Get Involved

On September 20^th, the Live Earth Farm Discovery Program will host El Pajaro, the 6^th annual organic dinner on the farm supporting the Live Earth Farm Discovery Program. Chef Jonathan Miller of Eat Right at Home will regale guests with fresh, local flavors from the very fields where the fare is served. Paired with sumptuous local wines, and accompanied by Penny Ice Cream Sundaes for dessert, live music and an auction, this dinner will delight.

Watsonville, CA, August 4, 2014 – On September 20^th, 2014 El Pajaro, the Live Earth Farm Discovery Program’s 6^th annual farm dinner, will feature local chefs, farmers, artisans and winemakers celebrating the farmers from around the world who have cultivated the abundance grown in the Pajaro Valley. The afternoon will begin with live music accompanying freshly prepared appetizers, a Pajaro Valley Historical Association display and silent auction. After the multi-course wine pairing dinner, the event will culminate with a campfire and dessert overlooking the Pajaro Valley. The children’s cob oven pizza and garden party is a perennial favorite.

“It was so rewarding picking our own food right out of the ground and then cleaning it and eating it,” Dana commented. Why does such a humble act feel so rewarding? Is it because it connects us to the land, and the animals, food, water, and community that sustain us?

Dana is a high school junior who stayed on the farm for three days this spring. She learned how to grow produce, and care for farm animals, how to cook healthy meals, and how to ask the right questions to become a conscious consumer in our local and international food system.

Through LEFDP’s programs local, under served youth build confidence in learning to be active caretakers of themselves, their community and their environment. This is why the Live Earth Farm Discovery Program aims to raise $40,000 through El Pajaro, the September 20^th fall fundraising event, to support farm visits, transportation costs, and garden supplies for the 1500 students who will visit Live Earth Farm in 2015.

[button link=”https://el-pajaro-lefdp.eventbrite.com”]Purchase Tickets[/button] [button link=”http://liveearthfarm.net/discovery-program/support-us/”]Sponsor[/button]

Here’s an easy way to raise money for The Live Earth Farm Discovery Program. Just do all of your shopping through the online shopping mall, Goodshop.com, where you can shop at more than 2,600 top online retailers and a percentage of your purchases will go to the charity or school of your choice. You pay the same price as you normally would, but a donation goes to your cause!

You can also enroll in the Gooddining program. Eat at over 10,000 participating restaurants nationwide and you can earn up to 6% of every dollar spent on the meal as a donation for your charity or school.

In addition, start using Yahoo! powered Goodsearch.com as your search engine and they’ll donate about a penny to your favorite cause every time you do a search!

Here’s the web site — http://www.goodsearch.com/nonprofit/live-earth-farm-discovery-program.aspx.

You can also read about Goodsearch in the NY Times, Oprah Magazine, CNN, ABC News and the Wall Street Journal.

On June 5^th, Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing will host Thank you Thursday for the Live Earth Farm Discovery Program on their great, Westside, dog-friendly patio. $1 of every pint sold will go to LEFDP to support hands-on farm-based education and nutrition programs for local youth.

Watsonville, CA, May 12, 2014 – The Live Earth Farm Discovery Program will be featured in the Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing Thank You Thursday program on June 5^th, 2014. The weekly event supports local non-profit organizations by donating one dollar of every pint of beer purchased. LEFDP uses food and farming as a tool to build pride, and caring. Through the hard work of farming sustainably and cooking real food, children and teens learn to care for themselves for their environment and for their community.

This summer kids and families have many opportunities to visit Live Earth Farm during summer camps, u-pick events, and drop in programs, all supported by the funds raised through community events like Thank you Thursday.

Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing features a wide selection of organic, handcrafted beer and is open every day from 11:30am to 10pm.  They are located in the Swift Street Courtyard at 402 Ingalls street on the Westside of Santa Cruz.

You can support Live Earth Farm Discovery when you buy or sell on eBay, with the eBay Giving Works program. Here’s how:

Live Earth Farm Discovery is part of the eBay Giving Works program. So, you can support our mission when you buy and sell on eBay. Here’s how:

Buy

• You can find whatever you’re looking for on eBay – from baseball cards to new cars and more. When you do, shop for items that benefit us. You can get a great deal and support community, nutrition and environmental education at the same time!
• Shop now to support Live Earth Farm Discovery
• http://givingworks.ebay.com/charity-auctions/charity/live-earth-farm-discovery-program/65113/

