"We're known for our oysters, organic farming, and our cheese," says Christine Bohlke, sales and marketing director with the Marin CVB. "There has been a resurgence in planners that want to be green and sustainable."
A shining example of bay Area agritourism is The Fork at Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company.
The cheese company is a family-owned sustainable farm, that used to produce only fluid milk, which it then sold to major corporations. But when Jill Basch and her three sisters decided to work together and turn the farmstead into a creamery, they also added event spaces, farm-to-table dinners and cooking classes for up to 20 people. They combined their skills in sales, business, finance and marketing, and the farm now produces three additional nationally distributed cheeses, in addition to the original Point Reyes Blue, and hosts numerous corporate groups, private events, cocktail parties and a range of cheese tastings.
Construction on The Fork venue space was completed in 2010.
All events begin with a walking farm tour, where visitors stroll through the pastures and see the cows up close. If you're lucky, you can watch a baby calf being born. The family only adds to the herd by birth—they don't buy outside cattle—so they have complete control over the cheese ingredients.
"We want everyone to leave the farm with a renewed sense of what artisan food production in the Bay Area is all about," Basch says.
The Sonoma Marin Cheese Trail launched a new app, guiding visitors to places where they can taste and see California's fine artisan cheeses, in areas stretching north from San Francisco to Marin and Sonoma. The website features a list of regional cheesemaking classes for both groups and leisure travelers, and print versions of the map are available at the Marin CVB's San Rafael office.
