We farm yards and schools in San Diego homes to deliver organic, locally grown, pesticide-free produce through a CSA model. Our space-efficient, eco-friendly and community minded operation is one from which everyone stands to benefit.
Our goal is to create a community of neighbors sharing their resources to ensure that everyone has access to the healthiest, freshest food at an affordable price. We want to teach the benefits of eating seasonally, promote an alternative way of feeding our families and expose you to new and beautiful vegetables.
FOUNDER
MIA VAUGHNES
Mia was raised by a growing and foraging family. She picked wild berries and asparagus with her mother as a child. This shared pastime served as a strong foundation for their close relationship.
In 1987 Mia started an organic food cart at UCSD supporting local organic farmers. There was just a handful at the time, but she was one of the early pioneers who taught students the importance of eating "organic" at a time when the word was not yet in most people's consciousness.
Her daughter was born with digestive health challenges, and with this struggle that brought Mia’s family to switch to a clean holistic diet, her entire household became aware of the benefits of eating home grown foods.
“I think we are living in a socially disconnected and health starved community. Food can bring us together. It has always been the life-giving, unifying force and food tastes better when shared. It's the common denominator by which we can work together, side by side to regenerate ourselves and our community".
Who's in the Hood
CO-FOUNDER
WALT SANDFORD
Walt's passion and talent for growing food and sharing it in love is what inspired Mia to shepherd Good Neighbor Gardens from dream to reality. Since 2013, Walt has collaborated the installation of all Gracious Neighbor residential and school gardens for the sharecrop. He supervises, trains, mentors and encourages the Fabulous Farmhands and keeps the project growing. He is our qualified and dedicated irrigation specialist recognized as a Quel Certified Professional as well as a practicing member of the Master Gardener Association of San Diego County. With Walt's continued guidance, we are healing the land and nourishing one another in spirit and real food in San Diego.
Qualified Water Efficient Landscaper Services Include:
Water Audits
Water Filtration
Water Testing
Smart Controller Installation
Waterwise Irrigation Installation
Rebate Qualification
FABULOUS FARMHANDs
Lead - MIA VAUGHNEs
Support - NAT SMERDON, SHANI SEARS, GRACE KINNEY, MEGAN TRESENRITER, CHRISTOPHER DEGUZMAN
The folks who farm San Diego! This group of Fabulous Farmhands maintain all the residential, school and corporate gardens in our urban sharecrop. They each bring unique skills, passion and experience to our community. Nat is a hard worker who is dependable to accomplish any supportive task and works cheerfully with unlimited energy. Shani is skilled in harvesting and is a great support with community engagement events. Grace loves to surf and brings years of experience growing food and building soil to her gardening practice. Megan is a practicing physician and lives plants and people. She has a skilled set of hands and a sensitive heart to bring life and healing to the land. Christopher is a musician and fire walker who is our capable installation support. They are all absolutely delightful and you can tell that they truly love cultivating food and community when you meet them and taste the fruit of their labor.
DEDICATED OPERATIONS MANAGER
SIENA BEACHAM
Siena has learned much about urban farming from her mother and co-founder Mia. She feels a strong connection with the natural world and believes that all people should have the opportunity to find joy in a garden. It is her honor to support the family business by managing operations behind the scenes. Whether it is onboarding new practitioners, making sure school partnerships run smoothly, or assessing new inquiries for garden installations she truly helps keep the ship afloat. Siena is also responsible for all external brand communications and marketing for Good Neighbor Gardens.
GOOD NEIGHBOR
DARREN COOPER
Darren Cooper has been a Good Neighbor Subscriber for 3 years running. He consistently receives a share of the bounty from the aggregated gardens bi-weekly. His subscription fee helps subsidize our elementary school garden education program. He and his wife, Kim, live in the Mid City and have edible fruit trees in their own yard too. They most recently gave birth to their first child who was bred on the local harvest the entire pregnancy. She is beautiful, healthy and vibrant. We love our Good Neighbors!
OUR STUDENTS
THE future
Our collective effort to farm the city in San Diego begins and ends with a commitment towards our children. They are our future. And they look forward to planting, tasting and sharing what they grow. The magic they experience in the process of growing food is formidable. It's a joy to facilitate their hands-on learning at local elementary schools. The children ultimately become responsible stewards of the land and committed ambassadors of healthy eating and living for their peers and families. Through our Soulful Green Practice we work with students of all ages who wish to cultivate a meaningful connection with the land and develop their urban farming skills.
"To waste and exhaust the land instead of using it to increase its usefulness will result in undermining, in the days of our children, the very prosperity which we ought to hand down to them amplified and developed."
-Theodore Roosevelt, 1907
VALUABLE VOLUNTEER
RAEANN RODRIGUEZ
Raeann grew up with a beautiful home garden and sharing was cultivated in her spirit at an early age. She looks forward to delivering harvest boxes to Good Neighbor subscribers every Distribution Day and does so with the warmest smile. This year she will begin working with the children in our education program as well. She teaches mindfulness courses and lives by it earnestly. We are blessed to have Raeann volunteering to serve others in the San Diego Urban Sharecrop.
GRACIOUS NEIGHBORS
DEBORAH BUCKSBAUM AND MILLER SALTZMAN
Our dynamic mother-son duo are the ideal Gracious Neighbors. They have dedicated the largest portion of their yard to food production with several extra-long raised beds, a jam-packed herb garden, citrus, grapes and avocados. Their house is the cornerstone of a beautiful neighborhood in San Diego where they are well-known for their hospitality, sharing what they grow, and building a strong and more conscious community. Deborah and Miller embody our tag-line "Neighbors Feeding Neighbors" in every way.