About Us
We grew a Tiny Forest in the Desert.
Cultivating desertified land one square foot at a time.
Our Mission
We believe in Earthcare.
For Every Star, A Tree is dedicated to healing desertified Earth by hosting community gatherings, hands-on workshops, and educational nature retreats.
Our Vision
We call ourselves Earthworkers.
Our vision is to cultivate a constellation of Tiny Forests in the Desert. "For every star, a tree."
Why The Desert?
Our farm is in one of L.A. County's abandoned places.
While our office is based in the San Fernando Valley, we put down roots for our farm in Hi Vista (an unincorporated community north of the rural town Lake Los Angeles) in 2021. Imagine: no trash service. No sidewalks, no pavement. No grid, no water, no sewer...no roofs, no buildings, no kitchens, and no bathrooms.
Nearly 30% of residents are "experiencing" unsheltered homelessness. Unlike the city, that means no infrastructure. No shade. And the nearest food bank is more than a 30 minute walk in summer temperatures that routinely break 98°F. To put it plainly, East Lancaster is an extremely isolated, rural, desert region facing profound environmental equity challenges.
Desert communities like ours are often overlooked for resources and funding...yet we are home to the most heat-vulnerable, least climate resilient regions in all of L.A. county.
Located on "hills and rock pediments" with desert dirt "that formed in residuum from granitic rock," our goal is to transform 10-acres of desertified Earth into healthy soil...and transform rural isolation into a thriving, resilient community.
We started cultivating because we believe that land can be healed, restored, and regenerated.
We stay because our rural community deserves the same investment that more visible parts of LA County take for granted.
This Work Belongs to All of Us
Whether you are a teacher looking for enrichment, a funder seeking impact, or a volunteer who wants to get their hands in the soil... there is a place for you here.
Our History
How a small seed of faith blossomed into a movement.
For Every Star, A Tree started as an artistic inquiry: can a tree grow in the desert? (2020).
It soon morphed into a grassroots movement, what we called a climate love-letter to future generations (2023). Now, we are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and registered farm that not only heals desertified Earth, but also teaches young students nature-based STEM by bringing our farm directly to the classroom.
Our Evolution
From Land Restoration to Nature-Based Learning
We started as a community land project with shovels and composting bins. But the deeper we got into the work, the clearer something became: the children who visited the farm weren't just learning about soil. They were changing. They were asking different questions, making different observations, and carrying a new sense of agency back into their classrooms and homes.
When Title I teachers began asking us to bring the farm to their students, we understood that the most durable thing we could offer wasn't a field trip. It was a curriculum. Our nature-based STEM workshops are now California Common Core-aligned, co-created with classroom educators, and delivered free of charge to schools where environmental education is least resourced and most needed. We still don't use pesticides. We still compost everything. And we still believe Earthcare is more than just our right as humans. It's our legacy for the generations to come.
What We Believe
The Values That Ground Us
Earthcare Is How We Begin
Before curriculum, before outcomes, before any measurable deliverable — there is the act of tending. We care for the land because it teaches us how to care for one another. Every program we offer grows from that belief.
Every Child Belongs Here
Our programs are free. Our farm is open. Our gatherings are device-free and welcoming to anyone who wants to learn. We do not believe that access to the natural world is a privilege — it is a right.
We Give More Than We Take
Regenerative agriculture is not just a farming method — it is a philosophy. We return more to the soil than we extract from it. We apply the same principle to our communities: our programs are designed to leave families, classrooms, and neighborhoods more resourced than we found them.
Wonder Is the Point
A child who discovers a red wiggler worm for the first time does not need to be told that science is exciting. We design every workshop around that moment of genuine surprise — because wonder, once kindled, does not go out easily.
