Welcome to the Agrihood
Live Oak Farm is Sonoma County’s first agrihood—a confluence of agriculture and neighborhood paying homage to Petaluma’s rural beginnings, offering a fresh new approach to living on the land. The community is now welcoming buyers to consider three newly built homes and four build-ready lots.
This 30-acre residential community was envisioned more than 10 years ago by Randy Goldstein, a Bay Area renewable energy entrepreneur with a keen interest in sustainability and a belief that food is medicine. His dream is coming to fruition on the land long known as the Bundesen Ranch, formerly a chicken and egg farm, owned for three generations by Petaluma’s Bundesen family.
The farm’s first growing season commenced in 2015 with a commitment to regenerative agricultural practices. Regenerative agriculture is foundational to the agrihood. Transitioning to regenerative farming yields major improvements for the environment, such as improving soil, removing carbon from the atmosphere and lowering water use.
This year, Live Oak Farm is partnering with Sebastopol-based nonprofit Ceres Community Project, bringing their community garden model to Petaluma for the first time. Ceres provides youth development plus hundreds of thousands of medically tailored meals annually for North Bay families facing serious health issues like cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Local high school students—and often their parents and siblings— volunteer in Ceres gardens and kitchens. Ceres also invites volunteers from the community at large to help in the garden.
"We create vibrancy for people and the planet through love, healing food and empowering the next generation,” says Deborah Ramelli, Ceres’ director of development and community affairs.
"Ceres’ mission is completely aligned with Live Oak Farm’s core principles: supporting healthy local food production and building community. This partnership feels like a natural next step in the evolution of Live Oak Farm,” says Goldstein, adding, “We are literally a growing community.”
Says Ramelli, “Teens develop a sense of agency and see that they can really make a change in the world. It’s experiential learning, with community benefits, if you will.”
In addition to the Ceres garden, the property has orchards as a prominent feature of the overall landscape, with more than 1,000 fruit trees including multiple varieties of apples, persimmons, pluots and pomegranates stretching out across the gently sloping hills.
The new community taking shape connects the comforts of modern living with the town’s historic roots in agriculture. Currently, the agrihood’s residents live in the four original farmhouses, as well as in two recently built homes. Partnering with premier local custom home builder Wright Residential, Goldstein is bringing refined modern farmhouses to life, built for sustainability, resilience and energy efficiency. Key features include solar panels, all-electric appliances and equipment to connect electric vehicles and back up batteries. Durable building materials such as metal roofs and fiber cement siding protect the homes from extreme weather and fire events.
Another major feature is the newly built pavilion designed to hold space for local community gatherings, such as educational events, farm-to-table dinners, yoga classes, movie nights, spontaneous barbecues and more. It’s a place for sharing, where families and individuals exchange their ideas, activities and passions.
Tim Little and Alexa Glockner of Hedge Realty are the sales and marketing team behind Live Oak Farm. Three newly built, refined, modern farmhouses and four build-ready lots are now available. To learn more about this unique community, please visit homesatliveoakfarm.com.
IT’S A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE AGRIHOOD!
