15 years ago, The Ecology Center was founded with the simple goal of connecting our community to our shared living systems, our foodways, and one another.
What began as a 1 acre dirt lot and a historic farmhouse grew into a vibrant educational space for hundreds of thousands of visitors. We are now proud and honored to run a dynamic organization focused on the three primary efforts of modeling a replicable, health-giving, methodology of agriculture for our environment, waterways, wildlife, and families as well as mentoring the next generation of global citizens, and nourishing our community with farm-to-table culinary offerings and certified regenerative organic produce grown on our farm.
Since 2009, The Ecology Center has honored our relationship with this land by hosting world-class dinners crafted in collaboration with chefs, farmers, purveyors, and community members. Green Feast is where these relationships demonstrate their fullest expression, as we gather to ground ourselves in the value of an ecological food future and celebrate all that this movement has accomplished. It’s a renewal of our collective commitment to the land, to each other, and to the opportunity to create abundance for all.
Join us on September 16th for a seasonal menu crafted by Chef Tim Byres and various supporting world-class chefs, as well as regenerative libations from our local partners, and the intimate company of our Village’s strongest supporters. Along with an exquisite culinary experience, Green Feast features keynote speakers, a fundraising auction, and live entertainment. We can’t wait to share this special evening with you on the farm.
A chef, food stylist, recipe developer, cookbook author and designer of experiential food & beverage programing- he lives to tell exceptional stories about what, where and how we eat.
Chef Tim Byres earned international acclaim and a coveted James Beard Foundation Award for his book, SMOKE: New Firewood Cooking. His early adoption and experimentation with live fire cooking has helped spark a movement that has engulfed the U.S. and a social connection across the globe.
His creative use of seasonality, geography, cultural heritage, and primitive technology expands the boundaries of cooking and authentic personal experience by paying conscious homage to nature and using food as a means of storytelling.
An anthropologist at heart, Chef Tim has sought insight and individual relatedness across cultures. He believes that the act of cooking together is a connection for every community, and the custom of gathering-to-dine as paramount. While serving as a culinary diplomat for the US State Department, a journey to the mountaintops of Mongolia served to reinforce his beliefs that beyond language and culture, the act of sharing a table really speaks to the values of joint human experience.
We are grateful for the supporting participation of many of our favorite chefs including…
Chef Doug Settle
The Ecology Center
Taj Farm
Chef Irving Zarate
The Ecology Center
Chef Paddy Glennon
Superior Seafood, Clausen Oyster Farm
Chef Sarah Glover
The Wild Kitchen
Jack Lowell
Laguna Baking Company
If you are interested in sponsoring Green Feast 2023, please reach out to [email protected]
We can offer refunds up to one month before the dinner. In the case that you need to cancel at the last minute, we would be happy to work with you to pass along your tickets to friends or family members.
Those who joined last year remember the excitement that can come with (rare) weather in Southern CA. Green Feast is a rain or shine event. Fortunately, this year we have reserved a covered tent in the course of unexpected rain.
Check in for Green Feast is at 5:00pm PST.