Field trip to West Marin
On Tuesday, September 10, the Environmental Forum of Marin (EFM) Masterclass 46 visited several pioneering agriculture and mariculture landmarks in West Marin. Our interest was in learning how these local farmers, producers, and non-profits are embracing sustainable practices that protect the environment and how they are making a positive contribution to their community and beyond.
West Marin is at the heart of the Environmental Forum of Marin. Bold and tireless work to save Bolinas Lagoon and Tomales Bay led to the formation of EFM in 1972, and an early EFM masterclass project by Phylis Faber and Ellen Straus created the Marin Agricultural Land Trust (MALT) in 1980.
Constance Washburn led the tour and provided a history of the land including the ranching history of the Point Reyes peninsula. She pointed out family farms and other sites of interest as we rode through the countryside on our charter bus. We learned how unaffordable legal fees allowed the Shafter brothers, who were lawyers, to acquire the Point Reyes Peninsula ranches. They leased the ranches to tenants. In this arrangement, the Shafters owned the land, the cattle, and the tools and the tenants leased everything from them. Experienced dairy farmers came from the Azores, Spain, Italy, Ireland, and Switzerland. Over time, many of these tenant farmers were able to purchase the land. Many of these families have been continuously ranching in Point Reyes since the 1860’s — a time when Point Reyes produced 25% of the butter in the state, and it was prized for its high quality.
Constance provided some interesting facts: 50% of Marin County is devoted to active agriculture, mostly grazing. This means the largest crop in Marin is grass. Why so much grazing? Marin County has 150,000 acres of rolling hills suitable for grazing and only 400 acres of flat row crops. The native grasses of Marin, which have mostly been replaced by European grasses, were green all year round and therefore sequestered more carbon. Land planners are exploring restoring native plants to be better stewards of the land
We learned about conservation easements and how the Marin Agricultural Land Trust (MALT) uses them to protect farm land. Since 1973 Marin agricultural land has been zoned for one house for every 60 acres, but ranches typically have hundreds of acres for grazing. This means a 600 acre ranch could be subdivided into 10 plots with a residence on each plot. MALT purchases development rights from the landowner for 9 of the 10 plots (that is, all but the rancher’s residence plot), extinguishing future development rights in perpetuity. The land remains in the rancher’s ownership, and the legal agreement formed with MALT guarantees the land’s ongoing agricultural use. In simple terms, a conservation easement buys the right to develop the land, not the land itself. Ranchers can use the money to invest in their agricultural operations rather than subdividing their land for homes. This preserves the land for agriculture rather than housing development.
Our first stop was the Straus Family Creamery in Marshall, perched on a hill overlooking scenic Tomales Bay. Albert Straus and his wife Jean Straus gave a tour of the dairy operation which was started in 1941 by Bill and Ellen Straus, Albert’s parents. Our tour was joined by three other creamery team members who worked in sustainability and calf management. Albert Straus is a West Marin legend. He is an pioneer in organic dairy production and sustainable land management. In 1994, Straus Family Creamery became the first certified organic dairy. Today, Albert was proud to report 90% of Marin dairies are organic. According to their website and stated by Beatrix from the sustainability team, Straus Family Creamery has implemented California’s first carbon farm plan on a dairy and is working to develop and trial a replicable dairy model where climate emissions are zero (carbon neutral) by 2022. How do you get to zero emissions? We toured the methane digester process which powers the farm and prevents methane, a greenhouse gas, from being released into the air. This was just one example of the work Albert is doing to model sustainable farming. Albert is tackling methane at both ends of the cow! The creamery is doing a trial by feeding cows a quarter pound of red seaweed each day to reduce belches which release methane into the air. Constance explained that ranches have had to work hard to improve their land management plans. Dairies (milking barns) in Marin were originally designed to use creeks for waste runoff. This led to rampant pollution of the waterways. Farms have had to re-engineer their operations to avoid water contamination by animal waste. The Straus Family Creamery dairy operation uses 100% green energy (and even has an electric truck!). Their glass reusable milk bottles are made of 30% recycled glass. They get about 5 uses per bottle. At the end of the tour, we enjoyed a cold glass of chocolate milk, and Jean offered us beautiful turkey feathers from a flock that’s made its home at the farm.
Our next stop was Hog Island Oysters in Marshall. Long-time staff member, George provided a wealth of information about oyster farming and Tomales Bay. Oyster farming is complex in West Marin. At least twenty agencies regulate Tomales Bay oyster production from the Coastal Commission to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) who approve drones for monitoring oysters. Hog Island manages 160 acres and produces 2.5 to 3 millions oysters a year. Oysters take about 1-2.5 years to grow to market. They are an excellent food choice for sustainability. They are one step up the food chain — filter feeders that eat plankton circulating in the current. They filter 50 gallons of water a day! As the oysters filter the water, the water gets clear which allows the sun to penetrate and enables more life to grow in the water.
