This is what 6 acres of Zucchini and Yellow crook neck squash look like under the summer time Ojai sun. It is hot out here today, and if you’ve ever grown zucchini at home, the sight of this field should give you anxiety. Because you know, as I do, that these plants need to be picked by hand each and every day. And that they yield a lot.  Too much sometimes.  It took 10 people, 12 hours today to harvest 8000 lbs from the center of these spiky plants. That’s 800 lbs a person in the hot summer sun. Needless to say, the crew behind Soule Y Mar is working hard right now. And the season is just getting started.

This is all the vision of a young, humble Ojai high school dropout, Andre Ryder. 

I love Andre for saying this, “I don’t want my picture taken.  I’m 22 years old, I’ve only been in agriculture for 6 years. I stand on the edge of the field in a management position, because of my privilege, and I almost feel ashamed.  Without me, this place would be fine. Without Angelica, it would be nothing.” And the crazy thing is that Andre has a radical story. None of this has come easy. He works super hard, 13 hour days, 7 days a week.  He has lost 10 lbs already in this harvest. 

But he doesn’t keep up with Angelica. And he can’t keep up with rest of her crew either. He knows that his dream would be nothing without Angelica and the ten men and woman that she brings with her each morning from Oxnard.  Ten men and woman that were forced to flee their homelands south of a border that allows goods to pass but not humans for the opportunity to make a living wage.  A wage that they can actually eat food on and live in a house with and send their kids to school with.  And this is where Andre feels shame for being a human on the other side of this coin, but it is also where Andre finds motivation. The motivation to create a big, fair agriculture business based on taking care of all of its employees.

Soule Y Mar farm is a 6 acre ‘squash only’ farm on the east side of Ojai. We are excited to support Soule Y Mar as they begin this mission, and will check in with Andre and his crew to see how the season goes.