News from Pie Ranch

Invitation

On Sunday, we mailed our first batch of letters to friends and family announcing the plan and campaign for Green Oaks Agricultural Trust (GOAT). Some of you have received yours, others will soon. Our pacing is driven by a couple of factors. We want to mail at a pace that we can keep up with in making phone calls to answer questions and provide additional information. We have to fit those calls in between milking, mowing, weeding, taking care of Lucas, taking care of each other, and all of the other labors associated with Pie Ranch and GOAT. Also, we are thankful to be receiving a contribution from Community Printers for printing of 1000 brochures, which will be ready any day for a second wave of mailings. Dropping the first batch of envelopes in the slot at the post office, we felt the exhilaration and trepidation that accompanies such an act. What a feeling, to throw the door wide open to share this piece of work, to invite people in, and to ask for help in making it come to be.

Life Lab Science Program Summer Camp visits Pie Ranch

A group of happy campers from the Life Lab Science Program joined us today for some fun:

hiking up to the overlook of Año Nuevo for a picnic lunch,
baking strawberry pies (with berries from Swanton Berry Farm),
assessing the readiness of the wheat for future pie crust,
and getting to know the goats and chickens.

Eggs

We got our first green egg today from an Araucana chicken and our first white eggs from the Rose Comb Brown Leghorns. Soon we will be pawning off dozens from these pasture-fed beauties to innocent neighbors and visitors.

Sinking down roots and endposts

We started staking the berries today, planting 4x6 endposts with
concrete, bringing more of a sense of the permanence of perennial crops like berries. It's a pleasure to imagine these canes 3 to 5 years hence, prolific, with friends of Pie Ranch returning each year to harvest.

Gratifying workday

Even as we mount a significant capital campaign, the work of the farm requires our steady presence and input. On Saturday, July 16, we were joined by a number of friends (including a dozen current apprentices from the UCSC Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems) who helped us with a variety of projects. We stacked wood, removed weeds (including eucalyptus,) harvested pasture feed for the goats, and built new supers to enlarge the bee hives. We also enjoyed a wonderful meal together (including some yummy peach pie [sun crest peaches from Jeff & Annie at Good Humus Produce], and spontaneous acoustic music and a cappella singing. We appreciate the generous help of our friends, and to be caring for a piece of the earth that is so welcoming to this kind of shared effort. We look forward to the next work party.

Fiscal Sponsorship granted

We are grateful that the Rudolf Steiner Foundation has agreed to serve as our fiscal sponsor until the Green Oaks Agricultural Trust is awarded status as a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. The Rudolf Steiner Foundation (RSF) is a cutting-edge non-profit financial service organization with a long and successful history of assisting individuals and projects to meet their financial goals. RSF’s mission is to create social benefit through innovative approaches to working with money that reflect the highest aspirations of the human spirit. Our relationship with RSF emerges from a shared connection to Live Power Community Farm, the first CSA farm in California, which is inspiringly stewarded by our friends and mentors Stephen and Gloria Decater, and their 3 sons. We feel honored to receive the very meaningful support of RSF’s fiscal sponsorship.

Green Oaks Agricultural Trust

The vision of a larger regional effort emerges, and the mission of the Green Oaks Agricultural Trust comes into focus, engaging a broader group of collaborators.

Key support

Key supporters and potential partners in the local community embrace the effort.

What a week...

What a week it’s been! Neighbors, colleagues, friends, and collaborators have stepped forward to cheer this effort and to offer their skills, including guidance and professional services for establishment of a non-profit, building a (beautiful) website, fundraising support, graphic design.

Crab Spider

This weekend we observed an impressive display of bio-mimicry. Peeking into a morning glory flower we discovered a large crab spider laying in wait for an insect to stumble along in search of nectar. The spider perfectly matched the coloring of the flower, even down to the faint purple stripes on it's abdomen. You can see more pictures here.

NEWS FLASH! Pie Ranch LLC makes an offer for the Isaac Steele farmstead

NEWS FLASH! Pie Ranch LLC (aka Jered, Nancy, and Karen) take the big and necessary step of putting in an offer on the Isaac Steele farmstead at Green Oaks Creek. We appreciate the support of our families in helping to make this possible with such a short timeframe.