Have you ever heard of or considered the concept of “Food Justice”? On Saturday, September 27th, Pie Ranch hosted 40 people from the Coro Exploring Leadership Youth Program who were studying the issue of Food Justice, which is the concept that access to healthy food is a human rights issue. The Coro Exploring Leadership project engages high school students to become active citizens who have the tools to participate in and improve their communities. The program aims to give youth the skills necessary to become facilitators and collaborators for community change, and Pie Ranch was a natural fit for their Food & Nutrition module.

Thirty-six entering 11th graders—eighteen from San Francisco and eighteen from the East Bay—joined with their adult leaders to journey down the coast to Pie Ranch to focus on the issue of Food Justice and what local organizations are doing to address this issue. They were also interested in learning about organic farming and studying the entire food system, from seed to plate, in an effort to understand how food reaches the table and the implications that has for their personal health, the health of their communities and the sustainability of the planet.

After a tour of the ranch & lunch, we broke up the group into three teams:

1. Pie bakers got hands-on experience rolling out dough from freshly milled Pie Ranch Sonora wheat flour & filled their crusts with a blended mix of Pie Ranch pureed pumpkins & winter squash, Pie Ranch eggs, Pie Ranch goat milk, sugar & spices. These Coro youth made the first pumpkin pies of the season here, and they were divine!

2. A group of about 17 youth harvested a 150-foot row of dry Canary beans & piled them on a big blue tarp. Then we did the bean dance to break open the pods & free the beans. This required singing the bean song to properly motivate adequate dancing (“beans, beans, beans, beans… and rice!”). Next, we separated the chaff from the seed little by little, wind winnowing from bucket to bucket. After the beans were cleaned, we all ventured up to the pumpkin field & made a long line, each passing a pumpkin to the next to fill up our big wooden storage bins. The youth made the connection of how food goes from the field to the plate later, when they eagerly dug in to pumpkin pie.

3. Another group of about 17 harvested red and golden raspberries for our farm stand to experience first-hand how food goes from the farm to the market. We discussed issues of efficiency, sanitation, fair labor practices, and the importance of tasting what you sell. The consensus was that Pie Ranch puts out a darn good product!

After all their good work, there was a discussion about Food Justice and the inequality that often exists when low- and moderate-income communities suffer a lack of access to healthy food. The youth worked on their public speaking skills by presenting what they discovered in their investigations of how their schools measure up under the lens of Food Justice. Then they did a “teach back” about local organizations working on the issue of Food Justice. The organizations included CUESA, People’s Grocery, San Francisco Food Systems, Urban Youth Harvest, Mo’ Better Food, and Pie Ranch. All of the Pie Ranch staff were inspired and impressed by their passion for the subject and by their understanding and articulation of the issues around how food gets to our tables.

Youth Programs Manager Ben Polansky told us in an email, “the experience really resonated with the students and made this issue of ‘Food Justice’ more relevant and real. On the van ride home, all of our students we’re inspired by what they learned and were excited to tell their friends and family about their experience. It was an amazing opportunity.”

For their follow-up assignment, the facilitators are challenging the students to take one action step to get involved with a local organization to address the issue of Food Justice. We’re excited to hear how they’ll engage back in their own communities & hope to stay connected with Coro.

Click here for photos from the day.

– Nancy Vail, Pie Ranch Farmer Educator & Sky DeMuro, Farm Apprentice