Loma Vista Farm opens its doors for Spring Open House

Spring has officially sprung at the Loma Vista Farm, as it welcomes the return of its annual Open House festival - the farm's first big event of the year.

Each year, the Vallejo-based farm opens its gates to the public in a grand showcase of its animals - horses, alpacas, pigs, ducks, and more - while also highlighting facilities upgrades, educational programs, and goals.

Janice Sullivan, organizer and current president of the farm's Friends of Loma Vista board, said the event provides the first opportunity of the year for its supporters and community members to tour the farm and meet the animals.

"There are a lot of people who live in Vallejo and don't even know that the farm is there," Sullivan said. "So really that's why we call it an 'open house' - to basically get new people there and aware."

In partnership with Vallejo City Unified School District, the dedicated farm volunteers organized this year's event to update community members on ongoing farm projects.

Having recently wrapped up construction on the chicken coop - which houses the farm's "new poultry pals," as Sullivan calls it - and an updated cow barn, this year, attendees will have the opportunity to tour the improved spaces.

"People can come, and you know, really see all the progress that we're making," she said.

This year's Spring Open House will also mark the return of the beloved Loma Vista train car, plant sales, and concessions, including hot dogs, chips, and popcorn.

An all-new "country store" will also debut, featuring some of their farm wear, merchandise, T-shirts, candy, canned goods, and homemade jams, cookies, etc.

"Mainly what we're trying to do is get more people in the community familiar with the farm so that they know what we're doing and so that they know that they can come by the farm and introduce their kids to it," said Sullivan.

As far as activities and entertainment go, this year, the event will feature a slime-making booth - for those with NeeDoh obsessions - and a magic show. While admission and parking are free, fees for additional entertainment and activities may apply.

In recent years, the farm - a longstanding educational asset to the school district - has undergone a range of changes following a district-wide reconfiguration.

In February of last year, the board voted 4-1 to close the farm's neighboring school site, Loma Vista Environmental Science Academy.

Before its closure, the school and farm shared a collaborative and educational curriculum, based on the state standards and developed by teachers.

While the farm has remained open for district use since the school's closure, Sullivan says they are hopeful that this next year will bring back increased opportunities to students.

"We have some big plans for next year," she shared, "we're working with the school district to get some more educational programs going at the farm so that kids can come up from other schools and spend some time there and hopefully not look at it as a field trip."

Plans include setting up educational stations and revamping the farm-to-table program, which once provided students with hands-on learning like vegetable harvesting in the garden, cooking, and agricultural education through the use of the greenhouse.

"We've had a curriculum from when (Loma Vista Elementary) was open, and we're updating that right now, and so hopefully next year we'll have a lot more little ones in there learning," said Sullivan. "Hopefully it'll just keep getting bigger and better."

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