Meet Your Maker
Our increasing consciousness about eating healthily and knowing where our food comes from has helped bridge the gap between consumers and the people who produce the food we eat. That said, many “city dwellers” still have a very vague understanding of what daily life is like on farms and ranches.
Fortunately, a growing number of farmers and ranchers worldwide have begun to offer a wide array of innovative opportunities for the public to gain firsthand (and often hands-on) experience, and a better appreciation, of the hard work and dedication required to produce the agricultural bounty so many of us have come to take for granted.
This burgeoning agricultural tourism movement, referred to as “agritourism,” is already well established in Europe and growing quickly in the United States—probably nowhere as rapidly as here in the North Bay. It’s a natural fit, as many agritourism opportunities in our area are within an hour’s drive of the major tourist destinations of San Francisco and the Wine Country.
A mere few miles may separate large urban populations from their rural neighbors, but that is often enough distance to keep the two from ever intersecting—if not for these unique offerings. All around our region, farms and ranches have begun to open their barn doors to visitors, seeking to create a greater sense of community.
Our region is home to such a rich and varied collection of artisan food (and drink) producers that agritourism visitors have the opportunity to experience everything from shellfish farming to cheesemaking to olive oil production, and lots in between. Perhaps all in the same day.
Point Reyes Farmstead and The Fork
One story that highlights this trend is the transformation of the Bob Giacomini dairy into the Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company and, most recently, The Fork, a culinary and educational center. Robert and Dean Giacomini pur- chased the dairy overlooking Tomales Bay in 1959, and ran solely a fluid milk production dairy that grew to over 500 milking cows until the Giacominis’ four grown daughters, not interested in the fluid milk business but wanting to maintain the family farm, came together with a plan. After extensive research, the family hired a renowned cheese- maker, built a creamery facility and the Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company was born in 2000.
The popularity of their award-winning Original Blue quickly grew and, as the family developed plans to expand their creamery, they decided to include a “hospitality center” to provide space for on-ranch trade and consumer education and tastings that “didn’t involve their mother’s living room.” And, so, the The Fork was added to the Giacominis’ offerings.
The Fork offers hands-on cooking classes and demonstrations (often led by local celebrity chefs), cheese tastings and cheesemaking classes, as well as a gorgeous event space. Naturally, most events include a meal prepared by The Fork’s executive chef, Jennifer Luttrell (wife of Point Reyes Farm- stead’s head cheesemaker, Kuba Hemmerling), and her team using Point Reyes Farmstead’s delicious cheeses, as well as a bounty of other locally sourced products.
According to Jill Giacomini Basch, one of the four Giacomini sisters who run The Fork and Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company, The Fork was designed to “create awareness and education on everything happening in the local food movement. All the events begin with an up close and personal educational farm tour where visitors learn about the about the cows, dairy practices, land stewardship, the commitment to sustainable practices (including creat- ing renewable energy from the farm’s methane digester), family history, day- to-day operations, and are sometimes lucky enough to witness live births and newborn calves. The goal is that visitors walk away with a better understanding of where, how and by whom artisan food is produced.”
McClelland’s Dairy
A little farther north from Point Reyes, across the border into Sonoma County, McClelland’s Dairy provides another opportunity for guests to get up close and personal with their food. On a recent visit, Jana McClelland led me on a tour, excitedly relating the farm’s history while pointing out a few of the highlights visitors to the farm can enjoy such as petting calves, viewing the milking parlor, milking a cow by hand and sampling McClelland’s European-style artisan butter.
Jana’s mother, Dora McClelland, had begun inviting the public to the farm decades ago to pick pumpkins, but the family took a 10-year hiatus while the McClelland children were away at school. In the fall of 2011, Jana and her family reopened the seasonal pumpkin patch and added a hay maze, petting farm, large sandbox filled with seed oats, and optional guided farm tours. McClelland’s also offers tours during the weekends in other seasons, including a very popular Mother’s Day brunch and tour. Jana guides many of the tours herself, engaging and educating her guests.
Agritourism Organizations and Tour Operators
In addition to the local farms, ranches and creameries that directly offer agritourism experiences, many supporting organizations and unique tour operators have taken on the logistics of planning, allowing the producers to more easily enjoy sharing their land and passion for their work with visitors—and still have time to produce.
Marin Agricultural Land Trust (MALT) provides opportunities to “get people out onto the land” and “experience where their food is coming from,” says MALT event and volunteer coordinator Denise Rocco-Zilber. MALT continues to expand its on-farm experiences through including DIY events around cheesemaking, fiber and even a cattle roundup on MALT-protected properties. And there is a definite market for these offerings—they almost always sell out.
Relish Culinary Adventures offers customizable tours, dinners and cooking classes on farms throughout Sonoma County. Owner Donna Del Ray emphasizes that “hosting events out at farms is an integral part of who we are. The added dimension of being out on the farm is really special.” There’s nothing quite like dining at a table placed smack dab in the middle of a peach orchard in the middle of summer.
