“Artisan Petaluma cheeses delivered to your door”
Vivien Straus at the 10th annual California's Artisan Cheese Festival in 2016. (Victoria Webb/For The Argus-Courier)
January 26, 2021 - HOUSTON PORTER, ARGUS-COURIER COLUMNIST — After a bit of holiday brainstorming, the three Straus siblings who run the Straus Home Ranch (straushomeranch.com) struck upon a great idea to help bridge the gap between cheesemakers and their hungry non-traveling fans.
Vivien Straus started the Cheese Trail map (cheesetrail.org) several years ago, which helps steer cheese fans to both beloved standbys and new-found favorite cheesemakers along California’s backroads. With years of experience with both Straus Family Creamery and Cowgirl Creamery, Vivien was in the perfect position to help local cheesemakers, who are often too busy making cheese to actually have the time to get it to market. Since the launch of Cheese Trail, many cheesemakers report huge increases in sales due to the added tourism Vivien’s map provides.
However, with tourism at an historic low, many of these artisan makers are again struggling. With a bit of extra time on their hands, what with the Straus Home Ranch’s wedding and overnight stay calendar nearly empty, the Straus’s have come up with a new way to introduce cheese lovers to some of the great bounty our area has to offer.
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the Straus Home Ranch announced its Artisan Cheese collection, delivered straight to your front door. This is a curation of Vivien’s favorite cheeses, along with small-batch chocolates, jams and other local goodies. The first collection is a limited affair and must be pre-ordered by this Sunday, Jan. 31, for delivery in time for Valentine’s Day. Along with two great cheeses (Foundry Fresh from Bivalve Dairy and Heart’s Desire from Cowgirl Creamery), this collection will also include a West Coast seasonal truffle collection from Mutari Chocolate. However, it is the final piece of this package that piqued our interests.
The item that will last long after the cheese and chocolates are gone and is a unique memento of our coastal farmlands – a flour sack tea towel adorned with the Straus family matriarch’s “kooky cows.” “Straus Home Ranch Flour Sack Towel with Mom’s Kooky Cows: Our mom’s amazing talents were legendary — from co-founding the Marin Agricultural Land Trust, and serving on countless environmental organizations, to making incredible lemon cheesecake and, in her free time, creating lyrical artwork which we’ve always loved. Her cow figurines always graced the wall of our ranch house kitchen, and we think you’ll love them as much as we do! 18” x 28” with lots of cows (and lots of love) [sic].” The Straus Home Ranch’s website has a ton of other great non-edible offerings revolving around our coastal dairy scene.
As an added bonus, guests can attend a real-time virtual tasting with Vivien via Zoom. An organic dairy expert, Vivien Straus is not only a writer and actress, but as a former educator at Cowgirl Creamery knows how to put on an entertaining and informative cheese presentation and tasting. If tasting these great new treats doesn’t brighten your day, Vivien’s friendly smile and positive and caring personality certainly will.
Currently, shipping is only available in California but that may change in the future. Each month Straus Home Ranch will introduce a new collection, with a virtual tasting by Vivien to go along with it. {Read the original article on the Argus Courier website}