George explained the elaborate ways that oysters are cultivated and “trained” to produce the best tasting, best looking and easiest to transport. They roll the containers that house the oysters. This rolling forces the oysters to produce deeper rounder shells which produces more meat. They train the oysters to keep their shells closed when they are out of the water rather than opening them periodically to check if the water has returned to covered them yet. They get used to keeping their shells closed and don’t open them when they are transported which means they stay fresher. George gave us a tip from the native Miwok and Ohlone peoples who dug clams in Tomales Bay. When you remove a clam from the mud, you must put some gravel into the hole so the hole doesn’t fill with mud. The gravel allows water to flow through the mud and nourish the clams. We learned that staff who process oyster use their eyes, ears and hands to test oysters for quality. They look to see if the shell is broken. They feel if the oyster is heavy (full) or light (no good). And they listen for a lower pitch sound that tells them the oyster’s shell is cracked. Hog Island is working with Richardson Bay in Tiburon and San Francisco Bay to do restoration work using oysters. Hog Island is committed to protecting the water they depend on for oysters. We enjoyed lunch at picnic tables and were treated to complimentary oysters. Delicious!
The trip continued at Tomales Bay Foods in downtown Point Reyes Station, home of Cowgirl Creamery. Vivien Straus, Albert’s sister provided a history of the development of the Marin Agricultural Land Trust (MALT) and Cowgirl Creamery. Ellen Straus, Vivien’s mother co-founded MALT in 1980 along with Phylis Faber. Vivien told of her own experience as a farmer working with MALT. She told the best version I’ve heard of how the Shafters came to acquire the Point Reyes ranches. She explained the two owners (prior to the Shafters) got into a fight. One shot the other. This led to creditors battling over the land and the Shafters, who were well-positioned as lawyers, bought the land and turned it into twenty-six tenant farms named after the alphabet, A-Z. Vivien explained that the dairies in Marin, Sonoma and Humboldt counties are the only small ones left in California. She described the cheese-making process and what makes each of the Cowgirl Creamery cheeses special. Redhawk cheese can only be made in Point Reyes where bacteria in the air gives it its distinctive quality - in a word, pungent. Vivien also commented on a practical note that cheese making is not glamorous — it’s 90% cleaning. That was apparent in the absolutely pristine cheese-making room viewable through glass windows in Tomales Bay Foods. And, yes, we sampled some delicious cheese!
Jeff Stump, Director of Conservation for the Marin Agricultural Land Trust spoke about MALT’s work and future. MALT’s mission is to permanently protect Marin’s agricultural land for agricultural use. MALT’s vision for Marin County is a thriving agricultural community in a healthy and diverse natural environment. Jeff spoke about some of MALT’s projects including fencing work at Millerton Creek Ranch to keep cows out the creeks so they aren’t contaminating the waters. MALT advices ranchers and farmers on the 36 practices to sequester carbon outlined in the Marin Carbon Project and provides matching funds. MALT supports 86 family farms on conservation easements. One of the challenges in West Marin is affordable housing for farm and ranch workers. MALT is looking at working with the Community Land Trust Association (CLAM) to provide more junior accessory units for housing.
I was surprised to learn from Constance that 40-50% of food is wasted in the food supply chain from farm to retail to your refrigerator. This has a massive negative impact on the environment! Growing and buying local food helps to reduce waste. For our last stop, the plan was to visit Molly Myerson’s Little Wing Farm on the Black Mountain Ranch but we were told our Marin Airporter bus was too big to park there. So instead Molly came to Tomales Bay Foods with a giant stalk of flowering fennel in hand and spoke about her life as a young farmer. She manages a half acre of flowers and two acres of row crops which she sells on the honor system at a farm stand on Point Reyes-Petaluma Rd not far from the intersection with Platform Bridge Rd. She spoke of the amount of labor that goes into small-scale local farming and how much she loves it. The number one challenge for young farmers is the high price of land and the investment needed in irrigation, housing, tools, amending the land and more. Her farm is an all-woman business, supporting two full-time farmers —herself and another woman. She also has a part-time helper and a flower specialist who makes the bouquets. We stopped at Molly’s farmstead on the way back and loaded up on ripe tomatoes, husk cherries, fresh basil, garlic, and multi-color green beans. See a brief video of Molly’s farm and farmstand.
Our next field trip is a visit to plant communities and baylands.