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Register here for a tour led by one of our Student Life & University Guides (S.L.U.G.s). The tour will take approximately 90 minutes and includes stairs, and some uphill and downhill walking. Appropriate walking shoes for our hills and forest floors and dressing in layers are highly recommended in our variable coastal climate.

Please note that from April 1 through 19, admitted students and their families will be prioritized for tours. If you are unable to make a reservation during that time, please consider a virtual tour or a self-guided tour . Parking is likely to be highly impacted during the spring season. For a smoother arrival, plan to arrive early, and download the ParkMobile app in advance.

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In-person group tours are offered to high schools, community colleges, and other educational partners. Please contact your admission representative or the tours office for more information.

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Santa Cruz Life

UCSC Farm & Garden: How to Enjoy the Farm Year Round

By Laura Turner-Essel

In late July 2017, 500 visitors descended upon the 30 acres of lush, hilly grasslands nestled near the base of the UC Santa Cruz campus.

They weren’t students, although you couldn’t tell by the class-filled days and late night parties that ensued over those three days.

They were former staff, students, and apprentices of the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS) , known more affectionately by the Santa Cruz community as the UCSC Farm & Garden, arriving to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the farm’s founding by master gardener Alan Chadwick.

What began in 1967 as a scraggly lot of devoted students assisting Chadwick to build a garden on one of the rockiest hillsides on campus eventually blossomed into a fully functioning organic farm which not only produces over 700 varieties of fruits, vegetables, herbs, and flowers but also has become a premier training program for aspiring organic farmers from around the world.

Even if you didn’t get to join in that weekend of workshops, tours, and photo exhibitions, there are plenty of ways for you to take part in the magical wonderland that is the UCSC Farm & Garden.

How You Can Enjoy the Farm

The farm is open to public every day and hosts tours, public workshops, and community events throughout the year.

Each Tuesday and Friday between June and October, fresh produce from the farm is sold at the Market Cart on the corner of Bay and High Streets (near the main entrance to campus.)

Community members can also sign up to receive a weekly share of the farm’s best produce by participating in the farm’s Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program.

Want to enjoy all that the UCSC Farm & Garden has to offer? Here are ways all community members can get involved:

• Farm Tours – Free, docent-led tours of the UCSC Farm are offered the first Sunday of the month from April through November, from 2 pm to 3:30 pm.
• Market Cart – Stock up on fresh produce at the Farm’s Market Cart on Tuesdays and Fridays from 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm, June through late October.
• Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Program – Not only do shareholders receive a box of fresh organic produce each week, they are also welcome to harvest from the CSA herb and flower garden at the UCSC Farm.
• Annual Harvest Festival – The Farm’s biggest event of the year! Read more about the Harvest Festival below.

The UCSC Farm & Garden is open to the public daily, 8am-6pm, year-round. Metered parking can be found near the front and back gate entrances to the farm. Directions are provided here . It is requested that public visitors not harvest food, flowers, or herbs from the fields or gardens. Feel free to take seedlings from the designated “Free Table” next to the greenhouses.

Harvest Festival

Each fall, the farm welcomes one and all for its biggest event of the year, the Harvest Festival .

At this family-friendly affair, staff and students of the farm pull out all the stops with tractor rides, fresh cider-making with an old-fashioned apple press, live music, food demonstrations, face painting, wall climbing, and hourly workshops on everything from brewing kombucha to growing hot peppers.

Piles of freshly harvested organic pumpkins are available for sale. And, of course, there is plenty to eat.

General admission to the festival is $5, with free admission for UCSC students and children under age 12.

Life on the Farm

On an average summer day, a stroll through the gates of the UCSC Farm & Garden will land you in a fresh-aired sanctuary rich in flourishing greenery, vibrantly colored flowers, buzzing pollinators, and dusty red footpaths leading to the various fields and gardens on the 30-acre site.

You’d likely see the farm apprentices, farmers-in-training who live and work on the farm for six months each year, busily planting and weeding rows of crops.

You might hear the squeals and laughter of campers at Lifelab , the PK-12th grade garden-based education program located on the farm, as they jump giddily around bales of straw. Or, you may encounter one of the dozens of teenage summer workers irrigating plants and making bouquets at FoodWhat?! , a food justice organization with offices and gardens on the farm.

Passing by the rustic, weathered wooden sheds and barns of the farm might cause you to forget that you’re on a college campus, until you stumble upon a group of apprentices and interns engrossed in a botany class or tree-pruning demonstration. Then you’ll remember that this place is not only a meditative refuge from the busy-ness of modern life or a cool place to let the kids run around, but is also an outdoor classroom and research lab teeming with lessons in how we all can stay connected to land, nature, and food.

No wonder hundreds of people wanted to come and celebrate 50 years of this place as a nourishing community resource. Thousands more have walked this land, and the 3 original acres of the Chadwick Garden nestled in the hills of upper campus, and have in some way or another found themselves cultivated within its rich and fertile soil.

As staff members of the Farm & Garden often say, ‘We don’t just grow plants here. We also grow people.’

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Laura Turner-Essel

Laura is a psychologist and writer that lives in Santa Cruz with her husband and four children. She loves building community and being in nature.

