Fall Feast in the Fields

Hands-On Education / Growing Healthy Relationships Through Food, Farming and Nature

September 23 • Live Earth Farm

On September 23 Farm Discovery at Live Earth will host “Pollinate!” the 9th annual benefit dinner at Live Earth Farm supporting Farm Discovery’s environmental and nutrition education programs for local youth. “Pollinate!” will feature local chefs, farmers, artisans and winemakers celebrating the dazzling abundance of fruit and vegetable crops grown in the Santa Cruz area.

Chef Kendra Baker, owner of Assembly and Penny Ice Creamery will be preparing the appetizer course; Chef Nicholas Church, executive chef at Chaminade Resort & Spa will be preparing the dinner course, and Buttercup Cakes will be preparing the dessert course. All three courses will feature fresh, local farm fresh produce, grass-fed beef and other artisan ingredients. This magical evening includes craft cocktails, wine, beer, after dinner digestif, live music by the Lampel Brothers, and silent and live auctions. After the wine pairing dinner prepared by chef Nick Church, the event will culminate with a short live auction followed by Buttercup Cakes dessert and after dinner drinks overlooking the Pajaro Valley.

This farm feast is the major annual fundraiser for Farm Discovery at Live Earth’s on-farm education programs and field trips for local youth. Each year, over 2,200 students visit Live Earth Farm to learn about food, farming, and the environment. The programs are multi-sensory and hands-on, allowing youth to harvest and taste farm fresh foods while learning about organic agriculture, nutrition, ecology, and grade-level science concepts.

In the spring, as part of a partnership with MacQuiddy Elementary in Watsonville, 137 4th and 5th graders from this school visited Live Earth Farm on field trips over the course of four days. For over half of the students, it was their first time visiting a farm. For all of them, it was a transformative experience. At the end of each field trip, students selected from four choices to make a pledge to improve their own health or that of the environment. More than half chose, “I will eat more fruits and vegetables.” The second most popular choice was, “I will recycle more plastic, metal, paper and glass.”

Through Farm Discovery at Live Earth’s programs, local youth are engaged and inspired to be informed stewards of their own health, their community and their environment for the over 2,200 students who will visit Live Earth Farm during the 2017-18 school year.

To purchase tickets or for sponsorship and volunteer opportunities please visit: farmdiscovery.org/event/pollinate

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Live Earth Farm, is a 150-acre patchwork of working farm, riparian corridor, oak and redwood forest in Santa Cruz County’s Pajaro Valley. Volunteers are needed in a number of different capacities, including a brand-new docent program. See more at www.LiveEarthFarm.netdiscovery-program/programs/.