Analy student's service project brings historic garden to life
QR-code video tour provides new way to experience the Luther Burbank Experiment Farm

By Karen Cross
Luther Burbank’s Experiment Farm in Sebastopol is bursting with beauty at this point in April. Blossoms are popping, the colors are vivid, and the air is fresh. This year’s rains have given the Farm a well-appreciated watering. The land and the plants are the stars of the show at the Farm located at 7777 Bodega Avenue, near the Burbank Heights Senior Housing complex in Sebastopol.
As a buzz of volunteers prepare for the upcoming April 22 Earth Day Open House and Celebration at the Farm, there is also a buzz about something new to update and upgrade the visitor experience – a QR code-enabled video tour with 11 stops along the walking tour of the Farm.
QR codes are square graphics that you can scan with a smartphone camera to trigger connection to additional piece of information. In the case of the one shown below, scanning will take you to wschs.org, the website of the Western Sonoma County Historical Society, the organization that manages the Burbank Farm and the West County Museum. When you visit the Farm, scanning these codes will connect you to videos explaining various important aspects of the farm’s history, important structures, special plantings, and other topics.
When asked about the QR enabled tour, Farm volunteers were excited about its promise. Suzi Yarian said “I love that the QR codes provide one more way for visitors to experience the Farm. Each video gives the right balance of overview and depth to understand important aspects of the Farm.”
Kate Fields, who schedules docent-led tours for the Farm, added “The new QR code tour brings Burbank into the 21st century!”
It was a long and winding road to the completion of the new video tour. Five years ago, Farm volunteer and former board member Steve Levenberg had the idea for an audio tour of the Farm that visitors could access on their phone. Sadly, lack of technical expertise kept it from production and it languished as a promising idea.
In the Fall of 2021, Evan Rosin, then a first-year student at Analy High School, approached the Farm/Historical Society about his desire to produce some kind of video about the Farm as a school service project. That was the spark that eventually brought this project to life.
When asked about the development of this QR code tour project Evan said “Initially, I believed the volunteer work at the Farm would be a simple and fast venture. However, when the vision unfurled into something much larger, I found it too interesting to turn down. I have greatly enjoyed working with the docents and board members at the Farm to make this dream a reality.”
Steve Levenberg echoed those thoughts; “Initially we thought that we’d just get a few of the usual Farm docents together to give some snippets of their typical Farm tour and that would be that, but we realized immediately that we really needed tight scripts to give the detail we wanted without excess.”
Patty Levenberg, Steve’s wife and long-time Farm volunteer, did much of the work of adapting the Farm’s docent manual into the scripts that eventually became the tour’s video stops.
With the challenges of coordinating Evan’s busy high school schedule, the process time of adapting the scripts, and volunteer availability, the recording of the videos stretched out over almost a year.
Throughout this time, Evan did the heavy lifting of the technical work to edit the videos, add graphics, produce the QR code plaques and wrap the entire project into a neat bundle.
Patty said “Evan brought enthusiasm and perseverance to this project. He tolerated our lack of technical ability and the twists and turns of the project’s progress with great grace and humor. He’s been a joy to work with.”
Jamie Self, the Farm’s curator who manages the restoration and continued care of the Farm, was almost at a loss for words about the new tour.
“This is a special way to draw visitors more deeply into the Farm with details that they just couldn’t get by simply walking around,” he said. “Come on out, give it a try, and fall in love with the Farm!”
Gail Lee, the Farm Director, added “The Farm is a secret treasure. Many people, even in Sebastopol, don’t know that it’s here or haven’t visited. The new tour gives them a special way to experience it in much the same way that they might on a docent-led tour but they can do it any time the Farm is open.”
The tour will be “officially” opened at 1pm on Saturday, April 22, during the upcoming Farm Earth Day Open House, which will take place from 9 am to 3 pm. There will be docent tours, plant sales, special garden-related events and much fun for all. Plan to attend! The Farm, officially a Sebastopol City Park, is open during daylight hours every day of the year. The entrance is at 7777 Bodega Ave. in Sebastopol. For more information go to wschs.org/farm.