Imagine a place where you work a little bit on a farm, have a potluck dinner with your pals, and whip out your best cowboy boots for some square dancing. This idyllic scene of yesteryear actually exists—and makes for a great day trip from the city. Only one and a half hours south of San Francisco, on windy, scenic Highway One, the Pie Ranch welcomes local folks and urban dwellers every third Saturday to a fun evening of delicious eats and cheerful barn dance. Being a non-profit farm, Pie Ranch's mission is to educate new farmers in sustainable farming, provide schools with seed-to-table education programs, and make sure we don't forget where our food is coming from.

Photo via Pie Ranch

For everyone who is interested in farming, bring your gardening hat, roll up your sleeves, and connect with the community over weed twitching and chicken feeding before the jamboree starts. Sure, you can only come for the potluck dinner and the barn dance, but working for your good time make it all the more worthwhile. 

At five o'clock sharp, with the fresh breeze from the ocean, Pie Ranch lovers start to arrive bearing casseroles, salads, cakes, pies, grilled veggies, strawberry crates, and other delicacies to be shared at the potluck table.

Adequately supplied with yummy homemade stuffs, grab a spot under the string lights at the picnic tables or hay bales, and dive into a conversation with fellow Pie Ranch revelers. The setting is akin to a spontaneously organized Kinfolk dinner, but way more authentic. 

At 7 p.m., you'll head to the dance floor, er, barn (if you're feeling the groove, a donation for the band between $10-20 is appreciated). The barn fills up with folks of all ages and backgrounds ready to do-si-do. Andy, the caller, and the County Line Pickers are the stars on the stage. Precise instructions for dance steps and banjo music get things moving, and after only a few harmless collisions, people are moving in sync, and the party doesn't stop until 10 p.m. 
You're welcome to take a break in between, but why? Can't stop, won't stop.

Where: Pie Ranch, 2080 Cabrillo Highway, Pescadero, CA 94060
When: Every 3rd Saturday, workday starts 2pm, potluck dinner 5pm, barn dance 7pm
Cost: $10-$20

The event is alcohol-free. If you are more then 10 people, you need to RSVP to simone@pieranch.org. For mor information check out their website.