We recently visited Salmon Creek Farm for a group tour and hike. The farm has organic…read morecertification 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. The owners are very hands-on, and passionate about what they do. If you are in the area you can stop by the Mercantile for Duck eggs, goat meat and grass fed beef. Their products are also available at some farmers markets http://www.salmoncreekranch.com/Farmers%20Mkt%20Schedule.html The Ranch also has a few secluded campsites, you need to bring your own potable water, there is a porta potty but no showers. But if you want to get back to nature, this is a perfect location. details https://www.hipcamp.com/california/salmon-creek-ranch/redwood-camp . They will soon be opening a fabulous tree house which is in process of being renovated by a team of tree house builders...more about the tree house.. http://www.sonomamag.com/treehouses-on-the-sonoma-coast/

Amazing farm with very friendly staff. Our kids had blast being there. There is a cute tree house…read morewhich is so cute

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!

We had a good time! The tour was about an hour, and started with us being inside a small pen with…read more4-5 little goat kids that were about a week old. They were so affectionate and friendly! My kids had such a great time. Then we took a tour of the property, visiting the 7 month old kids, and then feeding the older goats with branches and leaves, which were a big treat for the goats since they normally eat hay so they were enthusiastic! We also saw the area where the goats are milked, got a few walnuts from the walnut tree, and walked around the garden. This is a fun tour for kids, and the whole experience took 55 minutes including lining up for hand washing before and after. We bought tickets several weeks in advance though I'm not sure if we needed to. It ended up being our party of 7 in one pen and a couple other guests in another, but they had several other pens available for the kids.

I have very special and indelible memories that spring up when the word Sebastopol is mentioned…read more... retreats and holing up in cabins, long walks and talks with friends, hashing out life in community... long jogs along the Highway there and having sore feet.... the stuff of life! And so is the artisan goat milk cheddar at this small family owned outfit. Phenomenal and a pure delight paired with fresh baguette and some Cab or Zin... Wonderful; can't wait to expand my repertoire of their dairy offerings in time. Solidly delicious

While we were targeting u-pick apples, many of the places were closed. Hale's is really an apple…read morestand. They had apples, apple juice, and pumpkins. The people were very friendly, they had a good variety of apples, and the apples were delicious. It's also conveniently located with easy road access. I recommend Hale's as a great source for apples.

It's harvest-time! What could be better than tasting specialty varieties of freshly picked apples…read morein the countryside? While Dear Hubby and I were in Sonoma County for a quick trip, we had free time on Sunday to get out into the backroads and check out a few apple farms. Hale's is close to Santa Rosa, which made it convenient. They were decked out for Halloween, with various areas sporting giant spider figures, scarecrows, skeletons, and much more. Autumn décor, including pumpkins and apples were definitely part of the scene. Adjacent to their barn they had a station set up with very helpful staff offering samples of various varieties of apples. I loved that they had a number of the favorites I've experienced in SoCal's apple haven of Oak Glen (near Yucaipa). Yes, to Mutsu! Cameo! They also had others that I hadn't heard of, and already can't recall their names. Oh good, I found a chart online - Northern Spy is one I tried and bought. Sundance, maybe? Yikes! Hale's claims to grow 30 different varieties, and good for them. Good for you! An apple a day keeps the doctor away, as the old saying goes. No doctors for me for now - I'm enjoying usually one apple for breakfast and one for lunch. Hale's has kept me going for two weeks now. We especially enjoyed taking in their ambiance with my brother and sister-in-law, who live nearby, but hadn't been before. A great place to visit with family! If you're in the area, stop on by and enjoy the fresh air, the friendly folks helping you taste and purchase the goodness of Sonoma County fruit.

Along Highway 1 in Sonoma County is the pleasant town of Valley Ford and there is a nice upscale…read morecountry store there worth your stop should you need supplies for your picknic-king or just a place to get some food and much more. This smart looking store has a lot of choices for wine, a nice well-stocked veggie section, all the stuff you'd find as a small corner store, a deli where fresh sandwiches and food are made, and best of all, a small ice cream counter. I suppose I admit that I'm an ice cream lover and they serve the Rainbow brand, a San Francisco product. It is a great joint, clean and everything is nicely presented. It's a great place should you need a place to take a break from your drive, stretch your legs and at the very least, a bathroom stop.

We stopped here on the way to the beach for some sandwiches and were met with the most unpleasant…read morewoman behind the counter. I asked how the ordering process for custom sandwiches worked. She looked at me rolled her eyes and looked up at where the menu was on the wall without saying a word. I lost my appetite and we ended up not eating them the only saving grace was a man who checked us out and was pleasant. Overall I could not tell you if they were good but the food environment was less than proper customer service.

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.

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!

I haven't been here in a long while, and only a few times at that, but decided to stop in today for…read morememories sake to get some frozen meat for family meals next week. Figured I'd add this review to my list of places to remember and go back to. Really cool spot with an amazing assortment of meats. From duck to quail. Venison to veal. Boar to chicken. Frozen to marinated meats. Jerky, summer sausage, cheese, spices. All kinds of things alongside the unique frozen meat that you won't find in your everyday grocery run. The butchers are hard at work in the background providing excellent quality cuts to their customers (and no, the store doesn't smell like a butcher shop). It's a homey little spot as you go down the driveway that opens up into the parking lot. Great and friendly service. This run I picked up: frogs legs, rabbit, boar sausage, summer sausage. Some of tried in the past, and was craving something unique for the family meals. My aunt is a picky eater who will shy away from such things if she knew what it was. . . so I won't tell her. .

Tried their Ribs, T bone, and Top Sirloin. The whole gang enjoyed them. Would suggest to friends…read moreto try them out.

Excellent service! Meat is quality and they even have food for dogs. Pleasant place. They also…read morehave a variety of frozen selection and apparel.

While waiting for our drinks from Tia Maria Panaderia, we noticed Sonoma County Meat and decided to…read morewalk in. They do have a small lot to park in. Otherwise, there is street parking. The cozy shop is simply decorated. We were greeted warmly by Paul. He was friendly and helpful. He selected a few beef jerky samples to let his customers sample. Sriracha Beef Jerky - tender with heat Classic Beef Jerky - soft, tender with a bit of heat. Rope Jerky - firmer, chewing, beefy flavor. My wife and I picked up a beef and bacon meat stick and some classic beef jerky. Come support your local business.