MIU’s Regenerative Organic Agriculture program will host a fall festival on its 15-acre farm on Highway 1 just north of campus on Saturday, September 30, from 3 to 10 pm, with tours, games, a bonfire, live music, and food from five Fairfield food vendors.

Activities will include a bonfire, an art wall, and festival games. A scavenger hunt will help you explore the farm, and guided tours by ROA students and staff will help you learn more about it.

Mira’s Café will cater the festival with vegan food made from farm produce. Taco Dreams, Breadtopia, Everybody’s Whole Foods will also serve food. Everybody’s will offer Radiance Dairy ice cream.

Live music will include folk music, indie, and funk rock, continuing into the evening. Artists include Tim Britton, Noah Mizelle, Dave Tamkin, Amine Kouider, the Apocalypso Tantric Noise Choir, drumming by Foliba (“big rhythm”), finally transitioning into the psyche trance music of awesome DJ Nisan Alva.

Lead organizers are Abby Cyr and Muna Askar. Abby is one of the core team members of the farm, working full time and completing her master’s degree in regenerative organic agriculture. Muna is a student in the BA program in regenerative organic agriculture.

“We wanted to celebrate a record abundant harvest and the MIU ROAP farm’s profound accomplishments,” Abby said. “We are inviting the community to learn more about the farm, enjoy the beautiful land, and understand why regenerative agriculture is farming for the future.”

“Originally we wanted to have a party just for the farm team, to just enjoy the harvest and celebrate the year of hard work,” Cyr said. “We expanded to include friends and family and then the students wanted to be part of it. We thought, wait, we should invite the whole community! And then it just kind of became a festival. So it was really spontaneous and organic.”

The ROAP farm, one of the few certified biodynamic university farms in the country, includes two acres of dedicated land for growing crops, a compost system, chickens, and an apiary, all organic. 

Tickets are free and can be reserved through Eventbrite or obtained onsite. Free-will donations are accepted at the event.