OYA: Parents Creating a Legacy of Nourishment
Oya Organics began over a decade ago in Hollister, California, when Marsha Habib and Modesto Sanchez Cruz combined their roots, values, and skills to grow something of their own.
Marsha, a Bay Area native with Japanese heritage, studied agroecology and conservation at UC Berkeley and trained at UCSC’s farm program. Her early childhood memories of her family’s rice fields in rural Japan instilled a deep appreciation for food and farming.
Modesto, raised in a remote village in Oaxaca, Mexico, brought traditional, intuitive farming knowledge from a lifetime of growing corn, beans, and herbs. With no tractors and only bull-drawn plows, his family farmed for subsistence.
Together, Marsha and Modesto started Oya on a single leased acre. Today, the farm spans 20 diversified, certified organic acres, still run by a close-knit team, including Modesto’s brothers.
“We believe food is medicine. It matters what kind of soil it’s grown in, what other plants are around it, how long it’s been sitting since harvest.”
Marsha Habbib and Modesto Sanchez Cruz of Oya Organics.
“Oya” Means Nourishing Parent
In Japanese, “Oya” means nourishing parent — a perfect reflection of the farm’s mission: to care for land, food, and community with the same intention and love that a parent offers a child.
It also carries other powerful meanings: Oya, the Yoruba Orixá goddess of storms and transformation, and olla, the Spanish word for a communal pot that feeds many. Different roots, shared spirit.
Oya’s farming practices center on soil health and biodiversity. They grow in living soil, rotate crops, use compost and minimal tillage, and avoid synthetic inputs entirely. The result is food that’s fresher, more flavorful, and more nutrient-dense. “We believe food is medicine,” Marsha shared. “It matters what kind of soil it’s grown in, what other plants are around it, how long it’s been sitting since harvest.”
Oya heirloom tomatoes, peppers and marigolds.
That belief in food as medicine drives their work with schools. Oya supplies tomatoes and vegetables to school districts like Morgan Hill Unified, which uses their San Marzano-style tomatoes to make fresh pizza and pasta sauces in-house. “It’s amazing to see schools investing in real food,” Marsha said. The district has brought its chefs and staff to walk the farm and is even starting its own campus farm. Through the nonprofit Conscious Kitchen, Oya has also connected with other districts in Richmond and Albany. These collaborations bring organic, local food into school cafeterias and support food literacy from the ground up.
Beyond schools, Oya reaches families directly through their CSA program, farmers markets and now its partnership with Rootstock. They’re keen to experiment with curated kits—like salsa boxes or sauce bundles—to make it easier for busy families to cook from scratch. For Marsha and Modesto, it’s not just about providing ingredients—it’s about helping people rediscover flavor, nutrition, and joy in fresh food.
Staying Grounded
Farming is hard, and Marsha and Modesto feel it—especially during late summer when the heat, weeds, and exhaustion set in. “Every year, we say we’re going to quit,” Marsha admitted with a laugh. “Then winter comes, we look through the seed catalogs, and we start dreaming again.”
Oya isn’t chasing scale or growth at all costs. Instead, they focus on balance—staying at a size where they can manage the land themselves, support their team year-round, and maintain close relationships with customers. Their goal is simple: grow what they love, farm with care, and feed their community well.
