Meet the Pfleegers
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Lonely Palm Ranch is a place where art and homesteading combine. After years in New York and LA, Christa and Eric finally decided to make the move back to her home town of Arroyo Grande, California. They came with a dream of living the simple life and doing things together—growing food, taking care of their land and having space to explore creative pursuits. They were given the opportunity to take over an incredible old ranch from a family friend. This place and this coast are so special to Christa and ingrained in her work, it felt meant to be.
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As part of this journey the Pfleegers are building a lifestyle around creating and exploring together as a family as they learn new things on the ranch. The family has always centered their world around art, and the kids have been homeschooled by Eric since they were small with a big focus on art education. Lonely Palm Ranch the brand was born out of this experiment, as the family works together to establish an art ranch with a living store featuring a mix of their personal work and their favorite things.
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Their first and signature product, The Original Lonely Palm Ranch Calendar, came from Eric's love of font design and printmaking. Each year the family works together and draws upon their inspirations from the land and their travels to make a beautiful, looseleaf, hand silk-screened art calendar. Eric illustrates the pages, and the whole family, along with friends and neighbors, help print and package every order. Each page is designed specifically to be cut down and enjoyed in the home as a piece of handmade original art after the calendar's usefulness has run its course. Lonely Palm Ranch's coveted calendars are limited edition and available via pre-order throughout the year, shipping in the early fall.
Eric
Eric spent 8 years in art school studying printmaking and advertising. He met Christa when they both attended ArtCenter College of Design. He spent his 20s and 30s in NYC and his 40s as a stay-at-home dad homeschooling Wesley and Oscar. His favorite band is The Clash, his favorite drink is an old fashioned and he really likes the ocean and small fishing towns. He spends way too many hours of his day making, drinking and talking about coffee.
Christa
Christa is a commercial photographer and has spent the last 20 years traveling the world for work—much of it with her daughter, Wesley, who is also a photographer. After a career spent working with brands, she is enjoying building something of her own and having her own story to tell through Lonely Palm Ranch. She has a crazy problem with wanderlust and is constantly planning the next big trip and dragging the family along on their next great adventure. She also really loves crossing things off her to-do list each day.
Wesley
Wesley can be found outdoors running around the Central Coast. She's a big adventure fan and spends her days rock climbing, surfing, hiking and honing her photography skills. She is the first to jump into any body of water. Wesley does not like the color black...which is odd since she spent her entire childhood wearing only black. She loves a good book and is trying to master slack lining.
Oscar
Oscar is in the process of starting up Little Palm, a children's line of shirts and prints inspired by animals—which are his main love, especially pandas, which we don't have on the ranch obviously, but one can dream... He wants to donate a portion of his sales to research for type 1 diabetes, which he has had since he was 2 years old and is a big part of all of our lives here at the ranch. Oscar loves the Beastie Boys and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and is a huge fan of Japanese Manga.
