Julia Thomas joined CLBL as the Development and Communications Manager in the summer of 2022. Julia has been a champion of small farms for over 20 years and loves connecting people to where their food comes from. She spent 15 years at the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op sharing the stories of the people behind our food and creating educational programs for all ages.

After graduating from San Francisco State University, Julia was drawn to farming and spent a summer at the UC Davis Student Farm. She soon discovered that what she loved most about growing food was looking at all the critters, so she started studying field ecology at Sacramento City College. She became inspired by the ways that agriculture can work in partnership with nature, rather than against it, and she appreciates the way that CLBL beautifully blends agriculture and environmental stewardship.

Along with her partner and two dogs, Julia stewards the Rinky Dink Ranch, a small farm in the Capay Valley town of Rumsey. There they grow medicinal herbs, flowers, fruits and veggies, and lots of habitat for birds, lizards and beneficial insects.