I Heart Farms

Making a Difference

Yet another cool thing to do with your kids and their schools. On October 18, my friends Lori and Jeff Fiorovich will host a Farm to School Day at Crystal Bay Farm in Watsonville.

Read the press release below, and see the faces of your host farmers, when Logan was just two and a half.

Harvest Festival at UCSC Farm: October 4!

Grab your kids: this weekend is the biggest event at the UCSC Farm all year 'round! I took this photo a couple of years ago, when we took Logan for the face painting, pumpkin painting, apple bobbing, and other great activities for kids. And the whole family.

The festival has expanded this year to include workshops and cooking  demonstrations among the already packed schedule of live music, apple tasting, an apple pie bake-off competition, and so much more! There are walking tours of the farm, tractor rides, and so on. And LOTS of good food to eat. $5 and under for admission to one fantastic farm event.

Highly recommended! To see the complete schedule, including the live music, visit the CASFS website here.

That's all until tomorrow. I've been under deadlines with four clients, and hope to catch a break in the action soon.

Here: a joke. "Sarah Palin is a post turtle." (I laughed, even though it's older than John McCain.)

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY, from Michael Moore: "The Rich Are Staging a Coup This Morning."

Thanks for visiting, and now get on the phone with your Congresspersons.

Fundraisers & Fun!

Next weekend is a good weekend to be in Santa Cruz: two wonderful fundraising events are taking place for farm lovers and foodies, young and old.

Saturday, September 27, between noon and sunset, Freewheelin' Farm(a little less than six miles outside of Santa Cruz, just off Highway One) is hosting its third annual Farm Art Show. I heard about the previous two from organizaer, Melinda Lundgren, and from plenty of people who attended that this event is a blast.

Freewheelin' Farm is the subject of adoration with locals: they run a CSA with 40 shares, bicycling the six miles into town to deliver their produce. I'd written about it after a stop on the Eco Farm bus tour a couple of years ago.

Amy, Darryl, and Kirstin work the farm together, and they run a great show—figuratively and literally. Check out the details on the flyer: organic brew, wine tasting, wood-fired pizza, kids' table, and more. All for a $5-$10 donation, and there is also art for sale. Great stuff!

The next day, a high-end culinary event is taking place in honor of The Vanilla Queen, my friend, Patricia Rain. Read on for "A Culinary Event Fit for a Queen!" It should be wonderful.

Just Another Beautiful Day on the Farm

Monday found me up at the UCSC Farm, meeting with the board of directors for the Friends of the UCSC Farm & Garden. I arrived early so I could walk around. The weather was unusual: a little chilly and autumny, with a layer of high fog. I'm not ready to let go of summer, and found myself a little melancholy.

That dissipated quickly as I walked around and saw the apprentices, hard at work, but none so busy they couldn't take a moment to tell me a little of this and that about the farm.

I decided today to make a new photo album that will be exclusively devoted to the UCSC Farm & Garden, since it's so important to me, and so unique.

You can see the new album here: All UCSC Farm & Garden.

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Upcoming 2008 Events

      

SEPTEMBER 2008

Fall Plant Sale
Friday, September 12, 12 noon - 6 pm & Saturday, September 13, 10 am - 2 pm
Barn Theater Parking Lot, corner of Bay and High Streets, UCSC

Fall is a wonderful time to plant vegetable crops that will   extend your gardening seson and to give perennials a good head start   for next spring's blossoms. The region's best-suited varieties of   organically grown winter vegetables and landscape plants will be   available. Proceeds support the Apprenticeship program. Friends'   members receive 10% off all purchases. Call 459-3240 for more   information, or email jonitann@ucsc.edu.

Harvest Festival and "Food for Thought" Forum at the   Farm

 Saturday, October 4, 11 am - 5 pm
  UCSC Farm

Save the date now! You don’t want to miss our annual Farm   celebration, as we host our biggest "open house" of the year, including   our second "Food for Thought" forum on local food issues. Great music,   food,   apple tasting, an apple pie bake-off,   garden talks, hay rides, kids’ events, tours, displays by local   farmers, chefs, and community groups make this a great event for adults   and kids. Free for Friends’ members and kids 12 and under; $5 for   non-members. Call 831.459-3240 for more information or to volunteer for   this wonderful community event.

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: "A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won't cross the street to vote in a national election." — Bill Vaughan

Thanks for visiting.

The Heisman Chicken Awards, & Farm Visit with a Baby

Sorry I have not been around as much as I would like: I've had paying work deadlines, and tending to business. And one week without a car.

TLC RANCH VISIT ON LABOR DAY WEEKEND

Yes, I am SO GLAD I did not attend the Slow Food event last weekend. We celebrated slow food without having to pony up to Carlo Petrini. [Edit: please read this post about Slow Food Nation's "Come to the Table." I was crying before I even got to the end.]

Last Sunday was fantastic. Rebecca Thistlethwaite and Jim Dunlop at TLC Ranch had invited some friends out to celebrate a real slow food event, and that included a tour of the ranch with Jim. That's him, hamming it up (so to speak) with a chicken who'd gotten out of the fence.

Since my car was out of commission (more on that in a bit: it brought a blessing), I got a ride with Guillermo and Amber Payet, of LocalHarvest.org. If you read my blog, you know they're dear friends, and I had the utter joy of sitting in the back seat with little baby Joaquin, eleven weeks old. I was in heaven, of course.