Pie Ranch

Last night I completed my around-the-bay food extravaganza with the Pie Ranch “Dinner with Adelaide.” It was a lovely, lovely evening. First delight was the parking area bordered by more naked ladies than I’ve ever seen together in one place.

I drove up right behind Tom Broz, of Live Earth Farm, and we talked on the way up the hill about the Veggielution fundraising dinner (have you bought your ticket yet?) and LEF’s own dinner for their own educational program. Tom very generously offered to help us out with vegetables, if we need them, and wants to come to the party himself.

Although Pie Ranch has a splendid outdoor kitchen

that they use for everyday, last night’s setup was more elaborate.

There were wheat sheaves as decoration.

And a beautiful, very long U-shaped table where we all sat and ate family style.

It was very hot in San José yesterday, but the sea breeze had already come in force by the time I arrived. But the same sheltered microclimate that allows Pie Ranch to grow peppers and heirloom tomatoes was a delightful place to sit as the sun went down.

The menu featured produce from Pie Ranch and other local farms, including Live Earth, local calamari, flatbread and pasta made from local wheat, and cheese from Adelaide the cow’s milk. I didn’t see any evidence of truly obsessive focus on locals-only, which inspires me to relax a little in my own sourcing.

It was lovely, of course, to be surrounded by so many like-minded people, and I made a good connection with one of Pie Ranch’s board members, further feeding yesterday’s conviction that everyone involved in projects like this in the area have to come together and talk to each other more.

But it was also lovely to watch the bats in the twilight, to eat course after course of delicious, fresh food, to dance in the barn after dinner (and after pie and coffee) and to drive home along Highway 1 with the moon’s trail stretching away to the south.