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Home / 2014 / March / Farm tours

Free, guided tours of UCSC Farm begin monthly starting Sunday, April 6

March 25, 2014

By Martha Brown

Free, guided tours of one of Santa Cruz’s most beautiful locations – the 30-acre organic farm at UC Santa Cruz – are offered from 2 to 3:30 pm on the first Sunday of the month beginning April 6. Tours will meet at the Louise Cain Gatehouse on the UCSC Farm. Founded in 1971, the UCSC Farm offers thriving examples of organic farming and gardening practices and hosts education programs and research to improve organic farming techniques. Perched on a meadow near the campus entrance, the farm also offers spectacular views of the Monterey Bay. Visitors can enjoy touring the organically managed greenhouses, hand-worked garden beds, orchards, row crop fields, and children’s garden, while learning about the history of the site and the basic concepts of organic farming and gardening, including water conservation practices. The UCSC Farm is located one quarter mile up the gravel road above the Blacksmith Shop on the UC Santa Cruz campus. Free public parking is available in the parking lot at the corner of Coolidge Drive and Carriage House Road, near the main entrance to the UCSC campus. For directions, see http://casfs.ucsc.edu/about/directions.html . The Louise Cain Gatehouse is located just inside the Farm’s entrance. Please note that the UCSC Farm and the 3-acre Alan Chadwick Garden (located on upper campus below Merrill College) are open daily to the public from 8 a.m. – 6 p..m. Group tours can be scheduled outside of the monthly free tour times by contacting the Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems. For more information or to schedule a guided group tour, call (831) 459-3240, email [email protected] , or see http://casfs.ucsc.edu . Tours are cosponsored by the Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems and the Friends of the UCSC Farm & Garden.

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Last modified: March 25, 2014 128.114.113.87

Open Farm Tours | Explore family-owned sites in…

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Open farm tours | explore family-owned sites in santa cruz and monterey counties.

Pajaro Pastures. (Contributed)

A team member of Esperanza Community Farms. (Contributed)

Cafeteria project at Pajaro Valley High School. (Contributed)

Want to explore a lavender labyrinth, eat dinner on a ranch with a chef and visit farms across Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties? Check out 2022’s Open Farm Tours which occurs Oct. 8-9.

There are 15 family-owned sites including four new participants: Esperanza Community Farms, Mariquita Farms, Pajaro Pastures Ranch and Terra Cultura. Some are open one day, others both. Pre-registration is required; there are limits on how many can be at each farm at one time and last year’s events sold out. All fees go to the farms.

“Our team is interested in becoming known as a local response to economic justice and food insecurity in the Pajaro Valley,” says Esperanza Community Farms Co-Leader Mireya Gomez-Contreras. “Our model is unique in that we address these issues with creativity and a social justice lens. Our subsidized CSA program reaches those who would otherwise not be able to regularly access fresh organic local produce due to financial hardship—even though many are the very farm laborers that harvest the produce.”

Esperanza Community Farms’ Farm-2-Cafeteria project addresses the gap in education about sustainable farming and environmental stewardship.

“And our newly formed nine Organic Farmer Co-op activates our local demographic to reach their full potential as farmers with multiple generations of regenerative farming experience and skills,” adds Gomez-Contreras. “Although growing fruit and vegetables is at the heart of what we do, we are not just about producing food. We address institutional barriers that limit small farmers, especially farmers of color, from achieving the well-being everyone deserves.”

The Farm-2-Cafeteria project was initiated by a group of Pajaro Valley High School students who visited the farm “…and repeated over and over they wished they could eat salads at school from the farm. We listened,” says Gomez-Contreras. They found seed money to launch a student-led program in June. “Students harvested at 7 a.m., washed and chopped produce for two hours in their school cafeteria and packaged it in biodegradable bowls to serve to their peers. This simple, transparent and economically viable project is what we’re now trying to grow in scale to serve 500 students over the next two years at PVHS.”

Guests visiting Esperanza Community Farms will find organic produce including carrots, cucumber, lettuce, cabbage, cilantro, broccolini, squash, corn and parsley. There will be miso salad dressing tasting with local business Hakouya.

Santa Cruz County’s Mariquita Farm is excited about Open Farm Tours.

“We thought it would be a nice way for people to visit the farm in small groups and see the lavender labyrinth that we created over the last two years while we were mostly keeping isolated for COVID,” says Starr Linden, who manages the farm with Andy Griffin. “We have a nice home farm with a mix of annual and perennial gardens to see and donkeys that make the visit a complete joy.”

The farm focuses on herbs and vegetables for the restaurant market plus veggie boxes, flowers and bulk tomatoes for home cooks.

“The farm business has been in operation for 30 years, but we have only begun transitioning this space from livestock pasture to citrus orchards and flower gardens in the last five years,” shares Linden.

Those who visit Oct. 8 will see the labyrinth “…surrounded by marigolds that will be coming into flower,” says Linden. “Half of the labyrinth was planted in November 2021 and flowered this summer.” The remaining rows, completed in May, have mostly not flowered yet. “We expect full flowering next spring. Labyrinths are often used as a meditation tool, but the walk is different for everyone.”

