Good cheese I would recommend getting some of that cheese! and there is good service!read more

I realize I've been coming here since the late 60s with my family. Back then it was Rouge et Noir…read more We used to bring our Exchange students here and have a picnic, enjoying their brie cheese and French bread. Clearly some fond memories. After a hike today at Lake Lagunitas we stopped by for cheese. They are eager to allow you to try many of their cheeses. I ended up getting the Golden Gate, which was offering a special today- buy one get one free. Being it was Memorial weekend the picnic tables around the pond were full and it was fun watching the families and kids enjoying themselves

It's such a shame- the property owner is evicting Little Wing Farm (Point Reyes) from their land…read more I heard the news while chatting with other patrons at the farm stand, and now it's confirmed on their Instagram. There are only two or three weeks left before the farmstand is gone for good. If you've ever loved this place or haven't been yet, now's your last chance to visit and support.

I absolutely LOVE a roadside farmstand so when I drove by this one my the way to Hog Island Oyster…read morefarm I knew I had to double back and check it out. And I'm so glad I did! They have the most STUNNING campanula flower bouquets I've ever seen! The colors are screaming spring and summer! The smaller one was $25 and the larger one is $40. I physically could not leave without one.........so I ended up getting the smaller one . They were also selling bunches of spring onions (I got one), bags of baby kale, and zucchini plant starters. FYI this place is cash only! Since service is spotty, they don't accept Venmo or Zelle.

We traveled to the Red Hill Ranch in Petaluma mainly to learn about MALT (Marin Agricultural Land…read moreTrust). Kitty Dolcini, the co-owner of the farm and a MALT representative whose name passes me at this time were there to greet our enthusiastic group. From Kitty we learned how she and her siblings inherited the 600 acre ranch after their dad had passed away. Five of her siblings wanted no part of the ranch, but Kitty and her brother Doug wanted to keep the ranch and carry out the family's farming tradition. The Red Hill Ranch had operated as a dairy farm. With a net worth of $5 million at the time Kitty and Doug needed help to buy out the shares from their five non-interested siblings. That's where MALT entered the picture. To make a very long story short MALT secured the dollars necessary to buy out the five siblings in exchange for the development rights to the property. Under the agreement with MALT the Dolcinis remain the owners of the land, but the land is protected for agricultural use only. The agreement is permanent and there is no opt out. Kitty now happily owns 3/7ths of the property while her brother Doug owns the remaining 4/7ths. For the time, Kitty, who also owns a landscape design company, operates her share of the farm raising nearly 400 chickens in an open pasture for their incredibly fresh eggs. Several acres of her land are leased out to other farmers, and she also operates a company on the ranch cooking up farm fresh dinners to large groups. On weekends she has a farm stand on the property offering farm fresh eggs and an assortment of beautiful produce harvested by the other farms on the property. Our group got a sampling of Kitty's ranch dinner practice when she prepared lunch for us during our visit. With some fabulous rosemary-infused lemon water to whet our appetite, our group sat down to amazing egg salad sandwiches served on fresh flaky croissants and multi-grain bread and a crispy, fresh green salad drizzled in a vinaigrette dressing. The egg salad using Kitty's super fresh farm eggs was incredible, and there were so many sandwiches left we got in on third and fourth servings. For dessert our group when gaga over four different flavors of rich, creamy ice cream from the nearby Straus Family Creamery served with edible flowers. Not usually one to partake in any ice cream action due to health reasons I sampled a bowl of the butter brittle ice cream and was so glad I did for it was outstanding. After the amazing meal Kitty led us on a walking tour of her ranch teaching us some history about the family farm, the land and her chicken pasture. While the ranch is not certified organic Kitty does feed her chickens organic pellets and farm fresh produce. We witnessed the chickens going crazy over a clump of fresh lettuce tossed into the pasture. When we noticed an occasional hawk soaring overhead we talked about the threat of predators to her chickens. Kitty estimates she's lost about 100 chickens over the years to Red Tail Hawks and raccoons. She has plans to bring in two canine shepherds specifically trained to protect birds in the fall in hopes of losing fewer chickens. We toured the old dairy barn which is primarily used for storage these days and looked out at some of the vintage farm machinery on the ranch. There is so much history on that land I'm glad Kitty and her brother made the decision to keep it. In 2018 the farm celebrates 100 years for the Dolcinis. Kitty said she doesn't have specifics yet but she's throwing a big party at that time to celebrate.

