American Legacy

In 1997, we started with a dream shared between two college friends and business partners, Sue Conley and Peggy Smith: To celebrate organic practices and spotlight the craftsmanship of local sustainable agriculture in Marin and Sonoma counties. Today, we’re carrying the torch of the food revolution that started in our backyard. Organic. Farm-to-Table. Delicious, award-winning cheese.

The cheese production business is rough. Expensive, time sensitive and licensing to name a few hurdles.  Friends Sue and Peggy started in a renovated barn in Northern California, the first operation called Tomales Bay food, with the thought of featuring foods from West Marin. Cowgirl Creamery was launched in 1997. Smith and Conley created a legacy with these specialty cheeses, all made from organic milk and sourced from surrounding dairies committed to farming practices through regenerative agriculture in Northern California’s Sonoma County area. The awards are many over this time – the most recent - Mt Tam triple cream made with cow’s milk sourced from the Straus Family Dairy won a 2021 Good Food Award – we stock this cheese regularly. They produce eight artisanal cheeses plus fresh cottage cheese, fromage blanc and creme fraiche.  In 2016 Cowgirl Creamery was sold to Emmi Group, read more here. The result being good thus far, expanded resources and no compromise made in the end product. We are so grateful that these two women pursued their dream and that we get to share these cheeses with you!

 This month we feature a specialty spring cheese - Pierce Point. It seemed the perfect seasonal cheese to share from this beloved creamery. We hope you enjoy.  Limited in the shop this month.

Our Pierce Point cheese transports you to the scents and sights of late spring in West Marin on the Northern California Coast. Named for a ranch on the Pt Reyes National Seashore, Pierce Point starts with single-source organic cow's milk from nearby Bivalve Dairy. Each piece is rich with the aromas of the surrounding pastures. The core and paste unite in their journey to deliver all the herbaceousness of our local milk source, accentuated with sprinklings of stunning field flowers, chamomile, calendula, and Thai basil, Pierce Point captures the essence of the season. Read more here.