Toluma Farms

Toluma Farms is a Marin County, California, family owned, Grade A goat dairy in the town of Tomales. This unique coastal community is nestled above Point Reyes, Marshall and the Tomales Bay estuary.  The coastal fog and hilly terrain is the perfect environment for dairy goats.  Owners Tamara Hicks and David Jablons are developing a line of fine artisan, hand crafted goat cheeses here. In addition, they supply goat milk to Redwood Hill Farms of Sonoma County.

With their daughters Emmy and Josy, Tamara and David purchased their once-defunct cow dairy in 2003.  The initial inspiration to purchase and restore the land came from a deep love of West Marin.  Many pioneers had worked tirelessly to ensure that this land remained in the hands of farmers to produce food for California and beyond.  The Hicks-Jablons family wanted to contribute to protecting the land and supplying food to the local community (San Francisco, Sonoma, and Marin).  Toluma Farms attributes its success thus far to the hard working, committed and intelligent team of individuals (Hanna Hart, Laura Freeman, Cory Brush, Keri Sheridan, and Jennifer Rogge) who pour their souls into always improving the health of the goats as well as the health of the land.

It is this commitment to the land and animals that led Tamara and David to Animal Welfare Approved.  They strongly believe that healthy goats need to have access to nutritional pasture at all times and unlike other certification agencies, Animal Welfare Approved requires its farmers to utilize pasture-based farming practices.  Tamara notes, “After having gone through the certification process with Animal Welfare Approved we always look for the label when purchasing food because we know firsthand that a farm with an AWA label matches our values and vision for farming.”