Fall education outreach season: 4-H Farm Field Trips and Classroom Outreach at HAREC, ended last week with three days and over 1000 thrilled Kindergarten students enjoying a pumpkin themed morning on the farm.

This season, the education team reached over 3000 youth in grades K-8^th. To the delight of teachers and parents, hands-on learning activities entice, teach and entertain youth while reinforcing science and math concepts taught in the classroom. Nutrition activities teach where food comes from and promote healthy choices.

Planning and implementing HAREC programs is a team sport! Staff and UC volunteers play equally important roles from planting and caring for the bountiful field trip harvest and education gardens to preparing lesson and building props, to delivering the program on site and in classrooms all over Ventura County. Staff relies on the expertise and support of volunteers that devoted over 1200 hours in educating students and over 1700 volunteer hours supporting the education gardens used as "classrooms" in the 2014-2015 fiscal year.

Here are highlights from Pumpkin Pumpkin at the Farm and Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon