Notes from the Field Classroom

You’d be surprised how loud a flock of 100 chickens is. The noise isn’t the only thing you notice. It’s the smell, the commotion and organized chaos. Then you taste the eggs and realize it’s all worthwhile.

Gathering the eggs.

A group of 12 students from Moreau Catholic High School in Hayward spent 3 days with us last week and they got to experience the farm in a way that you can only get from staying overnight. They had conventional eggs the first morning and our organic pasture raised eggs the second and it was no contest. These students absorbed everything the could about the farm and its role in the community. They learned about the food system and their role in it as consumers. They also focused on the social justice aspects of food, farm labor, chemicals, and conventional vs. local sustainable. “It’s really cool to see all the different parts and how it all works together,” observed one. After a hike through the redwood groves that are part of the ‘Wild Farm’ one commented, “It’s like a national park and then you walk out into an apple orchard. Cool!” They got to harvest and eat food right out of the fields and garden. They were especially excited about the large and juicy Albion strawberries. They had some with every meal.

Overnights are hard work for everyone, but I think they are an extremely effective way to connect directly to nature and food. High school aged students are at an age where they can really put two and two together and come to a meaningful understanding of the big issues that face us now and in the near future. These students are already thinking of ways to help the food system become more sustainable and just.

Welcome Christine Landis: Our New Program Assistant

Hi There! I’m Christine Landis, the new Program Assistant at Live Earth Farm Discovery Program. I will be helping Peter maintain our beautiful garden and demonstration fields. You will also see me around the farm facilitating tours and helping with the various education activities. I’m very excited for the opportunity to work with such an amazing organization and something so close to my heart.

I have always been in love with food and nature. Being born and raised in Maine was the root of that affection. My appreciation for agriculture continued to grow while creating memories on my grandparents’ dairy farm. After moving to California to attend UCSC, I noticed my experience with the natural world was not as common as I thought. I became aware of the disconnect so many people had with the environment and their food systems. After graduating with a B.A. in Environmental Studies, I rediscovered my passion for agriculture while interning at a local farm in Santa Cruz. I was invigorated with the desire to pass on the message about healthy, organic food. I feel local sustainable agriculture can lead not only to the preservation of our environment, but it can cultivate community and nourish our body and soul. I’m beyond thrilled to have found the Discovery Program where I will continue to pass on this message, as well as create excitement and awareness about the amazing food shed we live in.

This week we are wishing the best to Grace as she moves on. Grace is from the area, so we won’t lose her entirely. Grace has spent a little over a year and a half pouring her heart into running all of the education programs at Live Earth Farm, which means almost all of you have had a chance to enjoy her spark.

We were lucky to find Grace right out of UCSC, and she hit the ground running just after her graduation ceremony. She is a natural with kids. She believes in our work, and she worked her but off to make it all happen more and more independently as time went on. Grace has a talent for curriculum development and did a great job of taking time to make each program she was involved in great and educational.

We would like to thank Grace for doing such a great job as Education Coordinator for us, and wish her the best in her year of fun ahead.

We welcome Peter Nelson to the position of Education Coordinator and look forward to choosing our new Program Assistant to start in February from the great applications we have received.

 You are helping us to accomplish our goals. We are teaching students of all ages about where, their food comes, and how their choices affect themselves, their environment and their community.  Now, here is how you can help us make this possible again in 2014.

When I am leading a farm tour and start talking about the seasons on the farm, I always tell the kids, “spring is for planting, summer is for growing, fall is for harvesting, and winter is for sleeping”. Obviously this is a very simplified version of the seasons on the farm, and  all of those activities are happening year-round, but I think it helps to have a basic idea to go on when introducing the CSA model to young’uns.

Right now we are heading into the “sleeping” season on the farm.  It is very clear when you look at our garden and fields that we will be hibernating very soon.  With the last few farm tours of the season we have been planting fava beans–which are a cover crop–to hold the soil in place and return nitrogen to the beds which is used by other crops during the growing seasons.

We are also prepping our strawberry field which is a quintessential late fall activity.  This means a lot of grumbling and wrestling with T tape and plastic on our end to insure that the berries are nestled safely in the ground before winter comes.  We are very grateful to the farm for their help with this difficult task.

As we move into the winter, our search for a new Program Assistant will begin as Peter moves into the Coordinator role, and Grace moves on to travel and explore the world!

