Marin County

Marin sits north of the Golden Gate with wetter, greener coastal agriculture than downtown San Francisco. Its dairy geography includes Point Reyes Farmstead: Waldo Giacomini moved to Point Reyes in 1938, the family purchased a Tomales Bay dairy in 1959, and milk was shipped to a creamery before the family made cheese on the farm ¹.

San Francisco eats that milk as cheese. It does not produce it. Cowgirl Creamery now presents its cheesemaking as North Bay / Sonoma County work ²; the historical Ferry Building shop was a city window on that agriculture. Straus Family Creamery processes organic milk from Marin and Sonoma farms. Marin French Cheese Co. in Petaluma is a named cheese plant. Sonoma County is the next county inland and north — wine plus more dairy plants (including Point Reyes’ Petaluma expansion).

Marin is the agricultural hinterland of the city’s cheese counter. Milk and Cheese are the craft; San Francisco is the market.