Farm Tours
One of the best ways to explore Sonoma County’s back roads is by visiting local farms. Throughout Sonoma Coast you can find family farms and artisanal growers who are creating agricultural products that reflect their own unique terroir. Sonoma County encompasses a wide variety of landscapes: from oak-studded hills to flood plains, from redwood groves to windswept beaches.
Agri-tourism
Agri-tourism is alive and well in the heartland of Sonoma County. Small farms have turned to agri-tourism as a method of supplementing income and raising awareness about rural America. Some farms have interactions with the horses, goats, and sheep, as well as tour the organic gardens that supply the farm with fresh vegetables. You may purchase freshly collected organic eggs from the farm’s own hens. Sonoma County Farm Trails, the county’s organization devoted to agri-tourism, also sponsors a special weekend extravaganza (dubbed “Weekend Along Farm Trails”) once a year.
Sonoma Cheese
Achadinha Cheese Company
Jim and Donna Pacheco’s 900 goats graze year-round on verdant pastures at the Pacheco Family Dairy, with grass supplemented with alfalfa and brewers’ grain from local breweries. Donna handcrafts all cheeses and makes her own smoked summer goat sausage.
Details: 750 Chileno Valley Road, Petaluma, 707-763-1025
Ramini Mozzarella
This is the closest you will ever get to real mozzarella di bufala in most of America, since owners Craig and Audrey Ramini raise real Italian water buffalo on their bucolic ranch. Call to schedule a tour and a picnic tasting, then stay to play with the adorable baby buffalo in the pastures and “calf town.”
Details: 175 Gericke Road, Tomales, 415-690-6633
McClelland's Dairy
This third-generation family dairy was founded by Irish immigrant Robert McClelland, and is now operated by his son George, George’s wife Dora, and their daughter Jana. They specialize in European-style organic artisan butter. Take a farm tour (offered seasonaly, by appointment only) to watch a cow being milked and pet a calf in the nursery.
Details: 6475 Bodega Ave., Petaluma, 707-664-0452
Valley Ford Cheese & Creamery
Valley Ford Cheese & Creamery was founded in 2008 and is located on Mountain View Jersey Dairy, off the rural coast of Sonoma County, California. The Bianchi family has owned and operated the 640 acre ranch since 1918 is now occupied by the third, fourth, and fifth generations. We use the sustainable practices our great grandparents brought with them, and taught us, knowing sustainability is our future. It is our job to work closely with nature to grow our crops, produce a healthy dairy product and protect our earth’s resources. Our cheeses:
"Highway 1" Fontina Style,
"Estero Gold" Montasio Style,
Montasio Style "Estero Gold" Reserve "GRAZIN' GIRL" GORGONZOLA STYLE.
Freestone ranch
At Freestone Ranch we raise Black Angus beef with good grassland genetics on gorgeous fog-kissed hills just inland from the Pacific Ocean. We don't use antibiotics, vaccines, or growth hormones.
They're delicious because we watch the grass very carefully, and we rotate them regularly, depending on the grass, the weather, the season, and good common sense.
We sell direct, in quarters, halves, or whole steers. Individual cuts are available at Bill's Farm Basket or Andy's Produce Market in Sebastopol, CA. Our beef is harvested humanely and locally, and it's dressed locally by butcher shops with deep history in the Sonoma County community.
Email us at nourish@freestoneranch.com call us at (707) 876-4610.
Salmon Creek Ranch, Bodega, CA
Salmon Creek Ranch is situated between the villages of Bodega and Bodega Bay on the glorious Sonoma coast. We have obtained organic certification for its pastures through the California Certified Organic Farmers and are raising Scottish Highland and Angus cattle for 100% grass-fed/grass finished beef, Kiko goats for meat and breeding stock, as well as producing certified organic duck eggs and other farm-related products. Salmon Creek Ranch is also the home of Timaru Salukis and Anatolian Shepherds.
http://www.salmoncreekranch.com/