I posted this Q&A on my old blog a couple a years ago,  but I feel like i wanna share it with you again, and also for the new readers. I think Erin’s thoughts on consuming these green drops are pretty inspiring. Now, a couple years later they HAVE their greenhouses and have opened up two more locations with their cold pressed and organic delicious juices. This is a really great juicebar and i hope they will make their way down the coast one of theses days.

I am sitting outside Juice Ranch – Santa Barbara, sipping on a “Love Potion #9″ which is a pressed juice with apple, raw apple cider vinegar, cinnamon and maca. It tastes delicious. It’s afternoon and It’s starting to get busy here and soon there is a line out on the sidewalk with thirsty SB locals. Juice Ranch offers organic green vegetable and fruit juices and shots like “E3 live” and “barley” and cleansing programs tailored to your needs as well. I’m here to meet with Erin Gomez, the owner of the shop to hear her vision and thoughts about juicing and why It’s so important for us. And I hope that you will be inspired to get into juicing, If you haven’t yet.

What was your vision when you decided to open up your Juice Shop? the first one in Santa Barbara.

My passion has always been about that food is medicine. Santa Barbara is a pretty health oriented town but there isn’t that many options when it comes to health food. I used to live in Guatemala and when I was down there I was cooking and I was around food and herbs all the time and I loved it and I love being in the kitchen. So I found that juice is like is the confusion of love – medicine is food, food is medicine. I wanted to bring that to Santa Barbara, because there was a need for it. I got my boyfriend and my friends into it and they loved it and then this spot opend up so…. why not just do it.

How Important is it for you to get the produce for your juices from local sources?

That’s one of our high standards – organic, locally sourced and using glass bottles. Local is really important to us and SB is such a community driven town, we live off of eachother and we help eachother out. We just got awarded because 90% of our produce are locally sourced. And actually, we will be growing our own food in the future. We just rented a few green houses on the Gaviota Coast, so growing our own food is a dream, I love gardening.

What can costumers expect to find when they visit Juice Ranch?

They can expect amazing friendly service, everything organic, different flavors. I put a lot of energy and time into my juices and my whole vision was that I wanted people who are new to juicing that haven’t done it before to find something on the menu that they can enjoy, I am very much of a visual, I love things bright and beautiful, so If it can be healthy, beautiful and taste good. That was my hope for coming in and experience that.

You also have cleansing programs, what’s the benefits from them?

We tailor them for everyones needs. If you never cleansed before or if you have, there is something for everyone. I think that with our juices you don’t really miss eating food because they are really good and filling. We don’t water down our juices so you are getting lots of nutrition. It’s six juices plus two hydration waters – which is one Aloe Vera water and one E3live Chlorophyll water. We use alkaline water for it. I think our cleanses are a little bit stronger than most cleanses, so if you really want to detox and heal I feel like our juices are tailored for that.

What would you say is a “quickfix” for the body for someone who is not used to drinking veggie juices?

As far as the juice I would say the “Greens n’ Ginger” here you have the greens but there is a little apple, lemon and ginger to sneak in there which is anti-inflammatory and nourishes the body and the first time that people try it, they enjoy it and they feel the difference. That’s the most popular one.

If you have one message to people , what would that be?

Whether you are buying it from us or anyone else, I think everyone should get into juicing, it’s such a great way to get three or four pounds of produce with all those nutrients, enzymes and vitamins into the system and really make a change. If you start with juicing you will also notice that your body starts to crave it so you make healthier choices. I think it’s a great and simple way and that’s what we are trying to provide. Easy accessible fast food nutritions.

What is your “hidden gems” in Santa Barbara where you go to relax and reload?

There is Lotusland, It’s a hidden gem. It’s a beautiful 40 acre garden in Montecito. That’s one of my favorite places to go. The Gaviota Coast is also another one. I love to surf and being in the water and take the boat out. I love being in the nature.

Juice ranch.

The crunchy granola and the homemade almond milk is nice and really fills me up just like good ingredients like rolled oats, nuts and seeds does.  I’m talking about Axe in Venice. Local, homemade and organic – the healthy way.

Axe is all about sustainable, organic and local and their food is simply amazing. Below is some staples I pulled from their site. I love it.

we buy organic seasonal products directly from local farmers – see our list of farmers below or find your own neighborhood farmers market 
we deliver our kitchen scraps for compost back to the farm, contributing to the creation of healthy soil
we buy our bulk staples from an organic distributor such as: grains, flour, dried beans and oils
we source as many organic products as possible including wine and beer
we use a reverse-osmosis filtration system to purify our water – which is the only purification system that removes fluoride from our drinking water
we use bio-degradable take-out containers, cleansers and laundry soaps
we use post consumer waste paper products
we recycle our trash

The backyard is not too shabby either.

I haven’t seen Anna-Karin in so long so when we met for lunch the other day, we ended up chatting for 4 hours… about health, nutrition, plant based food, healing from within, food is medicin and so on. All those fun, interesting and very inspiring things.

Quinoa and kale lavash wrap. Quinoa and kale = fantastic combo!

Kreation cafe, Abbot Kinney.