11 best farm shops in California

A1 AG Farmers Market
Lathrop · Farm shop, raw milk4.4 · 426 reviewsA1 AG Farmers Market is a farm stand at Lathrop, California, run by a local farm-to-fork grower selling direct to the community. Fruit and vegetables are picked fresh from the fields and brought straight to the stand, so what is on offer follows the seasons. The market is open to everyone every day of the week, and buying here keeps money with local growers. It is a straightforward place to pick up seasonal produce grown close to home.
Isla Vista Food Co-op
Isla Vista · Farm shop, raw milk4.6 · 246 reviewsThe Isla Vista Food Co-op is Santa Barbara County's only community owned grocery store, founded in 1972 by students and Isla Vista residents who wanted their neighbourhood to always have access to good, affordable food. Anyone can shop and anyone can join, with around 1,400 owners sharing a say in how the store is run. The shop covers fresh produce, grocery staples, a deli, bulk foods, beer and wine and wellness, leaning towards local, organic and seasonal food from Santa Barbara County farmers and producers. It is open to the public every day, and the Save the Coop campaign is currently rallying support to secure its future.
Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company
Point Reyes Station · Farm shop, raw milk4.7 · 144 reviewsPoint Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company is a fourth generation family farm on the Northern California coast, sitting above Tomales Bay just outside Point Reyes Station. Tobia Giacomini emigrated from Italy, and his son Waldo established the family farm at Point Reyes in 1938. Bob Giacomini took the dairy on as the third generation and milked cows here for years before the family made any cheese at all. In August 2000 they turned out the first wheels of Original Blue, and the business is run today by the Giacomini sisters, Jill Giacomini Basch, Lynn Giacomini Stray and Diana Giacomini Hagan, which makes it a women founded and women owned farm. The flagship Original Blue is made from raw, non pasteurised, rBST free cows' milk and aged three and a half months. The range has grown around it to Bay Blue, Fennel Blue, Toma and its flavoured versions, Brie, Truffle Brie, Quinta, Gouda and a small set of cheese spreads. The herd is Holstein and is grazed on rotation, the pastures are drilled no till to hold the soil, a methane digester supplies about half of the farm's energy and new solar is being added on top of it. The marketplace at the farm is open Monday to Saturday, 11am to 4pm, and needs no booking; sit down tastings at The Fork have to be reserved in advance. Cheese is shipped across the country and stocked in shops. Farm tours are not offered.
Duivenvoorden Farms
Cottonwood · Farm shop, raw milk4.8 · 98 reviewsDuivenvoorden Farms is a family run raw milk dairy in Cottonwood, California, where the grass fed herd grazes year round and every cow is known by name. Milking happens once a day to keep stress low, winter feed is locally grown non-GMO hay and barley fodder, and the farm bottles its own raw milk on site. The farm store sits in the milk pick up room at the main barn and is open every day from 9am to 6pm, self service with a kiosk taking cards, cash and cheques. Alongside the milk you will find local gelato, jasmine rice, chai, toffee and baked goods, grass fed beef from Rockin H Cattle Co, and eggs, chicken and raw honey from 3C Ranch.
Happy Hens
Ramona · Farm shop, eggs4.7 · 95 reviewsHappy Hens is an egg farm at Ramona in Southern California where the hens live truly outdoors, going beyond the usual pasture raised standard. The farm is set up for visitors as much as for hens, with farm tours, a picnic area, a playground and petting zoo, and even farm stays for a longer visit. The farm store sells the farm's organic eggs alongside natural and handcrafted local goods, snacks, drinks and chicken themed gifts, and you can meet the chickens at the farm stand when you call in. Online egg orders are for pickup at the Ramona store only.
