Pacifica Gardens volunteers grew a ton of food last year.

The garden, a 33,000-square-foot plot located in an abandoned soccer field at the Linda Mar Educational Center, yielded more than 2,000 pounds of produce– half of which was donated to a Pacifica Resource Center, a local nonprofit catering to families in need. The other half of the crops went to the volunteers who care for and maintain the garden.

But it's not all work and no play at Pacifica Gardens. Volunteers there are preparing for Saturday's second annual harvest fundraising dinner featuring live jazz, a silent auction and a gourmet meal prepared by chefs from Google.

The evening's dinner will be a "One Hundred Mile Meal," referring to the fact that all of the food used in the dishes was grown, produced and caught within 100 miles of the Rosita Road garden.

"The idea is to reduce your carbon footprint," Loretta O'Brien, Pacifica Gardens project director and garden manager, said. "We live in a society where we're disconnected from our food source."

Volunteer Melanie Heisler, one of the founders of the garden, is friends with Olivia Wu, one of Google's executive chefs, who agreed to lend her expertise to the gala along with Helene Kennan, Bon Appétit Culinary Director at Google. Wu and Kennan will be joined by chefs and managers from Bon Appétit at Google, including Hillary Bergh, Sean Randall, Joy Marquez, James White and Cindy Lee.

Preliminary menu items include crudités of beets, radishes and beans, crostini of fava, kales and chard greens, pesto of sunflower and pumpkin seeds, Pacifica Gardens baby greens, herbs and flower salad, pumpkin and pear soup, a trio of local baby fish, black cod with green cannellini beans and  roasted fall fruits, and Google honey and homemade fromage blanc cookies for dessert.  The menu was finalized early this week when a Google team came to look at the garden.

Proceeds from the harvest fundraiser will go to support education and food donation programs, and provide for more fruit trees, native trees and garden beds.

The garden also raises funds with the sale of native plants and grasses from donated seedlings.

The garden is at the end of its third year, and the volunteers are still in trial-and-error mode due to the Pacifica's coast side microclimate.

"It's an experimental garden," said Rebecca Iverson, a volunteer.

Deep into the experiment is Michael Graupe, who is planting native South American varieties that thrive at high altitudes, such as in the Andes Mountain Range.

Graupe, a chemist originally from Austria, took a scientific approach to his hobby.  He did some research and found that the climates in Columbia, Bolivia and Ecuador are similar to Pacifica's and has chosen his crops accordingly: goldenberries, which resemble tomatillos, caigua, a vine plant that produces pods that taste like cucumbers, rocoto hot peppers, and tubers oca, yacon and mashua.

"These are the ideal plants for our climate here," Graupe said. "One of the major goals here is to educate the public on what you can do. People buy what they know."

In addition to educating the public about locally grown, healthy food, the garden provides an activity for families.

Sima Alizadeh and Tim King bring their two young children to the garden every week. Alizadeh and 2-year-old Urban King harvested tomatoes Saturday and were preparing a bed for cabbage seedlings.

"This is a good opportunity for our children to see how food is grown," Alizadeh said. "Not every town has this."

Volunteers work at the garden every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 830 Rosita Road, Pacifica.

The second annual harvest fundraising dinner will be held at the Pacifica Moose Lodge, 776 Bradford Way, Pacifica.

The event begins at 5:30 p.m. with a silent auction and live jazz followed by dinner. Tickets are $85 per person. For more information, visit www.pacifica-gardens.org.