The farm also features a production garden that’s “a blend of our take on the traditional Mexican milpa and an Italian garden. Think of it as a field along the ‘Oaxacan-Sicilian border.’ Ragusa, Sicily, is on the 38th parallel, just as we are, so there’s an environmental parallel to consider when planting citrus, olives and herbs,” explains Linden. “And the people who’ve worked on the farm for years are from Oaxaca, so there’s a relevant influence in the gardens picked up from their experience and friendship relating to the corn, squash and beans growing in the garden.”

Ryan Abelson, who founded Pajaro Pastures Ranch in 2011 in his backyard with 300 baby chicks, is now in Corralitos on 12 acres. He looks forward to Open Farm Tours.

“I want to strengthen the connection between producers and our community. Also, I love introducing adults and children to livestock if they have never seen them before,” he said.

At Open Farm Tours, Pajaro Pastures’ tours “will be a casual introduction to sustainable livestock husbandry,” says Abelson, with a discussion of “small farming viability, supply chain economics and community-focused agriculture.” There will also be a goat petting zoo, tractor rides, and meat and eggs for sale. “The last tour each day will roll into a fabulous farm dinner prepared by talented chefs: Andy Huynh of Full Steam Dumpling on Saturday and Jessica Yarr of Chicken Foot on Sunday. Jessica and Andy, both good friends, have a passion for supporting local agriculture. We’ve talked about doing this for years.”

When asked to share a couple unique aspects about PP, Abelson replies, “This isn’t a regular livestock farm. The animals are truly living outside and free to be themselves and have a non-GMO diet. Also, we do our own meat processing in town. We cater as well. With my farm-built 300-gallon smoker trailer, we can come to you!”

The fourth first-time 2022 participant, Terra Cultura, has three co-executive directors: sisters Rachel and Jessica Wohlander, and Jessica’s husband Travis Hill. Before founding Terra Cultura in 2017.

“Jessica and Travis spent a year WWOOFing all over the world working on different organic farms and eco-villages, learning all sorts of different growing techniques,” says Rachel, referring to Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms. “Meanwhile I was in New York City doing urban gardening and getting my MFA. We witnessed community gathering spaces that we loved fall victim to gentrification and saw the need for place-based, ecologically focused community hubs.”

They decided to create a space “…that wove together food justice and ecological farming, culture and creativity, and community and collaboration in the form of a nonprofit educational eco-arts farm. It has been really exciting to build this project collectively from the soil up over the past five-plus years and watch the community blossom around it. We wanted to live more in line with our values while working towards environmental, social, racial, and economic justice. Terra Cultura is, ever-increasingly, a model through which we are able to do that,” Rachel explains.

Terra Cultura’s programming includes field trips, a summer camp, and arts events. On Oct. 8-9, they will offer Open Farm Tours attendees guided tours which include a pollinator garden, healing garden, no-till veggie row crops, solar powered irrigation system, yurt and chickens. Plus, there will be a compost tea demo, and products for sale including produce and tinctures.

Whether you visit first-time farm participants or some of the 11 veteran venues, Open Farm Tours is an excellent opportunity for people to spend time together outdoors exploring a vibrant farming community.

“People attending can learn about how our food systems work as they explore our diverse agricultural landscape,” says Penny Ellis, who launched OFT in 2013.

Ellis is especially thrilled about OFT’s 2022 partnership with nonprofit Community Alliance with Family Farmers to expand the tours toward a more regional platform.

“CAFF operates as a network of family farms and services at the state level that are united in advancing agriculture that builds healthy communities and eco-systems,” says Ellis.

What: Open Farm Tours

When: Oct. 8-9, days/hours vary depending on location

Where: 15 farms and other venues in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties

Cost: Admission varies depending on venue and activity. Also, products will be available for purchase at select farms.

Register: openfarmtours.com/tickets.

More information: openfarmtours.com, facebook.com/openfarmtours/.

Pets: No pets are allowed at farms or other venues.

Participating Farms, Nursery & Winery in alphabetical order:

Blossom’s Farm

Dos Aguilas Olive Grove

Esperanza Community Farm

Fruitilicious Farm

Live Earth Farm

Luz Del Valle Farm

Mariquita Farm

Monkeyflower Ranch

New Natives Farm

Pajaro Pastures Ranch

Storrs Winery

Terra Cultura

Terra Sole Nursery

Thomas Farm

Whiskey Hill Farm

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Last modified: February 23, 2024 128.114.113.87

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All County: Open Farm Tours

October 7, 2023 - october 8, 2023.

Do you love local food and farms? Want to get to know your farmer better and get a behind-the-scenes look into our regions vibrant working agricultural landscape? During the 2023 Open Farm Tours, you can meet the farmers and learn what it takes to bring your favorite high-quality local farm products to your plate. All farms implement sustainable agriculture practices & are family owned.

The greatest part about Open Farm Tours is learning what makes every farm unique. Press apples for fresh juice at one farm, taste over 10 varieties of figs at another and then head over to another farm to pick tomatoes. Touring farms is a fantastic outdoor family activity to do together and October is a great time to get out and explore!

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