Sell

• You can also support Live Earth Farm Discovery when you sell on eBay. Just designate our organization to receive 10-100% of your final sale price the next time you list something great.
• Did you know that charity listings often get more bids and higher prices than regular eBay listings? Boost your sales and support our critical work while you’re at it! Plus eBay gives back to you too, with a fee credit on your basic selling fees.
• Sell now to support Live Earth Farm Discovery
• http://givingworks.ebay.com/charity-auctions/charity/live-earth-farm-discovery-program/65113/

On May 6^th, 2013 starting at 9:30 am, The Live Earth Farm Discovery Program will host a garden work party in celebration of Give Local America and the end of the 2014 Spring Fund Drive. Give Local America is a national day of community giving. LEFDP staff will cook volunteers a pizza lunch in our cob oven in gratitude for the many ways the community gives to LEFDP. The Discovery Program needs to raise $4500 more to provide scholarships to bring kids to the farm to learn to grow and choose food that is healthy for themselves, for their community and for the environment.

Watsonville, CA, April 29, 2014 – The Live Earth Farm Discovery Program (LEFDP) has joined Give Local America, a movement to reignite the spirit of giving across the country and support causes in the communities in which we live, work and play. In honor of local giving, LEFDP staff will cook a cob oven pizza lunch after a morning garden work party, starting at 9:30am. On Tuesday, May 6th 2014, join in celebrating local philanthropy. From Coast to Coast, people will be coming together to “give local.” LEFDP and Give Local America encourage you to join in the excitement by supporting your favorite local organization.

“Our students learn to eat well on the farm. They learn that their food choices make an impact on the local economy and on the environment. They become aware of their place in the ecological system as they harvest and consume healthy snacks, then feed the scraps to chickens, which produce eggs. Students at Live Earth Farm learn responsibility for their choices because they are part of a community,” says LEFDP Director, Jessica Ridgeway. The Spring Fund Drive raises funds for program scholarships for local kids.

To give on May 6th: http://www.givelocaleverywhere.org/#npo/live-earth-farm-discovery-program

To give any other time: http://liveearthfarm.net/discovery-program/support-us/

The Live Earth Farm Discovery Program’s Spring Fund Drive is raising scholarship money for local, underserved students to attend Farm Camps. The 5^th season of summer camps at Live Earth Farm will feature three unique camps offered throughout the summer, including two new camps debuted last year, Sprouts Camp and Young Farmers Camp. Since 2009 LEFDP has hosted small groups of children for a week of Art on the Farm Camp along with a Leader in Training Program for teens. LEFDP invites local individuals and businesses to sponsor Farm Camp scholarships for kids in need.

Watsonville, CA, February 24, 2014 – In the summer of 2014 LEFDP will host five weeks of summer camp in the organic fields of Live Earth Farm, as well as a Leader in Training program for teens throughout the summer. A key feature of the summer camps is a scholarship program, which makes camp accessible to kids from all segments of our community. In 2014 LEFDP hopes to boost scholarship attendance.

In the fields of Live Earth Farm students of all ages and backgrounds learn how to build a healthy plate of food from the ground up. Last summer 3^rd grader, Santiago shouted proudly when asked if he had visited a farm before, “I came to this farm.” What did he remember from his visit? The best strawberry of his life and its life cycle, picked from the very field where he will plant fava beans this spring.

These three different camp offerings provide unique ways to engage with Live Earth Farm. Young Farmers Camp will focus on the processes of growing and preparing food, providing campers with in depth experience in the fields and kitchen, sprinkled with a whole bunch of fun. Sprouts Camp will engage really young kids and their families in the garden and animal pens for a 5 senses experience of growing, eating, and playing with food. As ever, Art on the Farm camp will weave nature-based art activities with fruit, vegetable and farm animal fun. With the help of the community scholarships will be available.

The Live Earth Farm Discovery Program (LEFDP) is a farm-based education non-profit organization in Watsonville, California. LEFDP makes seed to mouth, farm to fork, and child to community connections through a variety of hands-on educational programs serving the youth of Santa Cruz, Santa Clara and Monterey counties and beyond. A special emphasis is placed on reaching under served people in the community to bolster individual, community and environmental health. We welcome volunteers a number of different capacities. Please get in touch!

Jessica Ridgeway, Director
831-728-2032
LEFDPDirector@gmail.com
On facebook: LEFDP
On Twitter: @LEFDP
On Pinterest: LEFDP
On tumblr: LEFDiscoveryProgram
http://liveearthfarm.net/discovery-program/programs/farm-camps/
http://liveearthfarm.net/farm-camps-at-live-earth-farm/

Happy Holidays!  Can you believe the New Year is almost here? Help us get ready for the 2014 tour season by raising $5000 before the end of the year. We have raised $2171 which means we have $2829 to raise in the next 4 days!  Please make a tax deductible donation to the Live Earth Farm Discovery Program before the end of 2013.

