Central Coast #1
Just an hour south of San Francisco, take Highway 280 to the stunning coastline along Highway One. Take a left onto Pescadero Creek Road and drive 3 miles. You can’t miss the goats in the field to your left at Harley Farms. Wander the farm on your own, playing with the goats (through the fence), seeing the cheesemaking and the lovely gardens. There is a delightful shop with all their cheeses, famous for their flower-studded decorations, along with other unique handcrafted items. Plan ahead for a guided tour. If it’s a Saturday, drive an hour south to Royal Oaks to visit Garden Variety Cheese, a small sheep dairy. Farm tours can be booked online ahead of time. And if you miss one of those, they have a small farmstand where you can pick up their cheeses (Saturdays only). Finally, Schoch Family Farmstead, an organic cow dairy located in Salinas, where you can get the only Monterey Jack still being made in Monterey County. Schoch has a variety of dairy products, all so delicious, currently available at local farmer’s markets, but soon plan to have an on-farm shop.
Harley Farms Goat Dairy
Harley Farms is a restored 1910 dairy farm, with 200 alpine goats on nine acres of pasture in Pescadero, California. The Farm makes farmstead goat cheese and offers tours and events.
Garden Variety Cheese
The 100 milking ewes at Monkeyflower Ranch which produce the milk for Garden Variety Cheese are fed on fresh pasture, alfalfa hay and organic brewer’s grain from Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing. Each ewe is named after a garden flower and treat
Schoch Family Farmstead
Established in 1944, Schoch Dairy is located on the famed El Camino Real in the fertile Salinas Valley.
