sheep

Demand for contract grazers rising in North Bay ahead of ‘concerning’ fire season

Natalie Hanson, PRESS DEMOCRAT

The North Bay’s seasonal transition from hillsides cloaked in emerald green grass to the telltale tawny of the dry season has been extended by welcome spring rains. But not for long.

And that means peak fire season is on its way.

To reduce fire risk on much of that vast open acreage, property owners and land managers in the region are increasingly turning to contracted grazing operators, whose herds of sheep and goats munch down the grass and underbrush that can feed wildland blazes. The hungry herbivores help reduce invasive weeds and crop native grasses, and are a lower-carbon alternative to human-powered mowing.

The business, while not new, has boomed in the years following Northern California’s bout of catastrophic wildfires, including in Sonoma County, where the 2017 firestorm, 2019 Kincade Fire and 2020 Walbridge and Glass fires burned several hundred thousand acres combined, overlapping in places.

Ownership of that sprawling landscape is highly fragmented, complicating management for wildfire purposes. But contract grazers and their supporters say putting hooves on the ground in timely and strategic ways can help curb risk in an era of destructive wildfires stoked by climate change.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/2026/05/06/grazing-fire-risk-reduction-sonoma-county/

Agriculture/Food System, , , ,

The Sonoma County women raising sheep for wool, despite economic struggles

Natalie Hanson, NORTH BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL

For longtime shepherds, keeping up the traditional work of raising sheep for quality wool has been rewarding — but may not be sustainable for future generations.

Joann Slissman has made a living raising sheep on her farm in Occidental since 1986, taking pride in producing high-quality wool since her days as a beginner spinner. To her, the Sonoma County environment is ideal for good wool: “There’s no reason to ship it from England or Scotland … because we can raise sheep out here.”

But at 83, she’s growing concerned about the ability to keep going, and who will take over the job in the future. The work of fiber production has become more costly, while continuing to be physically taxing, in California.

Slissman said she’s long enjoyed raising different breeds of sheep in the North Bay’s moderate temperatures. She started raising Romney sheep, from English marshlands, which are doing well in Occidental’s climate alongside her horses, if they wear special coats to protect their fleece.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/2026/04/25/the-women-raising-sonoma-sheep-for-wool-despite-economic-struggles/

Agriculture/Food System, ,

Sheep parade kicks off Transhumance Festival

David Templeton, PRESS DEMOCRAT

Petaluma’s annual Transhumance Festival, an agriculture-themed celebration designed to reconnect human beings to the land they live on, is named for the age-old seasonal practice of moving livestock from one grazing place to another.

The entertaining and educational event returns to Petaluma this Saturday, April 11, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., but the real fun starts at 10:30 a.m. with a semi-ceremonial – and highly entertaining – parade of sheep.

Based on what’s happened in past years, crowds will line D Street to watch professional shepherds guide a big bleating flock of happy hooved grass-eaters from the Petaluma Fairgrounds to Steamer Landing Park – where they will immediately get to work grazing the McNear Peninsula.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/2026/04/09/saturday-morning-to-bring-return-of-petalumas-transhumance-festival/

Agriculture/Food System, , ,

Dozens of sheep take to Petaluma streets on Saturday during annual Transhumance Festival

Phil Barber, PRESS DEMOCRAT

As livestock drives go, this one was … different.

Pushed by ranchers on a quad, and kept in line by a pair of highly concerned dogs, a flock of about 65 sheep mobbed down urban East D Street in Petaluma on Saturday morning. They scooted in front of houses, parked cars and spectators — some delighted, some perplexed — and past an out-of-session day care center, the offices of the Burdell Building and Willibee’s Wine & Spirits.

The woolly animals started inside a small pen at the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds and wound up at Steamer Landing, where they joined about 600 of their brethren that were already feasting on grasses at the park.

This was the sixth annual Transhumance Festival in Petaluma — “transhumance” refers to seasonal movement of livestock between mountain and lowland pastures — but the first since Petaluma launched a citywide grazing program in partnership with Two Rock Land Management last year.

“We hope to see this implemented in the rest of our county cities,” said Sarah Keiser, who helps the city with coordination, planning and management of the grazing program. “Regional Parks and some county sites do grazing, but Petaluma is the only city. Community members love it. It’s a really great experience for everyone to see this happening, and watch how it transitions our landscape.”

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/flock-of-sheep-streets-of-petaluma-transhumance-day/

Agriculture/Food System, , ,

CropMobster headlines chronicle life on Sonoma County farms 

Meg McConahey, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
This just in…
Rogue Chickens Sabotage Inspires Mystery Fruit Tree Sale.
Wanted: Food for Black Bacon, a Cazadero Hills Black Hog and her babies
Deal: Two Emus Available For Sale. $50.
Looking For Work: “Need some extra hands, er … paws around the farm?”
Wanted: Three Leaves Foods CSK Wants your Uglies
The headlines at CropMobster.com offer a back fence view into the weird world of Sonoma County farms, where on an given day earnest farmers put out appeals for brewers mash and organic food waste, alerts for worm workshops and try to unload everything from surplus figs to emus.
A Craigslist for the ag set, CropMobster is where the farmer fed up with an obnoxious rooster can connect with the farmer who needs a rooster to service a flock of breeding hens. It’s a place where homely fruit unfit for the farmer’s market, can find someone to love it, or at least like it enough to can it, and where a perfectly good wheel of cheese too stinky for one woman’s kitchen can find a west county nonprofit very happy at its next meeting.
The sometimes urgent headlines telegraph the disappointments and the dreams and desperation of the farm life with a solid dose of humor.
Read more at: CropMobster headlines chronicle life on Sonoma County farms | The Press Democrat

Agriculture/Food System, Local Organizations, Sustainable Living, , ,

Come out to inaugural Wool Festival in Valley Ford May 17-18

Diane Peterson, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

You’ve heard of “farm to table.” But what about “farm to home,” providing locally grown wool bedding and mattresses, dryer balls and comforters?

That movement is on the rise in the hills of Valley Ford, where Ariana Strozzi and Casey Mazzucchi opened the Valley Ford Mercantile and Wool Mill last spring to showcase their wool products.“We’re really in the heart of sheep country out here,” said Strozzi, who raises 150 sheep at Skyhorse Ranch in Valley Ford. “We’re trying to bring wool back.”

To celebrate wool’s resurgence and promote its healthy benefits, Strozzi and Mazzucchi are hosting the first annual Wool Festival from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, May 17-18, at the store, 14390 Highway 1.The festival celebrates all things wild and woolly during the spring, which is haircut season for sheep.

via Come out to inaugural Wool Festival in Valley Ford | The Press Democrat.

Sustainable Living,

Wool industry warming up in Sonoma County

Robert Digitale, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

The used machine from North Carolina weighs 15,000 pounds and required two days to change just half its 10,000 needles.

It now sits in an old barn attached to a store on the main highway in Valley Ford, where its owners take raw wool and make wide strips of felt for artisan clothing and other uses.

“There really isn’t a textile industry in California,” said Ariana Strozzi, who with her partner Casey Mazzucchi last fall opened the Valley Ford Mercantile & Wool Mill.

The couple had to go out of state to buy the old needle loom and to purchase a wool carding machine that came from Ohio. The two pieces of equipment together cost about $85,000, Strozzi said.

Mazzucchi and Strozzi are part of fledgling efforts to make more goods locally from the wool of North Coast sheep. The participants include local ranchers and advocates who maintain that consumers should shift to natural fibers and away from more environmentally harmful synthetic fabrics.

via Wool industry warming up in Sonoma County | The Press Democrat.

Agriculture/Food System, Sustainable Living
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