Stepladder Ranch & Creamery

People

Spouses Michelle & Jack Rudolph, with 35 full- and 25 part-time employees

Farmland

65 acres near Cambria, 242 miles to the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market

About

When Jack’s grandparents, Jack and Beverly Russel, bought Stepladder Ranch & Creamery in the early 1980s, it was a dilapidated cattle ranch with a few fruit trees. After their passing the farm had fallen again into disrepair and their grandson, Jack, decided to get Stepladder back on its feet. He’d already developed a hobby in cheesemaking, and as he found his footing on the farm, his cheesemaking operation grew in intensity. After he met Michelle, they both took on the same hobby until they established a commercial creamery in 2015.

Their goats graze on open pasture and are milked twice a day, everyday. Though a vast majority of the farm is used for free-range grazing, several acres are used to grow over 200 varieties of subtropical fruit. At the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, they offer both goats and cow’s milk cheese, along with seasonal fruit.