Stemple Creek Ranch

First of all, I hardly ever review anything, but after traveling the 2+ hours from the south bay to the butcher, I was hoping I would get some truly wonderful grass fed beef. I am a graduate of CIA new york and have eaten some of the best beef in the world until I tasted this stuff. I bought a ½ cow.
Let me tell you I have never had beef that tastes so strongly of old Mutton in my life!
I even called the Ranch and they were nice enough to send me a few extra steaks to try again.
These were just as bad, the most heavily lamby muttony flavor I have ever experienced!!!
I cannot get over what I paid for and received after driving around 5 hours on top of it.
I have had many varieties of grass fed beef from around the world. Unfortunately, never never again will I buy beef from Stemple Creek. My wife and parents and young daughter all refused to eat it. I ended up throwing most of it away. I never like to throw food away, especially meat that is supposed to be better than the rest. what a waste of a cow’s life!
Honestly, Safeway beef is actully much much BETTER!!! Enough said.
Be careful!

Excellent Beef great flavor, tender, no hormones and natural grass fed beef!
Thank you, Loren Ponica — Stemple Creek Ranch

Simply amazing! The owner is so kind, the meat incredible, I couldn’t recommend them any higher– Last weekend we celebrated with the best steaks anyone had ever tasted– thank you Loren!!!
We are fans forever!

Stemple Creek Ranch is AWESOME! The owners, Loren and Lisa, are amazing and care deeply about the business and the quality of their products. You are guaranteed to get the best meats and service, sourced from one of the most beautiful places in the world. You can’t go wrong with Stemple Creek Ranch!

Far and away the most delicious beef I’ve ever tried. Tried the ribeye and we were literally shocked at how outstanding it was. Perfectly marbled, tender and clean-​tasting grass-​fed beef. The rack of lamb was also sublime, juicy and tender, it tastes like lamb but without that «funky lamb» flavor. The owners are also passionate about sustainable farming and putting out a superior grass-​fed product.

Love this ranch. Love the owners– their products are delicious. We went on a tour and grilling course here. Such a great experience. I’m a blogger and wrote all about it here.

I toured this farm once in the summer with a meetup group that advocates eating locally farmed, organic, grass-​fed beef. So we had a group of probably 20 people and the manager, Loren, who is also the grandson of the guy who started this farm, gave us a tour of the farm and then grilled some beef for us to try out. All I can say is, I am sold on locally farmed, grass-​fed beef!
They use the sustainable farming practice, where they rotate the grass they grow in the farm in the way that the soil does not get depleted by over farming. I did not know there are different kinds of grass you can grow on the farm. I also learned that cows fed with grass, which is their natural food, are leaner and smaller with higher omega-​3 relative to omega-​6. The corn fed cows are bigger and therefore the commercial farms mass produce corn fed cows to maximize their profit. Corn fed cows are fattier though and their meat has higher omega-​6 relative to omega-​3. The ideal ratio for our omega-​6 to omega-​3 is 3 to 1, however generally Americans daily intake is about 20 to 1.
Also their beef is raised organic, meaning that the cows were raised with organic feed (grass). They are not «finished» organic, meaning maybe the last couple weeks before they were «harvested» by the slaughter house they are not fed with organic grass after the cows leave the farm.
We tasted generous portions of grilled burger, New York steak, filet, prime ribs, etc. There was minimum seasoning required (just salt and pepper) and the meat tasted so so good. After the tasting we were free to purchase some meat that they pre-​stored in their freezer in their ranch house. I bought as much as my cooler can contain and with lots of beef bones to make bone stock. It took me two months after that trip to finish all the beef I got from that trip. I got filet, chuck roast, burger, New York steak and It was the best beef I have had!
I wish I lived closer to the farm so I can get their meat more often. Two-​hour drive all the way from San Mateo is no small matter. Loren mentioned that they will have their meat at Whole foods soon but I don’t recall I have seen it at my local WF yet. I have friends who participate in the beef-​share program where they buy a cow with a few folks and when the beef is harvested they get a fraction of the cow based on the weight of the meat harvested. So I might just buy a few pounds from my friend when they receive their share of the cow.

