Pie Ranch’s Youth Corps Program

Pie Ranch launched a paid work experience program in April 2021 to provide an outlet for young folks, ages 14 to 22, to engage in outdoor activities for the healing of body, mind, and spirit. 

Originally, YouthCorps was an outlet for young people who had been learning from home and feeling isolated during the COVID pandemic to get away from a laptop screen, spend time outside with their peers, socialize, and build useful, work-related skills. Through a sense of purpose in giving back to the land, we hoped to create space for them to cultivate meaningful connections to “all the little living things” that make up the food ecosystem, including their peers. The YouthCorps interns also helped Pie Ranch to recover from the CZU Lightning Complex wildfire that struck in August 2020 and caused significant damage at Pie Ranch. They helped to clear brush and trees, and assisted with repairs to our irrigation reservoir and various infrastructure projects across the farm.

Today, Youth Corps earn a competitive hourly wage to contribute to a variety of projects and programs. Participants develop a variety of skills through helping with farming, conservation work, and infrastructure projects at both Pie Ranch and at the Cascade Farm and Ranch Regenerator site. 

Program Tracks

At Pie Ranch, YouthCorps may participate in all sorts of activities connected with the organizations day-to-day activities. The program is constantly developing the tracks that Youth Corps can participate in. Currently, our 3 main tracks are Culinary, Farm, and Conservation.

Culinary

Youth Corps who participate and engage in the culinary track will have the chance to learn about food preparation, food and kitchen safety, meal planning, nutrition, and delivering food education with a lens on food sovereignty. The outdoor kitchen at Pie Ranch hosts many food education programs and Youth Corp will be directly involved with prep or assisting the Chef Educator with executing delicious and nutritious meals. The goal of the culinary track is ensure that Youth Corp can maintain a sense of leadership and pride in the meals that they help create. Some projects and skills that Youth Corp are involved in include:

  • Maintaining the Pie Ranch outdoor kitchen as a safe and sanitary space for programs (reset stations for programs, dishes, sanitizing, laundry, deep cleaning, etc.)

  • Learning and testing new recipes

  • Regular inventory of pantry, kitchen equipment, and supplies

  • Developing culinary techniques which include: knifework & sharpening, stockmaking, pickling/preserves, sauce making, learning flavor palettes, and much more

  • Learn how to create prep lists, grocery lists, and budget for a meal

  • An awareness of the seasonality of Pie Ranch crops and a sense of creativity to create recipes with what produce is available

  • Planning + execution of Youth Corps end of summer dinner for Youth Corps Summer Cohort.

Farm

Youth Corps who are engaged with the farm track will learn the general operations of a diversified organic farm. The 8-acre farm includes a diversity of crops including both annual and perennial plants. Some of our signature crops include the three sisters (beans, corn, and squash), dry-farmed tomatoes, strawberries, apple orchards, and much more. Daily activities will include the broad scope of what goes into keeping a farm running. Some of these are: 

  • Greenhouse Propagation & Seed Sowing 

  • Maintenance of Crops: Planting, Weeding, Irrigating, and Harvesting 

  • Irrigation Maintenance and Repair 

  • Orchard Care: Pruning, Thinning, Spreading compost and mulch 

  • Leading groups in farm activities

  • Field Record Keeping 

Conservation

Youth Corps have the unique opportunity to engage in conservation activities at both HomePie and at the neighboring Cascade Ranch site, focusing on:

  • Native Plant Propagation

  • Invasive Species Removal

  • Creek Restoration

  • Environmental Testing & Monitoring

  • Plant ID

A Youth Corp intern can customize their time between these tracks based on their interests and passions. Please email programs@pieranch.org with any questions you may have, or apply here.