Your contribution today will help LEFDP surpass our 2013 accomplishments in 2014.

• 2000 kids, and even more adults have benefited from our hands-on education in the farm fields.
• 57% of the students we taught to build a healthy plate of plant-based foods were from under served schools.
• LEFDP paid for transportation for 180 students!

Let’s outdo ourselves in 2014!  Here is how you can help:

We have received 13 of the 15 donations we need by December 31, 2013 to qualify for the Pebble Beach Pro-Am Chevron Shoot-Out Qualifier. We have raised $2171 towards our goal of $5000 by the end of the year.   

• In 2013, 57% of the students we taught to build a healthy plate of plant-based foods on the farm, were from under served schools, up from 31% in 2012.

Helping us reach this fundraising goal will make it possible to continue this important work in 2014.

Become a sponsor or make a tax deductible contribution of any amount

• by credit card or e-check through Birdies for Charity to earn us a 20% match
• or by check: LEFDP * PO Box 3490 * Freedom, CA * 95019

And keep reading for more ways to help before 2014!

Make your Holiday Shopping Go Further

Purchase Banana Slug String Band CD’s or Downloads at a 10% Discount and get 10% for LEFDP

*offer valid 11/29-12/31, must purchase by 12/15 for delivery by Christmas

Make a cash or art supply donation or share the information about Art Room Aid by Blick Art Materials

Do your online shopping through goodshop and get great coupons while raising a percentage of every purchase for LEFDP.

 http://www.goodsearch.com/goodshop.aspx

Plant Your Garden And Grow Cash!

Buy your garden seeds from Renee’s Garden Seeds and 25% of the order value will be donated to The Live Earth Farm Discovery Program.

Here’s how it works:

Simply go to www.reneesgarden.com and choose from the wide selection of seeds for heirloom and gourmet vegetables, cottage garden flowers and culinary herbs, special seed collections and great kitchen garden cookbooks.

At check out, just enter the code FR338A in the coupon code box on the checkout page, and that’s it! Renee’s Garden will send a year-end check to the Live Earth Farm Discovery Program for 25% of all orders who use this fundraising code. Code expires December 31 each year.

We raised $480 this way in 2012!

Docent Programs and Volunteer Opportunities at Live Earth Farm

The Live Earth Farm Discovery Program has three new docent programs and many one time volunteer events providing opportunities for local adults to get involved with this successful farm-based education organization.

Yesterday, I celebrated the first of three Thanksgiving dinners we will be feasting on this year. We shared a wonderful meal with our best college friends and all our kids. I am always blown away by how quickly a table full of food, that took two days to prepare by three women, can be consumed. This year my good friend Stephanie taught me how good green bean casserole and candied sweet potatoes can be when they are prepared with love from scratch. My contribution was completely centered on the produce that the Farm brought to market this weekend. I made brussels sprouts with bacon and pomegranate seeds, a green salad, and mmmmmmm apple pie. The holidays are upon us!

Mar Vista Elementary 5th graders plant Fava Beans

For LEFDP this means I am working hard on the end of year report to share with you next month, Peter is sewing cover crops and strawberries with our year round students and preparing to step up as our new Education Coordinator, Grace is wrapping up the fall tour season and planning her next steps as she prepares to move on from working with LEFDP, and you, I imagine, are buying gifts, preparing special family meals and hopefully. . . planning your end of year gifts.

This year LEFDP is partnering with the Monterey Peninsula Foundation on its Birdies for Charity program, which means LEFDP gets a 20% match on all of the funds we raise from November 1^st, 2013 through February 28^th, 2014.  Between now and the end of the year LEFDP hopes to raise $5000 to teach 600 kids how to make and grow healthy food choices during our spring 2014 tour season. And it gets better; we are kicking off this fund drive with a matching contribution from our Board of Directors.  This group of amazing folks have created $1500 in matching funds to get this drive underway.

[button link=”https://events.r2it.com/birdies/r.aspx?site=ATTPebbleBeach&charity=TheLiveEarthFarmDiscoveryProgram”]Donate[/button]

Please consider making LEFDP programs available to as many local youth as possible by making a contribution today. Our board will double your contribution and the Monterey Peninsula Foundation will match it all 20%, so your dollars can go even further to make farm fresh, healthy snacks and learning available to our community!