Join us on the Apple Trail & Fall Tour!

Join Us on the Apple Trail & Fall Tour!

It's apple season in Sonoma County!

To celebrate, we've created a special web resource called the Apple Trail. Here you can find where to find fresh apples, cider, juice, sauce, preserves and other apple products, pies and baked goods, pressing, soap and skincare products, gleaning, U-pick, and events. In this newsletter, we're highlighting just a couple of the offerings but check out the full Apple Trail online for bushels of apple-y goodness. Thanks to our sponsors Dutton Ranch, North Coast Organic, Exchange Bank, American Ag Credit, and County of Sonoma.

VISIT THE APPLE TRAIL

Enjoy autumn's bounty at the Weekend Along the Farm Trails Fall Tour on Saturday & Sunday, October 8 & 9!

Go behind the barnyard gates and meet farmers and producers. Pick pumpkins, apples, and flowers. See farm animals. Learn how cheese is made. Tour farms, lavender fields, flower fields, and orchards. Enjoy ag-related talks, activities, and demonstrations. Shop from farm stands. Taste delicious locally grown and made food and libations. And lots more!

Registration is free! Not all destinations will be open all days. Some stops may require or recommend RSVPs or charge fees. Attendees will receive a link to tour directory and map upon registration, and more tour stops will be added and updated so be sure to check for the latest prior to setting out. Thanks to the County of Sonoma for sponsoring this event.

Farm Trails Member Events & News

First Annual Heirloom Apple Celebration at Gold Ridge Organic Farms

Saturday, September 17, 11 am to 4 pm | goldridgeorganicfarms.com/events

This family-friendly event at Gold Ridge Organic Farms in Sebastopol will feature curated tastes of a handful of the 70 estate-grown organic heirloom apple varieties and Extra Virgin Olive Oils; freshly pressed apple juice from their hand-turned cider press; and an orchard stroll led by Farmer Brooke Hazen. Also available for purchase: organic vanilla ice cream with Gold Ridge apple cider syrup plus local cheeses, as well as apple cider donuts. Live music by Staggerstring Trio. The activities will all take place outside in their Tuscan-inspired courtyard and around their olive press. Children under the age of five are free. 3387 Canfield Road, Sebastopol. Click here to register.

Sebastopol Community Apple Press

The Apple Core of Slow Food Russian River operates the Sebastopol Community Apple Press during apple season (from August to October) at the Luther Burbank Gold Ridge Experiment Farm, 777 Bodega Ave., Sebastopol. There is no charge to use the press, but volunteers and donations are welcome! A Slow Food volunteer familiar with operation of the press will be on site. All you need to bring is your apples (from your own trees or one of our local growers) and containers with lids. Open most weekends through the end of October. Click here to reserve a spot.

Live Oak Farm Fall Events

Live Oak Farm in Petaluma has an exciting slate of upcoming events! Book your space now for Farm Dinner with Guest Chef Jordan Grosser (Sat., Sept. 24, 6 pm); Harvest Festival and Open House (Sun., Oct. 2, 1-5pm); and Farm Dinner: Taste of Alsace (Fri., Oct. 28, 6 pm). And of course they'll be on our Fall Tour! For full details and to reserve your space, visit liveoakfarmpetaluma.com/events-calendar. 2199 Live Oak Farm Lane, Petaluma.

In Memoriam: Jack Krout

Join us in reflecting on the life and legacy of Jack Krout, founding member of Farm Trails and an icon in Sonoma County agriculture, who passed away on July 8 at the age of 97. Jack and his wife Verna were instrumental in creating Farm Trails and we truly would not be here without them. Krout's Pheasant Farm was #11 on our original Farm Trails Map in 1973. We send our condolences to the Krout family, including his granddaughter, Andrea Krout, who is on our Board of Directors. You can read more about Jack's exemplary life in his obituary. To donate in his honor to our Farm Trails Foundation to support ag scholarships, please visit our website.

2022 Gravenstein Apple Fair Recap

We're thrilled we could reconnect with so many of you at last month's Gravenstein Apple Fair! A heartfelt thank-you to all our entertainers, farmers and ag producers, chefs, arts & craft vendors, sponsors, donors, community partners, service providers, and fairgoers for helping to bring back our beloved fundraiser.

From top-notch music to delicious local food and drink, cute farm animals and fun ag games, fantastic arts & craft vendors and all things Gravenstein apple, it was a weekend of joy and good vibes.

If you attended, you would have noticed a different layout than in years past. As part of Sonoma County Regional Parks' crucial oak restoration project, swaths of Ragle Ranch Park are now off limits. We appreciate your understanding as we fine-tune our setup within this smaller footprint to help ensure a beautiful and healthy habitat for years to come!

Speaking of smaller footprint, we are pleased to report that this year's Fair was also the lowest impact in terms of waste! Led by our Green Team Chairs Shelley Brown and Alan Siegle and with the help of dedicated volunteers and sponsor-partners, we hit our target of 90 to 95% Zero Waste by using real silverware, reusable glassware, and truly compostable serviceware; banning plastic water bottles; offering filtered water stations; recycling all possible materials; diverting all food waste to a local pig farm; and donating surplus food to food pantries.

The following was collected at our ecostations: 20 cubic yards of recycling, 12 cubic yards of truly compostable paper goods, 205 pounds of good surplus food to food banks, 7,000 pounds of food scraps for a local pig farm, and only 3 cubic yards of garbage—a whopping 5 yards less than in 2019!

Next year marks the 50th Anniversary of the Gravenstein Apple Fair (and Sonoma County Farm Trails!), and we look forward to celebrating this exciting milestone with you.

Save the dates for the 50th Anniversary Gravenstein Apple Fair:

August 12 & 13, 2023!

Photos by Kelsey Joy Murphey & Jim Noonan

OUR MISSION

We connect the public to Sonoma County farmers and producers to ensure the economic viability of local ag and to instill an appreciation of ag as a vital part of our community.