Harvest Festival Update

Here's an update on some of the items up for the silent auction. Lots of great donations from several of our friends. If you win an item, you not only walk away with something really fun, but your money goes directly back into the farm to continue blessing the hungry poor of Santa Barbara. So while this Harvest Party is meant to be primarily a Fun-raiser, you can also help make it a fund raiser as well. See you Saturday.

Velo Pro Cyclery - 2 x $50 gift certificates

Petunia Pickle Bottom baby blanket

Savoy Cafe and Deli - $20 gift certificate

Island Seed and Feed $20 gift certificate and hat

Jewelry by KC Kemp

Natural Café - Two entrees

Taffy’s Pizza 2 free pizzas

Joy in the Small Things “Peace” banner by Jill Dixon

One Hour Massage by Ronda Perea

OSH garden arrangement

One hour landscape consulting Steve Hanson Landscaping

Two hours landscaping maintenance Steve Hanson Landscaping

(does not include materials used or disposal fees)

Green Star Coffee and $20 gift card

Soy Candles by Heather Ridenour

Patagonia Jacket

Farmer’s Market bag by Bonnie Fearer

Jewelry by Bonnie Fearer

If you haven't yet given us your RSVP for the Harvest Festival, please do so here. That way we will know a bit better as to how much soup and salad to prepare. Thank you!

Dust and Mulch - Volunteers

The day after our bunny fencing adventure with the Westmont basketball team we hosted a group of volunteers from Santa Barbara Community Church’s high school group. The farm is located on the property owned by SBCC so of course they know what is going on and want to help out when they can. This Saturday found us mulching the road leading into the farm. The road gets really rutted during the winter rains and the mulch helps minimize the damage. The mulch also helps keep down the dust which blows into the field when cars drive up and down the road. Dust clogs the pours of the plants and hinders the pollinators from doing their job. So, we spread a lot of mulch this day. In addition, I put Sam in charge of a small crew to clean up and re-mulch the trail from the church parking lot down to the farm. They did a fantastic job. Nice leadership Sam; you deserved the hammock time at the end of the day. Thank you Benji and Erik for organizing this day and all the youth and mentors who worked with us.

Basketball, Bunnies, and Botany

What do these three have in common? On Friday October 14, 2011, the Westmont College basketball team came to the Five Loaves Farm to kick off their team retreat by doing a little work with us. Over the course of about three hours they installed 780 feet of bunny fencing and cut the beginnings of our botany trail. The trail is in need of some more permanent maintenance and these guys put some sweat into it! The bunnies that live on our native hillside love the farm, especially the tender young plants when their own habitat is so dry and brown. It is just like the cartoons; really do eat carrots. The fence has successfully kept the bunnies out ever since. Hallelujah! We ended the evening with pizza. There is only one creature that eats more than the bunnies that used to get into our fields, and that would be a hungry basketball player! Thank you coach John Moore for organizing this, coach Jeff Azain for showing the guys how to sweat, and to the entire team for helping out.