What began as a periodic gathering of friends for a juice-making “detox night” has grown into a diverse business that has nestled itself nicely in the organic scene of its respective neighborhoods. For the past seven years, Juice Ranch has been serving Santa Barbara with a 100 percent organic, revitalizing, and refreshing menu of juices across five different locations — and they have no plans for slowing down. Looking at their company’s future, cofounders Erin Gomez and Scott Walker are seeking to hone their menu’s newest offerings.
As Walker explained, for the past 100 years, a unique method of farming known as “biodynamic” agriculture has been providing an elevation in nutrition through its beautifully simple strategy: no herbicides, no pesticides, no chemical or mechanical intervention of any kind. Biodynamics generate produce through a 100 percent natural cycle. Once the seeds are sown, farmers allow cattle to fertilize the land with their manure before they continue to graze on nearby land. Once reaped, the newer generation of crops is rotated to the next plot of land in coordination with the grazing cycle of the cattle. The Biodynamic Federation Demeter International is the only agency that recognizes and certifies farms that use 100 percent biodynamic practices; among them is Hoskins Berry Farm.
For the past three years, Hoskins Berry Farm has been Juice Ranch’s leading purveyor for one of their newer products: hemp-based juices. “Hemp-based juices are much thicker, viscous, and on their own quite bitter. Yet when you cut it with one of our organic Meyer lemons, it has a wonderfully refreshing taste,” said Walker. While Juice Ranch is 100 percent organic certified, it is through their connections with organizations such as Hoskins Berry Farm that they are highlighting the advancement and gains that biodynamics present. That being said, it is difficult to source biodynamic products with such purity in their contents, given that many cannabis/hemp farms alone have come back with COAs (certificate of analysis) of “three to four times the legal limit of cadmium,” according to Walker’s findings.
Among the introduction of hemp, Juice Ranch has also introduced a CBD-based healing ointment made by Onda. “Typically, in the afternoon, our bodies have been exposed to some type of environmental stressor (seed oils, fried food, processed breads/pastas, and EMF radiation caused by Wi-Fi, cell phones, and laptops) that causes inflammation,” Walker mentioned in his recommendation of Onda. Made with cannabidiol, Onda is an effective, non-psychoactive salve that can help reduce irritated skin.
Part of Juice Ranch’s recent expansion includes a large variety of more than 10 menu items including regenerative turkey sandwiches, organic bone broth, a range of açaí bowls with no added sugars or stabilizers, biodynamic lattes, waffles, and wild-caught salmon, as well as a whole new line of eight superfood smoothies.
With five active stores and an entire new menu, Juice Ranch’s current priority is fine-tuning their model in order to accommodate for the substantial cost increases of organic foods in the past four years. Among these adjustments is expanding on their line of organic bone broths.
Juice Ranch has regional locations in Santa Barbara, Montecito, Carpinteria, and Solvang, as well as in Westlake Village. For more information, see juiceranch.com.
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