I just returned from their ranch, after reaching out for egg availability. I was able to get fresh…read moreeggs for 2 older SIP clients and my parents as well as our household. What a treat, kind, easy to work with and my clients and my mom was thrilled as they know Kitty's eggs from the Farmer's Markets they attend. Thank you, thank you, thank you!! Buy Local, Support Small Independent Businesses!

Devil's Gulch summer camp was a rare opportunity for me to free my child from suburban culture for…read morea few hours each day, to let my kid be a kid. Devil's Gulch camp encourages a kids' curiosity and then expertly directs it toward a fun experience. It gives a kid the time to have his or her own thoughts and to wonder about things. All this happens outside, where few kids go very often these days, and on a working farm, a truly unusual place for most people. My son went in with the typical too-cool, I've-seen-it-all-on-TV attitude and ended up hunting for newts in the creek and chasing other kids around in the vineyard. He enjoyed learning archery, driving a tractor and jumping into the reservoir from a zip line, all of this with expert supervision, instruction and gentle encouragement. Family camp (in which the whole family can camp together) was also wonderful. Not only did we get to enjoy the farm together, to learn things (I learned stick welding, for example) and be outdoors together, at the end of the day we could camp in a beautiful campground together (with great food!). The best and most important part was that we didn't have to interrupt our leisurely, rural days with motor-driven suburban nights. I wish that we'd been able to stay for more than a week!

From the owner: Devil's Gulch Ranch is a family farm located in Nicasio, Marin County, within California's North…read moreCoast region. Devil's Gulch grows premium wine grapes, partners and raises rabbits, pigs, sheep, Livestock Guardian Dogs, Pigeons, Squab, Chickens, Poussin and Quail for retail customers and to high-quality restaurants. Sustainable, humane agricultural practices and organic farming are utilized whenever possible. We are offering retail home deliveries, shipping and Farmer's Market pick ups. Visit our webshop to see what we offer. DGES is the Ranch's education program. DGES offers Agricultural and family farm tours at Devil's Gulch Ranch, which focuses on connecting people and children with nature and farming. Devil's Gulch Ranch gives kids and their families a chance to experience food production from the farm, through their local farmer's market and often into their own kitchens.

What an amazing and magical place to spend a day. Thank you for showing us your incredible farm and…read moresharing your delicious cheese. Loved every second. Highly recommend a visit to all in the area!

We have been happy CSA members of Tara Firma Farms for 3+ years now and highly recommend for anyone…read morelooking for a local, sustainable farm co-op! The eggs are wonderful, delivery prompt, online store very accessible, and they conveniently partner with other local farms to provide veggies + fruit in addition to their sustainable meats (most CSAs will only provide one or the other). We came across Tara Firma initially via online / yelp searches shortly after moving to the Bay Area in 2016. When my husband and I initially started looking into vegetarianism for animal welfare reasons, I suggested we visit a farm that employs best practices of ethically and sustainably raised meat to help inform our decision. Tara Firma offers free educational tours every weekend and so we drove up one day with our 2 dogs (leashed dogs welcome!) and another family with their 3 (non furry) children for a fun Petaluma outing. The tour was informative and our guide was clearly super passionate about their mission. The farm was very beautiful and the lands idyllic -- we loved the fact that the cows were so free range that we could just barely make them out as a tiny dot in the distant hills. We all enjoyed observing the chicken dynamics around their mobile coop with their rooster guard, and they showed us how unperturbed the hens were when removing the eggs from the nest-- evening letting the children carefully take a couple out. Ultimately, we decided to pursue a vegetarian diet (especially after my husband met the pigs there), but we joined the CSA for their eggs and veggie share + cheeses (sourced from partner farms). We also have purchased meat occasionally for visiting carnivore families and friends, as we wanted to ensure if they were going to eat meat -- they were getting it from a farm like Tara Firma that does it in the right way. The best part of the CSA was their pet share as we realized buying offal from this farm would be a great compromise for our dogs (who were rebelling against our plant-based diet experiment) as we just wanted to provide our dogs protein with leftovers / byproduct without creating additional demand on the meat industry. Our pet share included amazing proteins like heart, tongue, cheeks, as well as more indulgent items like liver and kidney. Even the trotters and bones I would use to make broth in order to flavor / disguise our dogs' vegetarian kibble haha :) We also occasionally received some freezer burn meats, which cannot be sold for human consumption but safe (and very drool-worthy) for our dogs! Unfortunately, the pet share program has been discontinued but there are still plenty of diverse offal options in the farm store! Overall, a great local farm to support and highly recommend a visit!

