Organic Garden Club members had a wonderful time on Ventura County Farm Day!

Starting at Duda Farm, we met farmers who grow Dandy produce.

Duda Farm shared package celery, cabbage, and lettuce with us! Plus we took home veggie starter plants for our gardens!

On Ventura County Farm Day, Organic Garden Club’s second stop was at Petty Ranch, where we found owner and past speaker at our Club meeting, Chris Sayer. Not only does he grow avocados, lemons, and figs, but he hosts 3rd graders Farm Lab!

Lots of farmers had booths there and shared their produce with us. Grateful for our local agriculture!

Ventura Master Gardeners  had us make beeswax candles and shared succulents. Other farmers had booths where they shared seedlings, kids activities, and preserves. We learned more about using beneficial insects instead of toxic pesticides to grow our food at Rincon Vitova Insectaries.

Organic Garden Club’s third stop on Ventura County Farm Day was at Ventura Senior Nutrition Farm, where our club has enjoyed volunteer gardening in the past. The Farm grows more than 50 varieties of organic fruits and vegetables for local meal deliveries for seniors and Senior Centers.

The last stop on Ventura County Farm Day, we were greeted by Phil Mc Grath at McGrath Family Farms. For over 100 years, the McGrath Family have grown organic produce on this land. Phil McGrath, a past speaker at our Club meeting, is now growing a new generation of farmers by leasing parcels of the rich organic farmland. Visit the Organic McGrath Family Farm Store: 1012 W. Ventura Blvd, open 9 am to 6 pm.

At McGrath Farm, we caught up with Farmer Mike Roberts, the lead organizing farmer of the McGrath group of farms, who has been a speaker at our Club several times. He told us how he has expanded his organic regenerative Baby Root Farm. He expressed how his Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Program, Farmivore, where you can get fresh local organic produce, save money, reduce your carbon footprint, and improve the local economy. is now quite successful, bringing fresh, organic produce to local schools as well as families.

Dr. Arianna Bozzolo, head of Rodale Institute’s California Organic Center, also a past Club speaker, gave us a tour of the fields at McGrath Family Farm. She showed us  various cover crops for enriching the soil, different irrigation techniques, tilling and no-tilling and  found that replacing plastic for weed control with cover crops in no-till organic vegetable production was effective. We greeted her research assistant, Dr. Jacob Pecenka, who will speak to us at our meeting next Tuesday about their on-going projects and experiments, making this a great ending to a terrific day.