a three acre certified organic urban working farm which produces a highly diverse set of fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, herbs and edible flowers using permacultural, organic and regenerative techniques. It’s been called “A Shangri-La for Food”, after the mystical valley of longevity. It is a passion project whose goals are education, beauty and produce of unsurpassed quality.
It's Nature that Nurtures
Designed by John La Puma, the farm features 14 different “rooms” of orchards and gardens, lined with reclaimed redwood pathways and benches, and many planter beds of vegetables and herbs.
Avocado and banana grove • Rare citrus orchard • Apiary • Berry patches • Oak grove and native understory • Tropicals and exotics • Olive orchard • Culinary herb and flower gardens • Kitchen vegetable and herb garden • Chumash medicinal garden • Cider apple and Asian persimmon orchard • Heritage plum orchard • Gamay Noir vineyard
What we farm
The property’s sandy soil provides for excellent drainage, and the ability to grow, with much amendment, care and love, tropical fruit such as cherimoyas, mangoes and papayas; culinary medicinal herbs such as lemon verbena and mugwort; culinary herbs such as rosemary and thyme; subtropical and Mediterranean fruits such as Haas avocados, rare citrus (bergamots, etrogs, yuzus, caviar limes), figs, olives, grapes and pomegranates; as well as temperate delicious fruits, such as heritage apples, European plums and hybrid stone fruit, and accessory fruits such as rare persimmons, raspberries and blueberries. It also features a rich array of succulents, cacti and yucca, as well as native wildflowers and wildlife.
How we farm
The farm attempts to re-use, recycle and repurpose everything that can be, including its inputs. It uses biochar and compost for fertility, no-till agriculture for all of its crops, devotes over 10% of its land to insectary plants and the beneficial insects that those flowers attract, and captures, stores and re-uses rainwater. It provides a home both for hives of honeybees for pollination and for many native pollinators. It utilizes a unique cover crop mix for its orchards, combating climate change by reducing emissions and drawing down and sequestering carbon and nitrogen. It mulches heavily.
