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We are very excited to be supporting youth development by offering, for the very first time this summer, two junior staff positions. Junior staff learn to lead sustainable farming, and nutritious food preparation activities. They work with campers on the self-care that also supports healthy ecosystems, economies, and communities. We are preparing youth for well paying jobs in our community.

Thanks to some great generosity and with your help we will be able to pay these youth for their hard work. Please help us make our $5000 matching grant. Every new donor’s contribution will be matched. We are so grateful for every contribution of any amount.

We need your help to fund these important positions. Contributions from new donors will be matched 1:1!

Junior staff receive paid summer job training. This enables the youth, who are former LIT’s or graduates of the Food What?! Program, to move into meaningful work while school is out of session. Junior Staff and LIT’s learn leadership and job skills in a supportive environment where they are challenged to take responsibility. In working with younger campers, the teens go back to school in the fall better prepared socially and academically, with work experience, greater awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth, and the skills to make healthy food choices.

At Farm Discovery summer camps, Junior Staff and LIT’s have the opportunity to grow real food, outside, with their own hands — alongside younger campers who thrive from their support. They further develop skills learned during their year in the Food What?! partnership by teaching campers to care for laying hens, milking goats and a dairy cow. They take raw ingredients from the fields to the kitchen, where they facilitate food preparation and preservation skills. Junior Staff hone healthy habits to share with their families and the skills to maintain such habits after camp is done.

Farm Discovery is able to offer these empowering positions for teens in part due to a matching grant from a local family foundation. Contributions from new donors will be matched 1:1 up to $5000 www.liveearthfarm.net/springfunddrive/

Spots are still available for Farm Discovery’s seventh summer camp season. Many activities are planned; all take place on the working farm and incorporate materials from 150 acres of organic fruits and vegetables. Past sessions have included making cheese, felting with wool, making take-home pickles and harvesting ingredients to assemble, then eat, delicious, farm-fresh salads. Campers also have opportunities to interact with our animals—including chickens and Bella, our milking cow—and even do animal chores like milking goats.

Summer 2016 sessions
June 13-17, Art on the Farm Camp – 9am-3pm – optional overnight on Thursday
June 20-24, Farm to Table Camp – 9am-3pm – optional overnight on Thursday
June 27-July 1, Sprouts Camp – 9am-noon – with OR without parent
July 11-15, Art on the Farm Camp – 9am-3pm – optional overnight on Thursday
July 18-22, Farm to Table Camp – 9am-3pm – optional overnight on Thursday

Sprouts Camp is for 3-6 year olds. All other camps are for 6-13 year olds. They are limited to 25 kids each to ensure a positive experience. A Leaders in Training program for teens, ages 14+ runs for each of the 5 weeks of camp.

We will be kicking off our Spring Fund Drive at the Sheep to Shawl Fair to raise scholarship funds for Farm Discovery Summer Camps and Spring Field Trips.

Please consider a meaningful contribution to help us transform kids relationships to food and farming.

Each year over 2,000 local children and youth learn about farming, nutrition, and environmental sustainability and connect with nature on our farm. All four seasons offer opportunities to gain knowledge and skills about our food system, the farm and natural ecosystems.

In the spring, students participate in farm immersion programs, staying overnight on the farm for a few days to get their hands dirty, preparing compost, sowing seeds, and preparing farm-fresh meals with spring crops.

In the summer, kids of all ages – from the youngest participants in our Wee Ones program, to our school-age summer camp participants, to the Pajaro Valley teens Leaders in Training and those doing their Food What?! internship on Live Earth Farm – tend and harvest an abundance of delicious summer produce.

In the autumn, students visit the farm for our applemania field trips and our weekly homeschool program to participate in the harvest, sample fresh fall fruits and veggies, and help us save seeds for the next season.

In the winter, young visitors enjoy caring for our livestock – our chickens, dairy goats, and cow – while helping us prepare the land for another bountiful year.

Our 150-acre organic farm is a rich resource for learning about agriculture, science, nutrition, and ecology. With your support, we bring local students to the farm to learn throughout the seasons.

Please join us in our work to empower youth to make regenerative choices for their health, our community, and the environment through farm-based education. Make your tax-deductible contribution today at www.liveearthfarm.net/four-seasons, so we can harvest a healthier tomorrow for our youth and our planet.