So from watching television you probably know that happy cows from California make great cheese, but did you know that they taste really good too?!
Although I’ve been visiting many local farms over the past few years this was my first visit to a cattle farm, and honestly, I was quite excited. I’ve been experimenting with vegetarianism a bit lately, but the bottom line is that I’m still a meat eater and regularly love the taste of a juicy, tender cut of beef.
Stemple Creek Ranch is a family owned and operated ranch that has been on this Marin site since 1902. They raise cattle and lamb here for the meat. Our group from Bay Area Green Tours met up with Loren Poncia and his wife Lisa to learn a bit of history about the ranch and learn more about their product as well as their ranching practices.
At the time of our visit we were told that there were about 600 animals here. I assume the number includes both cows and lambs even though we saw many times more cows than lambs. Our discussion was based mainly on the cattle.
Loren cherishes his bulls here as they are the key to producing healthy cattle on the ranch. Each bull is responsible for mating with 25 cows and on average most cows are impregnated within the first month. They give their bulls up to 75 days to impregnate a cow. Momma cows on the ranch average about 12 years, but the bulls are quite older. Loren believes his oldest cow is about 19 years. As cherished as his bulls are though we were told that 3 or 4 bulls are bought or sold each year simply to change the genetics around.
All of the animals at the Stemple Creek Ranch are raised naturally and feed on fresh grasses, hay produced on the ranch and fresh water from an abundance of creeks that run throughout the ranch. The ranch extends for many miles out to the Pacific Ocean.
Through the use of electronic fencing his cattle move from pasture to pasture feeding on freshly grown grasses for up to 3 days before moving on to another. As a rule each pasture is allowed to rest for at least 60 days before they are used again. We took a walking tour into one of the pastures where the grass was literally up to our knees in height. Loren showed us which grasses his cattle preferred to eat and even gnawed on some himself to show us how his animals will eat the grass. Although all of the grasses are eventually eaten by the animals he explained how some of the cattle will often return to the same exact spot each time in the specific pasture remembering their favorite grass was there.
Loren often wishes his cattle could be fat like corn-​fed cows but knows all too well that the product from grass-​fed cows, although leaner, offer fewer calories and are higher in Vitamin E and Omega-​3 fatty acids. As each animal reaches a certain maturity and size the animals are taken to a USDA facility in Petaluma to be «harvested.» Loren does not like to use the word «slaughter» when describing the process his animals go through.
As Lisa took over taking us through the pasture Loren returned to the house to fire up his grill and surprise our group with samples of the beef from Stemple Creek Ranch. They opened up their home to us so that we could use their restroom facilities to wash up before sampling the product. He and Lisa had prepared some tender, braised beef prior to our visit and these were cut into bite size pieces for our enjoyment. Meanwhile, Loren had the grill going cooking up dozens of fresh inch thick burger patties and marinated Korean short ribs. The fresh beef had a unique flavor that is difficult to describe. It was absolutely delicious.
Beef and lamb from Stemple Creek Ranch can be purchased in large quantities through their website. For those who don’t wish to purchase half an animal they do sell choice cuts of their beef and lamb every Sunday at the San Rafael Farmers Market and at the Valley of the Moon Certified Farmer’s Market at the Sonoma Plaza on Tuesday evenings.
The ranch offers regular tours for the public. You can find specific dates for public tours by checking their website.

Just ate the first bit of «Edgar» (as we’re calling him) last night. HOLY DELICIOUS MEAT BATMAN.
Seriously, if you’re a carnivore, you need to be eating Stemple Creek beef — end of story.

When friends offered us the opportunity to buy in on a cow, I jumped at it. At first I thought, wow, that’s a lot of beef, but we have enough freezer space for it.
It is worth every penny, and look, my 700^th review! This is some of the best-​tasting beef you’ll ever buy. It’s local, grass-​fed, and delicious!
We even did a side-​by-​side comparison with some Safeway stew meat when we realized our share of stew meat wasn’t going to be enough for the evening. Comparing the marbled deliciousness of Stemple Creek to whatever it was we bought from Safeway… there is really no comparison! It was obvious even after cooking which was the clear winner. Whenever I ended up with Safeway meat on my plate, I would grimace and just eat it. Every piece of Stemple Creek stew meat on my plate was savored.
So friends, if any of you are ever asked to split a Stemple Creek cow in the future, the answer is always YES! Unless you’re vegetarian/​vegan.
PS — They do ranch tours!

I went in on a cow with a bunch of friends (I think my fraction was a 16^th or a 32^nd), and this is the most fantastic beef I have ever cooked with. The burgers are crave-​worthy, the primal cuts are priceless, and the random other bits and pieces will be put to good use as well.

Love, love, LOVE Stemple Creek Ranch beef and lamb — amazingly tender and tasty.
The ranch has been in Loren’s family for four generations. They practice environmentally friendly ranching, making sure that the earth and the animals are happy and healthy.
Loren and Lisa are great to work with — just take a farm tour and you’ll see how wonderful they are!
Find a way to share this with the ones you love. It doesn’t get better than this.

Fantastic farm fresh meat at a very reasonable price. If you are wondering whether the concept will work for you, talk to the ranch owners, they will give you an honest assesment. I thoroughly enjoyed my Stemple Creek experience and l look forward to many more.

For the past year I have been sick with stomach problem after stomach problem. Recently I purchased a movie called Food Inc. and it opened my eyes up to how much I don’t know where my food comes from. I lived in the middle east and Europe while growing up and we would go to the butcher and buy our meat fresh, all natural grass fed beef. Well, after watching the movie I decided that I’m going to purchase my meat from a local rancher, and support our local farmers and hopefully in the process heal my body. I will no longer buy meat that has been manipulated, filled with hormones, antibiotics and fattened with corn!
I did a lot of research. I looked for ranches that are within two hours of my house so that I can actually go and visit the ranch and learn more about the process. I found Stemple Creek Ranch, they raise 100% Angus organic all natural grass fed beef. They are located close to the ocean, therefore, the animals are breathing fresh clean ocean air and eating natural grass.
I emailed a few ranches and Stemple Creek Ranch responded right away. The owner, Loren, emailed me right away and answered all my questions. He offered to call me back to answer any other questions I might have. This is the first time I’m buying direct from the farmer so having the owner of the ranch answer all my questions was so helpful. They don’t harvest until May timeframe so I have not tried the meat, but I have to say their customer service and knowledge has been amazing and I can’t wait until May to pick up my meat and cook some delicious and healthy food for myself and family.