Halloween Harvest Festival: A Delicious Vision for Gill Tract

This month, UC Gill Tract Community Farm invites all to come and join together in celebrating the Earth, the Farm, and all of the exciting growth the Farm is experiencing.

In July of 2014, UCGTCF was awarded a grant through the Global Food Initiative, a UC system-wide program that aims to create a more sustainable and nutritious food system. The evolutionary effects this funding has had on the Farm have been incredible!

One witness of these positive changes is Rebecca Correa, a University Village resident. She first became aware of the Farm while pregnant with her now-eighteen-month-old. The Farm is located a few hundred feet away from University Village, Cal’s family student housing community. “It went from being just the farm...to a space utilized to build community.” Rebecca has noticed that in addition to its normal open farming hours and weekly farm stand, the Farm now hosts meditation sessions, multicultural and multilingual garden projects, community workshops, and after school programs for children. There is truly a space at the Farm for all members of the community. However, when asked about the level of participation of other University Village residents at the Farm, Rebecca said, “I wish it was more.”

Rebecca is the Farm’s brand new Research Fellow, and she’s kickstarting an ambassador program to connect community members with research ideas for the Farm to those on Cal campus who have resources to make their dreams a reality. She hopes to increase awareness of the Farm, and to give invested community members the chance to take their passion further.

The Farm invites you to the Halloween Harvest Festival to join with others in the community and see for yourself the great things that are happening on the Farm. The Harvest Festival will include community farming time, live music from local artists, workshops on herbalism and food justice, children’s activities, a farm-grown and farm-prepared meal, take-home veggies, and more. Come in costume if you’d like, and celebrate the Earth’s bounty with us! We can’t wait to see you there!