Thank you! We wish you all the best this – and every – season.

Position Description
We are looking for a highly competent, outgoing, detail-oriented and driven person to join our staff as Development Coordinator. The position is a long term, part time salaried position with potential to become full time for the right person, invested in the sustainability of LEFDP. This position will provide vital support to the LEFDP Executive Director, Education Coordinator and Program Staff by coordinating fundraising efforts, managing events, and overseeing grant processes. This is a core position for LEFDP and the Development Coordinator will participate in strategic planning, regular staff planning and coordination.

Responsibilities:
Development Coordination: (75%)

• Manage three LEFDP farm events per year – spring Sheep to Shawl Fair, fall Feast in the Fields benefit, and fall Harvest Festival – including securing sponsorships, soliciting donations, volunteer recruitment, event coordination and vendor management.
• Reach out to the local and regional agricultural and business communities to develop corporate sponsorship relationships to help sustain LEFDP programs.
• Forge corporate volunteer partnerships, including recruitment, management and stewardship of volunteers.
• Implement and manage fundraising efforts in collaboration with the LEFDP team.
• Coordinate donor cultivation and stewardship events.
• Support LEFDP Director in developing and maintaining relationships with donors.
• Maintain LEFDP grant and donor database (Salesforce software).
• Manage limited grant submissions including research, writing, editing, reporting and check-ins with LEFDP Director on goals and objectives.
• Maintain LEFDP grant database (Salesforce software).
• Co-create and co-manage annual program budget with LEFDP Director and Board.
• Develop annual fundraising plan and update quarterly for Director and Board.
• Manage donor and supporter electronic and print communications using mail merge, e-communications programs and tracking communications in the LEFDP database.

Communications (15%)

• Aid Director with in-house and volunteer production of LEFDP marketing materials and solicit outside help as needed.
• Assist in creation and implementation of communications plan including content for LEFDP web and social media.
• Represent LEFDP in community events, networks, and service club meetins (eg. Rotary).
• Participate in community and school events and fairs to promote LEDP volunteer opportunities and recruit volunteers.
• Engage in community networking to raise awareness and promote LEFDP.

Operations and Finance Management: (5%)

• Work with staff to coordinate and ensure the integrity of the processing of donations.
• Review quarterly Profit and Loss reports with LEFDP Director to ensure financial integrity of LEFDP.
• Participate in quarterly Board of Directors meetings.

Program Support (5%)

• Recruit volunteers for LEFDP events ad programs from local community, workplaces, schools, service clubs, and congregations.
• Provide program support in collaboration with LEFDP Director and LEFDP Education Coordinator.

Qualifications:

• Proven success in developing diverse revenue streams for nonprofits, specifically youth, farm or outdoor education programs.
• Event coordination experience, and demonstrated success.
• Corporate sponsorship experience, and demonstrated success.
• Volunteer management experience, and demonstrated success.
• Grant writing experience, and demonstrated success
• Passion for development and relationship building.
• Strong organizational, communication and collaboration skills.
• High level of attention to detail and time management.
• Dependable with thorough follow through.
• Strong computer skills, including communications design programs such as Pages, broadcast email/text programs such as Constant Contact, MS Office suite, and Google Apps.
• Ability to carry the brand and be the face of LEFDP.

Preferred:

• Bilingual Spanish speaker.
• Experience and understanding of Latina/o culture.
• Farming or gardening experience and skills.
• Experience with or willingness to learn donor information systems and website management programs such as Salesforce and WordPress.
• Familiarity with are agricultural business and philanthropic sectors,

Duration
The position will be filled by February 2016. We are most interested in hiring someone willing to make a long term, multi-year commitment. The minimum contract for the position will last through December 2016.

Details
This is a 20 hours per week, part time position with some seasonal fluctuation and paid vacation, sick time and holidays. We are a very small organization ready to grow with you. We believe in a living wage, we are very family friendly and we are working towards offering competitive salaries. Your work can help us get there. Salary commensurate with experience. Organic produce available.

Application Procedure
Please send a cover letter, resume and relevant writing sample to Jessica Ridgeway at lefdpdirector@gmail.com

Add your name to our mailing list by Sunday September 20, 2015 and be entered for a chance to win 2 tickets to A to Zucchini.
*We will contact you quarterly with a fun newsletter about the incredible transformations taking place on the farm.

