The Pie That Community Baked

From the bean of Green Bean.

If you think that a year of making connections, of writing and exploring yield nothing, I invite you to take a bite of my pie.

My second place pie for my son's school's pie contest. First place in the pumpkin pie category. Helllllllo! Can I get a little applause, here?

It was made with the finest ingredients. Local cream from an organic dairy with a methane digester. Fair trade organic sugar bought in bulk to avoid the plastic packaging. Pastured eggs delivered to a friend through her CSA that she kindly drops off at my home every week. And two sugar pie pumpkins that were a gift from Sapphira, my best farmers' market friend.

I followed the recipe of a generous friend. One whom I've never met. One who lives on the other side of the continent and leads a much different life than I, dwelling on an century old farm as opposed to the clogged outskirts of San Francisco. One who dedicates her life to teaching high schoolers to appreciate nature and step lightly on our planet. One who read a post I wrote about being drowned in squash and reached out, via email, with a treasured pie recipe.

I baked it in a glass pie plate that I purchased at a neighbor's garage sale for a quarter.

En route to school, my youngest, who helped bake the pie, sobbed "I hope we win the contest." My oldest only hoped for a piece of the pie.

I placed my pie on the auditorium stage, sandwiched by two dozen other homemade pies. At a Chili Cookoff. A "barn raising" designed to raise money for my son's cash strapped school.

That night over two hundred and fifty people gathered to donate money, make connections, and enjoy a bowl of chili or a slice of my pie. A pie that community baked.