Bright orange pumpkins, roasted red peppers, and apples galore mark the changing seasons at the 19th annual Fall Harvest Festival, Sunday, September 29 at UC Santa Cruz’s 30-acre organic farm.
The festival features live music from reggae to bluegrass, hay rides, kids’ crafts, workshops, tours, pumpkin and produce sales, and campus and community group information tables.
Visitors of all ages are invited to sample more than 25 apple varieties, savor roasted peppers, enter the pie baking contest, try their hand at pressing cider, scale the climbing wall, and enjoy locally sourced, tasty treats.
Also on tap—workshops on making salsa, growing and using peppers, saving seeds, creating popcorn treats, and permaculture design, along with farm tours and an herb walk through the garden.
The festival will take place from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free for UCSC students, kids 12 and under, and for members of the Friends of the UCSC Farm & Garden; general admission is $5. See below for a full schedule of the day's events.
Want so see how your favorite apple pie recipe measures up? Be sure to enter the Apple Pie Contest by 12:30 p.m. (See rules, below).
The Harvest Festival is cosponsored by the UCSC Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS), UCSC’s Measure 43, and the Friends of the UCSC Farm & Garden, with major support from Driscoll’s, and additional support from New Leaf Community Markets, Tradin Organics and Veritable Vegetable. People Power will provide free valet parking for bicycles.
For directions to the UCSC Farm, visit the CASFS web site at http://casfs.ucsc.edu/about/directions-2. Free parking will be available at the Campus Facilities and Barn Theater parking lots, and a free shuttle also will be available. For more information call (831) 459-3240 or email casfs@ucsc.edu.
2013 Harvest Festival Schedule
Music, Main Stage
| Feed Me Jack | 11 a.m. – noon |
| The Downbeets | 12:15 – 1:30 p.m. |
| Live Elk | 1:45 – 2:45 p.m. |
| Kinetic Poetics | 3 – 3:25 p.m. |
| Ancestree Reggaes | 3:30 – 5 p.m. |
Activities, tours, and workshops
|
Apple and pepper variety tasting |
11:30 a.m. – 4 p.m. |
| Apple pie contest bake-off | Entry deadline – 12:30 p.m. |
| Salsa it up! – Crystal Owings, Food Sytems Working Group | Noon - 1 p.m. |
| Tours of the UCSC Farm – Farm & Garden docents | 12:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. |
|
Popcorn Palooza – Austin Lewis, Food Systems Working Group |
1:15 – 2:15 p.m. |
| Herb Talk & Walk through the Garden – Darren Huckle, Western/Chinese herbalist & licensed acupuncturist | 2 – 3 p.m. |
| Introduction to Permaculture Design – David Shaw, UCSC Common Ground Center | 3 –3:45 p.m. |
| Pepper Talk: Varieties and How to Use Them – Orin Martin, Alan Chadwick Garden manager | 3:30 – 4 p.m. |
| Seed Saving and Cleaning Workshop – Cole Thomas and Connor Spears, Demeter Seed Project | 4 – 5 p.m. |
Official Rules for the Friends of the UCSC Farm & Garden Apple Pie Contest
Pie entries accepted 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Official judging begins at 12:45 p.m.
Winners will be announced at between 2 and 3 p.m.
- The Friends of Farm and Garden Apple Pie Bake-Off is a nonprofessional baking competition open to Harvest Festival attendees. (Entry to the Harvest Festival is $5; free admission for UCSC students, Friends of the Farm & Garden members and for children 12 and under).
- Contestants are responsible for submitting a written (preferably typed) recipe with their pie.
- Contestants are responsible for supplying all ingredients and baking the pie prior to bringing it to the contest.
- All entries in this contest must be homemade.
- A representative of the Friends of the Farm and Garden will assign each contestant a number. Contestants should verify the number on the bottom of their container is the same number assigned by the representative.
- Contestants' entries are judged on taste, presentation, and creativity.
- The decision of the judges shall be final. Pie not used during judging will be returned to the contestant.
All pies must be entered by 12:30 p.m. Sunday, September 29, at the Fall Harvest Festival, UCSC Farm. For questions or additional copies of the rules, call (831) 459-3240 or e-mail casfs@ucsc.edu