Raw Farm
Fresno · Farm shop, raw milk4.1 · 167 reviewsRaw Farm is a family run raw dairy in Fresno, California, producing whole raw milk, heavy raw cream, cultured raw butter, raw kefir and raw cheddar cheeses from cows kept on lush green pasture. The farm states its products carry absolutely no antibiotics, synthetic hormones or GMO anything: nothing altered, just crafted, complete with bioavailable vitamins, minerals, enzymes and beneficial bacteria. From the farm's beginning, miles of concrete were never in the plans. The family maintain grass grazing for carbon sequestration, run the fencing, irrigation pumps and family housing largely on solar power, and bottle in BPA free, recyclable plastic. The on farm store at 7221 South Jameson Avenue is open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, selling the dairy range alongside farm beef, cold pressed juices and raw milk soap, with ordering ahead strongly encouraged because supply is limited.
Sections Fine Meats
Costa Mesa · Farm shop, raw milk4.8 · 75 reviewsSections Fine Meats is a whole animal butcher shop and deli on East 17th Street in Costa Mesa, California. The counter carries pasture raised meat from California farms the shop trusts, with a focus on grass fed, grass finished beef, prime beef, pasture raised pork, lamb and chicken, and the butchers will help you pick cuts or prepare custom orders by phone. The deli side makes sandwiches to order on bread delivered daily from the local bakery Cest Si Bon, filled with high quality meat and locally sourced produce. The shop is open every day of the week.
My Sisters' Farm
Shingle Springs · Farm shop, raw milk4.8 · 28 reviewsMy Sisters' Farm is a 10 acre farm in the foothills east of Sacramento, at Shingle Springs, run by three sisters: Pattie, Valerie and Janet. They started with Icelandic sheep, a heritage triple purpose breed kept for wool, meat and milk, then added Royal Palm turkeys and Brahma and Buff chickens. The flocks graze on pasture with supplemental organic feeds, and the brown eggs come from hens that roam the farm by day and are shut in at night only to keep them safe from predators. The sisters work with biodynamic composting methods and aim for a farm where the animals live an organic and natural life, and they built it around day jobs as a firefighter, a sheriff deputy and a nurse practitioner. Milk here works as a herd share. The farm does not sell milk to the public, and the raw milk from the privately owned herd goes only to the people who co-own it. My Sisters' Farm has been a listed farm with the Raw Milk Institute since 2014. Alongside the cow shares, the farm marketplace carries free range eggs, Icelandic sheepskin pelts, sheep products and registered animals, and the sisters run farm memberships and classes, the first of which was felting. At the heart of the land is the Willow Tree Grotto beside the farm's large pond, with a flow form fountain and a view over the lake and the old oaks.
StudeBAKER Farms
Bishop · Farm shop, fruit & vegStudeBAKER Farms is a small family run homestead and sourdough bakery on Dixon Lane in Bishop, California. The bread and baked goods are sold from a farm stand built into a restored 1928 Studebaker house car, with pickups on Fridays and Sundays and pre orders taken at least 24 hours ahead. Each loaf carries its own name and label, including Yeastwood original sourdough, Dirty Harry cinnamon swirl, Magnum Force apple sourdough and the High Plains Drifter sourdough cinnamon rolls, alongside jars of strawberry and peach jam and mini carrot cakes. Everything is baked in a home kitchen under an Inyo County cottage food permit. Behind the bakery is a working homestead. The family keeps Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats, chosen for their milk production, and chickens selected for their unusually coloured eggs, and grows heirloom vegetables in beds fed with homemade compost. Fresh eggs and heirloom produce are sold alongside the baking, and every page of the farm's own site carries a standing invitation to get in touch if you want milk or meat.
Blue Oaks Ranch
Grass Valley · Farm shop, raw milkBlue 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.
Bannister Oak Farms
Oroville · Farm shop, raw milkBannister Oak Farms was founded in 2013 by Todd and Sherry Kruger and sits among the oaks and pines of the Butte County hills in Northern California. Todd learned to milk cows at eight years old on his family's farm, and the couple later spent a year in an Amish community in Missouri learning sustainable farm-steading. The farm offers raw Jersey milk through a herd share, plus 100% grass fed beef, pastured eggs, small batch poultry and organic grass fed cheese. Create an account on the website to shop or join the herd share, and ring the farm for help setting up a milk subscription.

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