4-4-08

Media Release

OSU Organic Farm to Celebrate Earth Day with Food, Music

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The public is invited to enjoy free organic food and live music at the sixth annual Earth Day Hoo Haa on a student-run organic farm on the outskirts of Corvallis on April 22.

The festivities, sponsored by Oregon State University's Organic Growers Club, will take place from 3-7 p.m. Attendees will be able to tour the farm, watch draft horses plow soil, check out an electric tractor, and see how chickens in a mobile coop are used to till the earth. In addition, attendees are invited to bring a turning fork to help till the ground and plant beet seeds, lettuce and 10,000 onions.

"You line up 50 people on a 100-foot-long bed and say, 'Go!' Then you move to the next bed. If you have enough people, nobody breaks a sweat," said the club's faculty adviser, James Cassidy, adding that about 600 people attended last year.

Two bands will provide entertainment: Deadwood Revival (www.deadwoodrevival.com) will bring its banjo and bass, and the homegrown Future Roots (www.future-roots.com) will return for a third year with its mix of jam rock, folk rock, reggae, blues and bluegrass.

Attendees are encouraged to bring their own bowl and silverware but to leave their dogs at home.

A free shuttle van to the farm will depart from the OSU Bookstore every 20 minutes. To drive to the farm, take state Route 34 east after crossing the Willamette River, then turn left onto an unnamed dirt road after the Trysting Tree Golf Club.

For information on the Organic Growers Club, go to http://cropandsoil.oregonstate.edu/organic_grower