Seaside Greens

When Julian Cantando began leasing greenhouse space off Patterson Road in Goleta in 2019, he had no idea that a pandemic would soon bring many things to a halt. But from an operations perspective, the shutdown fit within his business plan just fine.

As it turns out, Julian thrives in his socially distanced space alongside his plants. He runs Seaside Greens as a one-man operation, growing his quarter-acre space full of tender greens and specialty fruit. Passiflora vines now climb up the walls and into the rafters of the glass house, and he has crafted a dense tunnel of vines with passion fruit peeking downwards like delicate purple Easter eggs.

He grows sunflower sprouts and pea tendrils, more tender than those grown outside in our bright sunny climate. The seeds germinate on organic mats. After harvesting, the base strata is composted and used for his other plantings of variegated sorrel, edible flowers, red gingers, mustard greens and masses of goldenberries, aka Cape Gooseberries. These berries are related to tomatillos and have a similar papery husk but turn yellow when ripe and are much sweeter than a tomatillo.

In his previous life, Julian was a bartender while attending horticulture classes at Santa Barbara City College, but he has found the bright side of pandemic solitude in working for himself where he has time to grow his business (literally) and experiment with propagating exotic fruit.

You won’t find him at the farmers markets, because he delivers direct—rolling up in his Prius for masked and contactless drop-off. His clients already include restaurants like the Lark, Toma and El Encanto. A four-ounce box of tender shoots ranges from $6–$10 depending on the variety of sprout, all pesticide- and herbicide-free.

You can find Seaside Greens through Instagram @seaside.greens or by emailing jmcantando@gmail.com.