Kenneth and Cynthia Bice moved their 10 children from Los Angeles to Sonoma County to go “back to the land” in 1963. In 1966 their children started raising and showing goats through 4H, resulting in an excess of fresh goat milk. In 1968 the Bices added the milking parlour and bottling room and began selling raw goat milk to local health food stores.
Oldest daughter Jennifer Bice and husband Steven Schack took over the dairy in 1978, which gradually evolved to selling goat milk products nationwide. Swiss dairy maker Emmi bought the creamery in 2015, and the Bice family focused on its original farm.
Today this small organic family farm is a model of land stewardship and animal care. In addition to its 300 milking goats, the farm includes an olive orchard, hop yard, fruit orchards, beehives, chicken laying flock, and vegetable gardens. Solar panels provide 100 percent of the electricity for the farm and two onsite homes, and a rainwater catchment system stores up to 100,000 gallons of winter rainwater, providing year-round water for the farm.
For this 50th anniversary year, farm tours are offered on selected Saturdays, from April 7 to June 10.
Redwood Hill Farm – Capracopia
5480 Thomas Road, Sebastopol, CA 95472
707-591-3389
redwoodhillfarm.org
No comments:
Post a Comment