If you are interested in applying for this position, please see the “Farm Feats” post by Jessica!

Winner of Best Apple Pie, Lydia Espinosa

We had a great Pie Contest at this year’s Harvest Festival. Our panel of judges was made up of 5 lucky raffle winners, who got to taste a dozen different pies.

The most competitive category this year, with seven pies contending, was Best Apple Pie. This category was won by our youngest entrant, 8 year old Lydia Espinosa. Also competing in this category were the winners of Best Crust, a Caramel Apple Pie by Maribel Delgado, and Most Beautiful Pie, a gorgeous Apple Tart prepared by a mystery contestant. If that was your Apple Tart please let us know. We have a tee-shirt or hat for you.

The Judges Prepare

Great pies must be a Delgado Family tradition because Best Pumpkin Pie was won by Maribel’s sister, Rosa Delgado for her Pumpkin Cream Cheese Pie. Finally, we had another mystery winner, the only entrant for Best Dietary Restriction Pie, a vegan, gluten-free Acorn Squash and Pear Pie.

Congratulations to all of our winners and to the Judges, who had a hard job. We can not wait for next year’s contest and expect our reigning champions will have some stiff competition.

Most Beautiful

We are so grateful to EVERYONE who contributed to making Slice, our dinner in the orchard, a success. It is only thanks to everyone’s contributions that we are able to make the cash contributions go so far.

So thank you sponsors, auction donors, guests, growers, wine makers, artisans, chefs, student decorators, center piece makers, photographers, artists, musicians, student servers, luminaria makers, Live Earth Farm and Discovery Program staff, grocery donors, and friends and family, who ALL made this event the wonderful evening it was. The list seems endless.

Not only did we exceed our fundraising goal of $20,000, when we account for all of the in kind contributions, volunteer hours, student projects, and community good will, we find our selves exceedingly wealthy.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for participating, supporting us, and being our community!

As camp season came to a close, the Discovery Program realized just how fast the summer is passing and how close we are to fall tour season! In between the hustle and bustle of camps and tours, we have had a couple weeks to take inventory, take a breath and take some much needed vacation time! We have also had a couple of fun groups on the farm and lots of fun in the garden!

At the very end of July, we had the pleasure of working with six upstanding young men from Junipero Serra High School in San Mateo.  These boys dedicated part of their summer to an immersion program where they worked in local raspberry and blackberry fields and took some time to explore the surrounding agricultural area. We spent the morning making pizza dough and touring the farm.  In the afternoon we baked our pizzas in the cob oven and worked in the Discovery Garden and fields. They helped us create a new compost pile, weed the onions, peppers and basil and harvest squash and berries! We had an ongoing dialogue about the differences between our diverse organic farm and the conventional berry farm where they were working. We discussed complex issues like water rights and labor laws in the Pajaro Valley and the importance of eating locally.

We also had a fun group from Gateway School join us for two days in the middle of August. We led a tour and worked in the garden the first day, and the second day we harvested and canned homemade chunky tomato sause, pizza dough, cheese from the goat we milked, and peach tartlets for dessert! This summer has flown by with camps and the Solstice event, summer tours and work in the garden.  As much as we are sad to see the seasons change, we am looking forward to fall and all that comes along with it.

We are now in the full swing of summer camps at Live Earth Farm!  As our third session comes to a close, we are preparing for our fourth and final week of camp.  This will be our second session of Art on the Farm Camp, following our first ever summer presenting Young Farmers and Sprouts camps.

We have now been running Art on the Farm Camp for five consecutive summers!  Art on the Farm Camp consists of many found art projects on the farm, creating masks, tie dye, pickle making and a couple of cooking projects through out the week.

Our Young Farmers Camp is centered around field projects-harvesting, seeding, sowing and weeding-along with a heavy culinary component and a few art and craft projects.

Sprouts Camp is designed for a younger group of kids, ages 3-6, and their parents.  Instead of running from 9-3 and having a sleepover on Thursday night, we ran a three hour camp each day from 9-12 which included yoga each morning, art projects, baking, canning, harvesting in the garden and a costume party-picnic each day.

With the last week of camp fast approaching, we would like to thank our wonderful leaders-in-training, parents and campers who helped make all of our sessions great!  We hope to have such a wonderful group of kids next year to experience the wonders of our camps!