We are a Farming Community!

Grow

Our sustainable farming practices emphasize soil fertility, biological diversity, growing for local markets, and creating a relationship-based food system. Delicious, fresh, seasonal, humane; We grow food to sustain ourselves, our community, and our environment.

On our pie-slice shaped piece of land, we grow pie ingredients including wheat for crusts, fruits for filling, raise chickens for eggs, goats and cows for milk and butter, and vegetables for healthy meals. We sell our crops at our farm stand, to local bakeries including Mission Pie, and have a Community Supported Eggriculture egg share program.

Educate

Youth Education & Leadership Development

An integral piece of Pie Ranch’s vision is to partner with youth around food & farming. The youth we work with are usually high school students from the Bay Area, Pescadero and Santa Cruz; however, we also serve other groups from all over the globe. Our main focus is on providing the opportunity for repeat visits rather than one-time experiences on the farm. We believe that repeat visits build upon themselves; youth connect to the land, to the staff, and to each other. Trust and respect grow as youth experience the cycle of days, weeks, months, seasons, and years.

Examples of Educational Programming at Pie Ranch:

• Mission High School Piesters: English & Science classes unite & come to the Ranch once a month to engage in farming activities, journaling, observation, and reflection, food preparation, and celebration. The year culminates in an overnight at the end of the school year.
• Mission High English Language Learners: Monthly visits provide these youth the opportunity to practice their English in the context of a farm, engaging in farm activities and food preparation.
• Oceana High School: During their “intersession” week, these students engage in the rhythms of the days & nights. Goat milking, egg collecting, farm activities & cooking three meals per day are balanced with hikes, journaling, and a visit to Ano Nuevo State Reserve.
• The Urban School of San Francisco: Seniors participating in Cal-studies, focusing on food production, use Pie Ranch as a base from which to explore California agriculture.

While we prioritize repeat visits with youth, we also serve other age groups and one-time visits as scheduling permits.  Our school programming (harvesting, overnights, cooking instruction, farming & nutritional classes) days are currently booked through June of 2012.  As an alternative to programming, we offer schools & other groups a tour of Pie Ranch that takes folks over the 27 acres of the farm, discusses sustainable farming practices, the history of the site and can include (according to season) sampling from the fields.  This two-hour tour can be tailored to a group’s particular needs or interests. School groups may schedule this tour for a special rate of $5 per student from 9:30-11:30am on Wednesdays while the fee for other groups is $5-15 per person, sliding scale. A beautiful site is available for a self-hosted group picnic directly after the tour for an additional $50.

For questions about visits, for details on pricing, or to schedule a program, contact Kelly Munoz at kelly@pieranch.org or 650-879-0995.

Farmer Apprenticeships

Pie Ranch is a unique sustainable food system education and advocacy organization. We seek to inspire and create a new generation of farmers, educators, entrepreneurs, and advocates with the knowledge and the skills to work together to build a healthy, sustainable, inclusive food system. Our work is based on the assumption that a sustainable food system can only emerge when both rural and urban communities understand and are accountable to each aspect of the system.

Emerging Farmer Program — Apprenticeships & Internships at Pie Ranch

Our Emerging Farmer Program includes our year-long Apprenticeship Program & Summer Internship Program.

Apprenticeship:

The Apprenticeship at Pie Ranch runs from January – November, giving folks the opportunity to experience from cover crop to cover crop, all that’s entailed in the running of a productive, educational farm. We seek apprentices who have already had some experience on farms and who want to be farmers & farm educators. Apprentices help out with all aspects of the ranch. Work includes sowing, planting, weeding, irrigating, and harvesting a variety of crops; animal husbandry; experiential education with youth and other groups; developing infrastructure; and direct marketing through our farm stand, Community Supported Eggriculture program and sales to local restaurants & bakeries. Payment to apprentices includes room in a 14’ yurt or in a very rustic, historic house, some board (all you can eat from the farm, with some group meals, and lots of pie), and a $500/month stipend plus $100 for health benefits. Apprentices have access to their own garden space, composting toilet, outdoor shower and kitchen. We also consider the opportunity to live, learn, and work on a beautiful farm engaged in meaningful work as a form of payment. Two weeks of vacation and the equivalent of traditional holidays are honored. While the Apprenticeship model is mainly focused on learning by doing, our weekly farm meeting/walk and monthly workshops are opportunities to expand knowledge around sustainable food production.

You can also download the Pie Ranch Apprenticeship Application here.

For more information about Pie Ranch, visit www.pieranch.org.