It’s officially spring. The sun is shining, the goats are flowing and the cheeses are happily nestled in their caves throughout the North Bay. Here are some great places to take a day trip up that way, if you want to sample artisan cheeses and see how a farm/creamery works. (A bonus: Some places will even let you hold baby springtime animals.)
Toluma Farms and Tomales Farmstead Creamery
This award-winning creamery in Tomales produces both sheep and goat’s milk cheeses inspired by Southern France. Public tours are given for $40 on the first Sunday of the month, or you can book privately. In April, the creamery will begin cheese-making classes for $100 per person, which include a three to four hour tutorial from head cheesemaker Nick Campbell with all reagents and equipment supplied, as well as a farm tour and cheese-and-wine pairing. Details: 5488 Middle Road, Tomales; tolumafarms.org
Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company
See how killer blue cheese sprung from the foggy hills of Point Reyes at this women-owned creamery. A “cheese lovers tasting with walking farm tour,” typically given on Thursdays and Fridays, costs $260 for up to four people ($65 per additional guest) and includes your own personal cheese concierge. The tour takes you into the history of the dairy and lets you get up close and personal with the animals. Details: 14700 Shoreline Highway, Point Reyes Station; pointreyescheese.com
Achadinha Cheese Company
The cows and goats at Achadinha are some extremely pampered animals. They’re fed grain and yeast from local breweries and even have a “loafing barn” where they can spread out and plop down. You can have TLC with them plus sample the creamery’s Portuguese-inspired aged cheeses during a $40 farm tour on Saturdays. Achadinha also offers 2½-hour cheesemaking classes for $120 that include a ranch tour. Details: 750 Chileno Valley Road, Petaluma; achadinha.com
Bohemian Creamery
This slightly hidden gem is home to some of the wildest and tastiest cheeses in Sonoma. Think a “Turf ‘n’ Surf” goat cheese rolled in Mendocino nori or a “Flower Power” Jersey-cow cheese dusted with local bee pollen. The creamery gives $35 hour-long tours of its cheesemaking facility and aging rooms on Saturdays and Sundays, which includes a tasting they promise will be “mind-blowingly intense.” Details: 7380 Occidental Road, Sebastopol; bohemiancreamery.com
Pennyroyal Farm
This creamery makes sheep and goat’s milk cheeses that are named in Boontling, the 19th-century dialect still spoken (by perhaps 100 people) around Boonville. Public tours are given Thursday-Monday for $30 plus a service fee and must be reserved in advance. Aside from ogling cheese production for delights like pinot-soaked tomme and raw-milk blue, visitors can meet the animals in a solar-powered barn and enjoy a cheese tasting with a wine flight. Details: 14930 CA-128, Boonville; pennyroyalfarm.com
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