Stonehouse Grown•Cofounder
Ramona d'Viola • Chief Weed Puller
Ramona d'Viola's food education began with a bite of fantastically flavorful greens at Berkeley's world-renowned Chez Panisse, (with her soon-to-be husband, Chef Russell Moore). The marriage didn't last, but Ramona's love affair with organic, locally grown, seasonal foods continues - starting with growing her own.
In 2008, she moved to North County San Diego to apprentice at La Milpa Organica (the now defunct Stone Farms - no relation) where she became the "face of the farm" at regional farmers markets – while simultaneously lending her marketing expertise to the business of farming, or just milking the goats.
Ramona's former live-in chef taught her a thing or two about cooking, and it served the farm well, as she took over pizzaiola duties for La Milpa's monthly wood-fired pizza parties, fundraisers, and farm weddings.
Ramona is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps, a permaculture dilettante, beekeeper, organic farmer, and food security advocate, who creates small tree orchards, edible landscapes, and water sipping xeriscapes wherever she goes.
Today, she's combined her marketing skills with her green thumb, an enviable network of connections in the culinary world - and, thanks to the generosity, vision, and trust of her partner, a big, beautiful, fertile field to make it all happen.
