What do you do for a living?
I own and operate Sea Level Farm in Corralitos. It's an organic farm that grows a wide variety of vegetables and a lot of tasty dry-farmed tomatoes.

What would you be doing if you weren't doing that?
I'd be working and playing outside no matter what I was doing. 

What do you do in your free time?
I love playing music, surfing and hanging with my family and friends.

What brought you to Santa Cruz?
Well, I have to thank my mother for that. She brought my sister and I to Santa Cruz when I was 8 years old. That would have been 1978. You know, the good old days, when a kid could still ride a skateboard down Pacific Garden Mall. Thanks, Mom!

What's your favorite street?
North County Highway 1! Every time I drive up the coast it feels like a holiday.

Name something you're excited about.
I'm excited that people are turned on about the culture of food more than ever before, and most of all I'm excited to live in such a beautiful place. How lucky we all are! 

Name a pet peeve.
I can answer that in one word: gophers.

What are you reading?
I'm reading The First Year of Homeschooling Your Child by Linda Dobson. We are going to be home schooling this year and I need all the help I can get.

What's the most important thing you've learned in the last three years?
To continue doing what I enjoy and trust that everything else will fall into place.

Recent personal food trend?
Around here it's all about the taco and the mega salads, topped with dry-farmed tomatoes, of course!

Read JP's responses in their entirety at www.news.santacruz.com

Send a letter to the editor about this story.