Cultiva Transforms Excess Produce from the Farm into Fresh Juice
Sheree Bishop, Communications Coordinator
February 13, 2026
When the team at Green Thumb Farms can’t sell their vegetables at the farmers market, where does it go? Surplus produce from Green Thumb Farms travels just a few miles up the road to Cultiva, where Maria Gonzalez creates fresh juices and salsas to sell at Bay Area pop-ups. In addition to their products, Cultiva’s brick-and-mortar location in San Juan Bautista offers a farm-fresh menu, hands-on workshops, and community events that get locals connected to the rich agriculture in their area.
At the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, where Green Thumb has been selling their produce since 2018, shoppers can now enjoy Cultiva’s cold-pressed juices and other salsas with immune-boosting and anti-inflammatory properties, all made with vegetables from the farm.
From Seed to Plate: A Chef and Farmer Find a Shared Mission
Offering plant-based food options to her community is nothing new for Maria. After high school, she attended Le Cordon Bleu in San Francisco, a now-closed branch of the French culinary school headquartered in Paris. She gained her culinary experience in the catering and restaurant business at a variety of organizations. In 2015, she adopted a plant-based lifestyle, and a few years later, she opened up an award-winning vegan hot dog business called Cali Dawg.
When her son, Rodolfo, was born, Maria closed her business to focus on motherhood and collaborating with her partner, Rudy Jimenez, to run Green Thumb Farms, which she joined in 2021. For years, Maria created a variety of value-added products for Green Thumb Farms, such as soaps, salsas, and juices, using excess or unsightly produce that would have otherwise gone to waste. The business that would later grow into Cultiva existed long before its brick-and-mortar location was established just a few miles away from the farm.
Their shared mission, both with Green Thumb Farms and with Cultiva, is centered around curbing food waste, creating opportunities for food education in the community, fostering land sovereignty, and cultivating food justice.
Between Rudy and Maria, though their mission is shared, their approaches to interacting with the farm are different. “I always feel like when I step onto the field, I think of different ideas compared to when he goes into the field. He’s more concerned about the plants and their needs, and what tasks we need to do. When I go in there, I’m like, ‘We can make this with this. Oh, this would be great with this,’ I’m tasting things, and I’m trying things,” Maria says.
Crafting Farm-Fresh Juices Even Kids Can Love
In 2024, Maria got an opportunity to bring Cultiva to life as a physical location in San Juan Bautista. Alma Paulk, the owner of a well-loved plant-based restaurant called Natural Wonders, made the decision to retire and close her business. According to Edible Monterey Bay, both Rudy and Maria, who used to frequent Alma’s restaurant, had a conversation with her about who could occupy the space next. They all agreed that Cultiva was the best fit to inherit the space and continue bringing plant-based options to San Juan Bautista’s culinary scene.
On their menu, you can find farm-inspired salads, soups, and sandwiches, along with their fresh juices. Maria says that their farm-to-table focus is what sets them apart from many vegan restaurants and food makers. As the growers of their ingredients, they can focus on quality from the moment the seed is planted to the moment their juices are bottled.
The idea to sell those juices through Cultiva came naturally, as Maria often makes them at home with her son.
“I wanted a way for families to be able to share something with their kids. Kids aren’t very attracted to vegetables. A drink is way easier to offer than a salad or something. We had our three-year-old son approve all of our recipes before we actually launched them. And whenever I tell the story to people, and they have their little ones try it, they’re surprised and amazed at how easy they’re drinking the carrot juice, or a beet juice, or even a green juice,” Maria shares.
Cultiva also offers community events and hands-on workshops at the restaurant. Recently, Maria led a workshop on how to make mock meats at home. In line with their mission, all of Cultiva’s workshops are centered around empowering the community to curb food waste, cook plant-based meals, and support local farmers.
Bringing Refreshing, Veggie-Forward Juices to the Bay
On Tuesdays at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, Cultiva sells their juices and salsas in a stall right next to Green Thumb Farms. Along with juicing fresh vegetables from Green Thumb to make veggie-forward juices like Rooted, Sun Glow, and Super Green, Cultiva also sources fruit from other local farms, including Ferry Plaza favorites like Twin Girls Farm and Far West Cider.
“At the farm, if I see that maybe we’re not selling something as fast, then I kind of try to incorporate it in our products as much as possible, says Maria. “I either try to promote it in a way that people learn how to cook it themselves, or we try to add it into Cultiva, and see what we can make it into, like a kale chip, for example.”
She continues, “I feel that in San Francisco, it’s very common for chefs to be influenced by the farmers market. We wanted to bring that down to San Juan Bautista and educate people. San Juan Bautista is a very rich area in terms of agriculture. It has great quality produce… with Cultiva, we want to create a space where people can really absorb all of that.”
Find Cultiva on Tuesdays at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, or visit their restaurant at 215 Third Street in San Juan Bautista.
Topics: Farmers market, Farms