By Hannah Guzik
Photo by David Yamamoto
Special to The Star
Original post March 7, 2012 at 5:48 p.m., updated March 7, 2012 at 6:22 p.m.

Florencia Ramirez is on the “eat less water” diet.

From her kitchen in Oxnard’s historic district, she serves meals made with ingredients grown on “dry farms,” or with limited amounts of water, and she’s teaching other local residents to do the same.

“Right now, these terms live in academia, and my hope is that I can bring this into the mainstream,” she said. “The experts say that, just like the housing bubble, we’re living in a water bubble, and eventually it’s going to pop.”

Ramirez held a cooking class Saturday in her home, teaching eight area women to make pizza from scratch and “eat less water” in the process.

“Eat less water” is a trademark phrase for Ramirez. It describes her push to reduce the amount of water used to irrigate farms, thus helping conserve the natural resource.

It’s also the title of her blog, florenciaramirez.com, and a book she’s working on about her research of dry farms, which use only rainwater or other precipitation to irrigate.

Experts predict two-thirds of the world will experience water shortages by 2025, Ramirez said.

“I want to figure out how we can unwrite that story and write another story,” she said. “We have to start at the kitchen table.”

Kneading pizza crust made with dry-farmed olive oil and organic flour, Ramirez taught the women in her class how to help save water when shopping for groceries.

Oxnard women says water reduction is on the menu

Read the full article at VC Star and view all photos.