Providential Trail Work and Bean Shucking

We had another great group of volunteers visit us on the farm on November 10^th. Providence Hall is a private Christian high school and they set aside time several times a year to do community service. On this day we split our time between working on banking in the botany trail and shucking dried beans. We worked on the trail (and I mean worked!) for about two hours and then did a quick botany walk around the loop. When we got back to the farm we sat around and talked while shucking beans for about an hour. Beans are a staple (and healthy) food source for a large part of the world. We decided that accountants must have originally been farmers – the original “bean counters.” (bad joke) We also learned just how much work it takes to get them ready to be eaten. This must be what people did before culture ended the video age. Thank you for all your hard work. (Sorry for the crumby photos. I forgot my camera and had to use my silly phone camera)

The Harvest Festival Extravaganza

Wow! What an evening! Live music from the Dixie Hicks, over a dozen pots of hot soups, a truly gargantuan salad from the farm, bread donated from Our Daily Bread, fresh organic fair trade coffee from Green Star Coffee, yummy local ice cream from McConnell’s, and about 30 pies for the big competition! You might think that would be enough to call this a festival, but no… we mixed in lots of face painting, hay rides behind the big red tractor, and a crazy silent auction. In the end about 250 people celebrated the Five Loaves Farm’s bounty from this past year. By the time the Harvest Festival arrived the farm had grown and donated over 7 tons of organic produce to the hungry poor of Santa Barbara. Now that’s something to celebrate!

Speaking of celebrating… here are the winners of the pie competition.

Loco for Local (best use of local ingredients ) – Persimmon Pie

Mike and Katie Caterino

Sweetie Pie (yummy sweet pie) – Pecan Pie

Dave Chase (he will not share his secret recipe)

Umami Tsunami (yummy savory pie) – Tomato Galette

Erick Ribbens and Debra Nichols

Most Exotic (uh… most exotic) – Cranberry Marzipan Pie

Jim Manoia

People’s Choice (voted best all-around-pie by all-the-people) – Oatmeal Pecan Pie

Deb and Travis Bush

Thank you to the members of the A Rocha USA board of directors who served as our judges for the pie competition. I’m sure that all of us can feel their pain in having to sample 30+ pies!

Thank you to all of you you donated items for the silent auction: Velo Pro Cyclery, Petunia Pickle Bottom, Savoy Cafe and Deli, Island Seed and Feed, Natural Café, Taffy’s Pizza, Joy in the Small Things, Orchard Hardware Supply, Steve Hanson Landscaping, Green Star Coffee, and to the numerous individuals who donated their time, skills and crafts for the auction. It was a ton of fun and you really helped bring in some much needed funding for the farm. This was an excellent first year.

And a final thank you to everybody who came out for the Harvest Festival. After all the silent auction items were purchased and the donations collected, we raised $1701 toward the Five Loaves Farm operations. Thank you!