Planting Justice
New El Sobrante nursery grows jobs, community for formerly incarcerated
Story and photos by Rachel Ross • Contra Costa Youth Journalism
April 30, 2026
Planting Justice, a nonprofit empowering formerly incarcerated people by giving them jobs and opportunities, recently opened up a second nursery space in El Sobrante. The El Sobrante Nursery & Farm Store is a new community space that sells everything from trees and dirt to many varieties of seedlings.
For over a century, this space was owned by the Adachi family, who closed their nursery and retired in 2017. The space was sold to a developer who planned to build a gas station at the location. However, Good Table LLC., which is the partnership between Planting Justice and a church, bought the land in order to open up a nursery, cafe, and community space. It took five to six years to build the new space, which was delayed by the COVID pandemic.
It has been well received. Many longtime El Sobrante residents are appreciative that another nursery has opened in this space. Community members come to relax with their kids, shop, and have tea or coffee on the patio. On Sundays, there’s a farmers market, and daily fresh pie is for sale on the patio. Throughout the nursery, there are various murals and collages, as well as a booth where you can listen to stories from inside a prison and various other reflective spaces.
Simone Robinson, a nursery technician who has worked for Planting Justice for the last five years, compares this new space to the East Oakland nursery, which has been in operation since 2016. The El Sobrante Nursery “is more of a retail space that’s centered on allowing other people to grow food.”
Robinson invites those who haven’t yet come to visit to smell flowers and be inspired by nature, the outdoors, and historical and art exhibits.
Rachel Ross is an 11th grader at El Cerrito High School in El Cerrito and a CCYJ reporter. This story originally appeared in CCSpin.