The World Cultures and Environmental Stewardship Committee held their annual Fall Festival on Oct. 21 at the Seeds at City Farm.

Promoting sustainability and community, the festival featured many festivities to indoctrinate attendees into the agricultural and community program occurring on campus.

Activities included pumpkin carving, farm tours, hand-made goods from vendors, and music with professor Bob Pruitt, dancing with professor Alicia Rincon and free food from the Cafeteria.

While a means to bring the community of San Diego City College together for the afternoon, the festival also carried the messages of recycling, conservation, education, awareness and outreach.

“It’s self sustainability that is really important, especially with more (people being) unemployed,” said Norissa Gastelum, member of the new certificate program for sustainable urban agriculture.

One of several Urban Farm managers, Paul Mashka kept busy slicing a medley of freshly harvested greens, sauteing them on a wok with sesame seed oil and soy sauce and garnishing them with sprinkles of sesame seeds.

To collect donations for the farm there were hand-crafted coffee mugs and other objects made by art students available for sale as well as a raffle to win a Victory garden.

Special guest speaker Barry Logan, owner and operator of Escondido farm “La Milpa Organica,” gave a speech about the dangers of the present unsustainable practices of industrial agriculture.

According to Logan, the present food production system is heavily dependent on oil, from the manufacture of pesticides to long distance transportation of foods.

“Plants civilized us, they tamed us, brought us into community with them,” said Logan as he spoke to the group assembled around him about, “creating community on land.”