Free, guided tours of UCSC Farm begin monthly starting Sunday, April 6

Free, guided tours of one of Santa Cruz’s most beautiful locations – the 30-acre organic farm at UC Santa Cruz – are offered from 2 to 3:30 pm on the first Sunday of the month beginning April 6. Tours will meet at the Louise Cain Gatehouse on the UCSC Farm.

Founded in 1971, the UCSC Farm offers thriving examples of organic farming and gardening practices and hosts education programs and research to improve organic farming techniques. Perched on a meadow near the campus entrance, the farm also offers spectacular views of the Monterey Bay.

Visitors can enjoy touring the organically managed greenhouses, hand-worked garden beds, orchards, row crop fields, and children’s garden, while learning about the history of the site and the basic concepts of organic farming and gardening, including water conservation practices.

The UCSC Farm is located one quarter mile up the gravel road above the Blacksmith Shop on the UC Santa Cruz campus. Free public parking is available in the parking lot at the corner of Coolidge Drive and Carriage House Road, near the main entrance to the UCSC campus. For directions, see http://casfs.ucsc.edu/about/directions.html. The Louise Cain Gatehouse is located just inside the Farm’s entrance.

Please note that the UCSC Farm and the 3-acre Alan Chadwick Garden (located on upper campus below Merrill College) are open daily to the public from 8 a.m. – 6 p..m. Group tours can be scheduled outside of the monthly free tour times by contacting the Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems.

For more information or to schedule a guided group tour, call (831) 459-3240, email casfs@ucsc.edu, or see http://casfs.ucsc.edu. Tours are cosponsored by the Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems and the Friends of the UCSC Farm & Garden.