My friend organized a private weekday tour and tasting here to celebrate my birthday. Our group of…read more7 had a fantastic time! it started with a presentation on the overview and history of this family farm, then a tour of the cheesemaking facilities and barn where the dairy and beef cows hang out. We met their farm dogs, took photos with the sweet cows, and saw the family working around the property. We then ended with a tasting of their products: cheese, curds, and kefir (all delicious!) Since it was a birthday party, my friend brought a picnic lunch which we enjoyed along with the cheese. We ended by choosing to buy a selection of the cheeses we liked, to take home and share. I was thrilled to find they sell at my local farmers market - I plan to buy more of the Herby Curds when I've run out of cheese next!

My husband and two kids did the farm tour this weekend. While it was very interesting to get such a…read moreclose up view of a family owned and run working dairy farm, I do not recommend this tour for families. While they sell discounted tickets for kids 5-12 and kids under 5 are free, we and all the other families there found the tour to be a real struggle for our little ones. We all felt a little misled about the experience based on the online description. It's a lot of standing very still (in rooms with equipment that shouldn't be contaminated by guests, or next to equipment that has cow poop on it), listening to the owner talk for long stretches. We expected more movement around the farm and time outdoors, instead of something closer to a lecture with a large group in tight spaces. It also ran over time (to 2 hours!) ending with a nice close up visit with the cows and some small cheese samples. We did really enjoy meeting the cows and learning the details of how cheese making works. It is a real labor of love. I think there's a lot of potential here; the Achadinha tour has all the ingredients for an awesome visit but could use some editing. This tour could easily be 30 minutes, an hour tops. We would've liked to stay and buy some cheese but by 1pm we were all starving and fled to find lunch elsewhere. Other parents shared they would've had a great time there on a date, but definitely wouldn't go with small kids again. I'll also flag that they require you to step through a decontamination footbath to go inside the facilities. There were a lot of miserable people in sandals who had to get their feet wet in the chemicals. Closed toed shoes that can get wet recommended for this tour.

About five miles outside of downtown Petaluma is the Tenfold Farm. Very pretty and charming spot…read more There are picnic tables and a little coffee and pastry truck . Two small structures. One selling berries and the other veggies ( self service). And a shop in what was an old schoolhouse selling dried flowers, herbs, gift items , bread....very pretty. There is a seed exchange and little free library and parking. A lovely place to stop on a sunny summer day.

My new favorite place! Drove past on our way back from point Reyes one afternoon and wanted to stop…read morebecause it looked so cute but they were closed for the day. Started following them on instagram and made it a point to get there around when they opened on a Saturday. Everything looked amazing, there was so much to choose from tomatoes, herbs, veggies, etc. I've gone a couple of times now and the amount and variety of items depend on how early you get there and the day of the week. They are really good at posting on instagram each day they are open with photos of what they have available so you can see ahead of time/plan accordingly. Everything I have gotten there has been so fresh and amazing to make soups, stir fry's or sauces with. The gal that is at the register is so friendly and nice. She always greets you with a smile and connects with you individually vs just as another customer.

Our kids are on the cusp of aging out of pumpkin patches, and this was a good spot for young kids…read moreup to 10. There is a fee to enter and to do some of the supplemental activities (pet bunnies, launch pumpkins). The hay maze was pretty good for tweens. I liked that there was a large selection of pumpkins on the vine. There are picnic tables for your own picnic or the food truck. It was easy to get to--near the highway without feeling right on the highway. There is a lake and hills to add to the lovely pastoral setting.

It was really fun for my family! My kids love it especially…read morethe cute bunnies! And picking out their own pumpkin !!

Such a cute and unique place to drop by in the Tomales Bay area…read more The meadery is extremely aesthetic with a canopy patio of the bar, tables, and shops. There is an abundance of blooming flowers everywhere, and even a small beehive tucked away in the bushes. We did the tasting for $25 with 4 pours of mead. I was very impressed with the depth and variety of flavors; each pour tasted completely different from the next! Heidrun comps 1 tasting for 3 bottles purchased, which was a nice addition. Our hostesses were super sweet and chill. They were more than happy to explain a little bit about the meads and answer our questions. Would definitely stop by here again! :)

Serene. This place was out of a fairy garden! An intimate tasting of mead is perfect before…read moreheading into tomales bay. We got a bottle for our oysters and god what a ratatouille moment :,) They took time to answer any questions we had and really made us feel comfortable to take our time to walk the property as well.