Learning on the vine: Family-friendly pumpkin patch is sown from the seeds of education
Families combed the rows of a naturally grown, mature pumpkin patch in Irvine for the perfect gourd last weekend at South Coast Research and Extension Center’s annual Pumpkin U-Pick event.
“Typically we do a pumpkin patch every year, but this year we did things a little differently in that we invited all of the programs that are headquartered here,” said Jason Suppes, a community educator specialist at South Coast REC.
Those programs include the Orange County Farm Bureau as well as UC Cooperative Extension programs, like Master Food Preservers, Master Gardeners, Master Beekeepers and 4-H Youth Development. The different programs set up booths to talk about their programs to the families visiting the center on Saturday, Oct. 7.
“Our whole goal is to conduct research, but then to also extend that information,” said Darren Haver, director at South Coast REC. “These are our community outreach programs that make sure we engage with the public.”
South Coast REC, located at 7601 Irvine Blvd. is one of nine research and extension centers in the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources REC System. South Coast REC was established in 1956 by the UC as a site for agricultural and horticultural research in the state‘s south coastal plain-temperate climatic zone.
“It was put in place in order to provide researchers from the campuses a location that was coastal, hence the name South Coast, to test their research out,” said Haver. “We also have locations in the desert, in the central valley and up along the border of Oregon and California.”
South Coast REC is essentially a regional living laboratory for UC scientists to conduct agricultural and natural resources management research. Despite the facility stretching out over 200 acres, most Orange County residents are unaware of its existence, making it one of the county’s best kept secrets. But Suppes and Haver are working to get the secret out.
“There is a big research component, but there is also this public service component, and it is our goal to make sure that people understand the work that UC does across all of our units, campuses and research centers across the state,” Haver said. “There are nine of these, and we are lucky to have one here in Orange County.”
In one area of the land, UC Riverside is conducting research on the uptake of biosolids — products of wastewater treatment — in crop vegetables.
“The relationship here at the farm is when a proposal is submitted we take care of a majority of the land, labor and water,” said Suppes during a tour of the facility Tuesday. “So we are responsible for watering, and they will give us a prescription, in this case a prescription for how to siphon in the biosolids into the fertigation.”
The South Coast REC team is out in the fields day to day, while researchers’ visits depend on what the project demands.
“We have a 20-year-long climate change tree project; I think I have seen them here three times in 12 years,” Suppes said of the researchers involved in the biosolids study. “With this project they are here every other day.”
The director has the option to keep certain projects that continue to be fruitful, and as a result, the property contains 150 citrus varieties, 300 varieties of avocado and 25 types of cherimoya.
“This was another small farms project from 25 years ago, and there has been interest in growing cherimoya in Orange County since the 1920s,” Suppes said in the large cherimoya grove at South Coast REC.
Cherimoya, which have a flavor that is starchy like a banana but also sweet and tropical like a pineapple, have been in the region for 100 years. Suppes believes the collection of varieties grown at South Coast REC are a cultural portal of sorts since they taste different than the cherimoya found in grocery stores.
“Cherimoya typically in this area comes from South America, from Ecuador,” said Suppes. “It has to be refrigerated and transported, and fruit doesn’t like that.”
South Coast REC also has some unique partnerships within the community. It partners with Second Harvest Food Bank and Solutions for Urban Ag to bring fruits and vegetables to food-insecure families in Orange County. It is also home to Bee Canyon Farm, a dedicated space to host youth education programs that teach topics like the basics of hand-cultivated food production, irrigation, integrated pest management and food safety. Suppes has also fostered relationships with local chefs and entrepreneurs, like Derek Bracho, who has sourced ingredients like garlic, onions, jalapeños and basil for his focaccia pizza pop-up, Focaccia Boi.
The pumpkin patch is part of South Coast REC’s efforts to spread the word to the community. The family-friendly event offered a unique experience with a chance to pick your own pumpkin off the vine for $5, with a limit of five per paying customer to allow enough for everyone.
“Typically when you go to a farm, they will harvest the pumpkins, mow the fields and then kind of lay everything back out,” Suppes said. “We are proud to be able to foster an experience where people can come and pick it off the vine and see how they grow naturally on a farm.”
At the end of each row, the pumpkin varieties were identified by a small place card. “Solid Gold Farmore F1 Decorative, Carving” one such sign read. “‘Jack O Lantern,’ Carving” said another.
“Mostly, we are leaning into the carving pumpkins, those are ones that most people want,” said Suppes. “So by and large we have orange-style carving pumpkins, though there are a few out there that are striped or have some patterns to them. But since this is a family event, people are coming out for those Halloween pumpkins.”
South Coast REC hosts other events, like a Persimmon U-Pick, Potato U-pick and Avocado and Cherimoya Pop-up Sales.
Haver said he hopes events like the Pumpkin U-Pick will help families think differently about their food ways.
“We want to provide people that wouldn’t normally venture into an agriculture setting, the real agriculture setting,” said Haver. “I think that experience hopefully connects them closer to where their food comes from. We don’t want urban people to forget.”
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