Culture Magazine

BEGINNINGS 2024 culturecheesemag.com 47 H usband-and-wife team Tamara Hicks and David Jablons answered their call to cheese in the early 2000s when both were working full time in healthcare—one as a surgeon and the other as a psychotherapist in San Francisco. "It was a trip to Italy staying on farms and discovering Slow Food (Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 2001) that inspired us and got us thinking about having our own farm," explains Hicks, who now manages a 160-acre farm with 200 goats and 80 sheep, plus tour offerings, volunteer opportunities, and six-month apprenticeships. In 2003, Hicks and Jablons purchased a cow dairy just outside the tiny town of Tomales that had operated for 80 years but went into foreclosure and fell into extreme disrepair. The couple spent the first five years cleaning up the property and restoring it to an operational dairy. They transformed a ramshackle house into a communal workspace, built a milking parlor where a chicken coop once stood, and restored multiple structures. Instead of cows, they opted for goats, and in 2013, began producing cheese and selling it at local farmers' markets. "It's important to us to educate buyers that cheese is seasonal," explains Hicks, who has retracted their distribution. For the last three years, they have almost exclusively focused on selling their six different cheeses at local markets. Hicks also notes that the couples' values are an integral part of their dairy. "It eventually TOLUMA FARMS AND TOMALES FARMSTEAD CREAMERY Tomales, California—Tamara Hicks & David Jablons dawned on me how everything we do is all connected, mental health, social equity—our model has always been to be as inclusive as possible." In addition to being an inclusive, value-based dairy, Toluma Farms and Tomales Farmstead Creamery also lets you play dairy farmer for a long weekend. The property boasts a four- bedroom Airbnb, complete with fresh eggs and cheese upon arrival. Try your hand at herding, milking, and making, or roam the vast property on a quiet hike. It's a getaway that just may kickstart your newfound passion for cheesemaking. c "It eventually dawned on me how everything we do is all connected, mental health, social equity—our model has always been to be as inclusive as possible." Clockwise from left: Head cheesemaker Jenna Coughlin, interior of Airbnb, and David Jablons on a farm tour of his property.

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