Blue Oaks Ranch is a family run organic ranch at Grass Valley, California with its own dairy sheep, dairy goats, grass fed American Aberdeen cattle and a creamery making cheese and yogurt.
Blue Oaks Ranch is a family run organic ranch at Grass Valley in the northern California foothills, kept by Ruth Bleau.
Ruth was born and raised in Switzerland, the youngest of eight, on goats' milk, goat cheese and fresh vegetables, and she moved to Grass Valley in 2002 to rekindle that childhood and recreate the goat cheese her father made in his barn. The ranch runs a full blood American Aberdeen Angus herd alongside Katahdin hair sheep, East Friesian dairy sheep, Nubian dairy goats and Idaho Pasture pigs. Every animal is DNA tested and registered, and in the ranch's own words the cattle are strictly grass fed and grazing its own lush pastures.
In her creamery Ruth makes chevre, quark, fontina, pecorino, tomme, gruyere and romano along with yogurt, using goat milk, sheep milk or a blend, and the ranch says all of its cheeses are made using only milk from its own animals. The sheep and goat herds are closed and tested clear of OPP, CAE, CL and Johne's disease, and the animals are fed organic feed from Modesto Milling alongside pasture grass, hay and vegetables and fruit grown on the farm. The sheep and goats are milked from about March to November, and the ranch's entry in the raw milk directory says the milk is bottled straight after milking and collected on a pick up schedule arranged by phone. Blue Oaks Ranch also raises breeding stock for small acreage farmers who want to raise their own food, and it has hosted a cheese making class for the Nevada County Farm and Food Conference and an American Aberdeen seminar and barbecue on the ranch.
18149 Mustang Valley Place, Grass Valley, CA 95949
No fixed hours. Contact the farm to arrange a visit.
We do not hold prices, availability, parking, access details or event dates for Blue Oaks Ranch. The farm answers those directly on its own site, by phone or by email.
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Rebuilding the food system, from the farm up
