The Ranch is an after school program sponsored by the Orange County Fair and the City of Costa Mesa. Master Gardeners are responsible for teaching children how to garden by providing assistance with individual garden plots. MGs help the children learn to plant seeds and transplant plants, compost, weed, harvest and generally apply lessons learned in the classroom. MGs work with at the most, 6-8 children at a time, in two or three groups per afternoon. The City of Costa Mesa provides paid employees to work with MG Volunteers. The children come from three local elementary schools and include 4th, 5th and (for the fist time), 6th graders. The children come to the Fairgrounds, Monday, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays,from about 2:30pm until 6:00pm. The classes run from October until the end of April, with the exception school holidays. Holidays are January 19, February 16-22, and April 5 - 12.  The final event, Open House, will be on May 1^st.