Our Auction is awesome and raises $7,500 because of all of the great items donated by our community. If you make jewelry, canned goods or bath products, your craft can raise money for farm-based nutrition and environmental education. Can’t think of a talent of your own to share? You can take a letter to any business that you frequent and ask them to support LEFDP. Just visit our blog for a letter to print.

Auction Ask Letter pdf to download and print

Hello Friends,
Please Join us on September 20th from 4-8 pm
at Live Earth Farm
for a farm fresh feast in the fields in support of farm-based nutrition and environmental education from A to Zucchini

We look forward to celebrating with you the 2000 students who are learning to be stewards of the environment and our community health at Live Earth Farm in 2015 and the one’s whose lives we will touch in 2016.

Let’s share a delicious five course farm fresh meal, paired with lovely local wines, overlooking the Pajaro Valley. Live music, a silent and live auction, and a fun photo booth will all be topped off by a campfire to end the evening.

All our best,
The LEFDP Team

June 1^st Love Monday at Discretion Brewing to Benefit LEFDP Farm-Based Education for Health: Families, Environment, Community, Economy

The June 1^st Love Monday at Discretion Brewing will support farm camp scholarships for local kids the Live Earth Farm Discovery Program. 20% of the day’s beer sales will support LEFDP’s environmental and nutrition education programs for local youth.

Watsonville, CA, May 22, 2015 – The Live Earth Farm Discovery Program will be featured in the Discretion Brewing Love Monday program on June 1^st, 2015, 11:30am to 9pm. The weekly event supports local, non-profit organizations by donating 20% of beer sales for the day to the featured program. Funds raised at the event will help LEFDP provide ongoing opportunities for youth to visit Live Earth Farm to learn about organic farming, local food systems, and nutrition.

Through LEFDP’s programs local, under served youth build confidence in learning to be active caretakers of themselves, their community and their environment.

Discretion Brewing is a family-owned company dedicated to producing handcrafted organic beer of consistent high quality. They are known for quality and elegance in both their products and their presence in the community. The taproom is open every day from 11:30am to 9pm and serves food from Main Street Garden & Café designed to be shared and paired with the beers. The brewery and taproom are located at 2703 41^st Avenue in Soquel.

See their post about this event here.

Community members have until May 31st to vote for Live Earth Farm Discovery Program to receive funding for on-farm environmental education programs for local youth.

Watsonville, CA, May 20, 2015 – The Live Earth Farm Discovery Program is a finalist to receive funds through New Leaf Community Markets’ reusable grocery bag incentive program that supports local environmental non-profit organizations. Community members can vote online at www.newleaf.com/community/envirotokens/ through May 31st.  If selected, shoppers at New Leaf’s Westside, Downtown, and Capitola store locations will have the option to donate their reusable bag credit to Live Earth Farm Discovery Program. Funds raised through the Envirotoken program will help LEFDP provide hands-on environmental education opportunities for local youth at Live Earth Farm, an organic family farm in Watsonville.

LEFDP reaches out to local youth and families, with an emphasis on underserved students, to provide experiential learning opportunities throughout the school year and during the summer. Participants learn about organic farming, local food systems, ecology, and nutrition. They leave the farm informed and inspired to be better stewards of the environment and their own health.

Whenever you reuse a grocery bag at New Leaf, you receive a 10¢ Envirotoken to donate to the non-profit of your choice. At the request of longtime customer, Ron Goodman, New Leaf started the Envirotoken program in 1993 with a twofold goal: to support local nonprofits working for the environment and conserve resources by encouraging recycling. Every May, at every New Leaf store, customers have the opportunity to vote for Envirotoken recipients for the coming year. These nonprofits are supported by our customers throughout the year and each time you use a reusable grocery bag. Giving back to the community, each time you shop.

New Leaf caters to their core with lots of organics. Back in the early 80s, New Leaf founder, Scott Roseman, upgraded a funky co-op to a well-run, community market—offering the Westside of Santa Cruz (and beyond) the healthiest food around. Today, they are seven markets and growing, and as the first B-Corp grocer in California, they continue to raise the bar for food stores everywhere.