Today we’d like to introduce you to Darrie Ganzhorn.
Hi Darrie, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
The Homeless Garden Project (HGP) was founded in 1990 to provide meaningful work to people experiencing homelessness and to bring the community together in the beauty and security of our organic farm, while also providing fresh, local organic produce to community members.
Now the Homeless Garden Project operates three core programs that take place within the HGP’s organic farm and two related enterprises: the Farm Enterprises and the Value-Added Enterprise.
The programs operated by HGP:
-A Transitional Employment and Job Training program that serves people experiencing homelessness
-Social Work program that supports program participants to set and meet goals related to housing, employment and well-being
-A Community Education and Volunteer program is open to the entire community
In 2025 94% of program graduates secured jobs and housing.
The Enterprises operated by HGP:
-Community Supported Agriculture program in which community members buy a “share” of the farm’s produce which they pick up weekly during the 23 week season. Comes as Pick up (HGP harvests the share) or You-Pick (the member harvests the share each week).
-Feed 2 Birds–a hybrid donation and enterprise program. Vegetables, herbs, fruits and flowers produced in our programs are paid for by community donations and distributed each week to partner nonprofits who pass on the food to their clients, individuals and families facing food insecurity.
-In 2025, we produced 128 shares each week during the 23 week harvest season.
-A Farm Stand–customers can harvest produce from the farm and pay at the farm stand. A Farm Stand menu highlights what’s available to harvest.
-Value-Added Enterprise–program participants produce over 50 products using materials grown on our organic farm, including a Bath & Body line, a Food & Beverage line (think Lavender Shortbread Cookie mix, garden herb seasoning and more!) and Dried Flower wreaths and candle line. These items are sold at our Downtown Santa Cruz, Capitola, and online stores and in select wholesale accounts.
Our mission: In the soil of our urban farm and garden, people find the tools they need to build a home in the world.
We envision a thriving and inclusive community, workforce and local food system.
Farming on temporary land with scattered sites since our beginning, we are currently very close to purchasing the land we farm and building a consolidated site!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
At Homeless Garden Project, we grow and build on success every year. Over the years, we’ve refined and improved our program design, changed the length of our program from 3 years to 1 year, developed our Social Work program–all supporting more people graduating into jobs and housing. We’ve developed new products for our Value-added Enterprise, expanded from a “Holiday Store” in borrowed space to year-round retail stores. We’ve innovated with fundraising programs and events and now hold two Sustain Suppers each year, 4-course farm to table dinners using produce grown on the farm, featuring excellent chefs, music, a farm tour, a keynote speaker and a talk from a participant, “The Voice of Experience.”
We receive very little government funding, currently less than 3% of our annual budget. Each year, we raise funds from our generous supporters and generate sales of our products. Funding levels limit the number of people we can serve.
We weathered COVID, continuing to operate our programs, leaning on online sales when it wasn’t safe to open the stores, following safety protocols and eventually holding “Sustain in Place” events which were great fun–to be together on the farm after being isolated for so long.
We worked for years to develop a permanent site, finding out just as we were beginning to build, that the soil was contaminated from historic skeet shooting. We successfully pivoted to our current plan to purchase 4 acres of the land we currently farm and build a consolidated site consisting of a workshop, certified kitchen, offices, farm stand, and greenhouses.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Many communities reach out to Homeless Garden Project to learn how to start a similar project. We recently created a manual , “Homeless Garden Project: A Guide to Transitional Employment and Therapeutic Agriculture,” so these communities and their representatives can start a similar project. You can find it here. https://bit.ly/HGPManual
Alice Waters, a restaurateur, author and the founder of Chez Panisse, a restaurant in Berkeley, California, famous for its role in creating the farm-to-table movement and for pioneering California cuisine, wrote the foreword to the manual. She said, in part:
“There are few things as transformative as growing your own food. I have seen the same evidence time and again: Planting, growing and harvesting your own food engenders patience, love of nature, and confidence in your abilities….”
It is powerful to witness the transformations that our program participants make. Here’s an excerpt from what our participant Kelli said when she spoke at a Supper:
“…The garden itself became my safe place. I remember the first day I started working the soil — it was hard, backbreaking work, but there was something peaceful about it too. Watching a seed I planted slowly sprout reminded me that maybe I could grow too. I learned responsibility, patience, and that growth doesn’t happen overnight. The camaraderie with my fellow trainees, the laughter, the shared struggles, and the support reminded me that I wasn’t alone anymore. I was part of something bigger than myself.
It wasn’t easy. Recovery is never easy. There were days I wanted to give up, days I doubted I could live a different life. But every shift I worked, every plant I nurtured, every hand lent to help another person reminded me that I was capable of more than I ever believed….”
You can read the whole talk here. https://homelessgardenproject.org/a-job-that-gives-me-pride-and-purpose/
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
There’s an entire community of support that makes Homeless Garden Project possible–volunteers, donors, Employer Partners, staff, members of our Board of Directors, customers, CSA members, program alumni, nonprofit partners, city and county officials, all pitching in to make this project possible for the past 35 years! Social work interns, university partners, businesses–the list goes on and on.
Bob Carlton Graphics designed our logo and donated graphic services for many years. Mission Printers prints 3000 full color holiday cards, using beautiful photos from the farm, for us each year. Photographers donate their time to help tell our story. A volunteer who used to be a florist is teaching trainees to make beauiful bouquets, farmers and scientists share their expertise or study insect populations on the farm. Interns help to promote the store or enter data (and so much more!) Volunteers commit to cooking and serving lunch for staff, participants and volunteers, each day, Tuesday-Friday.
Pricing:
- June 20 Sustain Supper–$200 https://bit.ly/SustainSupperJune2026
- HGP hat–$25 https://shop.homelessgardenproject.org/collections/hgp-merch/products/hgp-hat
- Donate 2 boxes of organic produce–$65 https://bit.ly/F2BHGP2026
- Our best selling salve–$20 https://shop.homelessgardenproject.org/collections/bath-body/products/from-our-garden-salve
- 1 pint of organic strawberries, Tuesday-Sunday, 10-4 at our farm, price varies, available seasonally.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://homelessgardenproject.org/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HomelessGardenProject
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/homeless-garden-project/?viewAsMember=true
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/homelessgarden
