Celebrate The Changing Seasons At The Harvest Festival At UCSC On Saturday, September 24

SANTA CRUZ, CA–Come celebrate the changing seasons at the first- ever Harvest Festival at the 25-acre Farm at the University of California, Santa Cruz, on Saturday, September 24, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

The festivities will include an apple tasting, a pie crust- making demonstration, talks on gardening topics, Farm tours, and activities for children. Entertainment will be provided by Mariposa, a popular acoustic folk music quartet that plays a collection of traditional, contemporary, and original songs. Organic produce grown on the Farm, including the highlights of this summer’s bounty–dry- farmed tomatoes, sweet corn, apples, and beautiful flower bouquets–will be available for purchase.

Fresh-squeezed organic apple juice will be yours for the tasting, and more than twenty prizes donated by local merchants will be given away during a raffle that will help fund a scholarship in UCSC’s Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture. Prizes include $50 gift certificates from Gabriella Cafe, Echo, and the Herb Room; three compact discs from Cymbaline Records; T-shirts from Cat N’ Canary and Pacific Wave; and two haircuts at Brats salon.

Raffle tickets, which cost $2 each or six for $10, will be available at the festival, as well as at the produce cart at the base of campus on Tuesdays and Fridays from noon to 6 p.m. The apprenticeship is a six-month training course in organic farming and gardening that is sponsored by UCSC’s Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems.

Admission to the festival is $2; admission is free for children under twelve and members of the Friends of the UCSC Farm and Garden, which is sponsoring the event. For more information, call (408) 459-4140.