Sonoma County Farm Trails has been promoting local farms and agritourism for the past 40 years. Executive Director Carmen Snyder explained Farm Trails’ role as important to “cultivate new relationships between farmers and the community they feed. We are on the cusp of big changes in order to best serve farmers and the public.” Upcoming events include Dining Along the Farm Trails and Weekend Along the Farm Trails in the fall. Farm Trails also prints a free map and guide with listings of year-round opportunities for the public to experience life on a farm.
West Marin Food and Farm Tours, Elizabeth Hill’s new culinary and educational tour company, takes an innovative approach to getting the public out to farms and meeting producers. Elizabeth has combined her deep connection to West Marin, culinary training and teaching background so that “my tours offer a little something for everyone, even to little kids, because everyone can relate to food.”
Elizabeth says she enjoys “showing people where the real future is for sustainable agriculture.” She adds how impor- tant it is to “make this company work for the community and work together with all aspects of tourism to promote different local businesses.” Not only are her tours tasteful and elegant but, in her own words, “the tours are fun and serve a greater purpose to educate the public regarding sustainability and artisan food production.”
And these are just the tip of the iceberg. We encourage you to check out the extensive list of agritourism opportunities below and get out there and experience all the agricultural bounty this area has to offer first hand.
LOCAL PRODUCERS OFFERING AGRITOURISM OPPORTUNITIES
CULTIVATION OF OYSTERS AND OTHER SHELLFISH
Drakes Bay Oysters
Hog Island Oyster Company
Point Reyes Oyster Company
Tomales Bay Oyster Company
ARTISAN AND FARMSTEAD CHEESEMAKERS
See the Sonoma Marin Cheese Trail Map in this issue and CheeseTrail.org
FARMS
(varied offerings include seasonal U-pick opportunities, CSAs, farm stands, petting zoos, farm stays and special events such as wedding sites and summer camps for kids)
Adobe Pumpkin Farm
Apple-A-Day Ratzlaff Ranch
AppleGardenCottage.com
Artful Arrangements
Barla’s Boer Goats
Bear Foot Honey Farm
Beekind Honey & Supply
Bellwether Farms
Bernier Farms at Warren Ranch
Bloomfield Bees & Honey
Brookfarm Alpacas
Bud’s Custom Meats
Canvas Ranch
Chileno Valley Ranch
Coastal Hill Farm
Cottage Gardens
Cow Track Ranch
Da Vero Farm & Winery
Devils Gulch Ranch
Dry Creek Peach & Produce
Dutton Ranch
Elixir Cafe
EverMay Garden Center
First Light Farm
Foggy River Farm
Frosty Mountain Tree Farm
Full House Farm
Garden Valley Ranch
Garlock Tree Farm
Gospel Flat Farm
Green String Farm
Grow Gardens Nursery
Hector’s Honey Farm
Imwalle Gardens
Indian Valley Organic Farm & Garden
Korbel Champagne Cellars
Kozlowski Farms
Let’s Go Farm
Lovepatch Farms
Luther Burbank’s Farm
McClelland’s Dairy
McEvoy Ranch
Momiji Nursery
New Carpati Farm
North Coast Native Nursery
Oak Hill Farm of Sonoma
Olufs Ranches & Pumpkin Patch
Olympia’s Orchard
Pacheco Ranch Winery
Petaluma Creamery
Petaluma Seed Bank
Point Reyes Farm Stay on Historic B Ranch
Point Reyes Vineyard Inn
Pt. Reyes Vineyards
Pug’s Leap Cheese
Quivira Vineyards & Winery
Rainbow’s End Farm
Redwood Hill Farm
Rodney Strong Vineyards
Rose and Thorn
Roundstone Farm
Salmon Creek Ranch
Senk Farms
Shelton’s Market Garden
Skippy’s Egg Store
SkyHorse Ranch
Split Rail Family Farm
Stemple Creek Ranch
Tara Firma Farms
Terra Bella Vista Olive Oil Co.
Tierra Vegetables
TrueGrassFarms.com
Verdure Farm
Western Farm Center
Willie Bird Turkeys
Willowist Miniature Horses
Yenni Ranch
ORGANIZATIONS OFFERING TOURS OF FARMS AND RANCHES THAT ARE NOT OTHERWISE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC:
Farm Trails (FarmTrails.org)
Marin Agricultural Land Trust
Marin Organic
Relish Culinary Adventures (RelishCulinary.com)
University of California, Cooperative Extension, Marin County
University of California, Cooperative Extension, Sonoma County
West Marin Food and Farm tours, CalAgTour.org
EDITOR’S NOTES:
THIS IS ONLY A PARTIAL LIST, SO BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR OTHER OPPORTUNITIES TO GET OUT ON A FARM OR RANCH IN OUR AREA. If you are a producer and interested in opening your farm or ranch to agritourism, a great resource is Agritourism and Nature Tourism in California, by Holly George and Ellie Rilla (University of California, 2011).
