Locations are determined based on farm and farmer availability and produce available for gleaning on the requested field trip date. Most farms participating are located in the Santa Ynez Valley, but we will try to find a farm closer to your schools. 

 Appropriate for Grades K – 7 

 Available Field Trip Emphases: Organic Farming, Ecology 

 Led by experienced and enthusiastic Organic Farmers and Nature Track docents, FarmTrack field trips are designed to be used as a companion to state science and health standards and provide a real-life experience for students in ecology. Farmers and docents show students the correct way to harvest, including carrots, tomatoes, lettuce, squash, and more, while relating the experience to the appropriate grade level subjects. Produce gleaned is then donated to local non-profits. 

Students engage in conversations with the farmers to understand the organic farming process. Nature-based art, food preparation using produce gleaned, and other creative projects are available. 

FarmTrack Field Trips can be used in conjunction with the following California State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards: 

NatureTrack and SYV Fruit & Veggie Rescue team up…”FarmTrack” adventures

Carrot craziness in the classroom? Not quite. All those carrots in the wagon? They were sprung from the ground by the eager hands of Los Olivos school kids as part of their NatureTrack adventure during the first blush of back-to-school days already this fall. It was unexpected, all the energy turned loose in the field when those 7th graders got off the bus to grab a handful of carrots. This new dimension of NatureTrack in cooperation with SYV Fruit & Veggie Rescue takes schoolchildren into nature from the organized agriculture of an organic farm immediately into the natural water weeping over Nojoqui Falls with a discussion of California fault lines, landslides, slate and the reason for local waterfalls along the north side of the Santa Ynez Mountains. This scope of nature from field to wilderness helps build awareness of the habitats we live near. Geology, botany and habitat from the field to the mountain is quite a lesson in a scant two-hour block full of education in a successful NatureTrack outing.