It’s been feeling like spring lately! The time of year has come when we are busy mowing cover crop and overturning earth getting ready for summer planting. Spring is a special time on the farm, where we wait patiently for our favorite farm treats to ripen, and get to welcome some new life onto the farm (like these sweet baby chicks we picked up!). We’ve had some great groups help get things going and in order for the upcoming season, and are very grateful for the helping hands.

We’ve had visits from Moreau Catholic High School, who spent a few days of their alternative spring break working and learning about their food system. They helped us construct some epic compost piles incorporating the goat manure from mucking the goat barn. They also helped get some crops in the ground including beans, carrots, broccoli, squash, and lettuce!

In addition to Moreau, we’ve kick started our field trip season and have already hosted a handful of Pajaro Valley school. It’s always awesome having local children come back year after year and notice the difference in season and crops. Our recent group from Casa de Mir got to see a cool contrast of the farm in the peak of the season, late August, and were back to visit in March. We worked to tame the weeds in the berry patch as the fruits are slowly starting to come on and ripen. Although there haven’t been many strawberries yet, we’ve been enjoying an orange snack on many of our tours. There’s always something in season here!

We’ve also had awesome help from Food What?! We are their south county site. There are roughly 40 youth that visit each week and have been doing some awesome work around Farm Discovery including pruning apple trees, making signs, building compost piles, and sowing seeds.

Our other ongoing partnership with Wavecrest Santa Cruz Montessori, students continue to run their farm stand from veggies harvest in the Farm Discovery fields and the larger plots of Live Earth Farm,  make nourishing meals from farm fresh foods, explore the farm through creative expression, and study the habitats and behaviors of farm and native animals.

Hayley and myself continue have recently acquired some new tools and have been tackling some infrastructure projects, learning every step of the way.

We are in full swing, and we will be going, going, going as long as there’s sunshine. We are looking forward to a bountiful season and lots of youth to share it with. Come see the wonder of the farm during summer, you will never taste a strawberry or tomato quite like ours! To find out more about our summer youth programs, click here!