Striving through Thick and Thin for a Better Food System for All

by Torrey Douglass • photos by Lily Ruderman

Believing that we can collectively do better—for the planet, its creatures, ourselves, and our neighbors—is part and parcel of Pie Ranch’s guiding mission to bring “greater health and justice to our food system.” This ambitious organization is situated in the Pescadero coastside community, roughly halfway between San Francisco and Santa Cruz. Founders Nancy Vail, Jered Lawson, and Karen Heisler bought 14 acres in 2002 in order to build what their website describes as “a regenerative farming and food system education center.” Essentially, they want youth and the public to be able to experience a working farm, one that could grow every ingredient required to bake a pie. True to this original ambition, Pie Ranch has fruit trees, wheat and a mill to grind it, and an animal husbandry program that currently has only goats but has included a milk cow in the past, and hopefully will again in the future.

The drive to do better includes more than just hosting field trips to their CCOF certified organic farm. Pre-COVID, Pie Ranch offered summer internships, overnight farm stays, and venue space for private events like weddings and popular public gatherings such as the monthly barn dance and community potluck. In years past, the farmers and apprentices of Pie Ranch grew food for a 100-person CSA as well as for their year-round farm stand, but they handed the CSA off to their incubator farm, Brisa de Año Ranch.

Nina Berry was hired as the Programs and Events Coordinator for Pie Ranch in February of 2020, but within a month her job shifted radically. Berry went from managing weddings, school visits, and the farm’s public events to heading up the aggregation aspect of Farm Fresh Food Relief, a new program the ranch implemented with Fresh Approach, a Bay Area organization devoted to making healthy food more affordable. As a result, rather than spending time on the phone coordinating teachers and brides, Berry was calling farmers to get fresh produce for their boxes (10-15 pounds each), and the ranch’s outdoor kitchen transitioned into space for building and distributing them. “It was a sharp turn,” Berry shares. “A lot of people committed to making it happen and were willing to be flexible in order to make it possible. I learned that things can work when a lot of people believe in them.”

This program was possible thanks to a USDA grant awarded to Fresh Approach. At its height, more than 800 boxes per week were delivered to people experiencing food insecurity. Though the grant ended in August, Pie Ranch continues its efforts on a smaller scale under their Food Hub program, providing approximately 200 boxes a week to folks in the Pescadero area, as well as a few groups in San Francisco and East Palo Alto.

The hardships of August did not stop after the USDA funding was lost. The devastating CZU Lightning Complex Fires ignited, burning over 86,500 acres in San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties, including portions of Pie Ranch. They lost water tanks, fruit trees, their greenhouse, and the Steele Family Home, a 157 year old structure that included apprentice living spaces, offices, and the organization’s library. Some of the full time staff members lost their own homes, as did many neighbors. Yet the historic wildfire had not even been contained before the Pie Ranch team had decided to rebuild.

With fire recovery in process, and in light of the previous year’s challenges, the ranch leadership has chosen to simplify for 2021. The farm will focus on growing staple crops like wheat, corn, fruit, berries, tomatoes, and winter squash. Virtual learning is in the works, and resuming in-person youth visits remains a priority once that can be done safely. “We want to remain resilient throughout the rest of this time, stay grounded, keep feeding people, and growing things,” reflects Berry.

The overarching goal, though, is to return to food and farming education as soon as safely possible. It’s the essence of their mission, after all. In conjunction with their efforts to build a healthier and more just food system, Pie Ranch particularly chooses to work with first generation farmers, people of color, and women. They also have a cultural easement in the works which will grant land access to the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, descendants of the original inhabitants of the property. Even as they work to restore and rejuvenate internally, they continue to focus on all the good they can do outside the farm’s borders. After all, there is no limit to how much better we can do.

Pie Ranch | 2080 Cabrillo Highway, Pescadero
Office (650) 879-0995 | Farmstand (650) 879-0996
PieRanch.org