Celebrate the abundance of the fall harvest at UC Santa Cruz’s 30-acre organic farm, one of the Monterey Bay region’s most beautiful locations. Fresh produce, music, farm tours, cooking demonstrations, and much more await visitors at the UCSC Farm & Garden’s Fall Harvest Festival, coming up on Sunday, October 1, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at UC Santa Cruz’s organic farm.
The festival features a trio of live musical performances by The Down Beets, Glad to Be Here, and Ancestree Reggae. Also on tap: hay rides; kids’ crafts; workshops; organic pumpkin, produce, and flower sales; and campus and community group information tables.
Visitors of all ages are invited to sample apples, enter the pie-baking contest, try their hand at pressing cider, and enjoy locally sourced, tasty treats. The festival will also feature a produce sale with organically raised pumpkins along with dry-farmed tomatoes and other fresh fruits and vegetables.
Workshops on making seasonal salsas, sourdough bread, growing and making flower bouquets, and saving seeds are also on the schedule, along with tours of the farm and an herb talk and walk through the garden.
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).
Admission is free for UCSC students, kids 12 and under, and members of the Friends of the UCSC Farm & Garden; general admission is $5.
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. The UCSC’s OPERS program and Rachel Carson College are also supporting this year’s event.
For schedule details and directions to the UCSC Farm, visit the CASFS website. Free parking will be available at the Campus Facilities and Barn Theater parking lots, and a free shuttle will be available. For more information call (831) 459-3240 or email casfs@ucsc.edu.
2017 Harvest Festival Schedule
MUSIC
FSWG Food & Farm Songs & More! 11:15 – 12:30
The Down Beets 12:45 – 2:00
Makru 2:15 – 3:30
Ancestree Reggae 3:45 – 5:00
WORKSHOPS AND ACTIVITIES
Farm & Garden Produce Sales 11 a.m.–5 p.m.
Apple Variety Tasting 11:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
Making Seasonal Salsas Noon–1 p.m.
Food Systems Working Group
Apple Pie Contest Bake-Off (entry deadline) 12:30 p.m.
Tours of the UCSC Farm 12:30 & 4 p.m.
Sourdough 101: Sourdough Bread Making 1:15–2:15 p.m.
Melissa Ott, CASFS Farm & Garden Apprenticeship
Herb Talk & Walk through the Garden Noon–1 p.m.
Darren Huckle, Western/Chinese herbalist & licensed acupuncturist
Growing and Making Cut Flower Bouquets 3–4 p.m.
Kendra Dosenbach, CASFS Farm & Garden Apprenticeship m
Seed Saving Workshop 4–5 p.m.
Demeter Seed Library
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 between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.
1. 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).
2. Contestants are responsible for submitting a written (preferably typed) recipe with their pie.
3. Contestants are responsible for supplying all ingredients and baking the pie prior to bringing it to the contest.
4. All entries in this contest must be homemade.
5. A representative of the Friends of the Farm & Garden will assign each contestant a number. Contestants should verify that the number on the bottom of their container is the same number assigned by the representative.
6. Contestants’ entries are judged on taste, presentation, and creativity.
7. The decision of the judges shall be final. Pie not consumed during judging will be returned to the contestant.
All pies must be entered by 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, October 1, 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.
