Lamb Farms in the Bay Area
Grass-fed meats are a specialty here. You can order online or find their products at local farmers markets and home delivery sites.
This farm also offers a two-hour family tour with advance reservations for $150/family. You can meet all kinds of animals here, from sheep and goats to chickens, potbelly pigs, and Alpacas.
Pozzi Ranch
Joe Pozzi and his family raise local lamb bay area products on the lush coastal hills that overlook the town of Valley Ford, California. The ranches are MALT-protected and Joe feels a deep connection to the land and his loyal customers. Joe’s goals are to keep healthy animals, protect natural resources and make family farms viable.
To accomplish this, he developed his Pozzi Ranch Lamb program, which direct markets grass and legume fed lamb products bay area to consumers. He works with a group of family ranchers throughout Northern California who qualify for his program by adhering to strict management practices for both their animals and the land they use.
The ranches raise Dorset, Romney, Hampshire and Suffolk crossbreed sheep, which are ideally suited to the wet coastal weather of West Marin by having coarse-grade wool that sheds the heavy rains and keeps the herd warm. Joe spends 52 weeks a year marketing his lamb products bay area to shoppers, often visiting Whole Foods stores with a table and grill where he cooks his lamb on site for customers.
Julie Rossotti
Continuing her family's storied West Marin ranching heritage, Julie Rossotti operates a goat, sheep and beef farm. She specializes in raising 100% grass fed veal, and you can find her products at the Point Reyes farmers market, online or through home delivery.
Her veal is raised humanely, in contrast to the cruel practice of most commercial veal in which calves are snatched from their mothers at birth and confined to crates so small they can't even turn around. Rossotti is working hard to change perceptions about veal.
A grazer at heart, this family farm offers visitors the opportunity to feed a flock of sheep and sheepdogs, hang out with the goats Trinka and Kells, and take a walk to Jewel Lake where you can spot tadpoles and turtles. You can also purchase their pasture-raised meats, wool and eggs, and sign up for their CSA.
Allstar Organics
For the past few years, Allstar Organics growers Janet Brown and Marty Jacobson have been at the forefront of bringing heirloom tomatoes into supermarket produce sections. The couple grows more than a dozen varieties of tomatoes at their fields in Lagunitas and Nicasio, along with herbs, peppers, beans, fava beans, cucumbers, summer and winter squash and leeks.
Despite the drought and pandemic, Brown and Jacobson aren’t giving up. They’re grateful for a $15,000 grant from the Marin Agricultural Land Trust for a water tank and pump that will allow them to operate their farm through the summer.
The family has a diverse portfolio of crops that caters to Bay Area restaurants, health food stores and curated specialty shops. They’re also known for their line of herbal salts and a variety of herbal hydrosols that are made from aromatic flowers, herbs and seeds grown at the farm.
Barinaga Ranch
After a successful career in molecular biology and science journalism Marcia Barinaga turned to sheep ranching. She learned the ropes on her father's family ranch in Idaho, then studied with shepherd and cheesemaker relatives and toured creameries to get her bearings before establishing Barinaga Ranch in 2007. The farm's two Basque-style cheeses—Baserri and Txiki—are a West Marin interpretation of the kind of hard sheep's milk cheese that can be found at farmhouses throughout Basque country.
The 800-acre farm grazes both sheep and beef cattle on pastures managed under the Marin Agricultural Land Trust, which protects wildlife habitat, sequesters carbon and creates a strong sense of place. Lolo, the ranch manager, takes a great deal of pride in his work, from tending to the animals to repairing fences and fighting invasive plants.
Visitors are welcome at the ranch, which is open Saturdays from April through October when the ewes are in peak milking season. The creamery is also open year-round.
Clover
Clover Farm is a third-generation family-owned and operated dairy farm located in Hayes Valley. The family-run dairy features milk, butter and cream sourced from 27 local family dairy farms in Marin, Sonoma and Mendocino counties, 19 of which are organic. The dairy offers a unique experience by opening up its production facility to the public for tours and a tasting room.
In the mid-1990s, a large fire destroyed the co-op's milk processing and bottling plant in Petaluma, so Gene Benedetti bought the company and moved wholesale distribution back to the original city. Clover Sonoma is now a certified benefit corporation, or B Corp, which emphasizes its commitment to sustainable business practices and social responsibility.
Today, Clover Sonoma works with family farms that adhere to strict quality standards set by the North Coast Excellence Certified program and also pledge to never use rBST (synthetic growth hormone). The company also donates 5% of profits through its Clover Cares community giveback program.