Who We Are

Orchard Keepers is a local Santa Cruz business that provides consultation, services, and classes to our community throughout Santa Cruz county. We strive to promote the practice of eating locally through growing it locally; in this case, as local as your backyard. We understand that growing one's own food involves a commitment, one that we often take for granted. We want to promote an awareness of what it takes to grow food, whether it be pears and persimmons or spinach and broccoli. As part of our mission, we would like this generation and future ones to renew their relationship with the food that sustains them, as well as experience the harmonious felt-sense of nurtured land. We design and install backyard orchards, vegetable and ornamental gardens, as well as use masonry and carpentry skills to create garden structures. With an eye for aesthetic beauty and balance, as well as productivity, we instruct how to grow food for one's whole family. We focus on fruit trees, using their longevity and bounty as the foundation for a backyard food system, and then work with clients to create a diverse food forest that honors their family size, time schedules, and food preferences. We use only organic growing practices and strive towards sustainability by using local recycled bio-fuels, recyclable irrigation materials, and water-saving irrigation techniques. We contribute to the local land-use paradigm shift that is happening in our community by replacing lawns with edibles, street and office park trees with fruit trees, and fostering a deeper awareness of where our food comes from. If you have more questions about Orchard Keepers and/or would like to embark on a new relationship with local food, give us a call or email.