Pie Ranch is a center for education and social change. Through hands-on learning about the full cycle of food production - from seed and shoot to scrumptious meal to steaming compost - we inspire people to build a healthier food system. While much of our activity is based on the farm, we also work in the city with individuals, organizations, businesses and public agencies to foster stronger relationships between urban and rural communities.
We are also working to protect and restore the old Green Oaks Ranch - a historically, agriculturally, and ecologically significant farm on the San Mateo coast - as the permanent home for our rural education and production (more info to your right).
A city-based pie shop, Mission Pie, has grown in the Mission district of San Francisco, serving as the urban link to Pie Ranch and to other local farms. Motivated to be a supportive business collaborator with Pie Ranch, the shop provides the youth employment development part of the program by hiring 9 Mission High students.
News from Pie Ranch
December 21, 2007
Celebrating a Fruitful Year
This year the strawberries just wouldn’t stop producing. We knew the extension of mild weather was largely at play, but we can’t help but feel a gentle metaphorical support from the miracle of ripening juicy delicious berries into December. Their persistence and productivity seem an affirmation of the fruitful efforts of this waning year, and of the promise of the new one around the corner.
October 19, 2007
Just Us for Justice
Four of the youth we work with received scholarships to attend the Youth Food and Farming track (Just Us for Justice) at the 2007 Bioneers Conference. Thursday, October 18th, was the the pre-conference day and Alex, Mark, Marzett and Andy piled into Karen’s car and headed across the Golden Gate Bridge at 7:30 a.m. We met up with the group near the Conference grounds, and piled in a van with others from the Alameda Point Collaborative and traveled out to Nicasio to visit All-Star Organics. There we met with Janet Brown, one of the farmers who is also Program Officer for Food Systems at the Center for Ecoliteracy in Berkeley. After some ice-breaker games, Janet toured us around the farm, showing the evidence of repeated and early frosts this year that have really hammered their tomato and melon crops. That prompted some good walking conversation about economic relationships that best support farms and farmers. We ended up in the greenhouse where we all helped strip dried herbs from stems for some of their value-added products. We left satisfied that we’d made a contribution to All-Star in exchange for their hospitality.
October 17, 2007
Barn Dance Saturday, October 20th.
Come celebrate the pumpkiness of the year with a barn dance.
If you are joining for the potluck, we’d love to see as many variations on the pumpkin/winter squash theme as you can muster.
Also, for some fun photos, check out Anne Hamersky’s project on Pie Ranch in the latest Sierra Magazine.
Please feel free to call or email with questions.
Hope to see you out at the ranch.
July 14, 2007
UPCOMING EVENTS
Pie Baking Contest
Saturday, July 21, 2007, 3:00 - 6:00 pm
Location: Southern Exposure, corner of 25th and Mission St. SF
Nathan Lynch, in collaboration with Southern Exposure and Mission Pie, invites all neighbors to an old-fashioned pie baking contest. Share your fresh baked pies, family pie recipes and tales of the oven at 2901 Mission Street. Guest judges will announce the winner. All pies are welcome. All ages are welcome.
Nathan Lynch
Between Courses
July 10 - July 21, 2007
Pie Delivery Hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 3:00 - 6:00 pm
During his residency, Nathan Lynch will conduct a series of experiments at the transition of Southern Exposure’s life as it prepares to move from its storefront at 2901 Mission Street to another venue. In its place will be the expanded, permanent home of Mission Pie, an urban bakery and farm stand. As a way to help transition these two spaces, Lynch will run a bicycle-powered, pie delivery service out of the gallery. Call 415-282-4PIE to have a pie delivered to your doorstep. Lynch will also collect stories from the neighborhood, make drawings, fashion furniture for the future space, and engage in other unexpected in-between acts. Please come by and join.
Barn Dance,
Saturday, July 21, 2007, 7-9 pm
Come join us in the roadside barn for some fun contra-dancing with our local ranch musicians and caller-extraordinaire, Andy Wilson. Don’t worry if you’ve never been to a barn dance, and if you have, you’ll recognize that this barn was meant for dancing. In order to help cover the costs and help compensate the talent, we’ll be asking for a $5-10 sliding scale donation.
Movie Night & Pie,
Friday August 3rd –7pm
We’ll have our first ever movie night in the barn that is part of a very special day for Pie Ranch. We will be one of the early stops on a nationwide pie-themed tour organized by Sustainable Table, the NY-based nonprofit program that produced The Meatrix and the Eat Well Guide. $5-$500 sliding scale. The proceeds from this event will go towards the campaign to preserve and develop the old Green Oaks Ranch. We'll be serving fresh pie, coffee, and pie ranch popcorn.
June 10, 2007
Grand Opening & Barn Dance!!!
Join Pie Ranch & Blue House Farm in celebrating the opening of the Roadside Barn.
We’ve begun offering an array of produce, berries, mill-your-own wheat, dry beans, eggs, as well as pie & coffee every Saturday and Sunday from 12-6, in what used to be a packing barn built in 1934.
The address is 2080 Cabrillo Hwy, Pescadero CA 94060.
This Saturday’s Grand Opening will culminate in a Barn Dance at 7 pm with the Rolling Cultivators.
Come join the family-friendly rural festivity!
June 05, 2007
Combine En Route!
Karen recently posted this news and info on the walls at Mission Pie...
Combine FAQ:
What’s a “combine”?
It’s a piece of farm equipment that is used in harvesting grain. It is so named because it combines several functions into one piece of equipment – harvesting, threshing, and cleaning grain.
Why did Mission Pie buy a combine? There’s no field of grain at 25th and Mission….
Pie Ranch grows wheat – Sonora wheat, which is a “soft” (low protein content) heritage wheat that was grown on the California missions. As a low-protein wheat, it is ideal for making pie crust and tortillas. Mission Pie is eager to have a steady helping of Pie Ranch wheat in our pie crust. Pie Ranch expanded its acreage of wheat this year to meet growing demand, but does not currently have the machinery to process that wheat into flour. As is the case for many small diversified farms, it’s hard for Pie Ranch to afford new (even used) farm equipment like a combine.
LAND STEWARDSHIP OPPORTUNITY
A property adjacent to the current Pie Ranch site, the historic Isaac Steele Ranch or Green Oaks Ranch, was recently put up for sale, presenting an opportunity to fulfill our vision and serve a critical need of the Bay Area community. The recovery of this site will enable us to serve more youth and their communities with meaningful programming, to collaborate with local organizations on farming and food system advocacy, and will also preserve this unique historical resource as a public resource.
The initial campaign for acquisition of the 13-acre parcel and rehabilitation of the stately farmhouse, barns and outbuildings and grounds is set at 2.5 million dollars.
We are seeking partnership, guidance, and direct support from individuals, community groups, as well as local and national conservation organizations. This is a rare parcel with a great opportunity. The Peninsula Open Space Trust is serving as the interim owner of the parcel for three years, while we pull together the support necessary to make this a reality. Please consider joining this effort. We welcome your participation!