Slow Food Russian River operates a Community Apple Press, from August into October. Want to bring your class? We will be open for schools on Friday mornings, 9am-noon.

It’s at the Luther Burbank Gold Ridge Experiment Farm in Sebastopol. Use of the press is a free community service made available by Slow Food, an international food organization that supports local farmers.

• We pay toward a school bus to bring the students to the press 
• We provide apples to press at their visit
• We give the students a pint of their juice to take back home
• A farm tour is included
• A handful of varieties is included in a sensory comparison, an experiential part of their visit

If you wish you can use apples from your backyards or buy local apples from an apple farmer. Apples can be “ugly,” misshapen, scarred or slightly bruised fruits. The juice will be equally delicious. We may also be able to connect you with an orchard owner to pick your own.

It takes about an hour to press about 100 pounds so it’s a good morning field trip.

To get to the press at the Luther Burbank Experiment Farm, a short mile from downtown Sebastopol, use your school bus or carpool with parents. We may be able to help financially if needed. Let’s talk.

Field trips bring lots of benefits to your students. Here we list some, but please let us know about other in the application form!

1. Students are energized by the excitement and anticipation of experiencing a new environment.
2. The transportation to and from the farm is often a pleasant open-social time.
3. Students have the opportunity to see new things and learn about them in a more unstructured way.
4. Students can determine what they learn and how they learn it. The experience can be interest-driven, not teacher and curriculum driven.
5. Students get to experience hands-on learning a real time food production. A raw, natural product, apples, get transformed into a juice. A farm-to-table experience that they can share with their family when they bring a pint of their juice home.

Watch our short film how Steele Lane students gain life skills while pressing apples (video)
See more photos of students working the press. (photos)

At the Farm, Slow Food volunteers familiar with operating the press will be on site. There may also be a docent of the Western Sonoma County Historical Society to conduct tours of the Farm. Be sure to have enough adults present to allow the kids to safely enjoy their visit. After applying below we will contact you to work out arrangements.