Context and History

Pie Ranch, founded in 2002, runs a variety of programs to connect and educate their community to food and farming. They partner with local schools to bring kids to the farm for camping and field trips, which typically involve cooking in the outdoor kitchen and working on a farm activity.  They also run the Cascade Regenerator Program on a neighboring property, which provides historically marginalized groups of people with the resources to build a career in agriculture.  

The CZU Lightning complex in August of 2020 sparked a fire that burned multiple structures on the Pie Ranch property, including the greenhouse and historic Steele Family Farmhouse. These catastrophes altered the way that the farm was able to connect with the community since the majority of their programs are place-based. Their newest programs, born from the pandemic, are the youth core which provides jobs on the farm to local students, and the food hub program which serves as a food distribution system.